23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Allotmentary, Watsonâ¦

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?

Just wait. Don't pick them until they are ready. I transplant mine in early May and usually don't start harvesting until early August. Then they produce like gangbusters until frost. It's just The Way of the Tomatillo.

Yes it did.......so this is what's causing the deformity? It's odd there are fresh kale shoots growing out of one another.

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

Did they burst before ripening? I had good luck with both them and Escorial this summer, both are quite delicious. Savor has a bit more interest to the flavor, but Escorial is very close. I managed to have little to no bursting by picking at the first hint of yellow in an evening inspection- they turn and split overnight if you ignore that for a single day! Last year was a bust for my melons due to heavy, persistant rains while the melons were ripening- the flavor was so watered down they tasted terrible and unsweet. Not every year is a good melon year.

Savor did burst unripe, yes. So did a few of my Galia type melons, which went bright yellow before netting up. We got a flooding rain that really did a number on my garden. Definitely not a good melon year after that, but Escorial held up better than Savor.

I lost one good melon before the bursting started when I decided it might not be turned enough or fragrant. Next morning, it was neatly taken from the vine by, I suspect, the giant raccoon.

Oops, sorry, I got my Els and Las mixed up in my last post. I was trying to say there was still a reasonable chance for El Nino AND it doesn't really mean rain. Below is a partial list of myths about El Ninos. I linked the whole site below.

Myth 5: When there is an El Niño, there is lots of rain in California. No -- The answer is not always and not everywhere. Historical records for the past six plus decades for Central California, including the SF Bay Area, show that during the twenty-two El Niño events the rainfall has been roughly above normal (i.e., > 120%) half the time and below normal (Over the same span, Northern California had three wet years years during the five strong events, with five above-normal seasons during the seventeen weak-to-moderate El Niños.

Southern California showed more of a wet bias during strong El Niños with above-normal rain in four of the five seasons, near normal the fifth year. During weak to moderate events Southern California precipitation was above normal six of the 17 seasons, near normal six seasons and below normal the remaining five yearss.

The bottom line is that California can get wet during El Niño, but not always. As a matter of fact, the California drought in the 1976-77 winter was during a weak El Niño. It is important to keep in mind that El Niño is not the only thing happening in the atmosphere and that other patterns can either enhance or detract from its overall impact.

Here is a link that might be useful: El Nino vs BA rain

I think what I was trying to say is that LA and EL really don't make sense to us lay people and that the weather people seemed to be kinda giving us some hope that the drought would ease! THEN they hit us with the possibility of a 10 YEAR drought!
Our area is very Ag and we are trying to plan for the worst. Nancy

Hi NewTX
Do your amaranth leaves look like this? I have the same problem, but don't know what it is or how to fix it :(

baltimore_figs: you can see my leaf in the first post. The spots are disappearing now, I still have some old leaves that are like that and some new ones, but the brand new ones that come out don't have that now or have less. I don't know what's going on, and not sure if i should save seeds. The other amaranth plants I have in my planter box are now being attacked by some green worms eating them up, not sure where they are from, they are everywhere except my chives, no one wants to eat my chives. :-D

While those raised beds do look great, as Dave strongly pointed out, you've created a very un-natural place for your plants to live.
I think the best option now is to carefully remove the plants from the beds, then remove half of the compost. Using a digging fork or shovel, dig deeply to mix the soil under the beds with the compost. Then after mixing, take a soil test and send it into a nearby lab (or try the link below). Adjust the soil ph with lime and add other necessary nutrients the test results suggest, then replant.
Not so easy, but unfortunately you missed some important steps the first time around. Don't worry though, everyone does!
-Mark

Here is a link that might be useful: soil test

No, sorry, not "taken aback" and any frustration that came across isn't directed at you. I just get so frustrated at the crazy sources out there that keep giving out such faulty info to new gardeners. Stuff like - "use straight mushroom compost for your garden and it will be great" - when they know it won't be without lots of other stuff/work.

They never bother to explain that compost has to be converted to nutrients usable by the plants and that conversion requires active, diverse soil bacteria and by soil-dwelling residents - worms, beneficial nematodes, grubs, pill bugs, etc.

They eat and digest the compost and poop out nutrients the plants can use and absorb with water. They are all lumped together under the label "soil food web". Unless you directly add them (which many do) and add dirt to the compost (which already contains them), it takes seasons of time for them to move into the beds.

Add to that the issues others have mentioned with mushroom compost (as opposed to manured compost) of low nutrient levels, high salts, and alkaline pH. All of those issues also require time to resolve themselves. The soil food web needs time to grow, the salts need time and rain to leach out, the compost needs time to decompose and neutralize the pH down to neutral, and the low nutrient levels need to be supplemented with additional sources.

You don't have to wait numerous seasons to use the beds. They can be used but you do have to supplement the nutrients and the soil web until the beds are well established and that takes seasons. You will also have to add fresh compost 2x a year as the beds shrink (decompose).

So mix in as much dirt as possible, research adding Mycorrhizae (bio-organics), look into nutritional supplements (both organic and synthetic), and accept very limited results this year. Over the winter the bed will be improving (any new beds need to be fall constructed) and salt leaching out so next year will be better if you keep up the supplements. By the 3rd year you'll see substantial improvement and by the 4th you'll have great beds that only need minimal side dressings with fresh compost to sustain good growth.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Ah, if that's what was meant, I agree with you ltilton.

Perhaps the OP could clarify.

The one I planted in a 5 gallon bucket is doing well and is very healthy. Your problem was probably the cold nights that zone 5 seemed to have.

I have resolved to grow ONLY black cherry next year. Each year I try some other variety in addition to, and am totally disappointed. This year it was Cerise Orange and I think the other one is Juliet. The Cerise is literally chocking out a couple plants in adjacent cages, but the fruits are small and seem to ripen randomly, so picking a decent amount is a lot of work. Juliet is fine, just kind of bland. Last year it was some little red thing that had tough skins. Black cherry is without fail tasty and prolific, and the toms are a perfect size for eating fresh, or cutting in half for salads. The plant is almost as obnoxious as Cerise though, so I'm going to give it it's own little kingdom next year rather than planting it in the common tomato bed.

You could try to overwinter garlic in the beds like I do during the winter. It will come up in the spring, and you can plant other things when you pull it up next year?

Thanks for the recs!
I started planting some brussels sprouts and cabbage. After breaking up and tilling a fraction of this bed, I am EXHAUSTED. This is pathetic lol!

Gardening was much easier in my 30s, I realized today. And a lot faster!

I don't know if they will make it once it gets colder given how late in the season it is, but I'm also going to plant some shiso/perilla plants I've started from seed, as well as some mint....in hopes they'll take over haha.

I also started some serranos but think I will pot those up until spring and then move them into the ground. The warm weather here has been heavenly in starting seeds. In SF, I'd just watch my potting soil do nothing!

Grasshoppers, stink bugs or slugs would be my guess.

I'm up in southern ontario and have also just realized my entire crop is infested with these paper maggots. Does anyone know how to control this for next year I heard that they live in the soil until next year... I'm wondering if there is a way to treat the soil before I plant the peppers other than crop rotation.