23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thanks everyone.
I grow "County Fair" cucs, which lack the bitter gene. (which is why it doesn't attract cucumber beetles). I wonder what that means in terms of it tasting bitter??

I trialed cukes this year and found 'Telegraph' put out an occasional bitter-beyond-belief cuke.

My quinoa on July 3, 2014 in North Chicago area.. I am really happy about how it is currently doing and challenged to try to keep it going!

UPDATE: The quinoa is actually going to be several different colors -- Here are a photo of one that looks like it will be purple. I also have what appears to be yellow, Lime green, bright pink, and orange.

Wrigley, I've never seen ants chew through and take down plants at the base, are you sure it isn't perhaps cut worms?
I've never had any problems from my ants in the garden (hey, they are Canadian Ants, maybe they are really polite eh?:)
But yes, if you do have real problems with them, a mix of baking soda/sugar/water in any containers will help lessen the population. They take it back to the queen, or they ingest it and ... I think they explode but I really don't want to know:(
Have to admit to never needing to try this but I've heard of too many people raving about this to doubt it's effectiveness. The "recipe" below lists yeast too, I guess there are a number of combo's but likely they all work just as well. You don't need holes in the lids, if ants can crawl up vertical kitchen cabinets to the counter tops, they can manage a jam jar lid or even a bowl set in the ground a little so it doesn't get tipped over by you, just fine. If the bowl is level with the ground, this will also trap slugs and earwigs, so double duty (they drowned). Beer used to be used for slug/earwigs but what a waste of good beer:)

Here is a link that might be useful: baking soda and sugar water

The thing I think is important to remember is that some bugs are nocturnal, like I believe the cutworms are. You might find something munching the plant bases if you go out with a flashlight after the sun goes down.

I use 10 to 1 diluted urine to water my long squash once a week, it is growing pretty well.

For fertilizing soil that has good organic matter and previous years rotted horse manure with a lot of hay in it, I like to scatter and work in some slow release fertilizer like Plant Tone in the planting hill or row and then band some faster release fertilizer around or along the plants. This lasts all season.

I'm having to harvest my potatoes a bit early because of all the rain. I've solved the non-keeping problem by canning them.

Those look delicious.

The reds grow, large and early.

While this does tend to be a normal occurrence, it can also indicate a nitrogen deficiency when the oldest leaves yellow and fall off.

Most likely it is as galinas says, but what are your watering and feeding habits?

watering them regular, keeping soil moist, but not over watered. about every week and half adding liquid food to water (which has highest number in nitrogen) i think its 12-8-4, plants are thriving, but maybe it is the whole lack of sun thing for those bottom leaves.

Hi, could be a number of things from sun scald of the leaves perhaps to vitamin deficiency... that soil looks pretty dry... I can't really say. Have you fertilized? Do you water consistently? Ants like my bean plants too, as well as my sunflowers. Don't ask me why... no aphids from what I can see.

They don't look like they're dying -- and your harvest may not be affected by these leaf issues. I've had deer eat all the leaves off my bean plants, and they still sprouted new leaves and produced beans just fine. I do see a wilted leaf in the right of your squash photo -- is that another squash plant? Now THAT one looks like it's in trouble (hopefully it's just a weed you've pulled and let lie!)

Wait -- I just looked closer. Is that squash in a pot or in the ground? If it's in a pot, it may be stressed from not enough space (if that is a pot, it looks too small for the plant.)

Thanks folks!

How cured is cured? When the tops are completely dry?

Yep completely dried leaves and dried layered bulb skins on the outside..

hnycrk- NOW we're talkin! So, I get photobucket on my phone and also gardenweb onto the phone as an app? I think if I can get the basic idea down I can go to BB and they have a Samsung guy there all the time. We're also going to take an I-pad class, so I can do it from my new I-pad mini.
Getting closer

rhizo-the one that still (or again) lives with us knows the basics (texting, facebook, photos etc). The other one I don't see much and is always busy when she's around!

Yes there is a photo bucket app, don't know if there's a gardenweb app. I view the gardenweb forum on my phones Internet browser. Once you have your pictures on photobucket you can upload them here..

Example, just took this with my phone.

Well, I'm on the West coast, so I can garden pretty much all year long.
But for fall/winter I like chard and kale. Both are very hardy.
Spinach seems to take so much to get a meal, I stick to the chard. It keeps coming back!
Lettuces, radish, snow peas.... once planted, asparagus is an early spring thing (the start of garden season!)
I don't go for peas, cause you have to plant SO many for just a couple of meals! Brussel sprouts grew great the first year, til I went out in the garden with my glasses ON and found that they were so infested with aphids they were beyond just spraying them down! (I wear my glasses in the garden now! LOL)
You mentioned forgetting about the broc, cauliflower and single harvest veges. IMHO, I usually grow some just to have them, but don't count on them for my winter veges. Just from time to time. If you're together enough (which I am NOT!) to plant a few seeds each week to space out the timing....MAYBE, but ,as you said you only have a small area to plant in!
You might want to just concentrate on things you can can/preserve/freeze with your small area, or think about getting some more space in a community garden to expand. I have over an acre, but my garden consists of 4 4x8s, 2 3x6s, 2 3x3sin ground raised beds, and a couple of new raised up 3x8x1s.
Contact your county extension office (or go online) to find a planting guide! You can also check out the Harvest forum to get some ideas on what to do with your veges!
Personally, I use a FOODSAVER which is a vaccum sealer system!
And I go on! Nancy

Straight from the pages of 'Rodales Garden Answers' book....

Broccoli: Fresh eating: 5 to 10 plants per person
(One plant can produce 2lbs. of main heads & sideshoots)

Brussels Sprouts: For fresh eating, plant 5 to 10 plants per person

Cauliflower: Grow 5 plants per person, twice that for winter preservation.

Collards: Grow 3 to 5 plants per person

Kale: 2 to 5 plants per person.

Mustard Greens: Not listed

Spinach: 10 plants per person per planting.

Turnips: A few feet of row per person per planting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rodales garden Answers Book @ Amazon

This post was edited by MsMorningSong on Sat, Jul 12, 14 at 10:31

wertach, it seems you and I have some things in common!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one!

You might try shading the row where you plant your beets by laying a 1"x4" board down on it for a few days after you plant. Be sure you check daily and when you begin to see signs of the seeds germinating, remove the board. That should help the soil to be slightly cooler and will help keep it moist to aid germination.

Thanks for the info and the advice with the beets. I figured I'd just give it a shot and see what happens; it's just nice to know if it would be a complete waste of time before I tried it.