24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening



Once you cut the central head ( regular not sprouting broccoli) you will get side shoots but they get smaller with each cutting. When the sprouts get too small and ragged for your use, its time to abandon the plant. They do tend to get a stronger flavor as the temps rise. Both the main head and the sideshoots are flower buds, the trick is to use them before the flowers open.




Wild Haired Maven: Agree with hokiehorticulture. I also did NOT use peat moss starter mix. I used a mix recommended by Johnny's for their soil blockers. (google: johnny's seeds soil block recipe pdf should be at top of list) It was left over from summer starting, but it was NOT under three feet of snow (New England...) So it was not sterile, and I am watching it carefully for damping off, but they are up and under lights as of 3 Mar. This mix takes and holds water much better that peat moss, in fact I have been very careful to water lightly.


As Dave notes above, as they are a hybrid, if they go to seed you will likely not get broccolini so if you really love it, you should probably just plan on buying seeds. If you are averse to purchasing seeds, you can try other things in the family to see how they fare for you such as sprouting broccoli, Chinese broccoli, etc.

I should add, on further review, that ammonium nitrate, when combined with water, generally doesn't release nitrogen. It takes heat to make it do that, and then what you get is nitrous oxide (get a laugh out of that!) This is, of course, why ammonium nitrate works fine as a fertilizer, when dumped on moist soil. That is, your fertilizer gets plenty wet when you put it on the ground, and it still works. So to the extent that your fertilizer is ammonium nitrate (urea is very different) the chemistry is pretty much water-proof.


Eggplant fruits thankfully do not take a long time to ripen. You do not eat them fully ripe. You should be fine with any variety that isn't a standard long-DTM variety like Black Beauty. You may have success with Black Beauty, this could be a long hot sunny summer, but another variety like Diamond would be better IMHO. (I am no expert, just basing this on my 1 year's experience growing eggplants in NY.)

I am leaning away from Mg given that the chlorotic (yellowing) symptoms are typically more "blotchy" looking and can be raised or puckered, and more vibrant yellow. Mg Def also begins on lower, mature leaves for what its worth. It looks more like Fe or N Def to me given the "paler" look to the chlorosis (S deficiencies are much less common, but are very similar to N Defs) the differences being that Fe Defs start on the upper, youngest leaves and can progress downwards and N Def start on lowest, mature leaves, sometimes N Defs can also exhibit a reddish cast, but not always. S Defs differs from N in that typically the entire plant will exhibit the symptoms you show on the two leaves and not just one portion or another. Hopefully this clarifies a little bit of the differences between all of these deficiencies.

There are a lot of such tools out there. See this for example. Of course then you have to come up with your own GDD-to--harvest, which will be different for different crops. You can easily go online and find those numbers for various stages of corn, and I think I saw them for tomatoes.

Google "compost corpus christi" or here's a link.
Kevin
Here is a link that might be useful: Texas compost suppliers

Any time you purchase compost from a local municipality be sure to ask them what all is in their compost. Frequently I've found that greenery that has been treated with herbicides are added in just as frequently as "clean" greenery. If you are trying to grow sensitive vegetables or tender new growth plants, you may find it dies before it has a chance to grow. I have found that it is better (not necessarily faster) to find a local horse stable and volunteer to take away some of their oldest manure as well as friends and neighbors leaves every fall and spring. Dig down as far as I can, throw the manure and leaves in, then add the dirt back in.... It all breaks down and your soil will reward you for years.


I've used them for cherry tomatoes, where I had 2 panels, about a foot apart, and put 6-8 cherry tomatoes down the middle of the pair. It kept the plants under check better because my cherries always get out of control sprawling everywhere. I had more fruit and more of it was up off the ground. All I did was redirect shoots that were headed out, bback in. No tying or anything. Worked well for me.

We use hogwire zig zagged between 2 metal pole sunk just outside the beds. I have found plastic clips at the thrift store and flea marts tat just clip the branches to the wire. Or I'll use the soft green plastic ties. Some use nylond, but I don't wear them, so don't have access to them.
At the end of the season, the panels stay connected and are just folded up and slipped behind a shed for the winter. Works for us! Nancy



Agree with slugs doing the damage. They thrive in all that wood chip mulch. Another good reason to avoid using wood chips as the mulch in vegetable gardens.
Dave
Oh my! When artichoke plants are young, slugs and snails, and other creepy crawlers will munch it down to a nub! When they are large, the leaves get tough, throny, and taste bitter. So, the bugs tend to leave them alone when the plants grow large. However, you will have to watch for earwigs and ants getting into the grooves and crevices of the leaves and globes. You can use organic slug and snail pellets. Covering with a net will also help keep the buggers away. Also watch out for grubs and gophers under the ground which will devour an artichoke plant of any size. Gail www.sweetheartartichokes.com