24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

One of the first things a gardener needs to learn is how to recognize suitably moist soil. In general, plants like soil that is moist, but not sopping wet. You can recognize that kind of soil by feel (moist soil feels noticeably cooler than dry soil) and by color (moist soil is noticeably darker than dry soil). You sure don't want to be routinely squeezing water drops out of your soil. I think "finger deep" is too deep for dry soil. The rule I've hear is "first knuckle deep". Definitely NOT good to keep the surface moist. That just invites fungus and bacteria.
Of course, you can also just look at your plants. They'll tell you if they're thirsty by drooping. But if you're going to go that route, you'd better be looking at your plants every day. Once they droop, they're at risk. Some plants are more tolerant of dehydration drooping (e.g. squash) than others (e.g. peppers, tomatoes).
Bottom line is that you can't water by calendar or by volume. It's going to depend on temperature, sunlight, wind, and to some extent how much plant you've got sucking water. Don't assume Mother Nature will do most of the work for you. Mother Nature is very tolerant of a dead garden.

I live 18 miles from my garden, in Spring I water once a week, about 5 gallons of water per plant.
I do this by tilling my sandy loam soil(if you have heavy/clay soil, do NOT water as much as I do) the I dig a 12-24 inch hole, 12 - 24 inches deep according to the plant.
Tomatoes 24 X 24 with compost in the bottom of the hole.
Peppers,squash,collards 12 X 12 with a little compost in the bottom of hole.
I plant the plant in a dish 3-4 inches deep, add 1 inch more compost, water then mulch.
Each week I fill the dish up, in hot Summer & Fall I water 2 or 3 times a week.
Remember I travel 18 miles after an 12 hour day just to water my plants & harvest my fruit.
If you can walk out back to your garden then you can check,water,weed,mulch everyday.
I have not lost one plant to this system in 5 years.
And my orchard is doing great too.


They are a common gardening accessory used by many to make tomato cages, trellis for climbing plants, etc. Lots of pictures of them in use on both this forum and the Growing Tomatoes forum.
If you checked the older thread on this issue that I linked for you above it contains a link to numerous photos of them in use.
Dave

I have the same problem. Beets died for me twice this year - first in the ground, second in the deep cells. And not only beets. All root crops this year are terrible - carrots died, turnip, that I NEVER had any problem with wilting few in a day, and it is not a root maggot, as I have it covered. I guess the most problem at least in my area is a huge difference between soil temperature(bellow norm due to the long winter) and very high day temperature(90+F). I heard that cold roots can't pump water fast enough to keep up with what leaves evaporate. Naturally, we try to water already wet soil and create perfect fungus conditions... I seeded beets again in the ground, hopping that the weather finally getting it sense...




We have a lot of rabbit pressure, but we have had minimal garden losses despite having no fencing whatsoever -- I spray the perimeter of our raised garden as well as plants whose leaves I don't plan to eat for a week or more with a peppermint oil-based, non-toxic spray. It smells good to me, but apparently the rodents aren't thrilled.
There are some other sprays which use "putrescent egg solids" or garlic which seem to be effective. Some of these are tolerable-smelling, others are horrific smelling to humans...but only for about 2 days, then our poorly developed noses fail to detect the residual scent. Other mammals seem to remain grossed out for weeks.
Part of our success is also probably due to the fact that the cats and dog occasionally kill a rabbit. The cats have no interest in squirrels and the dog is too much of a spazz to catch them, but the squirrels don't show a lot of interest in our garden most of the time.
We also have voles which the cats kill ALL THE TIME, but as the cats are getting elderly (and we're DONE with cats after these two), I'm going to sink a foot's worth of wire mesh vertically along the perimeter of the garden box I'm remodeling just as a prophylactic for our eventual cat-free future. The dog thinks dead voles are gross and the live ones are apparently too slow-moving to be of any interest chasing.

Squirrels and birds are difficult to deter...
I have a toy (plastic) snake I bought some years ago to deter birds in the garden. While I am not sure it does deter birds I have seen it deter (on many occasions) a squirrel that comes up on our deck.
IF you know where the squirrels enter the garden a toy snake may work - but then it may not. Tho it is worth a try to have a garden ornament ;)
I have successfully used rose & blackberry trimmings to deter birds and squirrels from damaging seedlings.

I have my peppers in raised beds too with great drainage, but we had 3 weeks of straight rain/clouds and I noticed mine turned a little yellow green too. But after a week of full sun they are now back to normal. It could be this. Have you noticed the color getting back to normal now that we've had a week of no rain?

Planterjeff, I have noticed the bell peppers are beginning to kinda come around. It may have just been all the rain and cloudy weather. Can't say for sure, but I haven't done anything else to them. Keeping my fingers crossed. The New Mexico chili peppers I planted still aren't doing so good, but that could be due to the hot humid weather. It gets hot in New Mexico (where these peppers originate, but not as humid as South Louisana, so that could be the answer to those peppers. Thanks for the input.



The image sure looks like sun scald to me!
Suzi, I'll make a suggestion that can help you prove your neighbor wrong. 'Surround', a kaolin clay spray can be an enormous help in keeping borers, beetles, and sun/heat at bay.
It's used commercially, but is now available in sensible sizes for backyard growers. I've used it for years on my cucurbits, beans, and tomatoes without fail. It is approved for organic growers (and Certified Organic growers).




Agree with Dave. I usually put a pole of some sort in the bucket/pot and tie the tapered cage to that...otherwise it does tip over.
To daninthedirt's comment... Our local garden center is selling Millionaire as the replacement for Ichiban. I also plant Ping Tung and prefer them a wee bit over the Millionaire... I plant both as I do have friends & family that prefer the Millionaire.
My Brother- in -law planted a egg plant in an plastic apple box with a stake, it grow to 5 feet tall out of the 18 inch apple box, that near 7 feet tall including the box.
This plant had large fruit,mid fruit, small fruit & covered with blooms all at once.
Wish I had taken a photo of it.
Your plants should do fine, but you could put a stake in the bucket before you fill it with compost & have a the stake to tie the cage to.
I do this in the ground & I push the cage down till the first ring touches the soil.
I use 48 inch cattle wire for tomato cages & drive T-poles into the soil at least 18 inches.
These cages will stay in place for 12 months or until I get around to removing them.
I will have to make more this year, I have over 30 tomato plants this year.