Garden Myths

[Oliver Buckle]

I'll bet there are more, but here are a couple I have come across regularly.

Plant beans, they put nitrogen into your soil.
Now, it's true they have nitrogen fixing bacteria in the roots, but I am unconvinced they do it to simply enrich your soil, I bet the plant uses that nitrogen. If you want it in the soil compost the plants at the end of the season.

Don't be fooled into using garlic cloves from the supermarket, buy the proper thing.
My Dad tuned me in to this one, and I have seen it a few times since. He had a first in agriculture from London university and couldn't see the logic of it, so he did a little experiment. He prepared a piece of ground and planted three sorts of garlic cloves, ones he had from a friend in France, ones he bought from a seed merchant and ones from the supermarket. He was careful and didn't plant all of each together, but planted them in threes. when he weighed the resulting garlic cloves there was hardly any difference between them, certainly within the limits of experimental error. There is a huge difference in the price though.

Know any good garden myths to explode ?

 

[Tetters]

There is only one myth I found out about really Oliver. I was told babies were found under gooseberry bushes - then I discovered it was a complete and utter lie ....... three times over

 

[zigs]

I'll bet there are more, but here are a couple I have come across regularly.

Plant beans, they put nitrogen into your soil.
Now, it's true they have nitrogen fixing bacteria in the roots, but I am unconvinced they do it to simply enrich your soil, I bet the plant uses that nitrogen. If you want it in the soil compost the plants at the end of the season.

Yep Or cut the plants off at the bottom and leave them in the soil.

With the garlic...

You can use supermarket cloves but it's a long time to wait to see if they've treated them with a growth inhibitor. They do this to stop them sprouting on the shelves. The resultant bulbs can be tiny.

Also you can run the risk of getting onion white rot from uncertified cloves. If you get this in your soil it will wipe your crop out and stop you growing onion family crops for about 7 years

Believe me I know, I lost 5,000 bulbs of garlic to white rot

 

[zigs]

There is only one myth I found out about really Oliver. I was told babies were found under gooseberry bushes - then I discovered it was a complete and utter lie ....... three times over

I found one in the cupboard with a jar of jam once...

 

[Oliver Buckle]

With the garlic...

You can use supermarket cloves but it's a long time to wait to see if they've treated them with a growth inhibitor. They do this to stop them sprouting on the shelves. The resultant bulbs can be tiny.

Also you can run the risk of getting onion white rot from uncertified cloves. If you get this in your soil it will wipe your crop out and stop you growing onion family crops for about 7 years

Believe me I know, I lost 5,000 bulbs of garlic to white rot

I was thinking I have been lucky, I have been doing it for years, then I realised I usually use the cloves the missus has rejected because they have started to sprout. Didn't know about the white onion rot though, Maybe it's time I amend my ways before my luck runs out. Thanks for the tip.

 

[zigs]

You might be ok, not all of them are sprayed. I did try some once though and ended up with mini bulbs

White rot is another thing though, if you do use any from the kitchen dip them in fungicide first

 

[Sean Regan]

There is only one myth I found out about really Oliver. I was told babies were found under gooseberry bushes - then I discovered it was a complete and utter lie ....... three times over

On the subject of babies, I'm talking now of something that happened about fifty years ago. My wife and our daughter who was three at the time, were watching TV and suddenly it switched to the sight of the birth of a baby. Now the child was a bit young yet for a "birds and the bees" conversation, so she wasn't aware. But after seeing it she asked her mother, "Mum, had that lady swallowed that baby?"

It's all changed now, when it came to our grand kids experiences, the first was at the home birth of the second and so on. By the time it came to the fourth, the bedroom was getting rather crowded..

 

[Sean Regan]

There is only one myth I found out about really Oliver. I was told babies were found under gooseberry bushes - then I discovered it was a complete and utter lie ....... three times over

 

[Sean Regan]

Again on babies, my wife has just reminded me. Our third grandchild at the age of three saw the scan of the fourth, the type when you can really "see," the baby. Her mother asked her what she thought. She replied, "It was a bit disappointing as you couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl as it didn't have any clothes on."

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Okay, here is another one, 'If you cut a worm in half it grows into two new worms'. A myth to stop children feeling bad about the poor worms. It you cut it behind that band round the middle the head and band may grow a new tail, but most likely it will die.

 

[cpp gardener]

Plants respond to music.
Plants sense other plants 'pain'. I know about trees' "root communication" from Nat Geo, though not the same.
Organically grown fruits and veggies are more nutritious.
Round-up causes cancer.
Water droplets will burn leaves in full sun.
Trays of gravel with water will raise the humidity around houseplants.
Plants grow as well without fertilizer as with it.
Eucalyptus trees poison the soil so nothing will grow under them. Black Walnuts do though.

 

[Sean Regan]

Plants respond to music.
Plants sense other plants 'pain'. I know about trees' "root communication" from Nat Geo, though not the same.
Organically grown fruits and veggies are more nutritious.
Round-up causes cancer.
Water droplets will burn leaves in full sun.
Trays of gravel with water will raise the humidity around houseplants.
Plants grow as well without fertilizer as with it.
Eucalyptus trees poison the soil so nothing will grow under them. Black Walnuts do though.

We've two large acer palmatums. The fine leaves can burn in hot sun, so on such days. I "mist" spray them with a garden hose at around 1.00pm. if I'm home. Have done for decades.

 

[marlingardener]

I beg to differ about grocery store garlic. I bought several heads from an open bin and planted them. Here are two of the heads we grew:

The flavor is stronger than store-bought, but that may be because it is air dried.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

"Plants sense other plants 'pain' "
There is an acacia that starts producing a phrenome when giraffes start eating it, the other acacias around pick it up and start to produce a bitter substance in the leaves which repels the giraffes. not quite the same I know

 

[cpp gardener]

Exactly!!! Those kinds of “communication” happen, but not ”pain”.