23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thanks for the sources, folks!

This post was edited by NilaJones on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 14:35

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

yay i'm glad you got a cucumber! hope it's happy and strong when you return! ;)

John: True. I always run into that problem myself. Always trying to to figure out the timing, between pulling summer crops to get the cool weather stuff in and then vice versa. Wish I had just a bit bigger backyard.

Kevin

Thanks everyone. I think it's time to eat them!

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.

the only problem is the clogging. It does clog anything. Latex is completely nontoxic otherwise.

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?

Huh? I always plant my broccoli and cabbage together. Nothing bad has ever happened.

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

Thank you!

Where can I purchase alfafa meal or another "meal" product just so I can compare? Does anyone know of a good place to find more information about these things such as application rates and such?

Thanks!

I did some poking around, the good deals on the "meals" seem to come from feed or farm supply stores. As always, "best local deal" varies.

I've been happy with Espoma products. And Neptune for a foliar feed.
I agree you should not need much right away and be a bit patient for your soil to 'mature' over the next few years as Dave pointed out.
Concentrate on the individual plantings needs from now on, rather than big broad strokes like miracle grow.
Side dressing, foliar feeding.

If you have pets, dogs, ...side dress a bit under the soil and under mulch to keep them out of it...some just love it and very toxic to their system. Even organic, even if it says safe around pets. Watch them and use your 'leave it' command. Small amounts ingested will not be harmful per say, but don't leave a bag opened on the ground or garage.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice! Its very much appreciated!

Over the weekend I mixed a delicious grapefruit, lime and tequila cocktail and spent 4 happy hours in the garden...I didn't even realize how long I had been out there! My husband came looking for me when he got hungry, meanwhile I was having a garden party! Solo! Is that sad? Lol.

Green, you mean you made a grapefruit margarita? lol. Im more partial to Jim Beam and coke-a-cola myself, but I too have solo parties from time to time, I don't think it's sad, I have a great time!

If were still venting garden frustrations: Between Tuesday and Sunday we had several inches of quarter sized hail every day, drowning rain and even tornadoes (which for Denver is NOT common). My in-ground tomatoes are now suffering from waterlogged feet, a lot of the onions have been cut back to nubs, and the lettuce looks like it was sent through the paper shredder. Everything is looking like they are a bunch of prize fighters fresh out of the ring. This comes two weeks after we had almost a foot of snow on the ground. Now were pushing right through the 80's and into the 90's. I will be lucky if I get anything out of this garden besides the scallions (courtesy of the hail) and radishes I already picked. As a nice little bonus yesterday I found cutworm damage in the corn.

But wait! There's more!

If you call within the next 10 minutes, your National Guard Unit will schedule a 2 week Annual Training from June 7-21 and all you can do is HOPE that the people you leave in charge of taking care of the garden do a good job so you don't come home to death and destruction.

Did I mention I was fond of Jim Beam?

Usually, people pick for a particular length of time, like month or no more than 6 weeks, then let the rest go. Another key that it's time to stop harvesting is when the spears start to get spindly and thin. IF this is an old patch, once planted and since neglected, the crowns are probably mature enough to support a nice harvest.

I'm assuming that, with all that growth around them, you'd be missing some of the young spears and letting them go to fern, which is good for the patch. The more you let go, the more you're likely to have next year.

Got it, Thank a bunch!

The dust is not a problem, unless the wood itself is. Carpenter bees are among the best pollinators for cucubits. One of the more valuable bees to have but like everything else they can be a pest where not wanted.

I agree that the dust is not a problem, but the bees also put out a sticky something I wouldn't want on my lettuce. It sticks to the window like glue -- we have a carpenter bee hole in the top of one of our window frames, and when they work the hole the window gets splattered with their yellow goo that's hard to clean off.

To close up isolated holes, you can stuff them with steel wool and cover with duct tape.