23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I've grown both those varieties here in western OR and they should get full sized and be similar to what you find in the store. Tracydr is right about the blanched stalks (which is easy to do) making them lighter colored and more tender, but your plants should be getting much bigger than you describe. So my thoughts are that you're not giving the plants what they need, (which as tracydr also said) is lots of fertility and very regular watering.
Celery is possibly the hardest veg for me to grow and i've given up growing enough for the farmers market I sell at. Instead i'm opting for more celeriac, which seems less picky.
I suggest you keep building your soil and do some extra research on growing celery and it's special requirements, and you'll get it right. Good luck.
-Mark
In our part of the country, celery is almost exclusively grown in muck soil. I'm not really sure how you would simulate muck - it's sandy, organically rich (black), and floats on an endless supply of water. The link is a very short read, but interesting nonetheless.
Here is a link that might be useful: Celeryville
Being a new transplant in PNW, I am also trying to germinate and eventually grow some okra. But I am not holding my breath. I used to grow them back in Atl. GA area for years, with no problem. Okra is basically a Southern plant with Hot and LONG growing season. Unless they is a one bred for cooler climates that I don't know of. Everywhere I go, all I can find is CLEMSON SPINELESS. Not a good one : It gets woody before you can say AAH.
If the climate is like Cuenca's, you should be able to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini fairly easily, especially if you use black plastic mulch.
Plus all the veggies that have been suggested by others. And don't forget beets, carrots and chard.
The only crops you may not be able to grow are the heat-lovers, including peppers, eggplants and (water)melons.
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, May 4, 14 at 14:46
pnbrown,
You make good points but the picture is far bigger than that.
The very fact that OP is able to say "OK, let's move to Ecuador and have a garden!" is proof of the divide between the developed and developing world. For most Ecuadorians, it's a wild fantasy to be able to move to the US at all, much less move to the US and have a house and garden. No offense to OP intended.
So in the grand scheme of things, the ability to hire cheap labor is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Substitute US with Canada, Australia or any other new world developed nation, and substitute Ecuador with any other developing country. Same story.
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, May 4, 14 at 14:53
I use half inch conduit for trellis frames. I got a roll of heavy wire at Lowes that I use to anchor the vertical conduit to hold up in high winds. I use it for tomatoes by running lines down from the top and weaving from side to side. Works great, and breaks down easily. I use PVC elbows to connect the vertical and horizontal bars.
Grandad, your growing season is so different than ours here in Massachusetts, obviously. I see how the plastic can keep the plants from rooting the runners if you are going to pull them out after a main harvest.
We have less sun than we started out with now that the neighboring trees have matured. Not much we can do about that. I used to be able to grow full size tomatoes but now I stick to the cherries.
Jonfrum, anchoring is another way to go too. ItâÂÂs so interesting how people find their own adaptation to different ideas. Thanks.
I think you can plant and grow successfully JUST ABOUT ANYTHING you want in that space, with 6 hours of sun, down in Memphis, TN. I am gardening in a situation that I get hardly 5 hours of direct sun and I grow tomatoes, potatoes, pepper, cucumbers, squash, garden bean, chard, ... all kinds of herbs.
Here are some plants that wont mind even less direct sun:
---- chards, parsley, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, any member of onion family (chives, onions, leeks, shallot,) any member of cabbage family,
But it might be a bit too late for some of them to start from seeds but you can always buy plants and plant them.
Thank you both for your responses, I appreciate it-great suggestions. Seysonn, we actually just planted a whole 8x4 bed with seeds of Swiss Chard and Kale. I know Kale especially is supposed to be a cool season plant, but we use Kale in smoothies and would be covering up up bitter tastes anyway. When you say it may be too late are you referring to the bitterness as the weather gets hot-or an issue with germination and growth? Thanks!
To make matters worse the conditions which slow the basil growth also favor many basil diseases. That is my main reason for only early starting disease resistant varieties like Nufar, Emily or Genoveser. Also use a potting mix with biofungicide if possible as added insurance and then you still need to keep young seedlings warmer than most other crops. Temps dipping into the mid 40s often leeds to "Tanning" of the leaves; low of
boil baking potatoes and an onion in good stock. Add spices and salt to taste (I like a little chili and salt). When cooked, blend the soup with one or two handfuls of sorrel leaves, stems removed. serve immediately. the secret is to blend instantly when leaves and soup are in the blender. then the soup will stay a bright green. if you wait, it will turn grey. Baking potatoes are much easier on your blender than waxy. Sorrel soup with waxy destroyed our previous blender.
