23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I agree chemicals is the best option. Do your research on those offered and consider wicking the chemical instead of spraying. Requires far less chemical and alows repeat applications without loading soil with chemicals. Burning everything removed sounds perfect. Maybe even dance around the fire if noone is watching.
Honestly you can pickle just about any peppers. It will change the flavor of course as well as the texture (softer) but that is true with any peppers.
You'll find all the discussions and info about pickling peppers over on the Harvest Forum here. It is the garden food preservation forum.
Also check the Peppers forum for additional info.
Dave
Good for drying too...perhaps invest in a food dehydrator.
Use the 20% coupon offered by Bed, Bath and Beyond (Google it).
Here is a link that might be useful: Nesco Dehydrator
If you are in the 60's and 70's for the month, I'd say go ahead and plant. I figured Milwaukee would be hot and muggy in the summer time, but those temps would be good for all manner of cool season veggies including radishes. Plus, they are so quick that if it did get too hot for them in the 30ish days they take to grow, oh well, plant some more in September, nothing to lose really.
Not a problem.
Totally funny. I'm going to start some Sumters next week myself.
You may want to try to keep the soil cool when Sept/Oct(Santa Anas) roll around though. (Mulch, shade cloth) You'll get production but just not as much if you had started earlier. November and December cool nights will slow things down.
Kevin
Mosaic virus looks like the squash has blisters to me; I wouldn't say that.
If you got them from someone, the person probably grows yellow squash & zucchini, and didn't keep them far enough apart. To me, I'd bet that they just got cross pollinated.
Should be fine to eat if that's the case. If you got from the big company, like Burpee, mislabeling is a possibility, but frankly... I've never seen a summer squash they've sold that looks like THAT. And cross pollination is unlikely there, since they keep their plants so far apart to avoid just that. It would be a very rare possibility, but it MIGHT happen.
If you did get it from a big company like that, my next thought would be pesticides.
I am assuming this was supposed to be posted in your original post? Need to keep it all together for information and clarity so the link to your original post is below. Next time you can just add this to your original rather than starting a new one. :)
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Your original post
I too would guess moisture fluctuations as the most likely cause. Eggplants are a little slow to root and establish when nights are cool (as I imagine they are - where do you live, btw? I'm near Saskatoon). Maintain even moisture - not too wet and not too dry.
As for lower leaves that senesce, they wilt naturally before falling off.
What variety is it? Most of the Asian varieties especially the new hybrids will mature quickly - a 6 week picking period is standard around here, and it can be extended to 10 weeks with some babying.
Thanks again, both of you. It's so aggravating that there aren't any farmers' markets around here that have melons (I don't believe I've ever seen a melon other than watermelon at either of our local markets) that I could buy to try.
what they all said... but to clarify.. simplify.. i hope ...
a plant in the wild has ONLY ONE goal ... to reproduce ... produce seed ... and if the fruit/veg itself rots where it lays.. all it is doing .. is composting the seed produced ... with me so far ..
a gardener... has no need for seed ... their goal is large pretty produce ... and that is not accomplished.. by letting them lay on the ground ... due to the potential of bugs and diseases mentioned above
easy peasy ... lol.. see what i did there ... its veg related.. lol ..
do NOT confuse industrial production as one above noted ... because ... again.. their goal is different ... near napoleon OH is the campbells soup factory that makes its famous tomato soup ... for lots of miles around... all you see is T fields... and in season.. giant semi dump trucks filled with Ts ... i often wonder how they arent all crushed by the time they get their.. from their own weight piled 8 or 10 foot high ... [probably because they are picked while still rather hard]
the point being.. they arent trying to produce a grocery store perfect T..
you can try going all nature in your process ... all the power to ya .... but i would suggest ... you plant say 3 plants.. stake one.. cage one.. and let one lie ...
i learned more by experimenting.. than i ever did from a book/WWW .. especially since we didnt have the WWW back them ....
good luck
ken
The idea is to keep the stems/vines and especially the fruit off the ground. Tomatoes will reach 6-feet in stem/vine length. Cherry tomatoes a lot more. If you didn't support them, they'd be crawling on the ground, even before tomatoes formed, and certainly afterwards. They might produce down there, but keeping fruit in the dirt from decaying would be hard, and you'd waste a load of growing space.
Of course, since the whole purpose of a plant, to that plant,
is to produce more plants, it's pretty sensible to have the fruit laying on the ground! That purpose isn't served by supporting the fruit. Since the purpose of the plant to us, is to harvest clean and flawless fruit, not so much the case, and plant support makes a lot of sense.
Wow. That is exciting to see all that fruit this early in zone 5. I am starting to get jalapenos, but my eggplants are just barely starting to set fruit.
What is your recommendation for an early and reliable tomato? I have lots of green ones, but nothing is starting to turn yet. I was hoping Earliana and Buckabee 50 would beat July 4th, but it isn't going to happen.
Here is a link that might be useful: My garden blog
This year Sweet 100 gave me some red ones already, like 6-7 of them from 2 bushes, not more. Last year I had first 4th of July ready by June 29, but this year they are not ready at all yet. I also like Jetsetter - it is not ready by July 4th, but by 15th usually you can start picking them. I am still researching tomatoes, because 4th of July is only sold by Burpee and too expensive, and Jetsetter sometimes gets sick - last year lost a plant in a very beginning of the season due to bacterial cancer. Had to remove the whole bush to save others. This spring was very late and cold, I usually transplant my tomatoes by May 9. This year it was May 25. May be this is why they are not ready yet.
Do you think plants decay fast enough, such as spent tomato plants? Or how about grass?
Tomato plants, no. They need to go to the compost pile too. Grass yes (make sure it hasn't been treated with weed killers).
Rodney's suggestion of mixed well shredded leaves and grass tilled in can work but will still likely require some rake-off in spring in zone 6 of left over leaves.
But since soil improvement is the primary goal then a planted cover crop that can be tilled in in early spring is the best option. If you make it one of the N rich green manure cover crops so much the better.
Turnip seed, radishes, any of the legume cover crops, hairy vetch, crimson clover, etc. can be inexpensively seeded over the entire bed to grow all winter, tilled in in early spring 2-4 weeks prior to planting. Provides winter protection and does wonders for the soil.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Cover Crops
I can do that! Radish seeds are easy to come by. If I use leaves I will be sure to shred them or just leave then in a compost pile. I am glad I asked because I would have just put the leaves as is on top of the soil. Learning to improve soil this year and it is all new to me :). Thank you both!