A visit from a cat and a solution.

 So yesterday I saw the manx cat (I call it Max) come running from the garden area as I was going in. Well this is evidence of what he was doing when I wasn't there in the last twenty four hours..

Nothing solid luckily

I dug around just to be sure there wasn't any solids and smoothed the soil out. I don't want to go out and buy mulch at this point as much as I've been saying I need to. There's this pile of wood against the wall you see....

Homemade cat deterrent

I put a few more in front of the plants and a few between that aloe (still haven't moved it dang!) and then watered it all down really well. They needed watering anyway so it worked well. Luckily the two little marigold seedlings survived and water was caught between the sitcks so it worked out.

The zucchini is still chugging along well.

It has grown, the flower shows

It's almost two inches long now but far from picking size. None of the other flowers are fruiting type. Sadness. A reverse harem? A stable of...naaah. But it does show how fast this plant grows! The last picture from yesterday showed the bud was green and only about an inch long, today it's already bloomed and closed up again! This is how people get football size zucchini in a day.

Getting bigger!

I found another tomato hidden under the leaves so that makes three out of that entire bush, if it had the right nutrients I'd have double that I suspect. I might have to go out and water it every day now given the heat. I also picked three more peppers so this is my harvest so far:

A pinch of peppers

 

I'm sure they taste fine but I'm picking them small (maybe inch and a half long) to give more energy to the plant to make more flowers. That's how it works you know. 

When a plant is producing flowers it's reproduction (I covered that before) so when it produces fruit, all the energy goes into that fruit for continuing it's lineage (whatever). If it's a long season plant, like peppers, you pick some of the older ones off no matter the size in order to signal the plant it can produce more flowers and extend the season.

The same goes with roses and ornamental flowers. Some rose bushes are already forming rose hips (seed pods) which for them means it's the end of the season, I'm done, time to go to sleep. Problem is in San Diego our rose season is at the mid point right now and you can get another crop of flowers if you do a half pruning, a little shaping and take any rose hips off. Give it a good supplement booster and you'll have flowers in October.

I also took another soil sample from the zucchini bed and it is currently settling. As you can see it is mostly clay particles with some organic matter and heavier clay at the bottom.

This is going to turn out very similar to the last test I suspect.  More organic amendment is definitely needed.

Science again!

I'm wondering if potatoes and carrots would do well with a bit more amendment. They like silty sandy soil but with rich nutrients. I wouldn't plant potatoes in the ground, too much work, but might do a half hole then build up from there. The zucchini bed might be good for that, or maybe the pepper side of the bed. 

In the winter the wall is going to be shading the south and east side more so that might be better to grow herbs and peas. Herbs, I think the only one I would grow is cilantro, which I tried picking some of the seeds this morning while walking Rocky and he started running before I could get them in my pocket. Any cilantro that might come up in the lawn is going to get mowed down. Forgot to grab more seeds on the way back from gardening. Oh well.

 

Variegated ivy

 So I'm sure you've seen the small pots of variegated ivy at garden centers in small post, sometimes displayed indoors with the houseplants. Well guess what grows just as well in an outdoor situation? It doesn't grow huge like the standard ivy but still covers the ground well. Nice touch for a partial shaded area as long as you can keep on top of it. 

Oh, did you know that ivy flowers and has fruit clusters when it is mature? That's not mature ivy you say? Why no, it isn't! Ivy actually doesn't mature until it has grown vertically for several years and then the leaves change shape and it starts to flower and fruit.

 

English Ivy leaves and fruit

 I've seen this myself at the nursery and around town on various tall walls and palm trees. In fact there was some growing on the back fence of my apartment when we moved in and about six months later they did something to it and it all died. Possibly cut it off at the base but there's a problem with that. They now have dead wood growing on a wood fence. So many problems with that too numerous to talk about right now (besides I already covered some before).

Sounds like I'm repeating myself here so time to close it up and look for new topics for next time.

                                    

Today is a good day to have a good day.

Brief funk is gone for the time being for various reasons getting a new purpose to my free time and...I have a zucchini!

