23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

thanks again Dave. more great info. Yes, the grasshopper population is lower here than where I lived before. So that is a plus. Reading that they eat heavily for only about 2 weeks is small comfort as I think the garden would have been wiped out in about three days.
nhbabs, seems like these critters emerge from the ground so netting over top would not be a good defense though useful for other varmints.

Do all blister beetles eat grasshopper eggs? I have seen some of the larger, black blister beetles and I have a ton of grasshoppers. It would be nice to know that something out there is working on them while I wait for the Nolo bait to work.

That's the information i'm looking for! You could make a pond to hold the water? You have to understand, it's extremely difficult to try and imagine your situation. Do you have neighbors sorrounding you from all sides? You in the sticks, next to city hall, or what? Pictures would be very helpful. i'm sure there's a halfway easy, reasonably cheap fix to your problem. You could just make a new drain, but that will probably cost a fortune.

See I have a ditch running right behind my back fence. I plan on putting In a little orchard in my backyard. The problem is water pooling. Peach trees hate standing water, some even go out the way making individual raised beds for their trees. I was planning on just digging a ditch in my backyard, directing the water into the other ditch right behind my back fence. That seems like the easiest fix for me, it would be for you, unless you have neighbors on all sides and don't have any ditches for the water to go. I guess you would have to pay a mint to have them regrade your entire property, or perhaps just around the gardens and house. What are your options you considered with your neighbor?

It strikes me that "flooding" may be the problem with my asparagus. It has been doing well for five years, but this year, the lower half (lower as compared to the higher side) did not produce much. I was thinking to blame it on the carpeting that I put around the bed, to make a path and to stop weeds, but maybe the bottom half of the bed flooded. Anybody agree? We have had a phenomenal amount of rain here in SW PA.

Dave, the FAQ page discusses "Blossom-end rot" but not Blossom Drop as your message references. Same thing ?

Alan

The FAQ is called something like "Why are the blooms falling off..." It may say tomatoes as that is where it is most common. Plenty of info about Blossom Drop available via Google too.

It is a common and wide spread condition that affects all fruiting vegetables as the high heat and humidity make the pollen 'tacky' and non-viable.

Dave

I've got a watermelon that looks a lot like that. Small yellow flowers, fuzzy small vine, and the melon looks about like that. I planted a Sugar Baby, so they're on the smaller side. Been years since I planted a pumpkin and I dont really remember how they start out, but I agree... looks like a melon

Could it be a crenshaw cantaloupe? Do they start that tiny?

I made bread and butter pickles using Armenian pickles and Maui onions
They turned out great !

I plant Little leaf and Adam Gherkin Hybrid, they both parthenocarpic, we have bad cucumber beetles issue, so I have to plant in a screen house. Little leaf is a little slow to start and not gynoecious, but very dependable for me. Adam did OK, at least started earlier and it is gynoecious. Also tried other gynoecious European cucumbers, but they seem not to like even our zone 5 b summer heat. Not sure how Little leaf and Adam will do in zone 9.

Slimey (love the name BTW!) send some rain our way! Severe drought!
Lori- I think we got to 98*ish Fri. Today was cooler, but still 90ish!
So, will my beans and tomatoes suffer? It's supposed to stay warm for a couple more days. Nancy

Naaaah. They'll be fine.

As both I and stac5455 said above, the leaves are the best indication for when to harvest.

When planting, the tip of the shallot bulb (assuming you're planted bulbs and not transplants) should be about even or a little above the surface of the soil. At this planting depth the bulbs will push themselves up above the soil surface when they are bulbing, as is evidenced in yolos' photo. Deeper planted bulbs/plants will not do this.

Rina, the leaves of your shallots still look quite green to me. I think they need a little more time.

Rodney

This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Sat, Jul 26, 14 at 16:57

Rodney

Thank you again. I didn't pick any more; here is another photo of what's in ground. I am sure I planted them deeper than you suggested (they were bulbs, not transplants).

I have few with tall flower stalks, is that 'normal'? I am really novice at this...Thanks again. Rina

yolos
looks like you have more bulbs than me in the clumps.

This post was edited by rina_ on Sat, Jul 26, 14 at 21:02

I went out to the garden this morning with a bowl of cereal in hand. Then I added fresh blueberries to my bowl from the bush. After eating my berry delicious cereal and throwing out the paper bowl into the compost pile, I picked an onion, a cucumber and a tomato for a salad later. I also picked a few late strawberries for my little ones. Will go back out later to grab some fresh lettuce. Nothing beats walking the garden and popping fresh fruit straight into mouth. :-)

We picked red currants, black raspberries & crab apples daily for a few weeks. So far this year, no figs. The blackberries, grapes, melons, corn, carrots, peaches & pears are not yet ripe. The mulberries will be left on the tree for the birds. :-)

Happy Gardening!!

Good idea! Both sounds perfect. Next year, if I have more space, I will grab some seeds and grow some paste :).

My potatoes usually fruit. But except for new potatoes, I wait quite a while between fruiting and harvest.

My Yukon Golds have seed balls too this year. They mature sooner than many other varieties.

Another thing that can cause purpling in green peppers is sudden exposure to cool weather (

Yes I agree I need to put up a photo. I reorganized my office and now can't find some things (lol) like my camera and the card for it. I'll steal my husband's iphone and take some pictures to post.

About the weather- it hasn't been too cool for sure. Upper 80s or more every day, alternating with days of constant rain, which doesn't do anything to cool anything off- just makes the weather soupy and uncomfortable.

Not sure about sunburn. I had considered BER but again I'll get photos up soon.

Thanks!

Black Plastic is used early in the season to keep the soil RELATIVELY warm. It does not heat up the soil to such an extent and depth to kill micro organism. White plastic possibly can do that because it works on GREENHOUSE EFFECT. black plastic ONLY absorbs solar heat and get warm and then warms up the soil that it is touching. But its major advantage is that, being black, it will not radiate heat into the space at night also prevent cooling the soil by air movement over it. Also, in the spring time rain water can also cool down the soil. So BP can fend off that too.

I had covered my beds with Black Plastic weeks before planting but I took them off in June.
The bottom line is that keeping black plastic or black fabric can contribute to warming up the soil, which is not desirable during the summer months.

Fbabrams1959 - i use black plastic for melons in our south Louisiana zone 9a area. It works great for me. However, most everything else gets leaf mulch as black plastic tends to heat the soil beyond their tolerance levels.