23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
There are many options with cucs. You could go all the way to a seedless variety but you may not be happy with the price of starting seeds. Sweet Success seems to be a popular variety that won AAS status many years ago. For burpless picklers Ballerina, Picolino and Cool Breeze all have hardly noticable seeds.
"Chemicals that are applied by label directions are safe"
So very VERY not true. DDT, Diazinon, all sorts of insecticides were taken off the market AFTER years of use. There is much we do not know about chemicals, some are safe when used correctly, some are not, some we won't realize the damage done for years to us and to our families.
I'm not by any means putting down the good that some chemicals can do. But to believe that they are all safe when used according to label directions is naive.
I plant mostly O'Henry which is a smooth light yellow. Other decent ones are Beauregard and Covington orange ones. For bush Vardman might be ok.
Here is a link that might be useful: Sweetpotatoes
While it is more of a winter vegetable, seeing as you are in zone 2, I would go ahead and try it. Seed is relatively cheap and if it does not work for you, you could probably try again.
Runswithscissors, I have had problems with it too. I am still trying to get the right conditions for it and have not found them yet but I want to keep trying. I really enjoy it but suspect my timing may have been off in the past.
Just this evening, Jim:
New Territorial Seed catalog notice - they carry Samurai for 2008.
S
Here is a link that might be useful: Red Samurai
I tried Atomic Red Carrots and did not like them very much. Then I tried Kyoto Red and loved them! They are sweet, have a nice texture and they grow great. Kitazawa sells this variety in packets or in 1/4 pound amounts. Here is a picture of mine. This is definitely one of my new favorite varieties. They would be perfect for the market if only my family wouldn't eat them first!
I uploaded some more pictures on my little blog post in the link below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Kyoto Red Carrots
I planted a backup batch of broccoli seeds this week, Just In Case. I'm assuming the cabbages won't have buttoning problems.
Normally, I'd have the brassicas starting to go out to be hardened off by now. Once hardened, they can take temps in the mid-twenties.
But even if the snow melts, even if the ground thaws, it'll be mud.
Just starting broccoli (which always bolted for me, so I want to get out ASAP this year - as soon as the snow melts), kale, mustard, spinach, chard, tat soi, and lettuce over the next couple of weeks. Wondering when to start these (trying to follow Johnny's calculator this year, LFD May 15 - maybe), with the exception of peppers which I want to start tomorrow since they seem to take so long.
Should all the cool-weather greens be started in my cooler basement (starting to warm up to almost 50 now) or in the 67-degree house as I did with kale last year? Looks like kale will get leggy if let go too long (had to share lights with nightshades, and didn't help that we went on vacation in mid-April so I didn't get the kale out until May), but starting early I can keep them under lights until my tomatoes need them in April, by which time I hope I can plant out under row cover. What about other brassicas, lettuce, etc.? Do they need intense light once germinated?
I'm wondering if I start these in the next 2 weeks if they will do better in cooler area, with lights, than upstairs, and when and where to move them to once I need lights for the tomatoes next month. Is natural sunlight OK by then, start hardening off outside during the day and moving them back to cool basement at night until nights are above freezing (which they should be by mid-April but who knows this year)?
Here in north central Florida I find that my peas (wrinkled seed types) are fairly susceptible to freeze damage unless they are quite young. In fact I provide them with protection from all but the lightest of frosts. I suspect it happens because we tend to get cold weather as a series of cycles of a few days to a week of high temperatures of 70-75 degrees followed by a freeze and several days to a week with highs in the 50s and 60s, then back into the 70s (and occasionally 80s) for a few days to a week. I think the warmer interludes may affect the pea plant's susceptibility to frost damage. Nevertheless, I have great luck with peas all winter so long as I given them a little protection on frosty nights. Has anyone else in similar climates noticed their peas being susceptible to damage from frosts and light freezes?
This post was edited by courtneych on Sun, Mar 9, 14 at 21:13
We call "hard freezes" freezes below about 28F. Light freezes are above that. We rarely get below 25F. Never since I started growing peas several years ago. Also, we just get these hard freezes overnight. Never for days at a time. I've never protected my peas, and I've never had problems. As I said, my peas have come through 25F dawns unscathed. What I had always wondered was, how low can they go? At least with these sugar snaps, I'm now inclined to throw something over them is the temp is going to get well below 25F overnight. If you live where you get such temps for many days in a row, that plan may well not help you.
How much snow cover do you have? Here cabbages would still be well under snow, and in that situation they would keep almost indefinitely. Outside it might be -31F, but at the ground level it is 27F. You can always help that along by actively covering the cabbage with a snow shovel.
Ha -- glib when I told my husband you still had 2 feet of snow, he wanted to come up to New England to keep skiing! We still have snow higher up, but in the yard, it thawed last weekend. More snow coming this week, though. Sounds like if it stays cold, it'll keep.
laceyvail -- I pulled some cabbage just before the first polar vortex, and left some in, just to see what would happen. The ones I pulled were good at first, but got dryer and shriveleier. The ones in the ground are fresh as can be--perfect for cole slaw, while the ones pulled earlier ended up only good for soup. I knew I was taking a risk, but was very happy with the results.
They take about six days to emerge at 80 F. So if you can find a shady place where they can be held at 70 degrees, you can sow them on April 13th, place humidity domes on them and then give them some bottom heat when you get back to finish germination. Saves a few days this way.
Late April is far too early in your zone to plant out peppers or eggplants. Maybe tomatoes if you give them protection and it's a warm spring.
It will redden after first frost. Since you may not have a first frost, it will stay greenish-reddish - and more bitter than those that get frosted. It is a matter of taste, I like it equally, frost-sweet or bitter. In its bitter state it is medicinally a lot more powerful (helps your liver more). Radicchio is really optimal for zone 8 or 9, minimal frosts, but frosts. Michigan radicchio, around Xmas just before it keels over, it may be small because of the short season and cold temps, but it is the sweetest.
There are self-heading varieties that I think have inferior taste, and I suspect that the tasteless heads you find in stores are of that type, grown somewhere near the Rio Grande or in Salinas.
Yes, less sun causes greener leaves- chlorophyll (the green pigment) is more effective at photosynthesis than the red pigments, so with less sun the plants will make more green pigment to use the available light better. I would test it and see how you like the flavor. If it is too bitter maybe blanching it by wrapping it in brown paper might help, though I don't really know. It looks very happy and healthy otherwise!
Thanks, all. I guess I should add to my post the fact that as my name might suggest... I like to build and create things. I build complex, eccentric, and challenging interior architecture all over the world, mainly for the very wealthy. Sometimes (more often than that!) I get tired of millionaires and just want to make something simple. For me. This "screen room" is perhaps unnecessary effort, but it does bring together 2 of my favorite things: Growing and Building. Anyway. This is probably too much information! The beds I'm planning to cover are in full sun, though i hadn't given thought to the window screen blocking some light. Do any of you feel that the light blocked would have any significant impact... positive or negative? Also, i have it in the back of my head that these hinged frames (basically a 30" tall cage) will provide support for shade cloth to shield some of the cooler temp loving crops from summer heat in hopes of extending their harvest.
The top gardener in our area built a screened covered raised bed for broccoli last season to deter the root maggot flies. It worked great. No problems with root maggots, and the broccoli grew very well. I don't think the screening blocked enough sunlight to be of any concern.