24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Some pics... the Genovese Basil is the one that looks awful...the Caesar Basil (the last photo) looks much better. Leaves are much larger. Maybe because it's growing faster its less susceptible.





I also would guess slug damage, though I have seen pillbugs eat seedlings too. Have you grown Genovese before? This is my first year trying it and it is by far the most vigorous of the 4 varieties I have (red lettuce leaved, sweet, and spicy globe being the others). I always start my basil indoors 8 weeks before I plant to put them out.

Birds, probably black birds I'm guessing, are stripping the leaves off basil plants, the tops off just sprouted carrot plants, the tops off of tomato plants, and some potato plants and spinach. My garden is grown in containers on the rooftop of a 7 story building in the old warehouse district in Kansas City, Missouri. The only animals around are birds, pigeons, blackbirds, sparrows and mocking birds. So I'm guessing the blackbirds and maybe also the sparrows are the culprits.

For the first few pics, I'd wait till they are taller/bigger. At this stage, they are still vulnerable to snails, pillbugs, even birds that come in and around the seedlings.
For the last pic, they are ready to be thinned out, but I would not thin out based on leaves touching each other or being near each other. I would thin out based on the estimated root width. If that is unknown, then go with the suggestions on the packet or others who have grown similar plants.

Yeah 8.0 is pretty good for well water. My well water is almost 9.0. Most city water is still 7.5-7.6 nationwide.
Compost is a soil amendment, not a fertilizer. It only provides nutrients to plant IF the bed has an active soil food web, an active mirco-herd of bacteria and soil residents, to convert the compost to nutrients forms. There are 100's of organic nutrient supplements (fertilizers) available to feed your plants but you have to supply them.
Now that some soil has been added to the bed a soil food web will gradually begin to develop but it will take a couple of years. And you have to keep it fed too so it can feed the plants - that means regular applications of fresh compost to the gardens - 2-3" a couple of times a year just spread out on top.
Given the mix you have and the limited soil you added no soil test is really needed IMO (it is the home test kit that threw you) as your compost will naturally break down to about 7.0 which is fine. The only thing that skew your pH up is if the soil you added is highly acidic/alkaline. So if you want to test something, test your native soil.
Dave

I'm learning a lot here. I used to live in Northern California and frankly all I had to do was plunk the plants into the ground and they grew like gangbusters. My garden was beautiful. I started to think I was a natural....then I moved to Idaho. Dave, what nutrient supplement (fertilizer) do you like best?

Barrie, that makes sense. I have added a lot of aged chicken manure to the soil, and it's the wettest and darkest place in the garden. Struck me as odd though, since I have some tiny pepper seedlings planted right next to them and they are thriving. I would've thought them to be more sensitive.

After observation, it seems everything except the celery and parsley has trouble there. Blackberries leaves got brown spots, peas did very poorly, peppers are ok, but healthier a bit farther up the slope. The spot is also possibly a bit of parking lot drain off as well. Maybe junk builds up there.


Whatever it is it doesn't look normal or good. You mentioned you prune your plants, I won't give you any hate, I will caution you that you need to clean/sterilize your pruners between plants. If that is a disease you could easily spread it between plants with dirty pruners.

Actionclaw, I too started from seed with reasonably good results, no complaints here. Previously I had pruchased a half-dozen nursery-grown potted plants that were two years old for entirely too much money, in hindsight. So, yes, you can pot up your seedlings and crowns, but be aware you'll need deep pots because asparagus produce long roots. And don't keep them there for more than a year.
I don't believe 'gus form adventitious [sp?] roots as do tomatoes. Never seen them anyway.
At one year old, some of my seedlings produced one stalk, others produced eight. Go figure, but's not a 1:1 seed-to-stalk ratio. As they grow older, a crown is produced that will send up additional stalks and the roots get deeper and deeper.
Hope this helps.


Well, it's just a matter of farming grass for animals to eat, instead of tomatoes and asparagus for humans to eat. Why, grass grows year round, so it's a nutritionally intensive policy that never allows for (gasp!) bare ground. Of course, the law should require that such grass gardens be well stocked with cattle, sheep, and goats, as well.
From a dedicated front yard vegetable gardener.

