23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I am not going to do garlic this year but have done it in the past.
I never ordered seed cloves. Just used store bought and did fine.
About planting time: Anytime from now before the ground freezes is fine. But I plant a bit early so the seeds develop root system and possibly some green top before frost. This way they'll be ready to take off in the spring.
seysonn
The first year I grew garlic I picked up a multi-pack in a mesh tube at Aldi's (a discount grocery store) and planted those....lots of cloves for very little money and available when I made a spur of the moment decision to include garlic in the garden. It was planted in October and grew fine and produced good sized bulbs the following July. Several inches of mixed grass and leaf mulch was put on soon after planting. The garlic sent up scapes which surprised me since I thought most grocery store garlic, and especially cheap multi-pack kinds were softneck varieities. If yours scapes, cut them when they are soft and tender. It will help with producing larger bulbs.
I've selected the larger cloves from the larger bulbs to plant each year and get great bulbs every year. I've also added some named varieties from other sources with varied flavors and looks. But none of them grow any better than my original.
I know others report poor growth from grocery store garlic, but that has not been my experience.
Good luck with yours. Garlic is fun to grow!
You can try anything but there are a few things to bear in mind. Obviously there is the toxicity issue. It won't make your vegetables poisonous to grow Delphiniums near them but there is always the risk of some leaves getting into your basket when you harvest or a child thinking that if it's in the veggie garden it must be food.
Secondly, Delphiniums are tall and could shade your crops. Thirdly, Delphiniums are perennials so the cultivations and amendments that go on in a vegetable garden would disturb them, unless of course you put them in with perennial vegetables.
I was concerned mostly with the toxicity being in the soil as well! We are all grown-ups now and I most likely will be the only ones tending the gardens or harvesting them!
As far as sun, how our veggie beds face, they should get sun most of the day till around the afternoon sometime without shading out any crops! I read to keep eyes on how the sun changes from season to season and during times of the day in a book last year so I try to pay attention! lol and since they aren't big veggie raised beds, i was planning on fertilizing ( miracle gro but a friend also recommended garden tone) and perhaps working manure compost in the Spring of the following year. I am very new so forgive me if this sounds wrong or not enough! I plan on doing some reading up on veggies before I officially plan all the raised beds out.
~Michael
heavenlyfarm
my "sweet 100 "tomato plants are hardy volunteers. they traveled here to this house via compost... when we moved.... so many of them. so sturdy and reliable. but of course they come up later than transplants I buy....
also this year some not dug from last year some potato.. not sure of the variety.
Oh my mustard greens came back from" went to seed" in my mini hoop houses, raised beds.
I wish I had ground cherries... a lady gave me a few dried .. They got lost in the move....
Oh also my lime basil came too. of course gobs of purple basil everywhere. they were mostly volunteers from previous owner( I guess, cant ask as she died a year or so before we bought this money pit all consuming property and house. LOL)
just chiming in. wish I had so of yall voiunteers, sounds great......Im jealous, LOL
Oh how do yall identify what is a volunteer from 'weeds" I mistked a weed for rubarhb, and another for okra
Look into square foot gardening and/or EarthBoxes if you are just starting out. These are easy entry points into veggie gardening that are well documented and will get you hooked.
Here is one of my 4'x4' SFG beds that I planted out in early September. Bringing in excellent greens from it right now:
just keep this in mind ...
rototilling sand into clay.. is just about making cement ... or adobe bricks ...
when it rains like heck.. where does the water go.. IN the soil ... or runs away???
dont foget.. for vining type plants like you note ... you can make a small bed of good soil ... and use the sand area for the vines .... if you get my drift
your cheapest alternative.. might be to get a yard or two of good soil delivered.. and move it back there... and make a raised bed of about 12 inches after it settles....which might mean putting 15 to 18 inches to allow settling ...
many of the things listed above.. can nickle and dime you into spending much more.. than you ever intend.. by the time you collect it all ...
but.. if you can find it for free.. and have a truck.. and add you own free labor.. many good suggestions above . ..
but all that said... just plant some seeds in spring... who knows ... maybe this is much to do about nothing.. since we can see.. smell.. feel your soil ... and you might be making a mountain out of a mole hill .. it gets tricky when we rely on the words of a neophyte ... when making presumptions ...
but it all starts with that perk test...
ken
ps: yes.. many of us.. can smell a good or bad soil .... go figure ... a soil that does not drain well... will have a rotting smell... swamp like ....
PPS: btw... while you are perking.. make a snowball of the soil ... it should hold together for a moment or two.. and then start decompressing.. and fall apart... i call that.. a friable soil ... crumbly .... and what follows.. is that water flows thru it .... and that will confirm the perk test ... why havent you done it yet ....???
