23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Amaize is relatively new, not widely available. Reading the description on Burpee's website doesn't say if its SU, SE or SH2, which I'd want to know before I grow it. Considering its described as having a pop or crunch when you bite into it, and several people have commented on poor germination, I'd guess its SH2 (supersweet or an augmented variant).

I've grown Bodacious before and was happy with the results.

This year my varieties are Sugar Baby (just started picking this week), Painted Hill, Ruby Queen and Bodacious.

What is amazing to me is that George Crookham is named as the major developer, yet it is not listed among Crookham's varieties. It is a Burpee exclusive. There is a lot of hype about it, but no commercial vendors which arouses suspicion in my feeble mind. Crookham seed has several outstanding whites that have done well for me. Argent, Frosty, Silver Duchess ( my favorite),

The folks over on the Harvest Forum (the forum for food preservation) might be able to help.

Rodney

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Forum

If you cook the beets before you freeze them, they won't go rubbery. Beets will keep in the fridge a couple of months, so there's not much of a need to freeze them.

Got your answer in your other post.

Rodney

Here is a link that might be useful: Other Post

I'm trying to figure out how to post multiple pictures... If anyone can advise, please do.

I may actually have some cucumber beetles. I found some very small black/yellow fly/beetle looking insects. Not sure if they are beetles or not.

Another pic....

Just finished harvesting the last Ambrosia bicolor, se, corn plot #3. All 3 plots were delicious and productive. Some earworms in this last batch but that's expected in the late season. Biggest pests were squirrels during the day, and opossums at night. Had to fence in and net this last batch or all would have been lost. I find that planting corn any later than July 1st here results in small ears and less per stalk, most likely due to the shortening day length.

If the plants look good, why fertilize? Doesn't make sense to me. If the leaves are starting to yellow or if they have had poor growth then I could understand. Just let the plants do their thing and the fruits should ripen up for you.

And the fertilizer you have is basically micronutrients. At this point I doubt they'd be of any benefit to the plants and with an N-P-K of 0.1-0-0 they wouldn't force new growth (not that you want to force new growth).

Rodney

Thanks, Rodney. Between my post and yours, I found this:

Foliar feeding can be done during early growth of the plant, during or after blooming, when is plant is under stress, or just prior to plant maturity to increase brix. Information on increasing brix can be found here. Foliar feeding can be done as often as every three or four days, but even applying once will be advantageous.

The article makes the point that foliar feeding doesn't replace nutrients from the soil, but enhances them.

You're right--I don't want to force new growth. I'm just hoping to encourage ripening.

And larva itself

Pepper maggots.

Rodney

I've had nothing but trouble with bugs in my veggies whenever I've used any kind of mulch: it provides them with too good a living environment and especially a good haven in the winter. A friend of mine who owns a CSA organic farm says he's done with mulch for the same reason. I've used both straw and wood chips. I would do whatever is easiest to remove the straw. Tilling it in would be OK, but that sounds like more work than removing and composting it.

I've read the opposite - that straw is good under squash plants. It deters the cucumber beetle from laying eggs in the soil at the base.
If you are not bothered by cucumber beetles your best bet to deter squash bugs is bare soil. Then the squash bugs have nowhere to hide.
I don't till in straw, it doesn't break down enough by spring in my long winter. I rake mine up and put it in the compost pile.

I've been growing this for a number of years. It's a staple of Italian cooking, great recipes available, and it's not bitter at all. It's mild, with a texture all its own. I mostly use it in several soup recipes and in a couple with cannellini beans. Great fall crop.

Lettuce is hardy to a few degrees below freezing, but it does tend to lose quality after repeated exposure to hard frost especially if daytime temperatures are also cold.

A tunnel on its own can make things worse. Since your coldest nights probably follow a fresh snowfall, and because snow has excellent insulating capacity, plants outside under a blanket of snow will fare better than those in a tunnel.
If you can get your hands on some spun-bonded row cover, lay that on the plants starting in November and then erect your tunnel over. If not, skip the tunnel.

Ah ok, good to know. Thank you!