23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
For the reasons mentioned above, I keep BT liquid in our outside (storeroom) refrigerator. It remains effective for several ??? years. It usually takes about 5 to 7 years before I finish the bottle.
This post was edited by grandad on Sat, May 31, 14 at 8:56
I missed it. Sorry. The per 10' thing threw me off for some reason. Since it is organic, I probably don't need to worry as much about over doing it... I definitely tend to overthink things sometimes so thanks for dealing with me!
Since this is the first application, you guys think I could by with adding more? Maybe 2-3 tablespoons per plant? There I go again over thinking... oh well... :-)
thanks again!
It's true that gardening is a tricky hobby if you are a very anxious person as there are so many things you can't control or know and it puts you in touch with your environment and food in a way we aren't accustomed to anymore.
However, (speaking as someone who can also be a very anxious person), gardening could be a way to face some of these things and work on accepting (some) of the chaos in the world and (some) of the things we cannot change or control. For me, as much as I can worry about my soil (found some old paint chips in it from taking out a fence...oy...trying not to fixate and be reasonable about the actual danger) the payoff can really help you get past all the little trials you have to go through to get there.
Perhaps as you get more informed about all these issues, that knowledge will help quell your anxieties and you can embrace the very positive experience of gardening and being "present", which is one of my main reasons for doing it as it gets me out of my head and reconnected to my hands, the dirt, and the miracle of things growing.
I say don't give up yet! but maybe look at it as a learning opportunity, in more ways than one.
Legumes are kind of the garden weirdos when talking about nutrients - since they tend to make their own nitrogen and don't need much of anything else to do well. So trying to companion plant with them is difficult - except for other legumes. So you could always plant bush beans, crowder peas, southern peas (aka field peas) etc. - 70+ varieties of them - or any of the other legumes. Plus any root crop that doesn't require high N supplements like the carrots Lori mentioned. It is the need to keep other climbing things off the bean trellis that I would be most worried about.
But if you don't normally feed during the season - which I have to admit I can't imagine - then maybe it won't be an issue for you no matter what you plant there.
For me the gardens get regular supplements - primarily side dressings with lots of compost since I have a well established soil web - throughout the season as the nutrients are exhausted by the plants and the N vaporizes away. Plus supplemental feedings of various other organics as needed throughout the season.
Nobody wants to go 3-4 months without eating. :)
Dave
PS: the beans from last year won't provide any supplemental N to what is planted this year unless you left all the roots with nodules in the ground or tilled all the plants in. If the plants were pulled, the N goes with them.
Cut off at ground level to leave the roots, pulled what was hanging on the fence off as best I could and threw the tops in the aisle to compost in place with the old hay we'd mulched with (though I admit I didn't look to see if they were still there, DH could have "cleaned them up" and put in trash, I should have bagged them up and brought up to put in compost bin).
I was planning on side dressing (way to the other side) as well as my usual amending the hole if planting tomatoes on the other side of the beans. But I amend the beds every spring with plenty of compost (wherever I'm planting things other than beans or potatoes) so no, I don't feed. Except when it looks like they need it, like last year when I tried foliar feeding b/c of all the rain. I do use diluted Neptune's Harvest while they're still in the pots, before transplanting.
I think I'm skipping carrots this year - the strawberries took over the bed I had them in last year and that's the only one that's been sifted through enough to get rid of even tiny pebbles. Our soil is pretty rocky - even the beds near the house that have gotten more compost b/c we started them in 2008.
Maybe turnips? Onions? There are still onion sets in the feed stores.
In your area I believe most people grow tomatoes during the winter. If it isn't too warm & humid for fruit to set, it soon will be. You may have a little better luck if they're cherries. My mom who is in Boca Raton has already pulled her tomato plants.
"Average high temp this and last month 64F, av low 42F. In between we have had a number of days over 70F. Still too cold?"
Yep. Peppers love the heat. Cold just makes them sit there and not do anything. When it warms up a little more they should start growing.
"Maybe it needs more time. Should I pinch the blossoms off and wait and see?"
I would.
Rodney
Farmington- The "one inch per week" "rule" is a very vague guideline at best. To put it another way, it's completely unreliable. How much you need to water depends on the specific crop, rainfall, heat, your type of soil, sun exposure, if your soil is mulched or not, etc. Nobody can say definitively that your plants need x-amount of water. Sorry, I realize that doesn't help much.
Water until your soil is moist. Not just on the surface but deep down. Certain plants like consistent moisture. Some like to dry out a bit between waterings. If it's been hot, you'll need to water more. If it's been cool you might not need to water for a while. Sandy soil dries out quicker than clay. Mulched soil retains moisture whereas unmulched dries out quick in summer. You just have to get a feel for it.
Rodney
You can use the same brand just dilute it to at least 1/2 strength or maybe even 1/4 strength and cut back on the frequency.
Since your mix is soil-based rather than soil-less it won't drain as well as most containers mixes and the bad mineral the salts will build up over time and harm the plant. You want to slow that down, keep it from happening, as long as possible. So a weaker, less frequent application will help do that.
Dave
What veggies are we talking about Sam? All I see is 3 pots of flowers?
Different vegetables have different fertilizing needs.
Are your vegetable plants in containers or in the ground? If containers, how big and filled with what potting mix? All that makes a big difference how one fertilizes, how often and with what. Especially if you only want to use organics as that can be more difficult in containers since there is no active soil micro-herd to help them work..
Dave
Hi, I am Mamta from OKC, OK. I am desperately looking for Tindora cutting, if anybody want to share with me, I will be really appreciate. I bought 3 plants from Nari Bhatia but didn't survive, please let me know if anybody want to share with me. my e-mail is mndabhi@aol.com
Thanks
Mamta
That C-Five-C looks beautiful, Aili.
Looks a lot like my Manzano. The foliage, color of flowers, except Manzano is hairy.
I do have couple of C-Fives-C but they are nowhere near yours. They are much shorter and are not yet fully purplish.
Thanks seysonn. Ceth, I think that is a characteristic of this plant, but I'm not sure.