Purple-Girl   Red-Boy

 

Glad I am finally able to show what it looks like. One of many flowers so have to hope more are on the way. Notice also that at that stage the flower is barely even coloring yet. If it grows as fast as I remember I'll have a pickable fruit in about a week. Seriously. 

I got two more peppers off the jalapeño still smaller than market size but don't dare leave them on much longer. The plant is just fine by the way showing no signs of the trauma of yesterday after a good watering. Soil is still very damp so will water tomorrow.

I trimmed some of the lower leaves off the zucchini but since I don't have proper support for it I might just let it go as a bush.

 

Getting huge!

There are dozens of flowers

 Tomato plant could not be happier other than busting with fruit. I might have to get a stake to hold it up in the soft soil due to it leaning from the weight of all the branches.

Possibly I have two marigold seeds coming up?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is why I keep track of what weed seedlings look like if I plant seeds. It could be a spurge but then the leaves are wrong so will wait and see. If they are marigolds when they get bigger I'll transplant them. Not surprised where they're coming up, the one on the left is about where I threw the seeds, the one on the right as you can see is near the tag for the pepper. About where the water runoff went.

Nerium oleander

This is a prolific and beautiful bloomer, and yes it is an oleander. I remember when we moved in admiring how pretty it was. 'EEEK IT'S POISONOUS!!' Only if you eat it.  Give me a break, I had a house that had three oleander bushes on the fence, I raised three kids and two dogs in that house and no one got sick. If my girls went out and picked up the flowers off the ground I told them not to put their fingers in their mouth and wash their hands when they're done. Oleanders as some people have seen were planted in freeway medians because they are so resilient and drought tolerant, create a great screen and you can just leave them alone and they'll flourish (see exhibit A above)'

Unfortunately in the last ten or so years a disease has been attacking them carried by a sucking insect. It's called Oleander Scorch and looks like partially burned leaves but this is more like malaria for plants. Because it's a bacterial disease it's difficult to treat and cure. It gets into the system of the plant and kills each branch to the ground. The new branches and stems seem fine and a lot of people think they have a new plant that is going to be okay. The bush could die after first symptoms appear anywhere from 3-5 years. This is why you see some stretches of bushes on the freeway dying or being removed altogether.

Meanwhile in other news,

A for effort, C for execution.

 

A unique and creative way to water that saves time. Two oscillating sprinklers hooked up to hoses and attached to the overhead frame.  Unfortunately whoever did this didn't realize they could have done this with one sprinkler not two. There are tables of plants on either side of the pole, one oscillating sprinkler could have covered both sides. As a result water was being sprayed onto the pavement on the right side. It gets fiendishly hot in this area so it also serves to cool things down I suppose. I had the wrong shoes on and there was water running liberally on the pavement and couldn't walk around as much as I wanted.

Went to the big box garden store to see if they had any beans already growing and they didn't I then stopped and thought..I really don't eat beans. I'll eat peas, but beans not so much, unless they are kidney or pinto beans for cooking. Green beans, not so much. I don't have the room or supplies for growing a pole bean since if I planted it where I threw the marigolds, it would shade the other two plants. So will have to wait until fall/winter to plant peas, radish and carrots. And of course till in more compost and fertilizer, maybe even some high nitrogen type. I will NOT resort to using MG because that is a fast fix and not healthy for the soil in the long run. Not using manure either and speaking of that, I looked at the ingredients for two products at the store again to compare the ingredients. Short memory and all that.

Kellog's Amend

MG Performance In Ground Soil

 

The fertilizer component is just from what is in it, nothing added and it is miniscule compared to what plants actually need. I only just now noticed that there is a not on the Kellog's for the weight! All these years, I have a rough comfortable lifting weight of about 40 lbs. The product has a dry weight of 36 pounds, and the MG is 30 lbs. I'll be dipped. 

I noticed that all of the MG Performance products were yellow tagged which means they are being discontinued or there is a price change coming up. So if you see yellow price tags on HD items, they're not ordering more so grab what you can if you need it.

