23,822 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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mosquitogang201

Cucumbers and watermelons don't really take off until the weather is consistently warm and they have a dozen or more leaves. Once they get going they grow quick. Yours don't look that bad. It's not uncommon for leaves to fold up during the day, especially with yours since the roots aren't very big yet. The plant is just trying to reduce water loss from its leaves. Just make sure to keep the soil moist but not soggy. Once they get bigger that means damp at 2 or 3 inches below ground.. soil can be waterlogged even if it's dry on top. Give them a balanced fertilizer once they get a little bigger and give them some time. Oh and keep the crabgrass away.. it will steal nutrients and crowd out your plants. Then work on the soil this fall when you're done growing.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 11:13AM
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howelbama(7 NJ)

I prefer the hydrolyzed over the emulsion primarily because it doesn't have much odor at all, and I think the NPK ratio is better.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 3:09PM
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plaidbird

Jane,

Not all places have native earthworms I was surprised to learn when I was trying to identify my garden worms.

Now that you have the garden started, you can get a compost pile started. By adding your kitchen scraps, slightly buried, and with coffee grounds if your a coffee drinker, if there are worms, they should find you. They love the coffee grounds !

Either way, it makes good sense to compost at home if you have the space, rather than sending it out in the yard debris can and buying the finished compost back. ( not that there's' anything wrong with that ... sometimes that's the best choice for some folks )

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 1:31AM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Does organic matter include composted materials as well as humus?

Yes, just as Rodney said, the primary form of "organic matter" is compost. In addition all he mentioned, tilled in cover crops, green manures, leaf mold.

But to develop a herd and keep it going you have to feed it regularly. That means several times a year. So if you can't compost enough to keep up with it then you have to look into other sources.

Check out the Soil & Composting forum FAQs too. The list is practically endless.

Dave

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 11:53AM
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gardenlen(s/e qld aust)

with sweet potatoes no need for certified, just do as you did.

see our presentation for ideas

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens growing sweet 'taters and pineapples

    Bookmark     August 25, 2013 at 4:07PM
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MaryAnn1950

Len, thanks I am going to try a sweet potato in my SFG. I think I have until the end of June to get them in the ground (zone9) but I may fudge it a bit.
Mary Ann

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 11:40AM
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laceyvail(6A, WV)

Still plenty of time in zone 6a for beans, cukes, summer squashes, turnips, kale, collards, lettuces, beets, carrots, a wide variety of Asian greens, Asian radishes, and probably a number of other things I've forgotten. I just started (in starter cells) savoy cabbages for winter harvest. They'll go into the garden end of July/early August.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 6:48AM
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McRose

Thank you guys!

I found some decent looking cantaloupe starter packs yesterday and a few tomatoes that hadn't started fruiting, so I bought those. Plus a few other random plants that looked ok - an eggplant, a pepper, a few other things. I'll put all those in and start some hills of squash and watermelons. Hopefully I'll get something wtih all that. Of course my fear now is eveything comes in and I am overun with produce :)

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 10:35AM
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mdy113

another pic

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 8:52AM
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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

It's normal. You'll just have to be patient and wait. The females will show up sometime.

Rodney

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 9:05AM
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pnbrown

IME deer adore pea and bean sprouts above all, so the fact that your beans were not eaten is strange.

    Bookmark     June 7, 2014 at 8:15PM
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oldseed1

I have had deer problems, had fencing 6' high 4years ago deer went over it and tore it down as there food mast was low. I put the fence back up and added a 45% angle on top. this has worked as I was given this advice from a deer farmer. I used 6' t post 4' range fence and 2' pvc pipe on top with a 45 elbow and 2' pvc out wove the top 4' fence over the pvc. also fastened the 2 4' fence together. I did post photos at backyardchicken.com. the pvc was 1 1/2" diamature. hope this helps. old seed 1. look for post at backyard chicken by 1 old hen

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 8:49AM
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farmerdill

Exactly, just remove the larger leaves as needed, just don't completely defoliate the plant.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 8:33AM
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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

A severe case of powdery mildew. With plants this far gone I'd pull them and replant. I highly doubt they are going to recover and spraying fungicides would be useless. Sorry. If you had caught the PM early enough you could have dealt with it.

I agree with loribee2 about the weeds.

Rodney

This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 0:42

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 12:40AM
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macers(10/ sunset 20/21)

Well darn it. Thanks for the replies!

I will pull weeds, but I won't be able to replant this year.

I also have an affected cucumber (opposite side if the garden and it just sprouted from seed?!) and a spaghetti squash. The spaghetti squash has large fruit setting so I'd hate to pull it. Will the fruit still ripen?

