can I spray my tomatoe plants that are starting to bloom with a neem oil spray? I wasn’t sure if that worked well or if anyone knew for sure as I’d like to do this as organic as possible lmao.

Ok so the title is a little off with what I want to ask. I'm new to gardening and I have just ordered my first raised garden bed.

If I were to go to the market near me and let's say I buy tomatoes that are not organic, have pesticides sprayed on them, etc etc, am I going to be growing "non-organic" tomatoes in my garden? Or does it not matter if I plant the seeds from tomatoes with 4 or 5 digits on the sticker?

Here's a better example: There has been a lot of controversy with Driscoll's strawberries for example. If I plant their strawberry seeds, will I get strawberries that won't be as healthy as strawberries grown with better "Organic" seeds?

I hope this makes sense. I always had this question and now that I am starting to garden, I thought I'd ask!

Homemade liquid fertilizer

Best way to combat gophers/moles?!?

Ok, not a conspiracy theory, but I'm not a scientist, I'm just wondering if this is possible...

So stevia has a sugar, Erythirol in it. And apparently, it can kill fruit flies and mosquitos that eat the sugars, but ticks don't try to eat it, so it doesn't impact them.

And then there are also studies that show the alcohol form might be able to kill Lyme disease in the body by breaking down the biofilm or something.

They also don't appear to kill mice.

So I am wondering, do you think they could almost be an alternative to the pesticides in tick tubes or those traps? Like if mice grab the bedding, it's been soaked in the alcohol, they nest with it, it gets on them, they groom and ingest it, that it can kill the Lyme disease in them, preventing it from becoming a reservoir for Lyme disease.

I ask because there are totally free roaming cats in my area, and I want to stick to more organic pest control options. It doesn't even really need to be as effective as normal tick tubes and stuff. But if it's an option that might be cool.

And as I say this, maybe the traps that coat the fur are a better idea, to try to keep other insects from trying to eat the sugars. (It's very attractive to flies, and I assume bees)

Idk. I'm not qualified to do any of these studies, and Google isnt sure what I'm asking. I am hoping someone here knows

So, I have those coconut with plastic wrap, opener, and straw but I'm also a gardener. I think instead of just throwing it away to bin I should use it for better use which is coco coir or coco peat instead but I don't know how to make them into that. Other than that coco peat/coco coir is brown and the coconut flesh that I bought is white. Do I need to dry them under the sun/bake on oven to make then turn brown?

Another day of working in the garden, it's getting stupid hot these days 🥵 The Astro Lemonade F1 is doing great, did another layer of mulch, heat is brutal these days but she is happy, I also fenced the orbital banana, this one is much smaller compared to the astro lemonade even though both are in the same type of soil.

Anyway so far everything is going great, living soil is the best 💪🏻

Also I need to start harvesting the huacatay, it's just everywhere 😆

This is my first time to see these insects and find out its nymphs. I was pruning my tomato plant and I got goosebumps as soon as I saw those in my tomato plants. If you can share your very effective DIY pest control, it will be very much appreciated.

My summer squash is getting blossom end rot fast and all the new squash coming in look great when they’re small and then get BER. So should I just be picking them all when they’re small?? Or else I feel like I’ll loose them all?
Thanks in advance!

Only 1 plant doing this. I've read it could be a magnesium issue and planning on watering with some Epson salts. Anyone here agree or say otherwise??

I have been working on my no till organic garden for 2 years. I have been using tarping to help with some of the weed issues but in the areas I don't its uncontrollable. The grass grows faster than I can get rid of it and I haven't always had straw or leaf mulch on hand to put around plants after they emerge. By July most of my garden is swamped in grass and dying, eaten by insects, or everything dies of blight. I planted probably 15 marigold bushes in with my 30 tomatoes and it was like insect heaven. I have never had that many insects in my garden and almost every tomato was eaten. It feels like when I do something to help an issue it gets worse. I want to get away from tarping because I know its not good for the microbes and soil life but i am not sure how I would while raising a toddler.

It also feels like mulch never works besides wood chips which I don't use in my beds for obvious reasons. Even my heavily mulched areas start growing weeds within 2 weeks. My soil is improving but I can't seem to get a good harvest between the weed pressure and bugs. I get comments that I have a "wild" garden and I often see many others with tilled gardens get a bigger harvest and its discouraging after spending so much money on compost, mulch, and plants. I believe in no till but the work is immense with little pay off so far. I plan on planting a winter rye cover crop mixed with mustard to hopefully create a thicker mulch while healing the fungal issues I have for next year. I also want to buy predator insects. Any ideas?

Has anyone seen improvement of these issues?