Holy Moley! The Plant IDs Have Taken Over!

I thought I'd browse through this forum since I'm really behind on my DG reading and still consider myself a beginning gardener. Holy moley! It's like it suddenly became the Plant ID forum while I was gone. I know few people like a thread nanny, but it's sure disappointing to have to weed through the Plant ID threads to find a thread that might be of more general use to beginning gardeners.


Just to make this have more content than thread-nannying, here's my current status: I re-started gardening about 3 years ago. Rediscovering food gardening has been one of the few joys in my life during a hard period. It's frustrating how little I feel I've learned in 3 years, though. I still don't know much about pruning. I make expensive mistake after expensive mistake (the worst being not knowing how to protect my new citrus in our record frosts this year. Lost about $100 worth of standard citrus [not counting the cost of paying someone to plant and care for them when my hands weren't up to it...the cost of the water to water them, etc]).

However, I can identify a lot more plants now than I could at the beginning due to the help of the Plant ID groups on Flickr (I tend to use that more than DG for Plant ID). I have a better idea of how to document things. I'm starting to learn a teensy bit of what works well and what doesn't. I've expanded my interest in food gardening to include a bit of herbs, medicinal herbs, flowers that attract pollinators, and native plants.

I have a number of gardening goals. One is to eventually become a good enough farmer that I could live off my backyard plot if I absolutely had to.

good on you ...that's the way ....you can ...lovely to just go out and gather the fresh stuff for your meal out of your own garden.....good luck

Hi Spidra, you should be able to live off the veg/fruit etc from your back yard if you learn to do it properly, there is nothing better than eating things that are in season, have you ever tasted those veg that have traveled for miles to our stores just so we can eat out of season crops, the best way to get started is to go slowly, just start by growing the things you like and the family, grow in succession, dont plant all the carrots in one go but say every 6 weeks, so they are not all mature at the one time, also salads are so much tastier when picked fresh and tender, beans, peas etc can be sown a few at a time as can most things, when you grow winter veg, these take longer to mature, so you grow faster growing things in between the rows of say cabbage etc, that takes up less space in the veg beds, you soon learn as you go along, dont always go by appearances either, we dont need every tomato to be the exact same size, shape etc, that is the marketing guys who brainwash folks into thinking that way, you will also enjoy eating what you know was put into the earth to grow these foods and no chemicals required, just being vigilant will be more helpful. good luck, hope your dreams will soon become a reality, it sometimes ain't cheaper, but it sure is healthier and so much more satisfying. Weenel.

Hi Spidra,
You're not the only one who thinks this forum is overrun with plant IDs. Check out this thread. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/766643/
Sharon

Beginner gardening forum probably also means newbie to DG so they probably haven't checked out every forum, just have to point them in the right direction.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/plantid/all/

Thanks flowerjen for taking up for us newbies and thanks for the link. I have clicked on so many forums looking for answers, but sometimes, you just have to ask.. Also spidra, you might want to check beginner vegetables. I would give you the link, but, being a newbie, I don't know how. :) OK everyone, smile.

Now, I would love to find out what I am supposed to be planting or doing to get ready for fall. I have 2 acre's of beautiful green trees and grass, so any suggestions for fall color. And I am in hot Denham Springs, Louisiana, so I'm sure I dont have to worry about cold anytime soon.

Oh, and Weenel, thankyou so much for all of your answers and help. I've been busy making window treatments so I have'nt had time to post any replys.

Hi Drapelady,
I'm sorry if you thought I was complaining about this forum having plant id's. That certainly wasn't my intent. I personally am fine with any kind of question on any forum. In fact, I didn't discover the plant i.d. forum myself until just recently. I just thought it was a coincidence that the subject was brought up recently in another thread and wanted to pass on that information. Didn't mean to sound like I was picking on newbies; I still consider myself a newbie too. :-)
Sharon

I don't think anyone's "picking on newbies". Just pointing out a moderation issue. That's life on the Internet.

Sorry ladies for being a B. I am glad however that the subject was brought up. There is so much info on plant id forum, so thanks spidra. Also, if you have any other searching tips for us, please let me know. It would certainly save me a lot of time. I absolutely love this website, so I really am sorry for being a sour grape. Everyone has been so nice and helpful. Also, again, any suggestions for fall color in my garden(zone8b)would be great. Thanks

Drapelady, there's no need to apoligize. I think we've exhausted that subject :-)

Up north here in Chicago, asters, mums, ornamental kale and pansies are the fall flowers of choice, but that's because they tolerate our cooler weather. Sorry, I don't know works down south.

I just bought a few garden phlox to plant now. They're coming to the end of their bloomtime, but you can plant perennials in the fall for next summer. There are a lot of sales now. I got mine from Home Depot for $3.99 each. Here is a photo of Orange Perfection.

Spidra, you mentioned Flickr. I received an email from Yahoo telling me that they are switching over to Flickr for photos. I really don't know anything about Flickr. How do you use them for plant i.d.?

Sharon

Yup, no need to apologize, drapelady.

I'd give you tips but I'm relatively new here myself.

Sharon, Flickr.com has lots of photopool groups. One is "What Plant is That?"

http://www.flickr.com/groups/whatplantisthat/

Another one is ID Please

http://www.flickr.com/groups/idplease/


Make sure you read each group's rules before posting. Some groups are free-for-alls and others are very heavily moderated. It depends on the group owner.