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I plant vegetables near my A/C exhaust but we don't run A/C much in the summer since it rarely gets above 90F during the day and we set the A/C to 76F and open the windows at night (when it's usually in the low 60s to low 70s) and live in a bungalow with a cool basement, deep eaves and close curtains on hot days.
I plant vegetables near my A/C exhaust but we don't run A/C much in the summer since it rarely gets above 90F during the day and we set the A/C to 76F and open the windows at night (when it's usually in the low 60s to low 70s) and live in a bungalow with a cool basement, deep eaves and close curtains on hot days.
Different story here. The past 2 summers we got heat domes parked over us for days and days and temps were around 100F, sometimes higher. It's an 11 floors concrete highrise seniors complex building that being concrete soaked up more radiant heat. There are 70 residents all being independent living seniors, when the heat dome returned last summer everyone ran out and bought air conditioners after one heat related death in the building and a few heat related hospitalizations. I broke down and got an A/C too last summer, never had or needed one before in my life but had no choice last year.
Anyway what happened is that all the residents from the 1st to 6th floors who had their A/C's venting out their windows were within the 30 - 40 feet range of all the ground level plants and trees close to and surrounding the building. The A/C exhausts coming from all the apartments on all those floors cooked and killed anything within 40 feet of the exhaust, including the lawns. Everything else like the bigger trees including the 100 foot tall Giant Pacific Maple tree and the 4 big ornamental Japanese cherry trees just outside of the 40 foot range still got black scorched leaves on all the branches that reached towards the building. The leaves dropped off but the trees survived because they didn't get scorched on their other 3 sides. It was all a horrible mess.
There are 25 good sized ornamental trees surrounding the building, and ground level beds or raised beds very close up to all 4 sides of it. In anticipation of more heat domes in summers to come and a lot more A/C's venting out windows, I now have to change all my plans for the plantings outside and come up with other options for watering the grounds every day. I am the one who planted all the flower beds and several of the trees starting 10 years ago, being the volunteer manager of all the outdoor grounds and gardens these are my babies.
Guess which plants survived best and didn't get scorched. It was the plants in containers because the containers all got moved out of range of the A/C exhausts.
From some website I just found: "French marigolds are edible, but with a very strong flavor similar to its pungent scent..."
There is a lot of misinformation about marigolds out there. There is a lot of confusion because there are actually three totally different genus/species of plants commonly called marigolds:
French Marigolds (Tagetes patula) are the most popularly-grown marigold. They contain mildly toxic biochemicals that allow them to act as an effective insect repellant when grown near vegetables such as tomatoes. Tagetes are originally from Central and South America. Tagetes flowers have been used in some traditional South American dishes, but they can be an irritant.
Pot Marigolds (Calendula officinales) AKA Common Marigold, AKA Scotch Marigold is an ancient medicinal and edible plant in the Old World. Because of the confusion over marigolds, garden enthusiasts now more commonly refer to it as Calendula. It is believed to be native to the Mediterranean.
There is also a plant referred to as Swamp Marigold (Bidens aristosa) AKA Bur Marigold AKA Bearded Beggarticks AKA Tickseed Sunflower AKA Yankee Lice AKA Spanish Needles AKA Demon Spike Grass. (You probably don't want to grow it in your garden.) It is native to Eastern and Central USA and Canada and is used in traditional herb medicine.
Didn't read all the comments yet, but - it's a hobby for a lot of people, along with being food.
We've never spent $100 on a container, maybe we don't get them large enough - but they work fine. We also use them year after year so it's a one-time investment. So is the soil more or less - as we dig out the roots and plants from the year before, add nutrients etc., and re-use it the following year.
We don't use trellises either. Have used a stick and string here and there. We grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers this way. And i grow tons of herbs in smaller containers. I move them indoors off-season. (Lettuces also grow good in smaller containers.)
If you really want to go for the big money, get an Aerogarden. A one-time investment - unless you end up with more than one, like us. You can grow food indoors year round with no soil.
This way we know what goes into our some of our foods - and moreso what DOESN'T go into them.
There is a lot of misinformation about marigolds out there. There is a lot of confusion because there are actually three totally different genus/species of plants commonly called marigolds:
French Marigolds (Tagetes patula) are the most popularly-grown marigold. They contain mildly toxic biochemicals that allow them to act as an effective insect repellant when grown near vegetables such as tomatoes. Tagetes are originally from Central and South America. Tagetes flowers have been used in some traditional South American dishes, but they can be an irritant.
Pot Marigolds (Calendula officinales) AKA Common Marigold, AKA Scotch Marigold is an ancient medicinal and edible plant in the Old World. Because of the confusion over marigolds, garden enthusiasts now more commonly refer to it as Calendula. It is believed to be native to the Mediterranean.
There is also a plant referred to as Swamp Marigold (Bidens aristosa) AKA Bur Marigold AKA Bearded Beggarticks AKA Tickseed Sunflower AKA Yankee Lice AKA Spanish Needles AKA Demon Spike Grass. (You probably don't want to grow it in your garden.) It is native to Eastern and Central USA and Canada and is used in traditional herb medicine.
Re: the swamp marigold, it doesn't grow here and I'd never heard of it so I looked it up and can say I understand why it has been given all those evil names. LOL. I wouldn't want that growing in my garden beds around home either. The flowers are pretty and are a big attractant to pollinators but the plants can reach 5 feet tall and the seeds on them sort of look like brown ticks waiting with 2 arms spread wide ready to pounce and grab hold of passersby. The seeds are covered with hooks and barbs like velcro hooks all over them that will hook onto clothing or animal fur the way burr seed pods do.
My wife is trying out a few rubbermaid 16" deep containers this year. I have holes drilled in the bottom and they will be put on top of bricks to help with drainage.
Hello! I am interested in the question of growing potatoes in bags, when as they grow, soil is poured into the bag until the entire bag is filled. Supposedly you can grow a lot of potatoes this way. I have these bags, but I haven't used them yet.
I was interested in this on the Internet.
Maybe someone already has experience growing potatoes in bags.
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I wouldn't want that growing in my garden beds around home either. The flowers are pretty and are a big attractant to pollinators but the plants can reach 5 feet tall and the seeds on them sort of look like brown ticks waiting with 2 arms spread wide ready to pounce and grab hold of passersby. The seeds are covered with hooks and barbs like velcro hooks all over them that will hook onto clothing or animal fur the way burr seed pods do.