I also add tallow or olive oil to the soup when serving. This is served in April and for Thanksgiving here.
Sorrel leaves effectively 'melt' when heated so you can make a quick sauce for grilled or fried fish by just cooking some gently in a little butter. It has the acidity you need and fulfils the same function as a slice of lemon.
Or you can make it slightly fancier by adding the fish juices and some crème fraiche.
We don't mulch in Zone 3 - maybe we should but the asparagus seems to emerge when it is ready - We would actually rather it come up a little later as others commented - the early warm break in the weather kicks everything in gear and then Mother Nature reminds us that winter is not over yet - the Asparagus has to shiver in it's boots for a day or two.
"Same thing with kale and chard. Once bolted, they're done. "
Not so, for sure, IME. I have had chard plants go 3-4 years in well-protected locations. Kale plants are well known to produce for longer than that in greenhouses or very mild climates, though I have not had one go for more than about 3 years.
Thanks terry_neoh for all those possible problems, it's really good to know all these. I will definitely look them up for more info and see if I can dig around to see what's down there.
And, the pollination, yes, I've been going out each morning with a tiny paintbrush to pollinate if I have to. It's kind of fun! I've also tried to plant more flowers around to attract the bees.
Thanks art_1! I had high hopes for Mel's Mix, but it was disappointing. The mix was just too light and needed more "substance" as my neighbor told me.
Looks like you may not have selected a suitable compost element for your Mel's mix. I've been using homemade compost in Mel's mix for years and it works well, as advertised and expected. Also, the bed doesn't look raised to me. The idea is to use Mel's mix on top of the native soil, not incorporated into it.
Since these things are said to grow from a tuberous root that can be overwintered, I brought mine indoors in its pot for the winter, I think (!!!???)
Well, I lost it -- literally. I can't find where in the house I stashed the pot, which is pretty large (about an 14" diameter tub).
I know I brought it in for the winter -- it's a fairly distinctive pot, and it's nowhere to be found outside.
And, I swear I remember hauling it indoors on a cold, blustery Sunday in mid-October with a hand truck.
I was sneaking things in the house that day -- I had emergency abdominal surgery the week before for a hernia, and wasn't allowed to lift anything over 8 lbs. But, you know how guys are .... so, whenever I had the opportunity and the family wasn't looking, so they didn't yell at me, I brought stuff in by dragging, pushing, shoving, etc.
But, it's been a real mystery and puzzle to me what happened to my big pot with the Chayote root in it.
Oh well, I picked up 3 more sprouty looking fruits at the grocery store the other day!
I'm in Idaho and decided to try growing Chayote/Mirliton this year. Our summers are rather hot in the summer...I'm talking 110*F in the shade sometimes, but our winters and springs can be surprisingly cold.
It took me forever to get some Chayote squash. Local stores had none even though we have a good sized ethnic group living here... yet none of the stores had these. I finally found some sprouted fruit on Ebay of all places. I bought 2 and the seller sent me 3. I'm having to make do with the containers I have so I used a used pot for the largest chayote. Because I was setting this in my window sill I didn't want it to drain water all over the place so I stuck the pot in a plastic folgiers container... and used a plastic bag from a thing of dog treats as a make shift green house. The other two chayote I just stuck in paper beverage cups. Well hmmm the chayote in the big pot nested in the plastic folgers container is doing really well! btw.. I put the fat sprouted end up and the pointy end down. The other two... not so much. I got online to see why this might be. I read where Chayote should be placed in the ground AFTER the soil reaches 65*F. I suspect that the reason the one did so well is because I basically made a greenhouse for the roots by sticking the pot in the folgers container. Today upon inspection I see that one of the 2 in the beverage cups is not doing anything... the other is trying to bud. I recently planted an azalea so I used it's pot and some more soil... and another Folgers container... If my thinking is correct this baby should be going bonkers soon.
I plan to plant mine on the south facing side of my house and garage in big containers and allow them to grow up and over to help shade the place. If I get fruits it would be a bonus. I'll try to report back with results.