23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

And onions shouldn't be dried all that long in the direct sun either.

If your onions weren't finished (matured), were harvested early - which in PA I would think it is too early to be harvesting them - then they will go soft no matter what you do.

Onions are left in the dry ground until the tops fall over and the necks turn dry and brown. Then harvested and dried out briefly in partial sun or even shade as it is the air circulation not heat you are after.

Now what to do to try to save them. Soak the carrots and beets in ice water for several hours - a cooler full of heavily iced water will help firm them back up some. Then either can or freeze them as they won't store for long as is.

The onions can be chopped and then either dehydrated and stored in jars or frozen in pre-measured amounts in freezer bags and used for cooking.

Dave

If you post where you read that it might be more clear...

Lots of thing can be pulled early but needs to be in the fridge and used quickly. Onions and garlic can be pulled and used before fully formed, but should not be dried/cured as what you may have read until the tops brown and dry while still in soil as Dave pointed out.

Carrots and beets need cool storage asap...i've used the ice water bath method after forgetting a harvest but it was in shade.

I don't pull much of that until much cooler september weather...carrots lasted through the holidays in cool storage...anything i pull early in summer heat goes right in the fridge...

Maybe you were reading about a completely different growing zone....but the carrots and beets does not compute for anywhere.

Zeedman, thank you for the tip about freezing covered in water! I've just frozen chard like I do brussels sprouts. Blanch, pat dry, and pack in a freezer bag.

I will try packing it in water next year.

I know this is an old post but I have something to add regarding overwintering chard for seed. Last year I planted Erbette chard seed apparently too late as it did not come up. I assumed my seed was bad as I had had it several years already. To my surprise it came up this spring. I guess it was too hot when I planted it last year.

Anyway, those chard are now bolting and going to seed. so it is my guess that if you winter sow it and it can come up on it's own, which is really early, then you won't have to try to protect it during the winter. (unless of course Erbette is not biennial)

Edit for above: it's MALE flowers- not "make" flowers!!

Good point. I assumed she was asking about telling the difference between BER and fruit abortion.

Dave

That's just early blight, very typical in early summer on the lowest leaves. I usually clip them off to slow the spread of the fungus, which rarely goes higher than 18 inches because it needs damp leaf surfaces to spread.

Agree Early Blight. Remove all affected foliage and dispose away from the garden and begin regular fungicide spray problem if you wish.

Lots of similar discussions right now over on the Growing Tomatoes forum.

Dave

in the span of 30 seconds and no research. Yay me.

==>> i am with you .. wing it.. lol... live and learn. and experiment ...

dont know where you are... but the weather has not been conducive to seed starting here in MI .... in the last few weeks ... incredible heat.. drought... and damp soggy nights...

there are reasons.. success is greater in spring.. with warm days.. and cool nights ...

you said: It wasn't too late to start

who said that??? .... and thats part of your winging it problem ...

whether mature plants are prospering.. really has nothing to do with germination... or making recently germ'd plants thrive ...

and i think that MAY BE.. where the lack of research failed you ...

be sure to understand.. pre WWW .. i learned NOTHING.. except thru experimenting ... you will.. for sure.. never forget this lesson .... whatever it may be ...

ken

ps: there might also be an issue with what vermin might be eating your seeds now.. that werent around and didnt eat them in spring ...

I think the bean seeds were sitting in excessive moisture. Unlike many other seeds, beans are easily injured by oxygen deprivation during germination. If you soak bean seeds in water it will kill at least half of them, but if you let them soften in lightly dampened paper towels they will do just fine. The diff is oxygen availability. Peat pellets are cute but not a good choice for a big, fast-growing seedling like a bean. Once the soil is warm, direct-seeding is the way to go.

Caterpillars don't lay eggs, the butterflies do and then they become caterpillars.
So what you see is just poop. hehe

I know!! I thought the caterpillar I saw was a result of an egg hatching!
I pluck off all of the eggs from the kind that eat the basil and parsley (the butterflies are black/blue and beautiful and make a pretty darned cool looking caterpillar). Those hatch and turn into little suckers quickly! I just thought this was some unknown version!

Maybe a Lebanese type?

looks like Lebanese to me.

The only purpose to hilling potato plants in a garden setting is to keep the sun off the tubers. That means nearly anything goes, from dirt to straw to leaves to a pink doily. If you see potatoes, you're already behind.

Should have mention that I also side dress mine with 10-10-10 fertilizer before hilling the second time.

It's funny you say that tulle tears easily. For me, it's exactly the opposite. Tulle and similar materials let the wind through, whereas row covers (especially AG-15) can rip very easily if they are too taut. Too saggy and they don't let rain in properly. However, small aphids can penetrate tulle but not row cover.

It does work. I used some over dino kale last year that was interplanted with eggplant and both plants did remarkably well. It was nice not rinsing aphids out of all the crevices. When things do get aphids, when I harvest, I often soak in a bowl of water first and that helps to loosen many.

Here is the big caution though, if you over time end up with aphids under the cover, take the cover off, even if there are lady bugs in there too. The aphids will proliferate and the lady bugs cannot keep up.

Here's a clickable link.

Here is a link that might be useful: foldable trellis

I think the slope is probably okay, but I'm not sure the cucs' tendrils will hold on to wood slats. You might need to put some wire fencing or netting over the trellises. And you would want the openings to be at least big enough so your hand can fit through.

O ! I forgot to mention corn. First I had to deal with squirrels, digging the seeds. Then because of small quantity/space they did not bear enough ears. And when they did, they were selling at 4 for a Dollar at the sore which were far better than mine.

I am not growing squash at home because of squash bugs. I am hoping a year off will cut the population enough to try again next year.

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden blog

It looks quite harmless on the MSDS.

I've used it for years to spot clothing. It just seems those sprays and other spot removers don't work well. I wet the bar, wet the spot, rub the bar in and scrub a bit by rubbing together with my hands. Let sit a few minutes, then put in the washing machine. Might not be good to let it sit too long. Spots almost always come out.

@ Dave: "known carcinogen" are you positive on this?

I just started using a Fels Naptha based spray for my aphid problem on veggie plants so I really hope this isn't accurate.

I did google around and found that Naptha is NOT the same as Napthalene (moth balls) which IS a carcinogen. However Wikipedia states that some forms of Naptha MAY contain carcingogens. The wikipedia for Fels Naptha states that it only really contains some irritants.

I could not find any source outside of random forums stating that Fels Naptha specifically contains carcinogens.

The ratio of male to female flowers vary. Don't be surprised if all the ones you currently see turn out to be all male.

Rodney

Buds can be at different stages. And may take a week to bloom. Then if the flower is pollinated, you will see a growing zuke in 3 days or so. If not pollinated it will shrivel and die. So from pollinated flower to harvestibe zuke can take about a week, if you want it to be tender.

Slugo ? does slug bait kill earwigs ? I am not sure about that.

Sluggo PLUS does seysonn.... It is sluggo with spinosad added to it.