23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Yeah, Early in the season with cool temperatures, and occasional rain, West NY State, plants won't need a lot of watering. I have not watered mine for longer than a week now. Some are nice green, some are slightly light green. I guess it also depend on the variety and genetics to some extent.
'I worry planting them in the ground there will compete with nutrition and space, and anything behind it wouldn't get enough sun.' It does sound a less than optimal spot but in that case it would have been less than optimal for the planter too. In the ground your plants would actually have had more nutrients than in the planter because they were far too densely packed in there. In the ground plants can seek out water and nutrients. They can't in a planter. For next season remember that a Brussels sprout plant can be 3 feet tall and almost as wide. Same goes for kale. They really aren't good choices for a planter unless it is huge. At the end of the season they are really hard to pull and have thick trunk-like stems.
Regarding broccoli, once it starts to head up you need to use it or it will just go to flower. It can't 'bounce back' from that state.
I think these need to be in containers way, way bigger than you've got. These are much too shallow and small, more for marigolds or herbs than the kind of vegetables you are trying to grow.
You should be closer to a 5 gallon bucket for one or two plants.
There are still a few tubers and or plants available on ebay but they are expensive. I will order them in the fall so I can start them indoors in grow bags this Feb. I'll move them outdoors mid to end of may as I'm in mid west Wis. I would imagine I should have a fairly large grow bag. lol
I pulled them up and we had them at dinner last night. They were very good. But........It probably cost about $12 for the four of them. (as seedlings) haha I only planted them 4 weeks ago, but they were ready to eat. This was my first time planting them, so I guess I didn't realize they were almost eating sized when I bought them. Maybe that's why the nursery hadn't sold any yet, since people might have known they were already too big?
Oh well......live and learn, right? At least they were very good!
So.....now I know. Maybe next year I'll plant them from seed.
Please tell me what septic manure is?
I do not remember ever fighting bad bugs when I lived on the farm, and the nearest vege garden to me was at least a half mile away. I didn't own a sprayer or know what sevin was.
Now that I live in town and try to raise a little of my own healthy food, its nearly impossible to do without resorting to some kind of pesticide.
Last year the worst enemy was flea beetles. They were never ending. The grasshopper invasion was horrible.
No one around me gardens, or for that matter mows the grass or weeds until the city gives them a citation. I feel doomed living here where I can't raise anything good to eat without spraying.
I use a lot of manure but the stuff never comes with a certificate of purity. Because of some hefty paranoia on my part I try to set the stuff aside to age gracefully into dowager-hood. I have a bin for cold composting, but if there's room it sits in a bed.
So, the first year it gets to sit and grow flowers or such. Lots of field marigolds; crazy about those. Because of a suggestion I read here, I have one un-aged bed growing okra (and marigolds), and since nobody actually eats okra, it's really just a cover crop.
Next year the two flower beds that are sitting sort of fallow will get food in them. Marigolds too since they're unstoppable self seeders. I figure that any trace pathogens and perhaps herbicides will be minimized by then. Until that time, I think of the beds as septic, as in germy and dangerous to health.
I come from deep in the chemical culture. I dipped my dogs in sevin, sprayed the yards for ticks with malathion, fogged my house while still inside it, and hoarded some of the last bags of DDT in Virginia. I've driven perhaps 2 million miles in my life, most of which was inhaling Carbon Monoxide loaded with tetra-ethyl lead. I used to play with mercury in my hands and spit it through a pea shooter. I've inhaled herbicides that our government said were harmless. I believed in the slogan of better living through chemistry.
I don't believe those god damned bastards any more. I just had to draw a line and stick to it. Had to start being careful.
In the last year I've used two chemicals. Chalk that up to luck. One was mosquito dunks as a source of BT for house plants that got a bit loaded with gnats. The other was Epsom salts. Knock on wood. Knock on wood again. Everything else came from stable manure, plant waste, and household garbage. Again, luck, and a willingness to let stuff get eaten by critters.
Sorry. I'll shut up now. Goodbye.
I wouldn't hesitate to use them either. Latex paint, even if some of it washes off in the water eventually, isn't some super toxic chemical and it isn't as if you you will be drinking it.
The issue is a molehill at best, not a mountain. But you have to do what will make you the most comfortable.
Dave.
I was wondering about that "race" between the softening cardboard and the descending roots. It might depend on soil moisture, and how many layers of cardboard you've got down there.
Cucumber hills might have a good chance either way.
("expendable" bush beans are worth a shot too)
This post was edited by johns.coastal.patio on Tue, May 27, 14 at 23:05
Hi all. Thanks again.
Just one layer of cardboard. I did soak it thoroughly so perhaps that will help with the speedy decomposition.
How do you suggest doing cucumbers? How big of a hill do they need and how much space between them?
Artichokes sound amazing! Too late for them?
Sounds like they were probably root bound and stunted from not having enough room or nutrients to grow. They should have been potted up at some point. You were doing fine until the 3 months in a tiny tray...
When you're not ready to plant out, you can always put them in larger pots.
My April starts all got potted up at least once before I transplanted them.
How is your soil? Lots of compost? Fertilizer?
I would dig up one of them and examine the root ball. If it is still tightly bound up break it lose some as is usually done with transplants and replant it a bit deeper so new roots can develop along the buried stem. Remove any blooms on it and wait a week see if it doesn't kick into new growth. If it does repeat the process with the others.
nothing to lose and possibly something to gain.
Dave
I spent weeks planning vagetable companions
Ahh sounds like you bought into the companion planting fad. Don't worry about it. There are no problems with planting them next to each other other than they share some of the same pests. But the treatment is the same for both.
Dave
Yes, it was water in the spray bottle. The plants with vegetables on them that were sprayed were banana peppers and tomatoes. Other plants that were sprayed were basil, kale, and cilantro, as well as cucumbers and squash that don't have any vegetables on them yet. I don't usually use a spray bottle to water my garden, my husband was just misting the vegetables we just bought before putting them in the ground as it was too hot and sunny to water the garden. We usually water the soil and roots well. I do really have all these concerns and it does drive my husband batty, hence why I am asking these questions on here so I don't bug him about this. I live in southern Virginia and my full grown banana peppers were bought that way at a garden center. I also have a green tomato. The plant I'm most worried about being exposed to the Mean Green is my basil as it's something that can be eaten whenever, but after reading these comments I'm pretty sure it will be ok.
This post was edited by valialee on Thu, May 29, 14 at 18:10
Link to your other post since all of these concerns seem to be related.
Here is a link that might be useful: Your other post