23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Thank you so much for all of the responses. It looks like Diva is getting everyone's vote, so will try that. Also, the Armenian is a relative of cuke, but sounds so tempting, I might try this one as well. Just for a chance of different flavor. ju_12234, what exactly does it taste like to you?
It also says it's great for hot climates, which I have.
On Seed Savers Exchange there is an organic cucumber variety called "Poona Kheera" which is not only an absolutely delicious cucumber variety but has less "burp effects" and the burps, if at all are actually less bothersome. Just make sure you harvest these cukes before the skin turns brown.
I am growing this variety this year as well in my garden.
Here is a link that might be useful: Poona Kheera
Kevin,
Unlike peppers , cukes don't like real HOT weather, cause you eat them young and tender. But since Sandi area has cool nights, cukse should do fine until they just get tired, provided they don't get Powdery Mildew. Having said that, I would put the pot in place with partial sun/shade. And be ready to water it more often After all cucumber if mostly H2O.
I think you can grow ONE in a 5 gal. bucket. You will need to stake it unless you put the bucket next to a structure that you can tie the vines to it. Unless you are planting a bush type.
Good luck !
I did that with some yellow squash and butternut squash this year (too many in one mound). So...I transplanted the extras to a different spot. The yellow squash took very well, the butternut I had to baby - they were a bit shocked (kept watered, shielded from the sun). Doing fine now. Hoping for a good butternut squash crop...love, love, love.
It takes me more than a year, usually two, to use up a packet of broccoli or cabbage seeds, so I can only try so many updated varieties. Gypsy broccoli is fast and makes big heads. I think I like it better than Diplomat, the packet I'm working through now, which is also the variety many local organic growers are using. I've done well with small, fast cabbages like Pixie, Gonzales, Caraflex (pointed) and Alcosa (savoy).
No favorites on B sprouts. The top hybrids haven't been very impressive, so I'm trying OP Catskill this year and planning to fertilize the heck out of it. B sprouts grow into huge 3-foot plants, and I don't see how they can do that in 60 days. When days are getting shorter in fall, you should add 21 days to the estimated maturity time for veg varieties except leafy greens anyway.
Sunshine, I direct seed the rutabagas, carrots and leafy greens, and start all the others in containers. To get the seeds up in hot summer soil, I often cover straight rows with boards held aloft with bricks. With broadcast beds I cover wire hoops with an old sheet, secured with clothespins, to gentle down the sun. In dry years I've looped soaker hoses into squiggles and circles and planted direct-seeded crops in the drip line.
I was victim of that hail storm a few weeks back. It only shredded my pepper and eggplant leaves. They all survived. The shredded leaves are still there, but they grew new ones and everything is doing well. My squash/zucchini/cucumbers were not so lucky. Because the vines were exposed, the hail sliced the vines. I had two surviving squash out of six and two out of four cucumbers. I just started over (in pots). I'm better off. By the time my new plants are ready to go in the ground, the borer moths may be gone for the season.
I lost one tomato plant too, completely decapitated! Fingers crossed for no more hail!
There is a plant ID forum. It is active and they know their stuff. If, after researching catalpa, you are still not sure/convinced, try over there. Adding URL.
Here is a link that might be useful: Name that plant forum
Thanks auntnana.
Mine came yesterday. It went together easily. I took it to my garden for a spin this morning.
I have to say, the jury is still out. Also since we had a bad drought 2 years ago, the soil has been very hard. So it didn't do a real great job. And it's most definitely not a weeder. I found if I scraped the small weeds off with a hoe first, then used it, it went better.
I think I need to focus on improving my soil more, and then using the cultivator before hardly any weeds grow back (after the first big weeding). It worked pretty well if I went slowly, and went back over the same places a few times.
Once I get the soil softer, I think it will be great to use!
I have raised beds, but the soil packs down with the winter rains (not so much this year with the drought!)
I bought a little mini tiller from my neighbor, probably 60s-70's model and the thing is perfect! It fluffs up the beds and mixes in the compost down about 4-6"
I know some people say that in raised beds you shouldn't have to till, but I love mixing in that compost and having that fluffed look!
Sorry, no help with your tiller! Just had to comment about mine! =) Nancy
As lori said - how old are the plants? They may just be finished as they don't live indefinitely.
Otherwise the yellowing leaves indicates over-watering, not under-watering and the interveinal chlorosis (green veins surrounded by pale leaf tissue) usually indicates nutrient deficiency.
Dave
How would you spray an acre of crop? By tractor? Seems like more work than it is worth for the small benefit.
The biggest benefit of foliar feeding is under situations where the nutrients would get locked up in the soil, for example, iron chelates.
Last year was just my 2nd year of growing pumpkins and did not have as many as this year so I actually poured the labels instructions mixing ratio directly on the ground along with a granular fertilizer that was applied when planted and had great results with doing so. I would be spraying with a ATV and sprayer.
A growing guide is just a starting point...
Broccoli is a cool weather crop, meaning cool soil. You can help keep the soil cool by mulching and watering deep, not every day. May buy a bit of time but sudden hot weather like we are having right now and the past few weeks, hot/then cold, will pretty much toss planting guides out the window.
Not every crop will do as planned every year...
I had great broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli rabe, and hearty greens a few years ago but a bust the past few...too hot too soon.
Some crops do great every year no mater the weather...
Peppers like this weather but may not have liked going in so early. Mine have only been in two weeks now. I let them be until i see flowers, then start feeding....
With so few varieties, study the needs of each plant. An all-for-all soil mix does not exist.
Asparagus really wants to be off on its own. If you like it where it is, you might want to add a division board so it can be left undisturbed and mulched separately. If it does well, the summer fronds will get dense and 4-5 ft tall after a few years. May even shade you veggies.
Though that can sometimes work to an advantage. Get a compost pile going if not already...next year your soil will thank you for it. Fresh bags of this and that in a new bed are often not so great...just seems like it should after the sticker shock...
Root maggots - I dug up one of the plants. The roots are solid, but very small. Either something is damaging the roots, or the same thing is damaging both the leaves and roots.
Peppers - The plants are very small, but they are flowering and there is even a tiny pepper.
Asparagus - They are on the north side of the garden (about 30" wide by 15' long, running N-S). I can put in a partition this fall.
They play dead and drop when you get near, so rather than trying to grab them, it will be easier to hold a bucket or jar of soapy water under them and knock them into it. you should be able to get 50 or 60 in about 5 minutes, and then keep going!
You can also hire neighborhood kids to drown them. When we were kids, that was a lucrative job in our neighborhood.
I'm having the same problem. I'm also in NC. I drop them in a bucket of soapy water just like elisa_Z5 suggests, and then I leave the bucket out next to the garden. I am probably just imagining this, but it seems to keep them away for a couple days.
-Anne