I'm not sure if anyone had mentioned the answer to your question "why is everyone in North America so obsessed with lawns...", I couldn't read all the comments, but IMHO and keep in mind I'm a bit of a critic and skeptic of the government with healthy amount of cynic tossed in for good measure, that pushing lawns on people lowers their independence from the capitalist global food market and their food security, forcing them to get the primary sources of their diet from companies which pay a tax to the government for the sale of consumable goods. Chickens, eggs, veggies... these are about as ambitious as you can get in the suburbs with a decent sized yard and tolerant neighbours. You have to move out to the country to escape restrictions like these on land rights. Anyone with 10+ or even less acres probably has thought of having chickens at the least, and most likely has some kind of small garden project, if not a full blown garden and/or greenhouse on their property. Go bigger and you get cows, etc. but then you enter back into the consumer culture by having to buy the feed, medical care etc. unless you have a bartering system established within some micro-tight knit community of local farmers near you.
Same answer would be for the government indirectly discouraging the use of renewable resources to curve energy costs. They don't like when your dollars get pulled out of the global market. They want your money, and they want it now!

Missouri Botanical Garden has a good article about E.B. at http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/diseases/fungal-spots/early-blight-of-tomato.aspx

Not clear that it is well spelled out, but the correct approach to early blight that is not ruining the whole plant is to carefully remove all diseased foliage with scissors (don't just pull it off), taking care not to touch healthy foliage. Throw the diseased foliage in the garbage pail, well away from your garden. DO NOT COMPOST!! Wash your hands with soap before going back to your garden, and wash your scissors as well.
If you want to hit it with fungicide, go ahead, but if your plants are mostly healthy, you shouldn't need to do that. The word "blight" sounds evil, but it usually isn't really a big deal as long as it doesn't get out of control.


wish i could take credit, but i just dropped them on the ground and kept them watered. they did take a while to germinate.
i planted three packages-we all know how much seed that is-and other than a couple of oakleaf the simpson was the only germinator. it is, by the way, a remarkably tasty lettuce. we've been eating a couple of heads a day.
tomorrow hamburg parsley dating from 1993. it's hydrating in a glass of water right now. and then all the ancient seeds are done. yay!!!

The tree is not shading the garden at all. It is located in our neighbor's back yard. We had this horrid wind and whipping rain and cool temps Saturday night. I believe the wind whipped all those brown needles into our garden & entire back yard. I've heard two things. 1. The needles will kill tomato & cucumber plants. (A woman said she couldn't plant in her garden & had to find a new space because the neighbor's fir needles) 2. Then I read they are wonderful mulch. Arghhhh???? I don't even know what kind of fir tree it is. It just looks like an old, giant Christmas tree.

Can't you ask the neighbor what type of tree it is. Or at least post a pic of it as most can easily be identified. Fir trees are very different from pine trees in appearance and there are many pics of both types available on the web so you can ID it. Although most all evergreens have some degree of allelopathic effect it is in the soil around the roots, not the needles which is why pine needles make a good mulch. Never heard of either "killing tomatoes".
Otherwise all you can do is rake it all up and dispose of it.
Dave

I'm pretty sure the OP means the building/planting part is done. It looks great! The fence around it is very sharp and the mulch makes it look very tidy. How do you get inside to work? I assume there are gates somewhere? I don't see paths, so do you just walk on the mulch between the plants?

Yes, sorry I wasn't more specific, I know the work and time gardens need, I was simply making a statement, thank you to the people who actually understood my post and took the time to make a intelligent response..... And Kathy, yes there is a gate about 3 feet off the shed, and since I don't have a lot of space, I sacrifice paths and do walk on mulch, but whatever works, right? Thanks again guys.....




I'm going to beg off, if you don't mind. You are making a very simple concept into something unnecessarily complex.
Ok you guys, I guess I'll leave the banter to Uni and off the gardening forum. :)