23,822 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a

Or...

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: firefox add-on

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 7:29PM
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zzackey(8b GA)

Thanks everyone! It worked and I'm soooo happy!

    Bookmark     April 27, 2014 at 2:35PM
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ceth_k(11)

This thread made me think about perched water table. If I understand it correctly, the perched water table theory will cause the water of the soggy soil under the beds to go up toward the surface of your raised beds. I assume that the height the water will go depend on your soil texture. The finer your soil texture, the higher the water will go nearer to the bed's surface. 12 inches should be enough to stay away from the soggy ground water for most kinds of sandy soil. If your soil is heavier then just build higher beds.

    Bookmark     April 22, 2014 at 10:31PM
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emmers_m(9a/Sunset 7 N Cal)

I've had success in a similar situation by planting in 6-8 inches of municipal compost over my somewhat soggy garden soil. I only have to water occasionally in August and the only overwatering problems I've noticed are enthusiastic growth of weeds and unfortunately tomato foliage diseases. I also have not had any success with mulching - too water retentive - other than with Kraft paper.

My corn does wonderfully, although I grow an open-pollinated variety. I've only really tried melons in this situation once and I grew a variety seemingly not noted for being super-sweet (Amish muskmelon). Nice flavor but could have been sweeter, and they had a tendency to split.

So maybe the corn in a shallower bed and the melons in a deeper one?

~emmers

    Bookmark     April 27, 2014 at 9:45AM
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emorems0(PA - 6a)

Guess it's like wild raspberries or blueberries or any other native, wild edible... you can certainly eat them, even if you didn't intend on growing them... lots of info on edibility in the link below. Now I kind of wish I had one to try!

Here is a link that might be useful: Eat the Weeds - Radish, Mustard's Wild, Rough Cousin

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 11:20PM
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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

To me, both the root and leaves look like some kind of radish, probably long day type. If you have ever grown any kind of radish ,should be able to recognize if indeed it is radish, just by looking at it and smelling

    Bookmark     April 27, 2014 at 1:33AM
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terry_neoh(5b)

Preemergents will not affect the germination of beans or peas or other legumes, onion sets, or members of the parsley family (carrots, dill, parsnip).

Also not effeced are wild relatives of these plants, like Queen Ann's lace, clover, crown vetch.

Even thou the package my say it is safe, do not put it around young melon plants (I never tried cucumbers or squash, I never got over the "meloncholy."

-Terry

    Bookmark     April 27, 2014 at 1:14AM
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terry_neoh(5b)

Sorry fot doouble post.

This post was edited by terry_neoh on Sun, Apr 27, 14 at 1:24

    Bookmark     April 27, 2014 at 1:19AM
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Mindyw3(5)

I put bird netting over that bed last d ight and it appears nothing was eaten!! Could be a fluke. Guess we will see!!

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 7:38PM
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loribee2(CA 9)

Crossing fingers!

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 7:47PM
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macers(10/ sunset 20/21)

Thanks for the clarification, Slimy_Okra! Common names can be tricky. What I was told are Cape Gooseberries are commonly called "Giant Ground Cherries".

I'm happy to grow either that I can find, although it sounds like I'd have better luck with Ground Cherries (vs. Cape Gooseberries)

wayne -- how funny, leave to me to go crazy trying to buy a "weed"! :)

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 7:36PM
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little_minnie(zone 4a)

They volunteer readily and mature just fine that way.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 7:46PM
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sunnibel7 Md 7(7)

I could be wrong, but those holes look more like tears than chewing, just some environmental damage from the wind blowing a new transplant.

    Bookmark     April 20, 2014 at 11:28AM
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kalicokove(7a)

Thank you for the responses! Couldn't find anything crawling around at night, but I did sprinkle some epsom salt around the plant. That environmental damage may be spot on...we have had some storms here. Appreciate all your help!

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 6:53PM
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catsgurleygirl

Okay-thank you. May not be able to for another week or so though. I hope they will last. :-/

Thank you!

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 10:36AM
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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

You might place them in some slightly moist peat moss until you can plant them..I picked some asparagus today. I like to eat them raw. Those Purple Passions are quite sweet.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 6:51PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Nothing says you have to fill the bucket full of mix. If the buckets are what you have to use, for shallow rooted plants, 1/2 full works fine.

But if you do fill it when planting shallow rooted plants you don't have to water it as often since the extra soil retains more water.

Dave

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 9:52AM
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zeuspaul(9b SoCal)

I just checked my basil from last year. The roots filled the tall #5 nursery pots. (5 gal buckets hold more soil than a #5 nursery container.) The longest root measured 17 inches.

The basil in smaller containers did not do as well as the basil in the #5's.

I water the containers every day in the heat of the summer and the smaller containers were difficult to keep up with. My location is warm to hot,dry and windy.

