23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Here you go, hundreds of pics of various bamboo trellis set-ups.

bamboo trellis for beans pics

We do ours in more of a V shape rather than the typical ^ shape (I'll try to post a pic tomorrow). That way you don't have to crawl in the teepee with all the spiders (of course, if you have kids I'm sure they would love that!). They just hang down the outer sides of the bed for the picking. It also leaves room on the outer edges of the bed to plant something noninvasive. I usually do some extra basil. Nancy

They do look pretty ratty, and I agree that direct seed is the way to go. But just out of curiosity, you might want to trim and transplant next to your seeds. See who wins.

Gardeners in colder climates can start seeds indoors and if you choose short-season varieties you can increase your chances of getting some production. What variety did you order? Days to maturity range from 70 to 90, even 120 days so by planting say Blacktail Mountain or Gold Midget (70 days) you can improve your odds substantially.

Dave

Adding gypsum is the remedy for soil with excess sodium.

The gardener can determine if his/her soil has excess sodium by sending a sample of the soil to a professional lab. If excess sodium is present, the lab will tell you how much gypsum to add.

If you have the gypsum already, and the package is open, you can go ahead and add it. Fortunately, it won't damage anything if sodium levels are ok.

Tons of earthworms is a good sign. It means you can just layer a couple of inches of compost on top of the bed 2-3 times a year and let the worms work it in for you. They do all the work and you get all the benefits. :)

Dave

Sq. Foot Gardening has its own forum here. Sq. Foot gardening forum

Lots of info there but do keep in mind that it is just one possible method of gardening, it has its own learning curve in addition to just learning the basics of regular gardening, and it has its limitations. Spacing used in SFG all depends on the varieties used with many things. Indeterminate variety tomatoes will require more sq. feet than determinate varieties and will require heavy pruning to fit and produce. Smaller pepper varieties do ok in 1 square but the larger bell pepper varieties often need 2 sqs. Many things require trellising to work in such limited space.

<One thing I realized I didn't do though - I didn't use any weed cloth. I dug out my grass, added newspaper and filled the box. I planned (but forgot) to put down a type of weed cloth near the top of the soil. >

Weed barrier goes on the bottom of the box if you are going to use it for some reason. It normally isn't needed or recommended with raised beds because it creates drainage problems. But either way it doesn't go on or near the top. Doing that would only make planting and fertilizing more difficult so I'm not sure what you were planning there. After planting, mulch goes on the top of the soil around the plants.

Dave

Melfield & Kathy - thank you for your posts and for helping.

Dave, I used newspaper on the bottom of this garden; hopefully that helps with the weeds. A friend recommended the weed barrier on top and to then just cut holes when planting as he says there may be weed seeds in his topsoil. In any event, it won't be the case did me this year. With the peat I used, is mulch also needed on top for moisture or just to help prevent weeds? I didnt purchase nukch, but i can. Thanks.

It's more heat VS sun. Rather than buying starts at a big box store, go to a local nursery that has plants that are good for your area. The BB stores will sell you plants that aren't right for the time of year and have been grown in artificial conditions that may not be appropriate for your area.

For example, most of the BB stores in this area have no vege starts in the fall when so many greens will flourish in my mild CA area!

Keep reading here and you'll find when to start seeds or starts. There may even be a forum for your area in these forums! Look around! Have fun! Nancy

Living in AZ, I get a LOT of sun. What has done best is Eggplant. Give it enough water with the sun and it will produce like crazy, even when the temperature exceeds 110F. However Eggplant really doesn't grow like crazy until the soil temperature hits around 80F. I also tried to grow a variety of cucurbits (cucumber, squash, melon). Cucumber was a failure for me here since all the sun makes the fruit bitter. And in the height of summer I was watering the cucumbers around 3 times a day. I started squash this year and even with the 100F temperature a few weeks ago I did not have that problem. My biggest issue with both the cucumbers and squash was the powdery mildew, which thrives on cooler days although hot sun tends to retard the growth of the fungus. Currently using Neem oil to contain it.

I ended up planting the toms under cover (milk jug). To be removed Thursday. Same for peppers.

After a few days of 85+ (it hit 89 I think yesterday), it is going down to 41 wednesday and thursday nights. Thats even chance of a frost in my garden. The weather is crazy! It has rained less than 1/4 inch over the last 3 weeks. It's practically a drought. Last Spring it didn't let up a day! The weather has just become so unpredictable here. You could say the only thing for sure is the winter is cold, but 2 winters ago that didn't materialize either.

The only thing in my garden actually looking like they are getting ready to produce for me are my peas and broccoli, and I am worried about them in this heat. Broc needs another couple weeks to get full size to start heading. My tomatoes are still just sitting there over 1 week now after transplanting (to be expected I guess), eggplant too had quite a bit of transplant shock. Given the forecast I am glad I kept my peppers and spare eggplants and tomatoes inside! My beets and lettuce look terrible and Idk if I will get anything worth harvesting this year. We didn't really have a spring.

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll take the advice and go from here. I appreciate the help. Now I can start dealing with the tomato leaf curl I found yesterday :(.

You could also try a few things to give your seedling more support. You could try supporting it using toothpicks or shish kabob skewers.

I have always found all my mongrel tomatoes and squashes edible. But I might have been lucky.

FWIW, I transplanted some butternut seedlings that came up in my compost pile last year. They produced fruit that tasted like butternut, and looked mostly like butternut. I may have just lucked out.

The couple of times I used leaves, I ended up with asparagus beetles. I'm going to try the salt and wood chips this year. I also think I lost some to the drought, so I may have to replant. Nancy

I think the beetles will overwinter in any mulch, possibly even the soil. Although I had cleaned up the beds in autumn and replenished with fresh mulch this spring, I just sent quite a few to a soapy bath today ... They don't seem to have liked it much. Removed eggs and sent them to the bath, too.

Katie, One lady has a lovely idea and it works for her! :-) I hope it can help you too. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3042886/deer-repellant-that-worked-100

My hair in the garden didn't help me but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it. I also tried hanging those old AOL Cds to move in the wind - they used to spook me more than the deer when a reflection would shine in the window, lol.

We are gardening in their space (the spiders too) and as more houses get built they get used to people and don't spook as easily. They also seem to know when hunting season begins or when they are too close to homes to worry about gun fire.

I can watch them all day - I just want them to leave me something to eat too.

Well, I guess it's worth trying! The fact that you succeeded, though for reasons that might not have been what you were trying, is of interest. I wonder to what extent zucchini are able to do that?

It doesn't hurt to try. That's for sure. Let us know how it turns out!

Your spacing should be fine, and they will grow up your trellis and then spill back down. The flavor is wonderful, and I'd advise picking small as three plants will produce an enormous amount of squash fruits IME. They get a bit woody once they get really big.

Thank you, will keep eye on them)

I have 4 varieties of peppers. On the first picture is Pizza pepper, it is supposed to have just a zing of heat. On the second is Flavorburst F1, it is probably the earliest and the most prolific. The other two are Antohi Romanian and Sweet pickle. Sweet pickle have very small peppers, but I like the taste, in season they get ripen almost every day, so I always have peppers to eat.

I plan to plant mine as soon as it dries a bit...works well for me.

What other programs does it run like?

I'm imaging a cross between Photoshop and ArcGIS.

Is this DrScottr software still available for trial?