Here is a link that might be useful: link
Thanks ib is the perk test today is about an hour for the water to drain from about a 12 inch hole good? I think I'm gonna scrape some of the sand off and add organic matter then add more in the spring and till. Thanks for all the help. Also I heard that planting hot peppers along with other veggies will help deter rabbits. There aren't too many rabbits around here but I see them every now and then. I don't want to have to put o'l thumper on the dinner table if u get what I'm sayin. I have a dog too which helps keep them away, but that brings me to my next point. The past couple years we've had moles in our yard and our dog goes crazy trying to get them so he digs a lot. How can I deter him and the moles from the garden as well especially since I am planting some root veggies like carrots and onions. I'm more worried about the dog getting in there but getting the moles away would be good too
The variety is the main contributing factor - different varieties have different genetic markers for thinner or thicker walls. The growing conditions provided is the next biggest factor. Inconsistent soil moisture levels, in ground vs. in containers, nutrients provided, and ambient air temp extremes can all contribute to the wall thickness as the peppers mature. Those you buy at the store are usually grown in very different environments than yours given your location.
Many growers prefer the thinner walled peppers so it is a personal preference.
Dave
If you pick the peppers too early they'll also be thin walled. I've had the thin walled problem too, so this year I put my peppers under plastic mulch and was careful to water them enough. The first peppers I harvested were bitter and thin, I finally figured out that I was picking them too young. Once they matured they had thick walls and were very sweet, better than anything I've ever bought at the store. I planted a rainbow mix from Peaceful Valley so I could compare. The orange peppers were the sweetest, but they were all pretty good.
Some growers here in zone 6 use shade cloth to protect peppers from full sun. I was prepared to cover mine but they didn't need it. In zone 9 though, you might want to consider it.
Had similar issue in spring with lettuce - ended up to be an army worm. Just one - but it killed a plant a day. I went through the top half inch of the soil with my fingers and found it dreaming near still alive plant. Killed it - and damage stopped.
I have seen English gardeners planting parsnips in cardboard tubes (toilet tissue or paper towel tubes) and transplanting those to the garden. Seems like it should work because the tube would protect the taproot from disturbance during transplanting.
I plant the germinating seeds in a prepared bed over which I am likely to place a cloth shade cover for a few days. Sometimes I also place strips of wet newspaper between the rows to prevent weeds for the first few weeks. Even with pre-germinating the seeds, it takes a few weeks for the stand to establish well.
Many say you can't transplant rutabagas, but that's not true, either.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I looked up everything you guys/gals posted. Next year I am going to go with everything I planted this year because I have leftover seeds and I am happy with the melons they produced. I am also planning on adding Ali Baba, Yellow Moon And Stars, and Charleston Gray to the list for next year. I wish I had room for more :). Yellow Moon And Stars looks so beautiful, I can't wait to try it.
This post was edited by Christacharlene on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 23:45
Thanks every one for all the info.
So, I planted some of the winter leafy stuff, first time doing winter garden. I am in Dallas. Early September, we had a week when night temps dipped down into 60s. After that i planted these things. Since then day temps have been up and down, highs between 80s - 90s, but the night temps have been in high 50s to low 60s.
Over the first 3 weeks of September I planted various kales/collards, spinach, cabbage, mustards, Chinese cabbage, broccolli etc. The only things that germinated were radishes, turnips, beets. Most others did not germinate at all. Thinking that i planted them too deep, I replanted most of them, not so deep this time. Since then, a few things have germinated very sparsely. In 3-4 weeks since germination, none of them have really grown much. Most don't even have the first set of true leaves.
Cause?: Is this temperature related? Or may be this is normal. Should I plant some more seeds when the temps go down or the ones that are already in the ground will germinate then. The first frost will be around Nov 15.
thanks.
Lets get this straight:
OP ordered seeds , not seedlings. So the first ID of any onion family seeds is BLACK color, rough shaped. It does not mater what color, variety of onion.
SECOND:
It is probably too late to start onions from seeds in zone 7. It should have been sown like 40 days ago, to germinate and grow a little and overwinter.
THIRD:
You have to order the right variety for your LATITUDE.
There 3 kinds of onions: (1) Short Day (Like for way down south) . (2) Intermediate Day: where longest days are 14-15 hours (that would be like central USA) (3) Long Day: where summer days are Very long, like in northern states and Canada. Onion growing is more tricky than one might think.
I would personally plant onion plants in the spring time (sold at BBS in bunches like scallions).
I would suggest that you post in "Alliums Forum" for more expert ideas.
First hand-pollinated female seems to have aborted.
A second female flower has opened on the same side shoot as one of the first female flowers. Should I also pollinate this one?
I have 3 females currently pollinated at the moment.