So funny when I was working and get flagged down by a little old lady to help with soils, 'oh dear go find one of those strong young men to help, you don't have to lift that!' Right, lady this is my job, what soil do you need. The only one I couldn't handle was the huge brick of soil amendment from Kellog, that had to be 45-50 pounds and a bear to load on a cart. I always asked what soil and they'd point in the direction of the entire fence of product, 'just a bag of soil over here'. 'Which one!' There forty some products on that fence line and I need to know specifically which one so I can call for help if needed! If it were one of these bags, pfft, easy peasy how many you need? Four? okay..you only have a grocery cart..this will be a challenge..or worse, 'oh I don't have a cart'.  ::facepalm:: adding to my frustration for the day, 'I'll go get a cart for you ma'am'. Kind of like going into the store without your wallet knowing you'll be buying something. Really?

So that's it for today, I've got some other writing to do and geek out about having a zucchini growing finally!

Stay cool cucumbers!

Still on the down side but plant trivia continues!

 Just got the email I didn't get a job I was more than qualified for. My personal garden blog continues because that's what I like to do. I talk about how to take care of plants, my plant successes, plant trivia, what people do to plants that should be criminal and so much more. 

And then there's this:

Euphorbia canariensis

 Took another trip to Balboa Park for other reasons and walked through the Desert Garden near the rose garden. This looks so twisted and horrid it's wonderful. The Euphorbia family is one of the largest and most diverse family of plants. This twisted tree is a cousin to... the poinsettia, yes it is. Poinsettia is Euphorbia pulcherrima and there are so many other plants, the common spurge, weed in garden and more is also a euphorbia. Wild and crazy plants right?

 

Brachychiton rupestris?

Back side.

This is another crazy plant native to Africa, the Bottle Tree. Several of the different varieties go by that and I think this was a recent transplant due to the caution tape around it and the roots being exposed. Absolutely amazing tree that can survive being almost completely hollow (more on that reason later). 

Don't ask me about cactus, I could look it up but just thought these were wonderful shapes and colors. It was hot and had to go find some shade. Believe it or not this area is right across the road from the Natural History Museum and where I learned the names of drought tolerant plants almost twenty years ago. A large stand of ocatillo was missing sadly or I didn't go far enough along the path. It was huge and I suspect the time difference it's entirely possible they either moved it, it got sick or they just removed it.  Plant trivia: ocatillo stems can be cut off and stuck in the ground without any prep whatever and it will grow again. That's how in Arizona there are sometimes living fences of the plant. It grows tall and straight stems incredibly long so why the heck not cut it down and use it as a fence?

Dragonflies have been flitting about outside, guess it's a summer thing. Closest large body of water is twenty minutes away. A drainage canal is down the block with some water in it so I suspect that may be where they are coming from.

Euphorbia pulcherrima

 

Yes indeed... there is a poinsettia growing in one of the beds where I live. Lord knows how long it's been there but it's plugging along and 'flowering' at it's correct time. It's only about three feet tall if that and those red 'petal's are actually colored leaves. What we think is the flower are modified leaves surrounding a very tiny flower that is insignificant. Through hybridizing and cultivation and cuttings we get the Christmas plant everyone recognizes. It didn't always look like that though but not going into that topic now. Short topics for today, hands are a bit cranky (too many dill pickle chips) and need to get something to eat, but not before checking on the garden to see if I need to water. Hoping for some female flower buds on my zucchini. 🤞

Edit: Went out with water pistol because I knew they would need it and discovered the pepper plant had been pushed over. Tomato was fine but it was like someone had stepped on it or just pushed it over. It was on the wilted side so I put it back upright and packed the soil around it better.

One small pepper broke off so that means something had to have pushed it hard. Stems weren't broken just like something sat on it and shoved it over. I picked one of the larger peppers anyway just because I'm impatient. 

 

Pepper looking sad.

