23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I think your plants got just the right amount of nitrogen, pulsed at the right times. Crimson clover can produce 150 lb N per acre, so with two years under crimson clover let's say you hit 225 lb N per acre, with much of that held in safe reserve by the soil. This is pretty much the ideal level for peppers, plus you added more, a good move in a warm climate with a long growing season.

Additionally, you probably got a flush of bioactive N from the clover residue in early summer, when the soil warmed up. Extra N provided while the fruits are small gives you big, thick-walled peppers.

Here is a link that might be useful: N levels for peppers

I think you are probably right planatus.

Only like 3-4. I tried brushing, but they didn't come off and I don't want to brush too hard and rip a leave off or something. I also want to tackle this soon, since I had a pretty serious aphid infestation of my brussels over summer and don't want a repeat.

So far it looks like the seedlings survived the insecticide.

Even if the soap causes a little leaf damage, it's better than letting cabbage aphids get out of control. The plants can recover from leaf damage better than those drat aphids.

I'm in Ca where we're in year 3 of a drought, but I have a deep well, so I can carefully water as needed.
We were gone the last week of May and the first week of June, so though I showed my daughter how to do the watering, it might not have been done properly, but there was plenty of time to catch up when we got back! Our tomatoes are usually 5-6' tall and produce tons! This year they are barely 3' tall! Our purple cherokes were close to a pound each last year and this year are the size of golf balls!
I got 2 peppers out of 12 plants (that could be the fault of the soil in the huge raised up beds we bought)
Eh! I won't go through it all....everything was OK, but not so great!
I'm going to really work on my soil this year. I have moved some of the compost bins right on top of the beds that will be vacant this winter, and I'm going to finally meet the lady that raises rabbits! Nancy

Elisa makes a good point about the native soil beneath the beds. Your soil mix is probably too light, without enough gritty soil particles, plus you need to fertilize. Time will help cure the first problem as along as you do a deep digging (to mix in actual soil) and keep adding compost every time you plant. Also get a balanced organic fertilizer and use it according to the needs of the crop you are planting. Plants make best use of fertilizer when they are young, so fertilizing should be a pre-planting thing.

seriously -- don't till the asparagus. It is a perennial. It stays in the ground. Just plant what you want in other areas of the garden. You'll get your asparagus to eat in the spring -- keep on cutting it before it gets too tall, and you'll have a few weeks of great eating.

I agree about NOT tilling the asparagus! Cut it back when it turns brownish in the fall. Keep it mulched to control the weeds. Let it be it's own bed!
You really need to go over to the composting or soil forums to learn about different ways of composting!
Things like straw or hay (hay has seeds), different kinds of manure have weed seed in them and you want to find out from people you get the manure from if their animals are treated with certain things or their feed is treated.
Not sure about this "spot composting", but if you get as much as I do each day, you'll have little holes all over your yard!LOL. You might be referring to trench composting? (I hope I have that right) digging a trench and adding your kitchen waste as you go????
You will have to find a source of "browns" to go with all of those "greens". Your straw (chopped up!) lots and lots of leaves, also chopped as well as you can! UCGs are great also!
Anyway, make your way over to the soil board and do some perusing! It'll keep your winter full of things to learn! Nancy

At Wal-Mart I have seen Purple Passion, the Washington ones and Jersey varieties. I bought some of the Purple and Jersey to fill in gaps in my beds and they did fine. However, the ones I received mail order were definitely bigger/more developed.

They did have Jersey Asparagus crowns/roots that I bought, and they didn't grow anything.

I bought the Bonnie asparagus in a plastic 6 pack planter. Not very developed, and I may or may not get Asparagus in the Spring... but they definitely grew nicely for the first year from what I have read.

Buying the stuff when they have them at the big box store is so much cheaper than online.... I save the online buying for the hard to find stuff that produces well enough to justify the price.

Overwintering peppers works great. I leave them in the ground and protect from frost. I've got peppers on the plants when other gardeners just have small seedlings. I'd be interested to know about eggplant. Eggplants are, I believe, less tolerant of cool temperatures than peppers. Peppers just stop producing. Eggplants may actually die. Now, I have heard of eggplants dying back and then resprouting in the spring, but then you're not really ahead of where you'd bee with new seedlings.

I've had eggplants and peppers live up to four years and production was better each year.
Mine were outside near the brick wall of the house. I used blankets, boxes and heaters on rare cold nights.
Habanero is very sensitive to cold and wet. The anaheims, jalapeño and poblanos seem sturdier.

