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I live in Las Vegas NV I plant bell pepper, sweet chard, parsley. and basil and because here is 110 degrees i place the race boxes under the tree is sun but aliviated the direct sun wich will kill everything water in the morning and the around 7.30 evening and my plants don't grow still very small what do i do wrong?


So Dave, I have been sent to the soil forum and you are in the penalty box!
Anyway, I have been around gardens and farms for all my life...80 years. i am a slow learner, but dogged. I have learned a lot about soil health, body health, and soul health...very slowly. ...as the Bible says, "Here a little and there a little, line upon line and precept upon precept..."

No problem Wayne. There is always one. But others will read it and maybe they will get something they consider worthwhile from the discussion or from all the previous discussions on the topic that I linked above. Or like my grandkids who are convinced they already know everything, maybe not. :)
You got 5 years on me Wayne. Way to go!
Dave

I use a LOT of horse manure that gets replenished yearly. After a lifetime of being told that things of all sorts (DDT, Rotenone, Carbaryl, 2,4-D, Fluoride, Malathion, manure) were benign but having them turn out otherwise, I decided long ago to let manure sit in a pile or sometimes a flower bed for as long as I could before using it on food. In practice that's a full season at the least (when it calls to you, you have to tune it out). It's easy to be safe but hard to un-use something "bad". It's also real easy to spread diseases just by touch, so take the advice of the "washing" people to heart.

Not to be overly cautious, but I'd wash even my trellised cucumbers. You'll get dust from the bed deposited on your trellised vegetables, and although E. coli has a very short lifetime once outside of it's growing medium, that lifetime is hours-days (depending on lots of things). So you could end up ingesting live bacteria you'd rather not ingest if you're not careful. Certainly trellised vegetables will be less of a risk than those sitting on the ground.
Of course, you could be downwind of someone elses uncomposted manure and get the same effect. That's why, in general, you wash vegetables before you eat them.

First, in case you didn't know there is a Balcony Gardening forum here http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/balcony
that could be really helpful to you as it is a very different form of gardening. Then, since you will be using containers, also be sure to check out the Container Gardening forum here http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/contain
as that too is a very different form of gardening with different requirements.
While I agree that gardening is trial and error activity in part you can save you self a lot of time and effort by first learning from others and so avoiding all the common errors new gardeners make. With balconies two biggies come to mind -(1) not nearly enough sun exposure due to the roof or floor above. South facing is often not enough. And (2) sometimes severe water draining problems for those who live below you every time you water. Since containers have to drain well that water has to go somewhere. So be sure to thoroughly explore those issues upfront.
Then with containers the common mistakes are (1) using containers that are too small and/or too shallow. (2) filling those containers with dirt rather than a quality soil-less potting mix and that creates all sorts of problems. The potting mix is expensive so starting out with just a couple of containers instead of umpteen of them not only let's you learn as you go but also saves you a lot of wasted money. And (3) not understanding the very different feeding and watering regimens required for successful container gardening.
So with your proposal I see a couple of issues. First, snowpeas as a container crop - take lots of room for minimal production and the trellis will shade the other plants so I'd suggest sipping them. Plus they have very different nutrient needs than broccoli and spinach. Put the broccoli and spinach in the same container as they are high nitrogen users and peas won't tolerate high nitrogen. Second, both basil and dill will need a much bigger container than 1 gallon. They are very tall plants with big root balls. Third, as already mentioned I think there are much less expensive and better functional containers available than the ones you have linked. Not that i am recommending them but for the price of 1 of your linked boxes you could buy 5 of these and have almost 3x the planting space.
Just some thoughts to consider. Enjoy your planning.
Dave

