24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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jnjfarm_gw(5a)

can't hurt, I don't know how much you have but use it up. it doesn't do any good in storage

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

I know quite a number of gardeners - myself included - who routinely mix their used container mix into their garden soils when it comes time to refresh the container mix. it is all good stuff for growing in either way.

Dave

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A J(9A)

That looks like a PITA to store, has less mass, and likely SVB may drill that long neck easier. Butternut squash looks superior to that and is great for long term storage.

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gorbelly(6b/7a | Sunset 32 | SE PA)

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.

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desertgardensonora(9a)

I finally found more 9a people! But...I'm in Southern Arizona so I'm guessing I'm drier over here.

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A J(9A)

@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.

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lilmermer

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.

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A J(9A)

Any SVB holes in stems? I would use controlled/time released fertilizer if required. sub-irrigation for direct sow may also have been your problem.

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elisa_z5

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?

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glib(5.5)

Ha! If I ignore them, they ignore me back.

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Michael Duvic

That should say 24-ish gallon

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weirdtrev

I'd only have one plant per half whiskey barrel honestly. When the plants mature as I am sure you have found out you can't water them fast enough, which then opens you up to a host of other problems. It's a tough lesson to learn.

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Jim's(6 East end of Long Island)

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.

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jnjfarm_gw(5a)

I plant a bed a cherry bell and French breakfast weekly both 21 day varieties and german giant also weekly but they take a whole 28 days to mature. radishes are great sellers at farmers market if they look good

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ladychroe(z6 NJ)

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.

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ladychroe(z6 NJ)

PS- We moved away from that little property in 2012, and it's sweet to see it again :)

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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

Someone has a bird feeder in the area. I live in a vicinity just outside of a good sized city where there are still large farms planted with corn, cotton, winter wheat, and soybeans. This year, one of these farmers planted acres of sorghum for the first time.

It's right next to the road and I've enjoyed watching it grow. Sure did look like corn when it was young. It has now formed large, full seed heads and I'm wondering why I haven't seen huge flocks of birds swarming the fields.

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exmar

Yep. Always see that growing around birdfeeders if you can't mow under them.

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tcstoehr(8b Canby, OR)

Delicata would not be a good climber. They sometimes go up and over other veggies in my garden but have never voluntarily climbed up much. They have no tendrils so you would have to provide support. My Maximas, on the other hand, have easily climbed to the top of my 8' cedar hedge. The vine on the left keeps is having problems only because the hedge's branches can't support the weight of that squash. But the tendrils themselves are plenty strong.

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pattypan(z6b CT)

gee, my 'DELICATA' does have some tendrils. and it is bigger than i've read. now i am stumped ! whatever it is, i hope it's tasty.

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drscottr(7)

I've had soil tests that are all normal for trace elements. Do you still think that would be helpful?

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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

green-go, Bingo. You got it !1 If and when the plant declines in vigor, the packed in tastiness declines.

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

And if/when you do finally take the tops out make sure to eat them. They are delicious and have their own flavour. They're sold here as a separate winter vegetable from the sprouts themselves.

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Jim's(6 East end of Long Island)

I had brussel sprouts in the spring that did squazoo, all summer they sat and grew. They are now over 4' tall and have big sprouts up the stem about halfway and then decrease until tiny tiny at the top. Our spring here was warmish and then bam, right into mid summer in temp. I guess it inhibited the growth. I was patient, actually didn't need that specific space, and it appears I will get produce after all.

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Shule(about 4a)

I found this potentially lapsed patent: https://www.google.com/patents/US6031158

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galinas(5B)

I grew both last two years - Perfect pick and Cavali under cover. May be it' me, but more then half of the fruit ended up rotten or misshaped young. This year I had to take the cover off due to some other issue, and production became much better, until they died due to SVB. I also planted tromboncino this year, and I think this is what I am going to do from now on. It survives SVB, cucumber beetles, groundhog, and powdery mildew. It has its damage, but keeps to grow and producing. I grow it vertically, so it doesn't take more space, same as zucchini would. The taste is different, but i like it. It is less watery, and has no seeds other then very top of it, that you can just cut off. Next year they go on the wider bed with trellis then this year, so I am planning to plant three plants on trellis, and 3-4 regular zucchini in front of them and keep them under cover until they start flowering or over grow cover height. After that I will enjoy about a month of regular zucchini, until tromboncino started to produce, the SVB will take the zucchini, and tromboncino will have whole bed to enjoy)

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