Zeuspaul

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 5:02PM
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UrbanGardenNoob(9)

Thanks for the reply. Im in Orange County, Ca. The mulch cover is black. Since my City Pick planter is self watering, just like the Earthbox, I top it off every day. If there's too much it'll drain through the over flow then retain water. Soil im using is the Miracle Grow organic potting mix. I have yet to add in EB Stone organic vegetable food.

The last week temps have been around mid to high 80s. From the research I've read that the water evaporates from the plants cells causing the limp look. Once night comes around or early morning they look great again.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 2:49PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Might want to do some reading about the problems associated with using granular organic fertilizers in containers, especially small ones such as this. Since there is no soil food web, no beneficial bacteria or microorganisms to convert the supplements to a useable form for the plants, you need to either add the bacteria and other needed soil organisms or use liquid fertilizers and you have to feed them frequently. .

Gardening organically in a container is a very different ballgame than organic gardening in ground.

As for the black cover rather than remove it just spread some mulch on top of it to reduce the heat.

Dave

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 4:51PM
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

"I do not use chives a lot ..." Ah, but up until now you haven't had a good fresh supply at hand. You'll be adding them to all sorts of things soon. BTW don't ever cook them. Add them to cold foods or right before serving. They go with almost anything salady, eggy, mayonnaisey, tomatoey, cheesy, potatoey, pastaey, fishy ...... Don't wait until you find a recipe. Just chuck them in. Experiment.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 3:33PM
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terry_neoh(5b)

Zackey- She has new seedlings, not established bulbs. Consider these onion seedlings that have been cut back about 5 times so far.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 3:33PM
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tracydr(9b)

Artichoke is something nobody mentioned. It can be added to landscape features and is very easy. Plus, I get 15-20 artichokes off of one good producer. Some of those are smaller but they are the best ones. Artichoke is very expensive so it's worth the space.
I love chard and always have it both in the flower beds and garden. There's only a couple of months that I can't grow it during Phoenix hot summer. I suspect you could grow it year around. And, a tiny bunch of chard is $1.99 in my store. The plant is long-lived ( I had one last 2 years!) and cut-come again. We can eat chard almost everyday, lightly stir fried with a tiny bit of EVOO, than used for a bed for poached eggs. I do the same with spinach, which I've had good luck with, even though it's only for a month or two.
Peppers and tomatoes have such variety. Peppers and eggplants grow very well for me, although I don't have great luck with tomatoes due to heat and spider mites. You might find peppers and eggplants will grow for years if you don't get freezing weather! I have a four year old pepper and my oldest eggplant lived three years before it froze!
Beets and carrots. A lot for little space.
Herbs-cilantro and parsley in winter and basil in summer. Rosemary, oregano and thyme are good all year. Mint always dies for me in August but we really enjoy mint chutney so I plant it every fall.
If you have room, consider pomegranate ,fig and citrus trees. Maybe mango,too. And guava, which can grow like a weed in the right climate.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 1:27PM
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tracydr(9b)

Another that I forgot is asparagus. Takes awhile to establish but asparagus is so expensive from the store.

    Bookmark     April 26, 2014 at 1:28PM
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Ohiofem(6a Ohio)

How do you tell if a broccoli plant is buttoning? My Packman seedlings were about four weeks old and appeared healthy when I put them out on April 11. On April 15 we had an inch of snow and a night time low of 22. It was fairly warm before and after that, and I only saw some minor signs of stress for a day (a couple purple leaves). Now, two weeks after planting out, they appear to be forming heads although they are only about six inches in diameter. Is that buttoning? Or just the beginning of a real head?

    Bookmark     April 25, 2014 at 8:34PM
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farmerdill

You are fine. Buttoning is a head forming on a very small (>6 inch) plant and usually does not get bigger than a quarter (25 cent piece).

    Bookmark     April 25, 2014 at 9:08PM
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terry_neoh(5b)

Sounds like you're doing good, so, unless things change, keep it up.

Some dolomotic lime can't hurt, and maybe some nitrogen (preferably urea, used lightly and in multiple applications.)
-Terry

    Bookmark     April 25, 2014 at 2:13PM
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gardenper(8)

That's a very sturdy frame. You could probably fence it off with chicken wire and raise chickens.

But as for vining veggies, many would still need finer things to vine on than a 2x4. If you can add that, then I would definitely suggest one of the large melon or pumpkin/squash families, since that is so strong. Canteloupe or honeydew would be something you could grow on there.

    Bookmark     April 25, 2014 at 11:04AM
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terry_neoh(5b)

I will say that the sturdiness of your frame is just about right. Last fall, we had a large Bradford pear tree get spapped off in a wind storm, as well as half a Norway maple. Each of my next door neighbors lost a spruce. All tress over 20 years old. And this was not a tornado, or even a thunderstorm. It's now part of the "Hauntd Ohio" lore.

(I know, the lawn needs some nitrogen, and the tree was not rotted or insect infested. The wood is as soilid as a baseball bat.)

On second thought, you might want to add some flying buttresses.

This post was edited by terry_neoh on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 12:10

    Bookmark     April 25, 2014 at 11:51AM
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