One small pepper broke off so that means something had to have pushed it hard. Stems weren't broken just like something sat on it and shoved it over. I picked one of the larger peppers anyway just because I'm impatient.

 Then I saw the zucchini plant(s):

 

I'm a plant person and should know they grow quickly but I haven't been able to grow anything successfully for years. Still astonishing and gives me a sense of accomplishment.

I swear it's doubled in size from three days ago! It's a happy plant! Still no visible female flowers though but everyone got a good watering at least and that reminds me I wanted to take a soil sample of that bed too. Oh well. This is approaching the 2x2 foot size and it's not even three weeks!  

Hope the pepper doesn't die.

Not as many rants and perhaps meloncholy

 On the same note as butchering trees and shrubs, there is the trimming of grasses that really shouldn't be trimmed.

Liriope muscari aka Giant Lilyturf

This particular grass like plant can get as big as two feet high and wide, sometimes has a stem of purple flowers and is a really tough and good plant for low water areas. Because this particular one is near a sidewalk along with another one, the gardeners trim it back along small paths in the dirt. It looks like a bad haircut that needs to grow out. Again another example of a plant that may have been put in the right place but over time the size is misunderstood with what is going on around it and it just is trimmed that way from now on. Sigh.

There are also some Paperbark trees in the complex behind us that were thinned and topped to just above the eaves of the building. If these trees were left to grow their mature  height they would be double that size or more. (30 x 20 feet)

Melaleuca sp. possibly quinquinervia

It is distantly related to Eucalyptus both being in the myrtle family. Yes indeed. You've likely seen this tree everywhere with the spongy peeling bark sometimes coming off in small sheets. Anyway, people have used it as hedges and screens. But whyyy? Why plant a tree like that and then have to prune it to keep it within a managed size? Because people.

For the melancholy I believe an old friend of mine from forty years ago has passed away. Rather cryptic note on another persons page in facebook clued me in. She was a bigger than life lady and hosted weekly open house for anyone to drop by in her small house. My kids grew up knowing her and all the people we knew that dropped by.

She took up being a florist out of her home because she loved flowers and it was a way to support her habit, in her words. She was the one that introduced me to Costco and in a roundabout way I met my first husband at the gatherings. She had a Ponderosa Lemon growing in her side yard that was sour as can be (the lemons get bigger than a grapefruit) because if anyone came to the house in a foul mood from work or whatever she'd tell them to go 'talk to the tree, it needs to be more sour '. It was a way for people to get rid of their ugly mood and negative energy outside the house so everyone could enjoy being there and have fun.

She had a rare climbing rose growing on the front of her house called Belle Portugaise, Belle of Portugal Rose.

She was very proud of that rose bush and it's one of my memories of this wonderful lady. They lived in San Jose for decades and then her husband got a job working in Seattle and they moved probably about ten or fifteen years ago. If not for facebook I would never have known we lost contact when I got divorced and moved to San Diego.

People sometimes want to plant a tree or bush in memory of a pet, friend or loved one that passed away. I actually encountered a couple that was buying an orange tree that they would plant on the first birthday of their first child.  Plants, like people, need care in order to thrive and grow to their full potential. If you wish to do a memorial planting, please be sure that it will be cared for properly and if you don't want to plant a tree, consider a favorite flower that they liked and plant that. Even if it's an annual, you can plant it every year as a reminder of the passing of time. My mom's favorite flower was sweet peas and was able to grow some in a tiny garden before she passed away. Oddly enough when my daughter was getting married she wanted sweet peas in her bouquet (sadly it was August and way out of season) and I had never told her about my mother's flower. She said they were her favorite flower too.

Other than the Shakesperean and Victorian meaning of flowers think of what flowers mean to you and what memories they bring. So many people hate geraniums because their grandmother had them all over and they associate it with being old or just don't like the way they look. Fine... but what if they were your grandmothers favorite flower and she wanted them planted on her grave? 

Anyway, flowers have meaning and so do words, remember those that you love with not only words but actions and their legacy in a garden.

Just a garden rant post.

