23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
OK, so Hansel, Gretel, and Fairytale aren't maybe what I'm after.
Slim Jim, if 4-6 inch fruit, is a bit small, but not bad. I see one reference to it that calls it out at 10 inch fruit, though! Louisiana Long Green look OK, but I think I'm not partial to green fruit. Japanese Long Purple might do it, but the 24-30 inch plant size seems way small. As does Pingtung Long. The Slim Jim plants are larger. I put my Ichibans on medium tomato wire frames (about 3 feet high), and it's perfect. So those with the smaller fruit have the larger plant?
Interestingly, these are ALL heirloom.
I have to say that Ping Tung has been pretty prolific for me. No complaints about production, and it loves the heat and humidity. EDIT I grow in earthboxes and all the eggplants I've tried grow well; it's just a question of finding varieties I really like.
I just want my ichiban, darn it.
This post was edited by conchitaFL on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 16:58
AFAIK even seed eaters feed their chicks on protein rich insect and larval foods. I welcome any birds to my garden that want to come. To me it's worth netting the berries and protecting seedlings to have birds around to enjoy watching and to keep down larvae, etc. I like to see how a robin will often accompany me when I'm weeding or digging watching for any tasty morsels I turn up. (European Robin, not the same as the American robin). In our tiny overcrowded island gardens are an extremely important habitat for birds.
Some years we have tried to feed the birds year round. Other years, they disappear after the first month of spring feeding and we stop filling the feeders until the Fall.
This year, with new larger vegetable beds, that had a fair amount of directly sown seed, I stopped filling the feeders a little sooner than usual. I definitely didn't want the squirrels in the yard who seem to enjoy disturbing seedlings in the ground and in pots sometimes.
But even with the feeders not filled, we seem to still be attracting a fair amount of birds. I've seen a pair of catbirds, and I think I saw and heard a pair of Carolina wrens the other day. We have English sparrows all the time, which I'm not that thrilled about, but tolerate them rather than struggle to keep them out of the yard.
We do have a birdbath, three of them that we keep filled. I would feel awful not to offer water to birds in an area where there is really no bodies of water very close by. I love to watch them and really enjoy the sound of them. BUTâ¦this year, we have new large trellises made of cattle panels for the vegetables and it ended up they are directly across from the bird bath, so the birds are perching on the trellis and leaving droppings. I'm considering moving the bird bath away from the vegetable garden, hoping that will keep them from using the trellises as perches.
Thanks for your help. I am so sad, as I have worked very hard to get my plants looking good, and. . . What about the rest of my garden, will it be okay? Does the blossom that turns black mean blight as well. What are the signs I need to look for. I noticed when I was digging a black and white or yellow and black caterpillar type critter. Do you know anything about this. I have been spraying with Neem oil extract. ??
This post was edited by mzcountrychic on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 13:30
I am so sorry.
We had a storm come through a couple of days ago the knocked down some of my tomato plants too - built up the dirt around them and tied them to the fence they are planted along. Hopefully they will recover.
Looks like yours got tons of water which overwhelmed them. If it were me I would leave them alone and see what happens. Can you plant a second round of plants as a back-up? If the black was on the end of the fruit I would say blossom end rot - perhaps the over abundance of water is the cause.
The caterpillar may be an Armyworm. Need to remove and dispose of.
Here is a link that might be useful: Armyworms
Probably a good thing where I'm at -- everything's clay! I have a soaker hose anyways and it gives me more control over how much water they get. I hear they actually get sweeter melons if you slack off on the water when they're ripening because it concentrates the sugars, where as too much will dilute them.
I also wonder about the move into more sun as the problem. If you have experience of starting seed indoors, you understand that you have to gradually acclimate your new plants to more sun exposure before planting out. Maybe this is the same idea. Moving a potted plant from shade to sun should be done carefully. Maybe covering the plant or shading with a lawn chair until it gets used to the new location. Moving in a time period of 3-4 days of rainy cloudy weather. Etc. No experience with this issue though, just a guess.
Thanks, guys. I was thinking at the time that I did it that this was a move from full sun to full sun but I do think that it was probably getting afternoon shade from the tomatoes in the old location. So partial shade to full sun.
Now to find someone who will help me carry it back up the stairs!
Modern varieties of sweet corn generally produce two ears per stalk and don't produce any more after that. Older, heirloom varieties might produce more ears per stalk over a somewhat longer period of time.
Corn produces pollen from the tassles and silk from the ears at the same time.
Perhaps because your corn was water stressed it got a little confused and some ears silked too late to get good pollenation (that's why the ears are small with no or very few kernels forming). The one node with four ears coming from it is just a mutation that's not uncommon.
It is a whoopsie. You should plant spinach as soon as the ground can be worked. Now the soil temperature is too high and the seed has gone dormant. Expect spinach plants in that bed next year. When they come up, write down the date, subtract 15 days, and you will get the best time for planting spinach in your area.
Lettuce seed is more heat resistant. It germinated, but it will bolt soon. Mine has already bolted and was replaced by beets June 17, just ahead of the last several days of rain. Plant lettuce as soon as the soil can be worked, too.
In a previous GW thread, florauk said basil hates cold. I think that's the same person as floral_uk. Anyway, the thread's below.
You thinking there's a lack of minerals and such because of the high pH lockup? There doesn't seem to be any consistent pH info about basil on the web. It's all over the place.
Here is a link that might be useful: earlier GW Basil thread
Basil does not like cold, but it just goes dormant in cool temps and quits growing. I highly doubt that temp made it bitter. The ph may be, but my soils here in Denver are around 8 and my in-ground basil still thrives.
Some basils are much more camphor tasting. Did you grow from seed, or buy a nursery plant. It may have been mislabeled. Picture?
Maybe we have tougher weeds down here, but in my experience, even drenching both plant and soil with vinegar only kills the visible part of the plant, if that (and not always even that if you use vinegar from the grocery store). It's useless for serious weed control.
You have good instincts, Steve.
GW has a pest forum. I'm not familiar with it. May or may not help.The Garden Clinic
I may try that. It didn't look like slugs to me, but that may be it. I have seen massive slugs around the house at night. I've heard sand is an easy fix. Thanks for the info.
I may try that. It didn't look like slugs to me, but that may be it. I have seen massive slugs around the house at night. I've heard sand is an easy fix. Thanks for the info.