23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Yep. That one point can make a huge difference in how scabby they turn out.
But, well, we'll do our best! :) We're not depending on this crop to feed ourselves, so we'll do what we can. Not being a subsistence farmer, gardening can still be a grand, fun experiment. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I had success with rabbits and groundhogs just bending the bottom foot or so of the metal chicken wire outward and securing it to the ground. My critters didn't seem to catch on that they could start digging further away.
I wasn't going to dig a ditch -not a senior, just too lazy :) - and it worked fine in NJ. of course, now I'm in gopher territory and will soon need to make up for it in spades!
If you haven't started ditch-digging yet it might be worth a shot to try the easier way.
~emmers
I have always wanted a small garden so in early April my boyfriend and I planted a small garden. However our Kentucky wonder green beans are STILL only about 6 inches tall and they are a light colored green. I'm not sure just what to expect but my boyfriend says they should be greener and MUCH taller. What did we do wrong? We used good soil and ferilizer with manuer.
In southern California, we have serious problems with nematodes because we have no winter freeze to kill them annually. So they build up over time. I followed fusion-power's suggestions below and I concur in all his ratings. We have had to give up our favorite pole bean (Kwintus, aka Early Riser and Northeaster) because of nematodes. So we've switched to Rattlesnake and Alabama #1. I bought some Marbut, but have yet to plant them. The early Rattlesnake beans are good. The slower growing Alabama #1 are just beginning to flower but the plants are verdant and thriving. The only source that we could find for Alabama #1 and Marbut was Sandhill Preservation Center. Their seeds seem to be good.
Hard to tell by the picture if they are inside or outside. Have you been foliar feeding them or misting them with something? It looks to me like it is environmental damage from water droplets getting on the leaves that then intensify the sunlight causing the spotting leaf burns. If this is the case the new foliage should grow fine. Well hardened off plants would not typically show this type of damage after having wet leaves.
I took the picture outside while hardening them off (or attempting to) in the shade, but the spots had started after the plants had sprouted and grown indoors, on a windowsill exposed to about a half-day's worth of sunlight. The leaves never would have been wet - I simply added some water a few times directly to the soil.
Yeah they are turning yellow because they are left on the vine way too long. They are long past the picking stage. If you don't remove them the plant will shut down any further production. Looks like you planted one of the pickling varieties and they don't get long and narrow like slicing varieties do.
Dave
Also, you do not need to root them in a pot first. Why not just root them directly into your garden and skip that step? That's the way most folks do it unless it is still too cold outside. I would assume by the time your slips are 6 inches in length it will be the right temp. Probably around 6/1 right?
You can put heavy duty black plastic sheets in the walkways and gravel or rocks on top. You can also cover the beds with black plastic sheets and heat kill all the grass, but it'll take at least 2 weeks. In autumn you can dig your beds and turn the big chunks of soil upside down. The freezing temperatures will kill the exposed roots and loosen the soil. And there is always an option to dig and manually remove all the roots, and to be very vigilant about removing all the growth and roots whenever you see it.
use those in-ground landscape dividers. By being at least a few inches deep, it helps (but not totally stops) the spread of those roots. Also, your walkways can be different material than just soil topped with something. For example, those crushed granite walk ways are pretty good and not letting things grow, or at least, not letting them spread so fast that you can't control it.
Most people just want to kill weeds but there are times you want to kill grass, too, such as on patios and walkways. There are those kinds of products if you're not averse to using them. It won't kill all of them all the time but you just need to get it to a manageable level where manual weeding can be used.
As for the long-term, you do have to keep doing this for many years, continually refusing to let the grass get a foot hold. My parents' garden area is in total regular top soil - no raised bed or walkways. It only dawned on me last year that I see no grass growth there at all. It is all veggies and bare soil (where they walk).
Check the soil temperature. If you have raised bed it could be just fine for planting - like 50F. If so - you can plant it, but keep handy buckets, tabs, big jars - anything you can cover them with for the night, if temperature predicted to drop. If you have lager glass jars, you can even cover them during the day, if day is not warm enough. Just remember, if you keep them under glass for few days, when you take the cover off, shade them for day or two, otherwise UV will burn them. Or you can take them in and out until it is warmer.
What I meant when I said maybe it was a "northern thing" was, well, maybe soil temps are low enough there that seeds wouldn't sprout? That's never an issue down here. But then transplanting plants into that same soil wouldn't be that smart either. I am equally struck by the fact that someone would be selling such plants well before they belong in the ground. Yes, they'll probably survive, but in terms of level-of-effort, buying a pack of seeds would be a lot easier, and the cost per plant would be far lower.
If you've been unsuccessful with planting bean seeds, you may need to take a hard look at what you've been doing. You plant them and "nothing happens"? Aack. Perhaps you planted them far too early? If conditions are decent, and soil as well, bean seedlings are almost indestructable and, as Dave says, you could practically grow them on concrete. Beans carry enough nutrient in their large seeds to make big, strong seedlings.
I can't see the raster (butt) at all, certainly not well enough to count the hairs on it.
See these diagrams - How to ID grubs of Japanese beetles & more by pattern on raster
Agree. Mint is far too aggressive for growing in anything but its own pot - unless you want it to take over the entire 2x8 foot bed. If not a pot then plant it somewhere that you won't mind when it takes it all over.
Too much for sage+thyme+rosemary? Not at all. A bed that size could easily hold many more herb plants unless you are wanting to plant tons of each.
The other issue here is that mint likes much different conditions than the other three. It like more moist, while the other three require very well drained soil. Give it it's own pot--it just doesn't play well with others.
Now, the remaining bed would be ok for the other three. You can try a hardy Arp rosemary that might survive your winter, otherwise you may have to consider it an annual. (Suzy we can just be jealous of the size your rosey can get when it is a perennial). The other two can get large, but 2' square is reasonable for them if you deliberately keep them spreading too far in a couple years when they get that size. Could even keep the thyme smaller and also look at adding some chives, winter savory, tarragon, or sorrel for perennial herbs.
It looks like sun and/or wind damage to me. Depending on where you purchased them, you never know if the plants have been properly hardened off. Action however should be the same as Giving suggested. Remove and discard damaged leaves. If you get more damage on a sunny day, erect some type of shade or move pots to protect them from the hottest time of day until plants adapt.
Thank you, after reading giving comment I quickly ran outside and cut off the damaged leaves. I fear it is sunburned as well. I bought them from Home Depot (Bonnie plants).i will move them tomorrow to a part shade area during the hot times. It shouldn't be very hot tomorrow with temps going up to only 74. I checked my tomato plants as well and they are not as burned but I can see that they were a little scorched as well.
In the northern hemisphere, big plants go on the north side, smaller plants on the south side. It's really just that simple. That being said, yes, one line of tall plants running E-W will get slightly less sun than one line of plants running N-S. But if you have a square containing many lines of plants, it makes no difference whatsoever what direction those lines are in. If you plant corn, it sure wouldn't be smart to plant them all in one line.
The only rule I have ever used. Run rows across a slope, never up and down.