23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Thanks for the thoughts, all. It rained hard yesterday afternoon and last night, so it's too wet to plant now, even if I wanted to. The pots that they are in are 3 inchers. They haven't been hardened but I'm never too worried about that. Last year I planted straight from the same greenhouse and had no problems. Regardless, it looks like it will be a while before its dry enough to get them in the ground.
Injection is the toughest part of growing mushrooms. After some failures, my fool proof method is to harvest wood in Fall, soak it 24 hrs, inject it (often I just slice an old log, and nail the slice to the end of the new log), then place it in garbage bags in my basement for the winter. I punch a hole at the top of the bags and pour water occasionally. I have done the same by harvesting in April, and keeping the logs under plastic in my garage.
Difficult to assess your situation without knowing your site, but during injection, high humidity is essential and almost sufficient, because I injected successfully in the 40, 50 and 60 temps. At any rate
1) here in the North it takes more than one year for logs to fruit
2) the many logs that did not fruit have been reused for hugelkultur, with excellent results. In particular they saved my orchard, which was planted when the soil was extremely poor. All my best trees have four failed mushroom logs under and all my dead trees had no logs. The logs do well under my trellises, with beans and squash growing roots in them.
'Would you serve these to your friends at a dinner party?'
Honestly, no, I wouldn't and I am a very parsimonious cook. Not because of the colour per se but because the heads are overmature and on the verge of flowering. So yes, either someone waited too long to harvest or it is quite a while since they were picked. They don't look at all fresh. Cook a bit for yourself and you will probably taste the problem.
It's been raining a lot this year, our area lakes are over 100% full, whereas same time last year, they were at less than 50% full. I haven't been watering, but it's been wet because of the rain. Good to know! I was wondering if I should switch compost in the future. Looks like I don't have to. :-)
Many types of vegetables do best in soils rich in fungi. Basically all solanaceae (potato, tomato, eggplant, pepper), all alliums (onion and garlic), beans, peas, and cucurbita (squash and cucumber). Also carrots, okra, and a number of other lesser vegetables.
OK - so here is the latest - seems like most people like 4C and 3C, im not really partial to one over another, some people think they might be too big take up too much room - ive reattached 4c and 3c along with a few other variations, just need some help with whats most practical, easy and provides most options /space... is orientation really even important at all?
Here is Original 3C:
Here is Original 4C:
Here are a few variations of 3C (some of which might also work with 4C as well)
3C_3: most different - all large beds split [even one on left (north)] w/ bigger paths on right/south
3C_2: or replace two 3' beds with one central 4' bed (bigger paths)...
[perhaps even split left/north bed in 2 as above in 3c_3]
Any thoughts? So far 4C has gotten more traction with people but perhaps the above provide other options, personally i dont care i just want a functional backyard, easy access and lots of growing space.. sadly im just stuck with the dimensions of the yard and am looking for the most utilitarian layout that is able to produce.... Also while we at it can someone suggest bed depth I was thinking like 16-18" but not sure... I do appreciate all the advise so far. This is going to be great when finished! :)
This is a 4x4' plot with beans and peppers on one side and potatoes on the other, right? That's a lot of stuff for a 4x4 plot. Or are you now moving the cukes?
There is no reason cukes can't grow by tomatoes as they have nearly the same nutrient needs and only minimal different water needs. How much space you would need depends on the type of tomatoes, how you support them and if you prune them or not as well as the size of the trellis, and he number of cuke plants etc. Basically 3-4' anyway as many tomato plants get at least that wide.
Like Dan said (I think it was him) - "tall crops on the north, short crops on the south, it really is that simple." But keep in mind that thousands of gardeners also grow quite successfully every year with N-S beds or NE-SW beds because they don't have any choice on placement. So don't let it worry you too much. Assuming even half-way decent sun exposure, over-crowding the crops is more of a threat to success than is placement relative to the sun.
Hope this helps.
Dave
I used AG-19 to cover one raised bed this past winter, I had kale and spinach in the bed. Not sure if the light transmission wasn't enough or something, my kale and spinach didn't grow much while under the AG-19. Bugs didn't chew through the Agribon.
