23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

These are actually outdoors. I have them set up out on the lanai. Temperatures here have been ranging between upper 70's to lower-mid 80's. Attached is a pic of what it looks like early in the morning. Much more sun will hit it during the mid day. If that's still too warm for lettuce to grow, can anything be done to compensate for the heat?

I've used Miraclegro seed starting mix in the seedling tray, and Organic Choice Potting Mix for this larger pot.

They look ok to me, maybe a little crowded if you want full heads. Keep them well watered and fed and give them lots of sun.

The wetness has caused some issues especially with the peppers.

The spring had extreme temperatures in both directions no one seemed to enjoy it, except my cucurbits didn't seem to mind the cold as long as it wasn't too consistent.

My peppers are looking better than they were last summer, with it so wet last June, but only the Hinkelhatz (PA Dutch variety cold-weather tolerant) have a couple pods. The tomatoes look great - but are slow to set fruit. The cucurbits are really slow - zukes just this week, yellow squash (Early Prolific - not this year!) are still a couple days away from picking the first one, and bush cukes maybe next week. Little Leaf cukes are even slower. 1 tiny cantaloupe the size of a ping-pong ball, and the watermelon plants have stalled out at about 8" diameter.

Time to plant the fall crops now...

Indeed! My mouth is watering right now from your picture...

I know the seedlings should be 1 foot apart, but would it be ok if they were closer? I want to have them trailing off of the back of the bed below. There's plenty of space for the plants to sprawl, but not for them to grow in the bed...

I had a beautiful Family Fun melon rot on the vine. What could cause that and how can I prevent my remaining watermelons from suffering the same result.

Agree - Downey Mildew.

Dave

Immunox is good at preventing powdery mildew but not downy mildew, which despite the name is an entirely different disease.

A mix of chlorothanolil and mancozeb is probably as effective as anything against it. But this is another of the diseases that it's easier to prevent than cure.

The Other pic that did not post

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

Ok, the size difference with your peppers is likely due to a difference in heat. The bucket on has soil that warmed faster, so it put on a good spurt of earlier growth than the ones in the ground. Why did the watering issue go from fine to death overnight? I think you were probably flirting around the edge of disaster for a while, then just hit the critical point. The fact that there was any standing water at all is pretty telling. Standing water in any pot is a no-no for any plant that doesn't naturally live in a pond or bog.

Also, I think you are asking how can the plants have droopy leaves from both underwatering and overwatering. Well, plant leaves get their rigidity by being pumped full of water. When they don't have enough, they go limp, pretty straightforward. The thing is when they get overwatered, the roots die. The roots are where the water comes into the plant, so without enough roots to do the job, the top needs more water than the remaining roots can supply, and voila, droopy. Hope this helps.

Next time when you plant zucchinis take in consideration their love to the sun - they always "walk" toward the sun. So if you plant them on the edge, make sure that morning sun is from the side of the edge.

A high wind last nite shifted my #2 zuke so far it pulled the tulle cover right out from its anchors. Seems fine now, though.

There's a period when the leaves are large enough to work like sails but the vine hasn't yet set secondary roots to anchor it into the soil. Anyway, planting zukes should give them a chance to get those secondary roots down as soon as possible.

True of most squash,.

I am in the southeast - south Georgia about 10 miles from the Florida line. I will check out those varieties (and if anyone has spares they want to send me, just holler :-)).

Thanks!

I find diplomat, gypsy, and marathon to all give me huge heads, tight beads, and great taste.

I don't know where you are, but most places in zone 5 June is way too late and/or too early for broccoli. They don't head well in the summer heat.

Maybe yours will get a 2nd wind come cooler weather.

Agree that it is way too late for broccoli even in your zone. It is a cool weather, early spring crop long since harvested. Planting in mid-June is too late and the heat now will only cause it to bolt, not form heads. Try April next year or look up the Fall garden planting date for zone 5 and start some new transplants now for planting then.

Dave

And even though I have 7 pumpkin plants, so far there are only 2 pumpkins, and it appears one has stopped growing.

I am sorry to heat that! I love growing cucurbits but I can't stand PM and nothing more irritating than having a beautiful green plant and come out to check on it, only to see a bunch of white spots on it :(. Hope you get it to come back! You're ahead of me in gardening zone so maybe you will have time to save it and get more pumpkins.

ci-lantro

I did cut off the scapes since I was trying to taste them. Probably too late, since they were pretty hard (I read that they should be picked before the '2nd curl' or so).
There were 3 scapes left that I missed (good for test galina suggested).

Rina

The only thing you lose by harvesting too early is size. If you harvest too late the bulbs will be at their biggest but the bulb wrappers will rot away and they won't store as long. It's better to harvest garlic earlier than later.

I would have let one more leaf brown before I harvested those in the pic but that's just me. The size difference would have been negligible so you pulled them at the right time.

Rodney