23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
TBH, I've never actually measured how fast individual fruits grow because I have too many plants to keep track of (around 300 this year). But usually, the miniature ones take ~10-15 days and the larger Sicilian heirlooms like Rosa Bianca take 3 or more weeks for me. I've never grown Black Beauty. I'm growing a white-fruited variety called White Star that seems to be the fastest one I've seen - about 10-15 days from pollination to fist-size fruit.
Try to pick them before they lose their shine or start to get a little rubbery feeling. If they feel very firm, they're good, but as soon as they start to go just a bit soft, they need to be picked right away. A month seems like too long, they're probably not going to reach full size for that variety.
Wayne - it's been so long since I've grown them, but that pic Macmex put up seems right. Maybe I just didn't cook them properly. But it could also be that I couldn't get past that tomato-y under-taste, if you get what I mean. I'm like that with foods, unfortunately. Take cilantro, for example. I can't stand it - even the slightest bit in a dish can spoil it for me.
I just followed the link macmex posted to Sand Hill Preservation Center, and see that what he had was, in fact, solanum melanocerasum. There's a detailed recipe for cooking at his post, JBraun. Good detective work, Wayne!
samhain10-I'm a regular at Sand hill and this is where the seeds came from. I also used the processing from his catalog to process the Solanum melanocerasum fruit.
On one other past post I saw that someone had much better success by using chicken manure. I planted about 10' and had about 10 plants come up for me. Of those plants I only harvested 2/3 cup. I left one plant for next years seeds. The seeds had turned from shiny to dull as was recommended for an indicator of harvest time.
The recipies that I got online called for garden huckleberries in pancakes. I now realize that that is the common name for blue berries as well.. Anyone have recipes for Solanum melanocerasum?
If there is a significant difference in sunshine exposure, leave them outdoors. 21/9 is a typical late August pattern where I live and it does not impede eggplant fruit production all that much. They are more sensitive to cold during the early vegetative stages of growth.
You can try to create a warmer microclimate around them by laying the containers on a sheet of black plastic or other black surface. Besides, your concrete balcony will be much warmer than the officially recorded minimum temperature near the ground.
Carrots are Great tasting when planted now and harvested from TGing thru Feb. I find them much sweeter than summer carrots (Nanites variety). Just keep them well weeded and they can be used until the soil freezes up too hard. I also leave a few in the ground to regrow tops and bloom next spring for attracting beneficial insects.
Spinach is also good to plant now, after a brief fall picking it's very winter hardy and will give you another early picking next March.
Others goodies are collards, beets, kale, turnips, and broc & cabbage (both as transplants). For the first time I planted lettuce and peas this past week to see if they do well here in my Z-7 local.
If you are talking about fungal-type diseases, you need to realize that they are the toughest of diseases to treat, whether you mind poisons or not. Also, the metallic carbonates are true chemicals, not placebos. They deter by making the environment not so hospitable for the spores, and they add nothing toxic to humans.
Buying harsher chemicals will probably be a waste of money. Not every productive remedy involves clobbering the problem with a sledge hammer.
Here are some of the products I refer to:
Previcur Flex (propamocarb, Bayer)
Tanos (fenamidone + cymoxanil, DuPont)
Ranman (cyazofamid, FMC)
Gavel (zoxamide + mancozeb, Dow AgroSciences).
These are claimed to have some curative properties against DM, that I wonder about.
Well, I got a few tomatoes before the late blight got them, but with all the rain in central PA, I have had a really hard time. Peppers just can't keep up with the rain and the onions almost rotted in the field. My beans are doing pretty well, but they were planted on the highest and droughtiest part of the garden. Maybe that helped? *shrug* About the only good thing about all the rain is that the lettuce hasn't bolted. Small favors, eh?
I agree. Way too many plants in one smallish container. A 2.5' diameter pot should grow one tomato or one or two cucumber plants only. And probably way too much water as well, depending on the drainage properties of the medium.
Do you have both male and female flowers? If you do and the fruit is aborting, you have a pollination problem. Yes, most likely due to the use of Sevin. No bees... no cucumbers.