 People are starting to scream about removing lawns and replacing them with meadows and weeds and such (I touched on this briefly before). I am in an ornery mood this morning and posted comments on two different other posts about plants.

First was an indoor planter with four upright tubes to plant your own veggies indoors. It costs $800. You will never have the quality and quantity you need and it is limited to smaller things like herbs and lettuces. Can't grow tomatoes, carrots or other root crops, just useless leafy things.

Needless to saymuch like other things found on facebook it is showing a photoshopped and unrealistic image that people will be greatly disappointed in their own results. My response in a nutshell was, patronize local small farms or community gardens instead. 

Yes you can grow things indoors but it is more time consuming and does not produce prime results unless you are very lucky.

The other post was about dandelions. It was a cute story about a girl in grade school who told her friends to bring zipolock baggies of danelion fluff and they would release them because (Catholic school) they were helping God spread the seeds. Wellllll chaos of course erupted  when they did that and there were more dandelions the next season on the property of the school.

Now that in itself makes anyone who fights weeds in their yard cringe but then someone added, 'Grow more dandelions and less lawns'. 

We've talked about this before.

I commented that dandelions do not make good lawn substitute but didn't go into details. That wasn't what the post was about.

I have talked about using native grasses and flowers as an acceptable replacement for finely manicured lawns for several reasons. The downside is people always have unrealistic expectations about a garden because of pictures in magazines and shows that present a garden in it's prime but no follow up photos.  

Having gone through two decades of watching plants in the nursery go through the seasons I can state for a fact that you need to do research to know what it's going to look like in the 'off' season (for perennials and bushes and such). 

A good example is on Japanese maple trees it says they have 'interest all year round'. Some people seem to think that means it has leaves in different colors all year round. No, that's not what it means. I explained that to a lady and she said, 'well I don't want something that drops the leaves in winter'. Very well then but she wasn't satisfied with any other choices because they didn't have the pretty red color the maples did.

The average person is inherently lazy about having to actually work in their yard. It runs about 60% lazy or fastidious and 40% actually want and like to work in the yard. It's that 60% that wears retail nursery people down due to sheer numbers. And if you ask any other person who works in a garden center of some sort, they will concur.

So for my rants today also includes the travesty of tree pruning. Landscape architects design areas around complexes, shopping malls and parking lots to include shrubs and trees for shade and appeal. You know what they do after that? Hack the trees into tiny balls that afford no shade whatsoever and most of them are deciduous trees to boot!

Case in point: Chinese Elms and Carrotwood trees.

 

Apparently there is an organization called ANSI, American National Standards Institute that in addition to other things they oversee, determine safety standards regarding walkways and streets. The second image there is one that is shown referencing ANSI. 

Well let me tell you from a pedestrian and plant geek perspective, safety is all well and good but if you've got a sidewalk and building within 8 feet of a tree and the tree is a variety that gets twenty feet wide and forty feet tall, that is the WRONG tree for that spot.

Sigh. My professor explained that the difference between a Landscape Architect and an Landscape Designer is the first one learns architecture first then plants, the second starts with plants and then learns design from the plants. THAT's the way to do it. You have to know what you're working with in order to design correctly for the space.

Okay I think my rant is over. Time to get a pineapple popsicle and relax for a bit.

 

Flowers and fruits oh my!

 Tomatoes are progressing nicely and wondering if it's going to truly be an indeterminate size. It's growing beyond the cage but might not be much longer before it's going to stop. Zucchini has flowers as I thought!

Sadness, they are all males

 

Can only hope that females come later. How can I tell what they are? Female flowers will be slightly bigger and have a very prominent bump behind the flower. These flowers all meet the stem neatly with only a slight bulge for the calyx (leafy bits that enclosed the flower bud).
 

 

The plant is going gangbusters in size of course, so this may be another symptom of having wonky nutrients in the soil. Tomatoes are still plugging along and so are the peppers.

Hard to see the tiny one hiding above.

