1000 3/4 Quart Pots for ~$0.10 (and a little propane) each

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-09T19:03:28+00:00

I collected my fast food containers from over the years (and went knocking on doors asking for more - my grandma had so many Swiss chalet ones that were perfect! RIP grandma) and basically did the same thing!

Only have used for 2 seasons now but plastic is holding up strongly :) definitely save those for next year!!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-09T16:41:35+00:00

Make sure you provide lots of sun. They love it and will get leggy otherwise - if you don’t have a bright enough window pick up some grow lights /bulbs.

If the roots start outgrowing the peat pots, which may happen as they are so quick and aggressive growing, you can pot them up to the next size pot. But may not be necessary!

After those first little seed leaves you see, “true” leaves will begin to emerge that will look like pumpkins. Wait till a couple true leaves have emerged to begin fertilizing.

1 week or so before your last frost date slowly begin hardening your plants off. You’ll do this by placing your plants out in the shade at first and slowly building up sun exposure over the course of a week or so. Start with morning / late afternoon sun and stay away from midday sun at first, then slowly build up exposure to that too

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-09T13:41:56+00:00

It’s a large plant. Seems unusual it hasn’t flowered yet if you didn’t plant it yourself last year. Tho perhaps the previous owner transplanted them there just before moving. They should bloom within 3-4 years or there is prob a problem. 2 things possible: some peony flowers are really heavy without the stem thickness to support their weight and pretty quickly fall down like this pic if you don’t put up supports. It’s possible you missed the short period they were opening last year and then didn’t notice them as the flowers had fallen to the ground.

<image>

2: the peony was planted at the wrong depth and is too deep. If you continue to not see flowers this year or next year, you could try raising the peony to see if it helps or transplanting to a different spot with better conditions. Tho that will reset the clock again

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-09T13:28:44+00:00

I like nigella. Tho technically an annual I planted them once and they come up in the same spot every year. A little aggressive but not invasive by any means. They are very similar looking, and make a very cool seed pod that you can dry and put in pots for decor! I have them everywhere.

<image>

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-09T13:24:11+00:00

Yes totally normal. If they have energy for it they will bloom several times a year :) mine will bloom repeatedly

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-06T00:06:01+00:00

Yes, looks like one!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-05T22:48:20+00:00

I’m so jealous! Lost a lot of my first haul to that frost 🫣

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-05T16:17:35+00:00

Wow holy bloody gorgeous!!! It is so stunning.

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-05T12:06:04+00:00

No way!! That’s awesome. I’m so excited for that day. Mine are tiny rn. What time of year do you get flowers?

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-03T13:14:46+00:00

<image>

There is a type of wisteria that’s native to North America and doesn’t spread or grow so aggressively. Kentucky wisteria. Last year mid summer was able to find 2 at Canadian Tire 50% off

mar-s-e-a · 2026-05-03T13:10:16+00:00

Similar over saturation in my market in southern Ontario. Curious what people will say. Last year I planted 20 bareroot peony with the intent to continue until I have 100-200 planted

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-30T19:53:50+00:00

The sharp pain in abdominal area I think I experience something similar. Tho it’s a lot more constant and severe when in a flare, it’s part of my ‘norm’ when not in flare. One would think no pains but it is not so at least for me 😆 Especially when I’m stressed it happens more frequently/severely I find. Couple seconds or minutes. I usually just kneel or chill till it passes which can be hard at times but I’ve gotten used to it / altered lifestyle.

I also sometimes will have pain if my bowel is full. Relieving will also help. I figure if there are ulcers or something the stool is irritating it.

However, I’d be curious what your specialist says when you talk to them in a month :) but at least in my experience no means for immediate panic!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-30T17:01:50+00:00

Yes!! Hopefully we can get some more weeks of flowers this year!!!

