23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
That's a healthy pumpkin plant. The flowers will sort themselves out eventually. It's normal for either males (usually) or females to show up without the other gender initially.
The vines will climb things if they are close and no, it's not a problem. No reason at all to chop it down. If a pumpkin does form on the vines that are climbing the fence you will need to make a sling to support the pumpkin to keep it from tearing the vines down. But if you don't want it climbing the fence, you can either snip the tendrils holding it to the fence so that it will lay back on the ground or just train the vine back down. If it were mine I'd leave it alone and let it do what it wants (unless it started growing into the neighbor's yard).
Rodney
O, ok. It's actually about 4-5 plants I think. They were sprouting in clumps in the compost pile (in the background of the photo above), and it was hard to thin them out initally. So I picked out 4-5 clumps and set them about 10-12 inches apart. So there's probably about 4-5 actual plants there. So excited, a few years ago I got a 22 lb pumpkin when the compost had pumpkin babies the first time ;) Hopefully I'll get a few this time around as well. I've never really fertilized, or learned the proper watering technique/amounts, besides watering the ground, and trying to keep the foliage dry. I have a feeling I water too often (once or every other day when it's over 80F).
Looks like a Crane Fly. I don't think of them as any sort of problem, although they do have subterranean larvae that in large numbers can be problematic in lawns. In any case, I doubt they cause any problem in your veg garden. I don't think they even eat anything as adults.
I vote crane fly.
Should not be a danger - adults mate and die - don't even eat.
Adult
The main goal of the adult crane fly in the spring is mating. During the adult stage, the crane fly does not eat. For the short 10- to 15-day period, the adults mate on plants or in the air near the water. Afterwards, the female deposits her eggs. When mating and egg distribution is complete, female dies. The male only lives up to 15 days as well.
It is true that the early stages of the creature's development can be a lawn problem: http://lakewhatcom.wsu.edu/gardenkit/unwantedpests/cranefly.htm
Here is a link that might be useful: THE LIFESPAN OF A CRANE FLY
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Do they have organic potting mix?
Yes, many brands of it available. And the existence of fungus growths like toadstools and such is considered beneficial, normal, desirable.
Trying to garden organically in containers has its own set of problems to overcome since it is totally different from gardening organically in the ground where a soil food web exists to provide nutrients. But the 'mushrooms' isn't one of them.
Dave
I have an area just like this. I have it planted in flowers but I also plant chard, kale and cherry tomatoes, plus a native chiltepan pepper.
We use the chiltepan peppers dry and crushed in a pepper grinder in place of pizza red pepper flakes.
My chard seeded itself this year from last spring.
In this area is also some Parsley, basil and hyacinth beans, plus some bulking flowers and tropicals.
I've had huge crops of Armenian cucumbers and squash in this area, too.
Also, during cooler seasons I plant salad veggies like lettuce, spinach and radishes in my shadier spots. Cowpeas will do okay but better in sun.
I found this link very helpful for our Zone 5 planting:
Here is a link that might be useful: PLANTING CALENDAR
Looking at the zone you are in you should be fine. The last two years due to the drought I've planted the first week of July here in zone 6a and they have produced well. I cover mine with about a 1/4" of potting soil and keep it moist and then harvest and plant the slips as they form. I usually go straight to the garden with them and then cover with a light covering of straw for a few days if it is going to be above 80. Set them out last year and the next day was 100 and I lost one out of 30 slips. The problem I have with putting them in water is they tend to get slimy and will die in 3-4 days if water isn't changed. If I can't plant them and I'm going to be around I just wrap a wet damp cloth around them. They will send out roots and do fine until I find time to plant them.
Looking at the zone you are in you should be fine. The last two years due to the drought I've planted the first week of July here in zone 6a and they have produced well. I cover mine with about a 1/4" of potting soil and keep it moist and then harvest and plant the slips as they form. I usually go straight to the garden with them and then cover with a light covering of straw for a few days if it is going to be above 80. Set them out last year and the next day was 100 and I lost one out of 30 slips. The problem I have with putting them in water is they tend to get slimy and will die in 3-4 days if water isn't changed. If I can't plant them and I'm going to be around I just wrap a wet damp cloth around them. They will send out roots and do fine until I find time to plant them.
Yes they look like bean seeds only a bit rounder. Just as with bean seeds, the radish "seed" is the little radishes that develop inside the pod. Pod and all are edible. Look at pics below, you can see the size of the seeds/radishes inside the pods.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Rat Tail radish pics
Here is an interesting fact about cucumbers. When you over water them they start wilting. Strange, right? Like they getting dry... In fact - they are!!! Roots when soaked in water can't move water up to leaves. And cucumber plant dries out staying in a puddle of water. From other point, sometimes plants are pretty much stronger then we think). I helped my mother to transplant some melons she started in the milk cartons. She watered them in the morning of transplanting day still in pots, but few hours later I noticed one melon still sits in a puddle of water. I checked the pot - sure enough it missed drainage holes. Just this one. When I took that melon out of the pot, I found that it kept all it's roots in top 1 inch of soil. And it was in that pot for almost 2 months... So I planed it in the ground and said to my mom that it most likely already dead. That was a week ago. Guess what? It didn't even wilt once during this week and shows signs of new grows. My mom promised to update me on its well been through out a season
We were in the city all day yesterday and came home to leaning plants all over the garden, all in the same direction. Winds were high, that's all. :) As long as nothing is broken, the tomatoes will correct themselves. The brassicas might need a little help, though. I'm going out today to nudge them back upright and mound the soil around them again. (I bury them quite a bit when I transplant, but if the top inch is a bit dry, young plants will still tilt a bit in high winds because the soil shifts instead of holds).
Istarted them from seed,so i couldn,t bury them deep.I,m new to broccoli,so i wasn,t sure if it was some sort of root insect, they look better now.