23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
That is looking quite consistent with an acorn squash. Stop worrying! It looks like a summer squash cuz a summer squash is simply an immature squash. Most summer squash when left on the vine will eventually get large, seedy and develop a hard shell. The one pictured would probably be a reasonably tasty morsel if harvested now. But wait and your patience will be rewarded.
Pretty smooth cuts. We live in a fairly urban area and our yard is fenced between neighbors on all sides. We have seen deer in a nearby ravine but can't imagine that they are trekking thru the neighborhoods. I've sprayed pepper spray on everything, but the damage continues. I may have to start picking the tomatoes half-ripe and letting them finish on the windowsill. :(
If you don't have a fence, it is unfortunately likely to be c) all of the above.
I know if I didn't have my fence rabbits would be eating my beans, groundhogs would be eating my squash and brassicas and deer would be eating everything. With the fence, I only have to contend with squirrels eating my tomatoes and voles eating my root vegetables and peas.
So from my experience, I would suggest you have squirrels eating tomatoes and groundhogs eating your zucchini and Brussels sprouts.
In your zone I think you would do better to plant new plants for fall. In the cooler zones they can sometimes get a decent second crop out of it but that never works for me in my zone.
Like planatus I ripped all mine out a month oe so back as it was well past done done and will put in new fall plants.
Dave
I always prefer any of the various romaine types but you might want to ask over on the Hydroponics forum for recommendation on what varieties work best for them when hydroponically grown.
I don't know but I suspect that with hydroponics you'd want to go with stronger flavored leafy greens like arugula, escarole, mesculun, chicory, etc.
Dave
au contraire. I picked a big chicory salad three nights ago, just before the weekly watering, and it was quite bitter. Last night I watered well again a day before, it was much sweeter. Them bitter greens get mild when their feet are in water all the time. My favorite lettuce is light green oakleaf lettuce. Since various types are designated as oakleaf, I am adding a link below to the specific type (I also grow the one at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Oak_Leaf_lettuce_J1.jpg
much more tender, and also well liked in my family)
I like it for productivity, holding up in the heat and generally long cropping, and crunch.
Here is a link that might be useful: oakleaf lettuce images
I have used buckwheat as a nurse crop for fall carrots, but planted it ahead of the carrots, so that the carrots were sown in openings made in the buckwheat planting. This worked quite well, since buckwheat is so easy to pull out and compost.
It looks trashy, but I cover my summer-sown carrot bed with a wire fencing arch topped with an old sheet, attached with clothespins. It's fully ventilated but provides enough shade to get the seeds up and growing. After mid-August, the carrots want full sun.
I have hoops taken off the strawberries, have old sheets (have to see if long enough) just thought wet burlap would be better on the hot days instead of hoops and white sheets.
Left the burlap off yesterday AM - hope they haven't burned up today but it's not that hot, did get sunny (but they're in east bed with tall tomatoes to west).
Since this is in tunnel I was looking for cash crop not cover crop.
Hi Hi~ Just want to let you know that I follow your advice to thin out my lettuce. Just now when I tried to picked some of them, I realised there were few leaves which were burnt or eaten by bugs, but when I removed those leaves, I found the lovely green crunchy heart inside and they were huge and bugs free! Thank you so much again!!!
Boron deficiency is rare. I expect your problem began with stressing your plants by moving them. I don't know where you are, but unless you are a frigid far northern state cauliflower will not head properly at summer temps. Broccoli is a bit more tolerant, but still quits in midsummer. In both cases you are eating the flower heads, but you do want them to form properly and quickly. If your are does indeed have boron deficiency ( ask your Ag extension agent) a sprinkling of 20 mule team borax will solve the problem for next year. Nothing you can do about now. Make sure tho, too much boron is worse than not enough.
Thanks! I am in Wisconsin. My neighbor also has brown cauliflower (and did not move hers). I suspect it makes sense it was the heat/move. All this did happens when we finally got some sunshine up here. Of course, then my eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes got their grove on. I also think that the squash plants were giving the brassicas more shade that they liked. I am not sure if they are "bolting" but they are both growing heads. The cauliflower is bigger than the broccoli. I am happy though I will be able to still eat them.
Note that that 'instructable' does not show any pictures of onions grown by this method. You will get onion leaves but as a way of producing bulb onions it's highly suspect.
'You can theoretically create an endless supply of onions without ever having to buy bulbs or seeds,' This is nonsense imo.
gator5774 if you seriously want to grow usable onions, rather than indulge in a a fun experiment out of curiosity, buy seed or sets and find out how to do it properly.
I've had more luck starting cucumbers in pots and transplanting them into a different part of the field (away from any existing cucumber plants) a few weeks later. I keep them under row cover until the plants are full of flowers.
Disease can spread from the existing plants to the new seedlings, and if cucumber beetles are an issue for you they may infect your new plants with bacterial wilt before they've had much chance to grow. That's what happened to me last year, even though my new seedlings were under row cover - I had planted them in the same row as my existing cucumber plants. The beetles either made their way under the cover or they were already in the soil.
It's going better this year, but it's just a constant battle with cucumbers.
I think most of you were right about the roof rats! I think this is a roof rat, right? Doesnt look like a vole. My TomCat caught one today and the bugger ate the very last plump tomato as well. Seems like they are voracious eaters!! TomCat will be back!
This post was edited by djkj on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 12:24
The main penalty of letting eggplants stay on the vine to long is that the seeds develop, and seedy eggplants aren't as nice to eat. Pick one and look at the seeds. If they are getting big, then pick the rest. If not, then leave the others on.
Agree... it's an acorn. I've grown bush acorns before and they grew as a straight up stem for some amount of time before leaning over horizontally. Not exactly a bush, but not really a vine either. At least not a sprawling vine.
Yep, my acorn started out as a bush this year, but it is vining quite a bit now.