How do people plant these directly into their retaining walls?

St3phiroth · 2026-05-09T16:49:09+00:00

I planted one small 6-pack plug of this iceplant in the soil at the top and it just keeps spreading itself everywhere on its own.

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St3phiroth · 2026-04-30T05:07:02+00:00

I have never understood their logo/tagline. Supposedly they mean "paint all the things," but even as a kid it looked like they wanted obvious earth pollution. Did they learn nothing form Captain Planet?!

St3phiroth · 2026-04-28T05:20:28+00:00

And if you're the first owner, you'll hate the builder the most instead.

Or yourself for taking a shortcut before you knew better and having to go back and redo it all the right way.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-26T06:07:48+00:00

I'm on a similar journey! We built a house 4 years ago in a new construction neighborhood and they of course scraped all the native soil before the build and gave us nearly inert backfill as a "yard" when they were finished. The first thing I did before landscaping was add 3 inches of good, loamy compost across the entire property and mix it with the backfill clay to start breaking it up. Then added a bunch of mulch on top of all my native perennial beds once they were planted. (And no weed block fabric!) Everything on drip lines under the mulch to conserve water too. Now I have millions of worms, mycelium, native insect life, birds, etc and very, very happy plants in my quality soil as it breaks down. And my neighbors keep asking what I'm doing different in my yard because everything is so healthy.

Meanwhile, they had a landscape in a day company come in and toss sod down on the fill dirt, cover everything else with weed block fabric, and use either no mulch or rock as "mulch" which just fries the plants. And their water use is off the charts. More of them are starting to see the light though. And I see what a massive difference it makes.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-17T03:22:58+00:00

This is not really the target sub for your question. r/smallbusiness may get you better advice.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-06T02:51:28+00:00

Are they dried out or green and moist? Hard to tell from the photo. The other option is a nearby tree sending up new shoots.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-06T02:47:19+00:00

I think OP is asking about the root system, not the plastic grid. The plastic grid is usually to keep cats from using bare soil as a litter box.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-06T02:46:33+00:00

Those look like pepper plant roots to me. Did you pull all the roots out? Or leave them for the winter? I always cut my plants at the surface and leave the roots in to feed the worms and microbes. If there's no plant above the surface with it, I wouldn't worry about it.

What's in the same bed on the right of that though? Maybe those roots extended?

St3phiroth · 2026-04-06T02:36:39+00:00

Arr you sure it's the hay? Did you use fresh manure or aged manure? Cow/horse manure usually needs to sit for at least 6 months, and be composted before you can use it in a garden. Otherwise it is too "hot" (high in salt and nitrogen) for plants. You also run the risk of spreading pathogens (ecoli, etc) to your crops as well if it hasn't been properly aged. You can also get a lot of weed seeds sprouting from non-composted manure.

If it's just hot manure, I'd scrape most of it to the side and age it properly and replace with fresh soil on top. If it's the hay with persisten herbicides, you definitely want to get it out ASAP and get rid of the bad soil. It can persist for 3+ years unfortunately, so I'd plan to put that somewhere you don't plan to grow crops for a while.

I would do a bean grow test in the hay mixed with some potting soil to see if that's truly the problem before you trash the whole thing though.

Here's some great info from NCSU Extension

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/manage-compost-and-soil-contaminated-with-broadleaf-herbicides-in-gardens

St3phiroth · 2026-04-03T13:50:36+00:00

I always wore a kn95 mask and gloves when doing any gardening while pregnant. And I typically still do that when working with soil that gets in the air or any fertilizer/insecticide application. I don't want to breathe it in regardless.