I enjoy your screened in garden. My husband is looking to re-do ours for next year. I would like to use your picture in my blog as a perfect example of what we would like to use. I would like to ask permission to use your picture. I will lead people to your website if they are interested in doing the same thing.

If you have any tips and pointers to give my husband on how you did it please share.

Thanks in advance.

Dang! I regret giving away my old round redwood hot tub now that we're in an epic drought!
3 little 50 gal drums wouldn't last me a month!
Here in sunny No CA, we usually don't get rain from April til October!
I'm lucky enough to have a nice deep well!
I think I'll be looking for some large containers in case this drought keeps going! Nancy

Great, that was exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks for the response.

I agree, not a problem, IME.

BTW, I find pole varieties on fencing is a much easier and better way to raise dry beans than bush cultivars.

You put newspaper or cardboard down several sheets thick on top of the grass/weeds to smother and prevent it from growing so you won't have to dig it out. Then you fill the raised beds. If you removed the grass/weeds before filling the beds then there was really no reason to use the newspaper underneath the soil. And you're right, the newspaper is only temporary. It will be composted fairly quickly leaving nothing behind.

As Ken said, using newspaper/cardboard on top of the soil and covering it with mulch is often used to prevent weeds and is much more effective during the growing season.

Adding raw organic matter in the form of coffee grounds and egg shells and whatnot to new beds is a good idea but don't expect them to provide your plants with many nutrients in the first year. It usually takes at least a year before new beds mature and the organic matter can become useful to plants. So I'd plan on fertilizing with an organic fertilizer (or a fert of your choice) next year. Even if it's not necessary, and it most likely will be especially with heavy feeders like tomatoes and corn, it's good to be prepared.

Rodney

Have you ever read that book on the $64 tomato? (:

I put down 2" x 6" x 10' planks to make the frame. I placed a grid of wire mesh (old aluminum gutter guards, screen, etc) and stapled it to the frame then turned it over directly onto the lawn. The wire mesh prevents any burrowing critter from attacking the plants from below.

Of course, this will prevent any roto-killing but then I never do it as it destroys the soil structure on which plants depend.

I filled it with a mix of compost and soil with total disregard to amounts. I used only soil and fiber from my own yard. Be aware, all soil had weeds and they can take 2, - 4 years to germinate so you will never be rid of them.

That winter, I took my collection of saved double page sections of newspaper, stapled them 4 sheets at a time end to end and rolled them up. (no glossy paper.)

In the spring, roll it out and cover it with 3" - 4" cooked hay. Cooking kills the seeds. It totally stopped all weeds for the entire year except where they could find a hole. The next spring, I rolled out another 4 ply of newspaper and added more hay. After the second year, the first layer is gone so don't worry about build up over the years.

After three years, I finally had the soil tested. There were no recommendations for adjustments or amendments.

Does any of that help?

I'm confused about what you are asking, but I can tell you this:

I live in Tennessee, and like maplegarden172...I plant spinach this time of year and harvest in the early spring (i do like to cover with lots of leaves to help insulate the plants).

I was told to plant my fall seeds this week. Of course the weather is against me. Maybe I can get out there tomorrow. It was cold and windy today and the skeeters were heavy around my face.

If you have a large garden and not planting a fall garden then a cover crop is good. Oats and buckweat are a great cover crop. Their roots go less deep than rye grass. They will produce a healthy layer and keep the weeds out. Both will die at first frost and cover the area. When spring arrives, you can till it under and they both decompose quickly creating healthy nutrients for your spring soil.

Autumn is coming. Leaves are soon to be plentiful. There are a lot worse things you could do than covering your beds with leaves. Shred em and you might find that they even composted over winter.

I'd like to see more people interested in mushrooms, which are a very beneficial life form in the garden. The proteins in mycelium and fruiting bodies break down in to soil nitrogen. Accept that very few species are edible, and appreciate them for their forms and colors, like flowers. If I want to ID one, the first thing I do is take a spore print. Depending on species, the spore print can be white, pink green, black, etc.

I also think they are a parasol mushroom of some type, genus Lepiota. Some are edible, some are unpleasant, and some are poisonous. So no, don't eat them. The forum here that has people who know mushrooms is the ferns and moss forum, I seem to recall. Cheers!