 

 

 

Seems like they aren't getting bigger

Yes the pepper is looking droopy, sun was full on so both plants were sagging but I watered yesterday so not going to worry about it,

Can't say that the male flowers on the zucchini is due to overwatering so it's likely the same symptoms as the tomato. No nitrogen and yet low in the other two nutrients. I suddenly realized why they are so green and growing! The color of the soil! It's a reddish color which geologically says there is a lot of iron in the soil! Bingo! Iron gives you nice healthy strong plants that are green as can be. They are almost overloading on iron. It would cost me $60 to send a soil test to the lab to figure that out. College science for the win!

So I'll say I may have some tomatoes by August and peppers should be ready by then as well, maybe sooner. Need to likely boost the zucchini with some bone meal if I want it to catch up. Just might break down and get a bag of mulch/compost anyway. It will help keep the soil cool and moist as well as be used for amendment when these plants are done. 

I got a complement on how healthy my plants are from one of the tenants that lives in the building the garden is next to. She asked if I was the one that put the sign up for the lemon tree and told her no, it actually needs some good food. 

Which is another reason why it is likely doing well but not as well as expected. Can't be a lack of iron in the soil. I should test the soil around that as well just to see what that's doing. Oh and if you don't remember how it looks:

With a bush like this, the branches are shading the soil under it, therefore keeping moisture in the soil longer and the temperature more even.  The area under the branches is the canopy and the edge where the branches and leaves end is the drip line. That is where most of the newer roots are and where fertilizer should be applied and water focused.

Now having said that, veggies have very fine roots and spread out to gather in as much water and food as possible. When I fed the bigger tomato I put food all around and as far under the bush as possible simply because of how much root area there is. I never put it right near the stem or trunk, useless to do that not to mention difficult.  Trying not to disturb the roots very much but making sure the fertilizer gets mixed into the soil (I failed a bit on that) so when it gets watered the fertilizer is right there and able to feed immediately.

I remember wanting to plant beans but guess that's not happening. I can hardly wait until the fall to plant carrots and onions and lettuce and stuff. Going to need a lot more fertilizer and compost in order for them to do well. Low nitrogen is good for root crops but high iron is not. They need high phosphorus (bone meal) to build a good root. Sandy/clay soil is good for potatoes and root crops but again, nutrients need to be more balanced.

Ah science... soil science and plant science. And yet I never took actual botany in high school or college. I took plant ID and landscape design, hoseplanat ID, drafting, CAD (1 class is all I needed) but no actual botany because I was going for design. Some botany was covrered, basics of plant growth, how and why stuff. The rest I learned working at a nursery for almost 20 years, listening to more experienced people, doing my own research. Having a basically curious mind wanting to know why and what and how so I can be better informed and pass on correct information to people. Not that they really wanted details but customers there were looking for answers and help rather than people going to big box store for cheap plants and products that are less expensive to treat them.

Oh if you ever go to anyplace like Disneyland or Sea World or any other amusement park like that, take a little extra time to notice the landscaping. My favorite planting at Sea World was a beach scene done all in plants and sand. That's it, wonderful arrangement and somewhere I  might even have a hard copy picture of it because that's what we had at the time. You know, real cameras.

And then there's this

We have a worm! No hope for the marigolds. And stuff.

I had to water today since it's been so hot and didn't get a chance yesterday and I think the day before..yikes!

Put some fertilizer down, likely hedged on the less is more amount but some is better than none. Looking over the tomato and what do my eyes spy?

 

Not too camouflaged are you?

Probably about an inch long

So I gently picked it up with an old plant tag that was lying on the ground and moved it carefully to the purslane/spurge/mint bed. The mint by the way looks like it's being attacked by spider mites..or maybe just mud being splashed on it. Not in the mood to worry about that as long as it doesn't get on my plants. Look how big the zucchini is getting! With definite flower buds, gender unknown.

See the grass hanging over the border on the right? Yeah I pulled those off. Those were grass flower heads with potential seeds and not going to have that in my bed. 

