23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I am not sunflower expert but some plants need the ants, like Peonies to open their flower buds.

I have one pic of an unopened sunflower blossom and can count over 50 little red ants on it. They have never done a bit of harm that I can tell so won't agree on any need to kill them off.
And if you have holes like this, it's birds.

I didn't think the seeds were that small. Oregano seeds on the other hand....

For curiosity's sake I'm going to wait and see, but I'll start another round with less fertilizer as suggested earlier.

Sounds like a plan, let us know which which makes the best carrots

I like New Red Fire -- crisp ruffled leaves tinged with red. It's very slow to bolt and tastes sweet even when you get a little white milk in the stem.

Any lettuce harvested as micro greens can be sweet. You can do that in a little Rubbermaid tub or pot.

That's exactly what I do with my garlic to squash planting. I pull a few to early eat in the center of my garlic patches creating a space big enough to plant a hill of squash. By the time the squash is getting any size, the garlic is ready to pull.

I'm a bit warmer then you but I succession garden almost year round with the help of some creative hot beds, row covers, frost covers, etc. Last week I was harvesting lettices, mustards, kale fennel, cilantro and such from my Fall planting. This week the weather isn't being nice so am pretty sure it's the end!

I am developing a tool that helps plan succession planting - its a little theoretical at this point (the very cold May in Chicago has disrupted my succession plans for the radish), but should provide a starting point. It is at http://www.edenpatch.com.

I am researching using Growing Degree Days to estimate maturity instead of the usual ranges, would be interested in hearing if others have tried that.

Would appreciate any other comments or feedback also!

Johnny's suggests 2" spacing for bush beans.

You could probably leave them and they will do fine.

Hopefully someone with more experience can give you their advice.

For the first few pics, I'd wait till they are taller/bigger. At this stage, they are still vulnerable to snails, pillbugs, even birds that come in and around the seedlings.

For the last pic, they are ready to be thinned out, but I would not thin out based on leaves touching each other or being near each other. I would thin out based on the estimated root width. If that is unknown, then go with the suggestions on the packet or others who have grown similar plants.

I've never had any trouble with beets before, even in cold wet years. My soil is slightly more alkaline, I did not use any mulch but did have a row cover on for the first few weeks. At this point I have minimal/ sporadic germination. There are 3 different varieties of seeds, some new some not, so I doubt it is bad seed. As I alsways do, I laid down some sluggo when i planted, so I don't think that slugs got to them...

So my question at this point is: Do I have time to start over with beets? I thought they were kind of long season...I can always use the space for something else...

Thanks!

You've got plenty of time to replant. At around 50-60 days to mature they are certainly not long season and you should be able to get at least two different beet crops per year (one planted in spring for summer harvest and one planted in mid to late summer for fall harvest).

Rodney

Watering is crucial here and I do drip with two circuits: a short durtation one and a long one, if that makes sense. Each bed has a cheap PVC ball valve for each circuit to shut off the whole bed if wanted. It's easiest for me to group plants together that can get along with similar watering schedules, and as plants grow larger just increase the duration. That compartmentalization is one of the big advantages of the raised bed (not SFG) schtick.

Seldom do I pop one emitter off and replace it with a looser or tighter one; there are too many to be poking around all the time with. Errors of timing and clogging can be touched up pro tem with the hose, but clogging is a chronic problem that's hard to notice with heavy mulch and frugal watering.

We made a set up in our raised beds with soaker hoses. We bought one of those splitters that have 4 different spigots that can be turned on and off independently, got some hose at the flea mart, bought some adaptors at the hardware store, connected them to the soaker hoses. Then I could snake the SH through each bed and water as needed.

It makes it easier for house sitters too! "turn spigot #1 on for 1/2 hour on Mon/Wed, #2 1x per week......"

It takes a little set up, but works for us! Nancy

Why are you wanting to use it? Do you know for a fact that your soil is deficient in magnesium? Some native soils are but it would be unusual. Are you plants showing symptoms of lack of magnesium?

If yes, then you can use it on most any green plant. If not then it isn't needed for anything. And yes it is possible to over-use it and create somewhat toxic soil so it isn't something to be used if you don't know for sure it is needed.

Dave

I'd not add magnesium sulfate unless I knew for certain that my plants were suffering from a deficiency of both of those elements. Plants do need small amounts of Mg and S, but most native soils have more than sufficient amounts to support healthy plants.

There are plants with a higher need for Mg and can suffer from deficiencies. Also, deficiencies can occur in soils where crops are harvested year after year, and the natural elements not replaced.

If I thought it necessary to supplement epsom salts, I'd apply it only as a foliar spray. There's plenty of research indicating that that is the most efficient way of getting those elements into the plant without creating a soil imbalance.

I planted mine in a trench this year, as suggested by Potato Garden. Can't say I have any complaints thus far.

The differences in the two links you posted are the variety/type of potato. Some will develop potatoes on the higher stolons, some won't. It also depends on how you planted them - trench or deep holes.

See this article and scroll down to the part on increasing yield:

Increasing yield in potatoes

How many times to do it - 2-3 shooting for 10-12" of soil cover then use straw or hay to keep them from getting exposed to the sun.

I consider the biggest problem with volunteer potatoes as a possible vector for Late Blight. Because of that would get rid of them. We tend to pay less attention to disease issues and care of volunteer plants and Late Blight can overwinter on live potato tubers and spread from potato to tomato plants, both yours and neighbors within many miles.

Some varieties, like Kennebec, have some late blight resistance.

How I Recycled an Old Gazebo to Build a Trellis for My Garden

37.5 gallon Yimby tumbling composter.

One of my hundreds of Iris'.

I agree.

Without a doubt.

Agree, the web contains far more useless info than useful info and is buyer beware. Especially so with (dare I say it?) YouTube.

Just because something can possibly be grown in a 5 gallon bucket doesn't mean it should be. Indeterminate variety tomatoes is a good example. If a plant's fully developed size is way out of proportion with its container then it will do poorly.

I agree that small dwarf tomato varieties, most pepper plants, and many leafy greens will do ok, not great but ok, if given ideal care and feeding and if a small amount of produce is all you are after. Otherwise the answer is simple, use a bigger container.

Dave

I agree with Dave, even though I do plant 2 or 3 tomato plants in 5 gallon buckets every year to get some extra early tomatoes.

I can haul them in and out as needed weather wise and get tomatoes at least a month early. They peter out extra early too, because they get root bound. But I think it's worth it because I get fresh tomatoes in early to mid May instead of the normal early to mid June.

I had bad weather and my in ground tomatoes will probably not be ready until late June this year, I couldn't plant them until 2 weeks ago. But I've been eating the tomatoes from 5 gallon buckets for 2 weeks now.

The potato sprout only needs enough of the seed tube to sprout out of the ground.

Most of the whole potato would have rotten in place.

This could explain why your young plants became sick and died.

Your right, I did actually find the old potatoes that had rotten, when I dug it up.