That's great to see that you don't have to water in-ground plants everyday! I just emailed a local community garden to get more info. :) I probably won't have the money or commitment to rent a plot now, but maybe come spring time...
Thank you all for the suggestions; I made some changes based on your feedback:
Water drainage issues: Luckily I live above the rental office, so if I water outside of business hours, it shouldn't rain on anyone... Since I often work 6A-7P, I should be ok!
Railing planters: Yeah, I know they're weird, but I already have them.
Snow peas: I know they're not great for containers, but I really really want them... Taking into account Dave's advice about nutrient needs, I'll get separate containers for them. I'm thinking two 30" long x 6-12" wide x 10-12" deep containers. Put them to one side of the balcony so that they don't shade the broccoli.
Broccoli: I'll do 3 in one 15gal tupperware by themselves. But I will keep an eye out for deeper containers.
Spinach/Lettuce: 6 plants each in two 7.5" deep railing planters - various websites said depths of 4-6" were ok for these. Or maybe put the spinach in the other 15gal tupperware.
Herbs: I'll look for some 3 gal buckets for the basil and dill, or give in and buy some.
I attached a picture of my currently naked balcony. :) The railing is 12.5 feet wide. I'm planning to hang the smaller pots with herbs off the outside of the railing.

You are on the Vegetable Gardening forum, Smungung. Perhaps this forum would be more appropriate for your question Carnivorous plants forum



Go with the fungus gnat diagnosis. I have had them in the house and tried the mosquito dunk remedy, but they stopped being a problem when I did essentially what rhizo said: thorough excessive saturation watering and then surface drying. I don't agree with peat being a problem, but we have very arid air here, inside and out, and surfaces can dry fast, which you need.

I can't fimd a North Americn vendor either. This lady seems to find the dark green round zucchini a suitable alternative. http://www.cooksister.com/2010/10/gem-squash-central-finding-them-growing-them-and-eating-them.html Varieties like Tondo Scuro Di Piacenza, Eight ball. Black Ball


I routinely get cantaloupe seedlings in my compost pile. Pumpkins too. Never seen watermelon seedlings, though all have seeds dumped there. Do you compost, and did you apply to that bed? If you grew cantaloupes there before, and didn't take care of the developing fruit, they will rot on the vine once mostly mature, and you'll have seeds left there.

Buddies have "over wintered" eggplants and tomatoes and have been very pleased. Eggplants seemed to have been just as productive. Over wintered, as in it never froze. My tomatoes get to about a year and then something will happen, like heat death or foot rot from a downpour. I haven't had any production issues with my older pepper plants.
Mint, oregano and lemongrass are also perennial in the non-frost zones. So are the gingers. My galangal is finally doing decent.

Jerusalem artichokes escaped on me - I am still trying to eradicated them- Round Up may be next. Mint I am finally getting under control.
I have tarragon, rhubarb, oregano is literally everywhere (which I don't mind so much), chives, onion, and garlic. I love the tomato surprises and hope for them each year. Had some parsley spreading for a while but that has stopped.
Would like to have blueberries and strawberries and some fruit trees too. Oh have some wild raspberries and Day Lilies too - every part of the Day Lily plant is edible at different stages and take no care to grow.
Now also letting the Purslane grow too. Very easy and requires no care or watering. Oh I usu get some lettuce volunteers too but Purslane will take its place soon.


Thanks for posting about this. I have about 25 endive plants that have grown to monterous proportions (about 2' tall leaves). Literally, they are sitting in my kitchen sink now. They're too bitter tasting for me. I guess I'll put some in clean soil (without danged bugs) in a bucket and put in the cellar for a spell. Dunno how it will turn out. Should stay around 55 degrees in there although summer is upon us now.
Anyways, maybe this will work. I was really wanting that nice-looking group of leaves I see in photos and wondering why the blazes they didn't turn out that way. LOL

After a winter harvest (or perhaps, two) of Belgian Endive...
..can the root be planted outside again in the Spring to "recharge" for a season or two?
...(if not) can the root still be dried, ground for coffee or will the absence of whatever went into growing the Endive make it no longer any good for this use?


As for the blueberry bushes, I do water them.
If you want that area to become less dry, you will have to trench between the area and the woods. The deeper the trench the better the soil will be. In fact just probing with a spade to two spade depths, and cutting through the soil with a hand saw when you find a root, will eliminate all roots to 20 inches.