23,821 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


The 2 Joi Choi plants (given to me by a gardening friend) that I set out made it into spring and then went to seed. I had stopped harvesting outer stalks in December due to the bitterness. I think we got as low as 25 on 2 or 3 occasions... But don't recall getting much lower. Getting below 20 is possible but doesn't happen often. When it does we don't stay at that low for very long.
Broccoli & cauliflower are my favorites. I've planted them as long as I can remember. I usually set out 150 to 200 broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts and concur that they can handle the lows.
If your calendar shows seeding Joi Choi through September, I can probably add a couple of weeks considering I'm in a warmer zone.
This year I'm adding Cavolfiore di Sicilia Violetto (purple cauliflower) and Romanesco Veronica as new trials. According to our local garden center expert, the Romanesco Veronica is a proven hybrid for our area but will succumb to low temps. The purple cauliflower is an OP cultivar given to me by the same gardening friend. I don't have much luck with OP brassicas so not dedicating much space to it...Green Goliath broccoli is the only OP brassica that does well for me.
Thanks for your reply/input.
This post was edited by grandad on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 15:10

You may have a much wider window. I can't plant before September because ground temps are too high. Pleasant summer this year, but most years we get about 30 days of 100+ in late June July August. Never been sucessful with bBrussels here, because I can't get them in early enough. They will handled our winter but bolt in February before forming heads. My experience with Green Goliath is the same, better than Gypsy but very similar.
Have not grown Veronica but have grown Grafitti . it does well when the heat holds off. 


I grew the red seed and black seed yard long beans. The black seed ones produced earlier and are still producing. I agree, they were very prolific. The red seed ones - they started later, and yielded a little less, but were delicious. I am leaning towards planting more of these and less of the other beans.


Check Seed Savers Exchange's Facebook page, there is an article on Sept 6,2014 about this vegetable:
""Seed Savers Exchange
September 6
We sampled marmalade from a recipe for "Garden Lemon" melon this week at Heritage Farm. That's right, melon marmalade! The seeds and recipe for this melon were donated by Laura Paine, who received them in turn from long time seed steward Duane Kaiser. The melon was only ever used by his family to make jam!""

Yes Nerys54, if I can find my seed!
I thought I put them in my fridge in the shed.
I was going through my seed stored there yesterday, while getting ready to start some stuff and I couldn't find the seed!!!!!!!
I still have plenty of time to find them, but knowing me, they probably got thrown out with some empty packets of other seed!

Well, I found the seed and planted them.
I harvested a few weeks ago and I didn't get the rainbow of colors that I was expecting.
Like in Shinies picture, Some ears were almost all yellow and some were almost all dark blue. I had very few red kernels.
I will plant the saved seed next year and hopefully get more color.



Rayrose, I don't normally plant second generation hybrid seed and only remember the one good volunteer. If you only have one variety, the strain may stay more pure and a third generation may be good too. It wasn't in my case, but I had many varieties.

Has anyone considered the frost tolerance of using coolers like this? I don't do container planting mainly because when the roots freeze, the plant is done. In my ground, they never freeze. Not a big deal, but I'll bet it would buy you many hours of survival when the air temp drops below freezing.

If you want to preserve cucumbers long term you'll either have to pickle them, ferment them, turn them into relish, or something similar. Once harvested they'll just continue to go downhill regardless of where you keep them.
Rodney
This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Sun, Sep 7, 14 at 17:47

Do a lacto-fermented pickle! Stuff a bunch of pickles in a big jar, add some pickling spice, dill, maybe a hot pepper. Pour a brine containing 1-2 tbsp of kosher or pickling salt per quart over them. Weigh them down with a plate. They may get a little bit of scum on top, which is just yeast. Scrape it off each day and make sure nothing is floating. You'll have pickles in 1-2 weeks.
I add a bit of something else that I've fermented, such as preserved lemon, to get things started very quickly but it's not necessary. You can also add some yogurt whey if you want, it will add good microbes to speed things along.

My experience in AZ is that eggplants slow down fruit set in the extreme hot months but start producing heavy again in the fall..
I had a Japanese style that lived and produced for over four years, until I lost it n am extreme four day freeze. I also had a Black Beauty that lived and produced the same amount of time, in a little crack between the AC unit amd the sidewalk.
I mulched them heavily, gave them plenty of horse manure and alfalfa pellets.

That's a good story about eggplants as perennials. Peppers are the same way. I've kept pepper plants alive for several years, but never tried it with eggplants. This last year we had some unusually cold temps (low 20sF) and I blanketed the peppers profusely. Lost about half of them, but the remainder went on to produce well.
Of course, tomatoes are Solonacae as well, an in principle can be perennials, but I haven't heard about a lot of success getting old over-wintered ones to fruit well.

Re allotments - it's worth Googling the term as they have an interesting history.
The Vegetable Garden Displayed was FIRST written during the war but has been through many editions since. Are you sure yours is a 4th reprint - could it be a 4th edition? If you really have a 4th reprint you need to treat any advice about chemicals very carefully. The link is to the one I have. I bought it just after I got my allotment.
p.s If you had found the original 1941 edition in new condition it would have cost you around ã2,500!
Here is a link that might be useful: TVGD

I've had dozens of husks on my tomatillo plants for a few weeks, each filled with a small tomatillo. None of them seem to be getting bigger, however. I'm wondering if they aren't getting larger because there are so many on each plant. Should I pick them now or let them go another week or two?

I use huge amounts of chipped pine, with some fertilizer added to help it decay faster, and I am very pleased with the results. The fertilizer really is important in my system to get decay over a few months. If I am using the pine as a mulch, I do not add any additional fertilizer.
Renais


If what I am seeing is correct, twisted deformed new growth, that looks like classic Weed-B-Gone damage. As I understand it the product contains some chemical / hormone that causes the plants to "grow themselves to death" and the new leaves are a twisted and contorted. Think of how the dandelions look in your yard after an application. I have used WBG in the past and found it has an incredible residual effect in soil, stunting and killing new transplants for sometimes an entire growing season. Great on your lawn, not so much in a vegetable garden. Doesn't surprise me that it would have a systemic effect and be carried by grass clippings from a treated lawn. Look at a bottle of WBG and see what the active ingredient is, and then compare it to a bag of what you applied to your lawn.
Not to preach or scold, but this is why I never apply broad spectrum anything. If you need fertilizer, apply fertilizer. If you have weeds, physically remove them or use spot treatments with herbicides at the minimum effective dose. What you apply in one area does not always stay only in that area.
The good news is that next year your soil should be fine, but the crop this year is probably a loss.
Steve



I grew Moon and Stars yellow because I was worried the red wouldn't be ready in time and the yellow is less DTM. They were actually about the first watermelon ripe. So I have no clue why you got none.

I have 2 new female buds that have not opened yet, but my leaves are tiny compared to yours. And they're being attacked by aphids and squash bugs. I killed like 15 or so squash bugs this morning. I've got a few ladybugs there eating away the aphids and a couple of them made love on one of my leaves this morning and there was another one laying eggs, so I think the aphid problem will be under control. Hate those squash bugs! If those 2 little female flower buds do pollinate, is it too late now for them to go to maturity? I think our first frost is expected to be like the first or second week of November.