24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Great ideas here. For my amen, I just repeat that too vigorous watering will drive the seeds too deeply into the soil, and I think that is the best recipe for failure. If you are really desperate, you can sow the seeds into a pot and then prick them out after germination. I don't think it takes any longer than thinning carrots.

antmary explained my problems with "crusting" of soil. I would imagine this is common. I now amend where I am seeding and that helps greatly in germination. If the soil is high in organic matter I have zero issues with germination or "crusting." So your issue may be more germination related and not water.


Same here for picking early as well. Turning - spring and early summer; breakers for summer and beyond. I didn't even know the terms until Dave mentioned this. I pick like this because of the sheer amount of tomatoes weighing down the plant and keeps bugs away longer. All ripen perfectly off the vine.
Heirloom varieties and having high organic matter are the only time I leave till fully red on vine. Those are worth it.


That's a beauty. Be patient and wait for the stem to darken and the tendril to get dry. The skin will be very difficult to pierce with your fingernail. If you remember when you planted it, it typically takes 4 months to maturity. But this is just approximate. Wait for the signs.


Ah thanks Dave. You got me further than I was. It's true the description and damage caused matches the weevils, except for the jumping part.
I'll try to dig up a potato tonight and see if they really jump or they were just "falling off" after I picked up the potato/carrot.
If it's the case, I have nothing to do before winter to prevent it right? If they lay eggs in the potato or carrot and I pick those, I am picking up any remaining eggs. I just have to monitor the crops next spring to stop the adults from laying, but there is nothing I can do to the soil to fix the issue (I think).



SVB do not attack fruit unless the vines are already dead. Anyway, tromboncino is pretty SVB resistant.
I've had tromboncino as summer squash, and it's delicious. I'm guessing butternut squash as summer squash isn't as good, since there's no real tradition of using it this way. I hear that tromboncino as winter squash is OK but generally less intense in flavor than butternut squash. So, if limited space is an issue, I guess it's a matter of priorities. Since winter squash is delicious and cheap at the market but the taste of summer squash really benefits from being eaten ultra-fresh and straight out the garden, if I had no space for separate winter and summer varieties, I'd probably grow tromboncino as summer squash and just buy winter squash at market.


@jctsai8b It's a trick to get you out there to plant. :) They are predicting a cool wet and stormy season for gulfcoast and florida. Jan-March unusually hard frosts.
I'm probably going to start seeds now this weekend for transplant (mainly cabbage and lettuce). Yes, I'm that traumatized from losing things to late heat.

Ok. That definitely helps to understand for the first set of plants. Thank you very much. I can get larger containers, at least to try some squash again, maybe not the climbers. I also do have a drip irrigation system in place (previous tenant), though I didn't use it because I was trying the sub-irrigated system. Will the drip irrigation improve my water management in this case, using containers with standard drainage?
However, the second set of plants never reached more than about six inches high, including squash, and including those in new soil with lots of compost. Even at 3 inches high they were already yellow (after an initial week of green following germination). They only made small leaves, and they failed to grow further than 3-6 inches. In that case I don't believe it was space (yet). Most outer leaves beginning to die within days.

very nice accident, wayne. Sounds like the mysterious thriving volunteer syndrome.
We just actually had a similar experience. In the spring I found I could order another 5 lbs of seed potatoes and pay no more postage, so I randomly chose Salem. When planting time came, I had no room for the Salem, so I threw them in the ground (outside the garden) in the midst of quack grass, no ammending. I never hilled, just threw some hay on them. Dug them today and they are the biggest, best tasting potatoes I've every grown.
Do potatoes just really like to be ignored?

We plant seeds every Wednesday in the spring and fall. Then starting 3 weekends later, we have a fresh supply every week. For our area, 21 days is normal and the germination rate is virtually 100%. We let some of them stay in the ground for a long time and they develop pods that look like peas on them. We take those off and eat them. It really plays a trick on the mind when you grab 'peapods' and they taste like radishes.

OP here. How funny that this has been bumped up to the top. What I novice I was back then. Rhizo, it does relieve the sheepish feeling to know that they are both in the eggplant family.
I don't really remember if I yanked it or cut it down. I DO remember it smelling like death as I did so, and I had trouble getting it off my hands. Ugh.



It is damping off. Here is the Fact Sheet from Penn State Extension
Hmm, I wouldn't have thought it was damping off. I'd never seen damping off produce such noticeable white mildew at the root/soil level. If it is indeed damping off, what should I do to prevent spread? I sprayed root shield although the next day everything seems worse. Of course, I had to apply the root shield via a soluble solution, increasing moisture on the flats... Any advice is appreciated, I can't have all these things die.