So as dry as the dirt is the marigold seeds don't have a chance. Not going to worry about it and may well go get either marigolds or something to put there. Still don't want to buy a 2 cf bag of mulch to put around the plants. First, I would have to haul it from my car to the garden which I could probably do, but not in this heat. Second, it is likely way too much for the two small areas and lord knows what would happen to it if I just left a half bag of it out for whoever or whatever to dig into it.

Still haven't had a chance to ask about the log pile. I mentioned before that there's a lizard that is using that as a home but I also want to build more beds. That may have to wait until the fall when it's cooler. And by 'Fall' I mean possibly not until November as we get hot weather all the way to October when the second fire season starts.

Because of my plant searches and topics more gardening videos and articles are popping up on my phone google feed. One of them (laughable) is 'Martha Stewarts 5 steps to growing tomatoes at home'. First you need about five gardeners, and at least two actual experts to advise you on what to do. Because let me tell you, first you live in one of the richest mansion areas of the northeast, 'The Hamptons'. Second you are not an expert on anything. I watched her 'Thanksgiving special' where she fixed the food (with three other family members) and showed off her china cabinet and a table that sat fifteen and whatever. So call me a bit jealous or just whatever I don't follow advice from anyone unless they're dealing with the same conditions I am.

Now, that's not to say she likely had five very generic things to do that anyone else could tell you and there are people that just adore anything she does. Go knock yourself out. I opened the article and it's apparently her new series 'Down and Dirty' and first up she is teaching one of the Kardashians how to grow tomatoes. Major eye roll here... heavy sigh, close the article.

 

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an 'expert' I have my experiences to draw from, usually giving what works from hundreds of people, actual more experienced people and using techniques and products that I personally know works for me. I give anecdotes, suggestions, ideas and bona fide references to things that work. Gee wait a minute..doesn't that make me an 'expert'?

 

This is why you always have to check to see where the person is gardening and their experience doing basic stuff. There are even local gardening experts that I take with a grain of salt because they are basing their experience from what worked fifty years ago. Or more! Gardening and what to use has changed drastically just in the past ten years so using the same methods from fifty years ore more ago may not be necessary.

A lot of people (older immigrants) are going by what their 'gardener' or their father/grandfather tells them they need to use. Manure. 

'I need chicken/steer/cow manure' for what? 'oh going to put in garden for fertilizer'. Um...no. You want to stink up the entire yard and have dogs rolling around in your dirt and digging it up, go for it. Manures are still sold because yes, they are good soil amendments but not in small yards. I usually give up and let them use it. Not my yard, not my problem.

As a component of and combined with other compost and amendments yes.  'My father used this all the time and it was fine'. Of course he did and that was fifty plus years ago from the farm down the road (or his own farm) that didn't feed the cows anything but alfalfa, grass and whatever was processed from the fields. You can't trust any of the manures commercially made unless it says it is from an organic farm which is costly and people don't want expensive 'cow poop'. 

There are several versions of organic fertilizers and soils that have guaranteed organic stuff in it including chicken manure or steer manure. It STIINKS! but it's good sh*t hehe.

Oh speaking of stink, since I started working that bed, the smell has gone away from what whatever was there before. Possibly from the cats not using it anymore so there is that. 

Another note, if you are going to work in the garden, you are going to get your hands and shoes dirty at some point. Something else people (mostly women) have a problem with, 'I don't want to get my hands dirty' well you are putting plants in soil soooo, 'do I have to?' Sigh.

I have realized over the years that as short as my nails are, I hate getting dirt in them and on my hands. I started wearing gloves and it was great. Used to not care until I worked at the nursery then realized gloves good. Dirty, rough and chapped hands is bad. So gloves that fit and protect are good, have a grip on the palm and fingers but dry out quickly. I dislike leather gloves unless I'm using a shovel or other tools. I used to have a pair of gloves from the nursery called 'Foxgloves' they were long gauntlet types from knit fabric and grip bumps on the palm and fingers. Great stuff for general use but not very protective from thorns. Lost those when I was fired.

Oh head protection too! Cranial radiation protection is a must. Lost my favorite hat too.