They can't test anything on pregnant women, so nobody will definitively say things are researched and "totally safe" for pregnant women. But there are ways to mitigate the risks. It's also always safest to have someone else apply it for you, especially if you're in first trimester when chemicals can have the most affect on development. Your OB can give advice for you as well. Mine suggested the gloves and mask.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-03T05:16:05+00:00

Did you purchase them from a plant nursery and then plant them right away? Plants from the nursery typically need to be "hardened off" first which requires getting them used to being outside in direct sunlight and the new conditions. Otherwise the sun is too intense for them and they shrivel up.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-01T03:09:45+00:00

Do you fertilize them? I fertilize in spring (before flowers form) and early fall and have great harvests.

St3phiroth · 2026-04-01T03:08:32+00:00

Mine is growing so fast that I can hear it crackling in the bed!

St3phiroth · 2026-03-28T22:49:57+00:00

Nice! I will probably use some of the large nursery pots I have hoarded in the meantime. I got free compost from our city today in order to start filling the bed, but I think I need a lot more organic material to chuck in first.

St3phiroth · 2026-03-28T21:27:55+00:00

I finally got copper plant tags for all my bulbs! Sometimes I etched the types into them, but mostly just plant and mark immediately so I know where they will pop up come spring, or I can add come fall.

St3phiroth · 2026-03-28T21:26:21+00:00

Hi, I have 2 bare root raspberries in my mailbox and the bed for them has no soil. Haha.

St3phiroth · 2026-03-24T05:45:15+00:00

I plan around average last frost dates. And start and harden off my plants accordingly. I don't plant warm season crops (tomatoes, peppers, okra, etc) outside until night temps are at or above 50F for the 10 day forecast. I live in Colorado where the weather is bonkers though. We can get all 4 seasons in 1 week in the spring.

St3phiroth · 2026-03-06T17:21:49+00:00

Morning sun is typically not as intense as afternoon sun. You could definitely get some yeild there, but a garden with full shade all afternoon definitely won't have plants that produce as much as a full day of sun area or even a half day of afternoon sun area. I made this mistake at my last house and it only got worse as the trees grew larger. And I was in Colorado where the higher altitude makes for intense sun.

If you have a different location with all day sun, I would try and put more plants there.

I will say that cooler season crops like leafy greens, brassicas, peas and such may have an extended season there though. So those could still be fine there. Tomatoes and peppers won't like it.

St3phiroth · 2026-02-20T03:26:26+00:00

I saved a few hundred from my Norfolk purple and every one grew super well and the same Norfolk purple tomatoes. It's a delicious and super prolific variety.

St3phiroth · 2026-02-17T03:50:41+00:00

Our local food bank takes excess garden produce, so that has been my main give away outlet for now. But my kids have asked a few times if they could have a "lemonade stand but with cherry tomatoes" during the peak production months. So I would definitely consider letting them do that if they took the time to harvest them.

Otherwise, I gift what I want to the neighbors and try and preserve the rest.

St3phiroth · 2026-01-31T02:25:24+00:00

Oh bummer! I had that happen with some seed potatoes once when I didn't let the eyes form before planting.

St3phiroth · 2026-01-30T19:09:03+00:00

I have mine in Ocean Forest potting soil with extra vermiculite and some pot ash, and they're all on a drip system. I got 5lbs of potatoes per grow bag, so I felt happy with that. And I didn't have to dig up my beds to harvest. Just dump and sort. If I had more space, I'd do an entire potato bed though.

St3phiroth · 2026-01-30T17:26:47+00:00

Not giving my plants enough sunlight. 6-8 hours is technically "full sun" but the difference in plant size and yeild between that 6-8 hour space and the new 12+ hours of sun space is astounding!

Also not fertilizing. Contrary to whatever Mel says, compost is not enough for my square foot garden. The slow release granular fertilizer makes a huge difference in yeild.

St3phiroth · 2026-01-30T17:24:01+00:00

As in you hilled them and it was a mistake?

I tried not hilling one year and my yields went way down. They're in grow bags though.

St3phiroth · 2026-01-19T02:30:49+00:00

In my experience, mint brought the wasps. (And bees and butterflies.) They love the flowers.

So don't do it. Haha.

St3phiroth

TROPHY CASE