24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


This is what pin rot looks like....The tissue becomes soft and gives off a very bad odor.
Here is a link that might be useful: SalinasValleyAgriculture
This post was edited by mrdoitall on Sat, Jan 10, 15 at 5:39


I'm probably not going to be very popular, BUT.... I had a bed that had great soil, but had hardware cloth( wire very strong and spaced very close together) already in place from crops before we planted our gus.
We ended up planting it just about 6" deep and topping it with tons of compost (as we do each year!).
This is not the optimal way of planting asparagus, but for our situation, it has worked very well!
The gus is ever expanding, and we almost have too much! (NoNo! Never mind! Gus soup is in the freezer!) Nancy

I won't be planting until March. I was just taking advantage of a warm December to prepare a new garden space.
I have a large supply of good garden soil from my previous vegetable garden which will no longer be used. It is a raised lasagna-style bed loaded with rich, wormy, black soil. One way or another, that soil will end up in this new garden.
I don't have rodent problems because of the feral cats living in my back yard.
Thanks
Harry


My (limited) experience is that I winter sow brassica seeds in January. They will sprout when mother nature nudges them to. Last year I planted in raised beds 3 weeks prior to average last frost. They (cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower) all did well. I sowed seeds for the fall crop ~ the 7th of July. I had nice fall crops of cauliflower and broccoli, but the cabbage didn't have enough time to form. I may sow seeds this year 1.5 - 3 weeks earlier for cabbage and probably 1 week sooner for the other 2.
For you, you will want to know your average last freeze (spring) and average first freeze (fall) and sow & plant accordingly.
Also see link below to winter sowing.
regards,
tom
Here is a link that might be useful: wintersowing FAQ

The planting dates are really confusing and hard to believe. As others have said, cabbage and broccoli can be double-cropped in 6B, with spring crops seeded indoors in late Feb, and fall crops seeded in early July. Cauliflower seeds need to be started in early July, too.
I have never gotten decent B sprouts or cauliflower from spring plantings. I now start B sprout seeds the first week of June; the plants bear in November.


jennieboyer, I generally watch the cauliflower florets at the base of the head and look for separation. I try to catch it when they just start to separate. This is not always easy to see, especially for the self blanching cauliflowers...Below is a Candied Charm head that is noticeably separated.

Here is a Candied Charm head that is just starting to separate.

Here is a Romanesco Veronica head that is showing first hints of separation. Its a bit hard to see - look close at the bottom florets. I picked it because we are supposed to reach 20 degrees in the AM and I did not want to take a chance on an essentially ready-to-pick head This is my first year growing the Romanesco Veronica and I'm not sure of it's hardiness. I have several smaller heads and will soon know of their hardiness.

. But as noted above by farmerdill it's really a matter of preference.



I wasn't trying to overwinter eggplants, but I had one that was growing nicely in a 2-gallon grow bag and had unripe fruit on it. After the eggplants ripened and were harvested, I cut off the foliage and neglected the plant on a windowsill with a plant light running on a timer for another plant. The eggplant promptly put up new shoots, and I started watering it once in a while. Now in early January, it is looking full and vigorous. I am curious enough to keep watering it and see where this leads.

We had a somewhat unpredicted "hard freeze" last week -- temps of 28F, and I didn't have a chance to protect my peppers (jalapenos) and eggplants (ichiban). which I was thinking about keeping over the winter. Both were doing fine in temps of 30-40F. The peppers did well in the freeze -- no damage at all, but the eggplants were half-killed. In fact, the peppers were more exposed, and the eggplants were on the south side of the house. I ended up pulling the latter. Comes as a bit of a surprise that the eggplants seem to be a lot less frost tolerant than the peppers. I would have thought they'd both be about the same in that regard, but that they're not is consistent with what I'm reading here.

1. Only plant ONE cherry tomato plant, and give it 4x4' to itself.
2. Keep it simple, stupid
3. Plant more cabbages and don't bother with Brussels sprouts
4. Get soakers or drip lines installed first thing, and mulch heavily to keep the watering labor under control.
5. Don't plant so many summer crops; leave room for fall crops
6. Be prepared with mulch or row covers in case of freak early winter weather like we had in November.





Agree. The odds are 9 to 1 that what you have is one of the hybrid varieties simply because they are far more common. Plus asparagus seeds have a very low germination rate and the greens will be the dominate gene so what you get, if anything, will most likely be green.
You will have much better results, faster production, and better quality if you just invest in some additional crowns and plant them instead.
Dave
Understood. I will start by checking my invoice to see what variety I paid for.
The seeds will still get planted because, well, it's fun. I will note germination rates as well as colour results.
Thank you for the responses.