So are there REALLY insects that chew through tulle? I'm baffled. Rodents can do it, but why would a bug do it? Tulle not remotely digestible, and they don't know that there is something good underneath. Bugs aren't that smart. Seriously. If there is a bug that chews through tulle, I don't want to be anywhere near it.
Strange. I've ordered from egardenersplace for a few years since there was a flat rate shipping. I guess the Jung conglomerate stopped doing the one-stop-shop thing, which also means I'll be less likely to order from them (I'm not about to pay all the separate shipping).
Rodney
Hi Hokie, so far so good, the skirett plants are still quite small, thinking they might be a little tricky to germinate I sowed more seed than I wanted plants, all the seed germinated I ended up with 24 plants LOL.
The sea kale, I removed the outer husks on all 15 seeds and planted in a community pot, placed them on a heat mat, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I potted them on as they germinated, first in 2" pots and then into 5" pots where they are now.
12 of the seeds germinated, one came up I guess you'd call it blind one little leaf, no growing tip, one looks stunted. That leaves me with 10 plants. The sea kale plants look floppy, not as tight looking as cabbage or cauliflower usually looks at this stage but I think it's the nature of the beast. I looked on you tube and the plants being planted out looked about the same.
All my tubs are in use, yacon, oca, crosne, and some samples of bush bean varieties, I kind of got carried away this year trying new things so I'm going to sink the sea kale pots in the garden for a couple of months and then pop them out of their pots, into the soil in August, then it's sink or swim. The skirret are going in the ground as soon as their roots fill the pots. I'm only keeping 6 of each, the rest are going to our Hort Society plant sale later this month.
They're sitting outside hardening off. Not the best picture but gives you an idea of what they are looking like at this stage.
Annette
Start fresh seed outside and you'll have better luck. A container that big should be able to last a few days without water at this point. If you've been watering them frequently while they are inside then you've most likely been overwatering them.
Rodney
I have an area about 4'x4' I wanted to grow them in. Half for pickles and half for slicing. Is that area too small, how many plants could i fit in there if anything? Would a trellis be required? I had a larger area planned but am thinking of throwing tomatoes in there for extra tomatoes but could go back to using it for cucumbers. Thanks again for all the advice. This forum is the best
4'x4' might be a bit small if you're planning on pickles. Ideally, you want to be able to harvest a large amount of pickling cukes so they'll be fresh off-the-vine when you process them. If you have a small area with few plants, then you'll end up collecting and storing them over several days to have enough to make pickles, which you'll want to avoid. And if you're sharing that area with slicing cukes, it may take longer to get plenty of pickling cukes due to having fewer pickling cuke plants.
I would highly recommend a trellis so you can let them grow upwards. The area will probably handle more plants if trellised and you'll be able to keep them under control instead of dealing with them inevitably snaking out beyond the 4'x4' area. Easier to find the cukes too that way.
You may also be able to add another trellis to the northside of the larger area where you're growing tomatoes. Then you can use that area for both cukes and tomatoes and plant additional pickling cukes there to give you larger harvests prior to pickle making.
Let me tell you a story about spreading of horseradish) I got tired of its spreading so I decided to grow it in the huge tree pot. I have rock hill from huge rocks, ground cover and some lilies grow there between the rocks. So I placed the pot on one of the solid rocks. It did pretty poor, so I decided to get rid of it in fall. What surprise it was to see, that I can't lift the pot. Horseradish root got through drainage hole, traveled about 2 feet under Vinca ground cover right on the rock surface, found the crack and rooted. Guess what? Now I have horseradish in my rock garden)Fortunately it doesn't spread as the crack is just enough for one plant, but I can't take it out - root breaks, and grow again. So be very careful)
I guess that would be 'Horserockish' then! I did some google searches and it seems that the flowering is expected on 2nd year plants so I assume that plants grown from 1 year crowns are considered 2nd year plants. I read conflicting info on whether to cut off the flowers or not. Some say to cut them so they don't propagate by seeds and to let the plant put the energy into growing roots.
Well, it turns out the roots were pretty intertwined, and there were 5 or 6 plants in each cell. The tip about putting them in water to untangle was great- a little patient work and water and all were separated. Ended up picking the 10 biggest each of the red and yellow onions and replanting with about 4" around each. We will see what happens! Thanks again.
Does Bay survive the winter where you are?
Lovage?