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 1:50AM
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sleevendog (5a NY)

I've been using bamboo trellis systems for years...early on it was a method of tending climbers if dealing with high winds like i have...beans and toms
A bit of bamboo and a roll of twine...

Here is a link that might be useful: bamboo trellis ideas

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 7:16PM
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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

You can make a simple trellis from 2 by 3 by (6',8', ..)
then screw hooks inside the frame and run twine, to make it like a net.
Here is a sketch I made with PAINT.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 1:36AM
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Artichoke & cucumbers have black specksCan anyone identify this?
Posted by macers(10/ sunset 20/21) June 19, 2014
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macers(10/ sunset 20/21)

Not moving, although there were lots of what looked like small insects flying around.

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 11:46PM
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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

some kind of aphid, I second.

Just jet them out with water. Be careful not to damage the leaves.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 1:01AM
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galinas(5B)

It looks like acacia tree seeds - do you have any such tree around? They sprout pretty easy in my zone 5 - I pull them out every year. One tree is enough for me)

Here is a link that might be useful:

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 8:52PM
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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

I agree that it looks like a tree seed, although I would suspect a fruit tree, which would explain how the seeds are being dispersed (possibly by animals eating the fruit). In California, there could be a lot of exotic fruit trees to choose from. If there are loquats nearby, that would be my first guess. I was fortunate to live near a property with a lot of loquats when I lived in SoCal, they are wonderful eaten fresh, and the seeds resemble those in the photo.

    Bookmark     June 20, 2014 at 12:51AM
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nickjoseph(5 Milwaukee, WI)

Plaidbird,
No, I really don't have anywhere to attach string to. These are actually in a garden plot. Maybe some kind of wooden trellis? My mom thought that we could put a tomato cage behind them--but there is only about 5 inches behind them where our brick garage starts--so a cage would not fit.

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 10:26PM
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plaidbird

I'm getting a better picture now. Sure a trellis will work. In fact, for three beans, you could probably make a little trellis with things you find around. I've done trellises out of what ever was closest sometimes. Twigs go together with twine, just be sure to use at least one tall, sturdy stick as the main support.

I had a neighbor that plants two or three red runner beans and lets them run up a long piece of bamboo. I miss seeing it now that she's moved. Used to be there every year.

If you have the name of the type of bean, goggle it to see how tall it gets then you can plan ahead. The ones I have this year say eight feet.

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 10:45PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

I believe my grafting days are done......... ;)

I think you'll find that to be true for many.

Grafted tomatoes were first developed to aid in coping with heavily infested soil borne diseases, the terminal viral diseases that are a common problem in much of the deep south. It was supposed to give the plant additional resistance and to a degree it works.

But from there the concept seemed to explode - thanks to a hyperbole-filled marketing strategy - to all parts of the country. Even where the viral diseases didn't exist.

All sorts of additional benefits were claimed - "2x the production". bigger fruit, better tasting fruit, guaranteed to prevent Early Blight (which is air borne), etc. etc. All of those claims allowed the high prices for the plants, the grafting tools, etc.

But tomato plants have been grown successfully for centuries without grafting so eventually common sense will prevail. :)

Dave

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 2:06PM
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gltrap54

Yuup, even at 60+ years old I'm still paying for my education.... Now that's a student loan........ LOL

My biggest issue with hybrid plants has been EB... I've worked diligently to avoid this evil, but it still rears it's ugly head! Holding my breath at the moment.....

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 10:36PM
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mdy113

there is a drain hole and i have been using liquid plant food in the water mix about every two weeks. ya was just shocked to see so many ichiban growing fruit when i came back and none yet on the black beauty and also the yellow leaves, so just wanted to make sure. guess we shall see. pot may be tad undersized too i suppose, first year trying eggplants so all new to me

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 10:00PM
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howelbama(7 NJ)

They'll start producing soon. Mine are usually about 3 weeks or so behind the ichibans. Seysonn is right, ichibans produce early, prolifically, and through to fall. The black beauties are later, not as prolific, and don't last quite as long. They are still respectable producers though and are good for culinary variety.

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 10:21PM
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agrocoders(6)

Chickenwire is expensive. A loose string net hung from the fence would have been better. You can try bush bean varieties but they don't bare as much as pole beans. We usually plant in with the corn.

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 7:57PM
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CourtneyB123

I will definitely do something whether it be chicken wire or something for them to cling onto! Wow who would've guessed they grew that high!

Are there many pests or bugs that eat/damage beans in south florida? As I may have mentioned, didn't have a very successful season for cucumbers or summer squash. :(

    Bookmark     June 19, 2014 at 10:14PM
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