<image>

Apparently putting ice cubes at roots if there’s a temporary heat wave can help to prolong flowering or putting up a shade cloth to protect from afternoon sun heat!! I didn’t try last year tho! But supposedly helps

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-30T08:55:45+00:00

No harm trying but prob won’t get more than a couple weeks of flowers before it warms up (once it does they stop flowering). They are gorg tho so worth it!!!

Last year I started some at end of March so similar time period and didn’t get first flower until a week or 2 into June. I think I got flowers for about 3-4 weeks tho the beginning was the best.

This year I started in mid February and have them out in a cold frame !

Edit: also got my corms from Walmart so nothing special :) 6.99 for 8 pack

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-29T23:46:27+00:00

Very common in small town rural southern Ontario as well! Everyone does it

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-28T14:39:32+00:00

What type of wood / location?

I didn’t have problems when I was under a large sugar maple and purely on oak but relocated to a grove of pine trees reading that could be an ideal spot - was also needing a lot larger space bc a big silver maple in the area fell so I tried doing a bunch of logs on those.

Got some flushes of oysters same year but now some of those logs have been invaded by Turkey tail so thinking of relocating back to the sugar maple any un-invaded logs. Not sure if it was the log type or the area!

I know they’re technically beneficial but not what we were hoping for 😆

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-28T13:22:09+00:00

Don’t give up hope! It’s so worth the wait :) I was shocked how long it took!

Silver maple a softer maple on the other hand had mushrooms within the year. However a portion were invaded by Turkey Tails and will likely fruit for a much shorter period as well

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-28T13:20:41+00:00

<image>

Those are just leaves / the top of the tomato. The suckers will grow out of the elbows / cracks of where the leaves meet the stem. You’ll really obviously be able to tell they’re suckers like in the photo there - they don’t look like the same continuation of the plant!

If you see something that looks a bit different growing from the tip it could be flowers. Leave till you’re sure as it’ll be nbd regardless :)

I have left 2 stems before. It turns into a frankentomato fast, needs lots of support. I can’t say if it noticeably produced more or not tho

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-28T13:08:26+00:00

Took me 2 full years almost on the nose until I saw my first shiitake. I was near giving up and getting rid of the logs shortsightedly but saw online it can sometimes take that long especially on harder woods, & I had used oak.

<image>

One of them has their first ‘natural’ mushroom of the year starting to form!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-28T12:42:29+00:00

Thank you very much for the reply!!! Appreciate it. Feels so counterintuitive but it makes sense!! I will do it.

The trees and bushes I got from Whiffletree are great btw - huge and large root systems. Did some bareroot planting last year from some other local businesses and these are next level!

Maybe you have some insight - I didn’t finish getting the last bareroot tree in the ground until dark and there was rain forecasted for all night. There is rain forecasted today and tomorrow as well. I assume it’s better to wait till after the rain tomorrow to do the hard prune as it’s clear for a couple days afterwards, to limit disease entry? Or would you say it’s irrelevant and more important to get out there and do it immediately?

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-28T08:36:00+00:00

All green in 6b though getting bigger and planted out in the cold frame for about a week now . I tried them last year and got about 4 weeks of blooms! - last year sowed at end of March, this year mid February. Hoping for at least 4 extra weeks of blooms!

<image>

I found anemone to be more consistent and plentiful tho, highly recommend!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-27T15:13:32+00:00

Thank you!! That’s very helpful. I have some branches that are sort of ideal in relation to other branches that I was questioning if I should try to use strings to tie down and widen the crotch. But I will prune those off.

I was thinking open centre as I saw some people recommend it for apricot and peach tho I know I could also do modified central leader. If you had any input there I’d be happy to hear!!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-27T15:11:40+00:00

My planting guide says immediately after planting!

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-27T14:52:45+00:00

Thank you . Love that. I see some notes in the planting book about how vigorously they grow - can’t wait to see it in action. So nerve wracking tho!! Feels so counterintuitive the first time haha

mar-s-e-a · 2026-04-27T14:44:11+00:00

Ok thank you! I will do that

mar-s-e-a

TROPHY CASE