The foliage in the picture you posted looks like plants at the end of their life span, unfortunately. More likely that than a disease or bug problem.
AinhoaNY wrote: " bought the Portuguese kale seeds distributed by Franchi of Italy. I bought them at Seeds of Italy This would be Galega de Folhas Lisas...which also reminded me of caldo gallego :-) http://www.growitalian.com/kale-galega-de-folhas-lisas-smooth-green-leaf-35-11/";
That actually looks pretty similar to the Italian broccoli 'Spigariello' which is grown for its leaves instead of the heads:
http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/Leaf-Broccoli-Plant-Photo.jpg
I find that cuke plants have a shorter lifespan than most veggies so if you planted yours back in May or so they have already given their best and are now saying bye-bye. I get around this by planting cukes 3 times during the season, when the first ones bloom I plant set #2, when #2 blooms I plant set #3. Set Number 3 is now beginning to bud up while #2 leaves are turning yellow/brown and saying bye-bye with it's last cukes on the wane (Set #1 is long gone). Squash is similar in timing and planting.
As for the old soil, I don't use containers so that question is best left to someone who does.
I agree with vgkg -- cuke vines just give out after a while. I've been gardening a long time and it's always the same, lots of cukes in july then slowly the vines give out, turn yellow, then brown and stop producing. Staggered planting is the answer if you want cukes into the fall.
Well, that's plumb scary. Yeah, pumpkins are particularly ozone sensitive and resistance to damage will vary within a particular crop. Will be curious to see if the other varieties of pumpkin you have planted will exhibit the same response. If not, guess you'll know which ones to plant next year. Do you think the vines will hang in there long enough for the fruits to mature?
Yeah, as of yet they look like they will. Actually August 22nd is the maturity date from when I planted for this variety according to seed catalog but we had a wet, cool June so things got delayed a bit because of it so I'm guessing at least 2 weeks after that date until they are ready. I will try and get some updated pics posted and put them on a separate post as Ozone Damage.
I use lots of plastic mulch and leave it down if possible. the paths are permanent and stay down and just get more on top when they are holey. Most of the beds need to be replaced with fresh but I am trying to leave the cucurbit area and have that be potatoes and sweet potatoes next year without anything done. I use drip tape.
A lot of people think plastic mulch isn't organic but Jere Gettle uses it! I tend 22000 sq feet and need that mulch to be able to produce that much food and not spend 100 hours per week weeding.
There are biodegradable plastic mulches available but be aware that they often start to degrade before the season ends.
I agree of the importance of incorporating nutrients back into the soil. You can leave the plastic in place up to the time to renovate- I find it easier to pull up in the spring when vegetation has dried up and degraded a bit. It is just part of my farming routine that often takes less than 4 hours for me to accomplish and I lay (with tractor) over a mile of the stuff.
Hope so. The seed packet claimed that Tatuma is 'practically immune' to SVB. Time will tell, am about to harvest the first fruit, it had better taste good :-) Trombocino looks WAY too big for my garden. Will report back later.
Reporting back on Tatuma squash. Wow what a find. They are still producing here in Georgia in late August. Yes they get mildew, some pickle worm, maybe minimal squash vine borer. But they are so productive and keep rooting down and 'starting over'. The fruits are tops in flavor, if they get too big I just scrape out the seeds and pith and they cook up just fine. Smaller ones have tender seeds and edible centers. I don't even refrigerate them after harvest except the really small ones, they sit on the counter for days. I hear they grill up well but I've only roasted or sauted them. Everyone I share them with are in love with Tatuma. My strategy next year is to start a hill at one end of a row and just send it up the row - it is viney - and if necessary take up the old part as it gets ratty. When the foliage is really lush the first half of the season it's actually hard to find the squash in there, another reason to have a long slim row of the things. I've left 2 to mature - they say they also make excellent winter squash, and I want to save some seed, will probably save a few more to be sure there's no cross pollination from any lingering pitiful zukes, etc.