23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I'm over here in Portland, and not sure exactly how similar and different our weather is, other than the very basics.
About a week ago we went from our typical spring, wet, cloudy and cool weather to two days of really hot blazing sun in the upper eighties/ low nineties. Gah....felt hotter that it really was, I didn't adapt well either. LOL
Your second photo looks like that might be what happened. Sun burned because the change was so sudden and drastic. Same as if one brought new seedlings out of a nice humid, coolish green house, plopped the babies in hot sun and just left them there. This is the part where reading about harding plants off is the correct chapter.
Obviously with plants growing outdoors already, the solution there is noticing ( being there in the middle of the day) and putting up a shade cover temporally, since once the plants have a chance to adapt slowly, they would be fine with most weather changes.
The 'hot flash' that happened in my back garden dropped several established perennials and my hydrangea on those days . They were still to new after the winter dormancy and freshly emerged so couldn't keep water pumped up in their leaves. This happens in this particular spot each year we get an unusual heat spell too early. So I did remember to grab all the babies in pots ( lucky I happened to have that day off ) and move them to the shade, and they came through just fine. The plants that did get the worst of it are fine now, a little damage on the edge of a few leaves, but we have a whole season for new growth and now everything will have more time to adjust to sun increases gradually. Our clouds are back and the auto-watering system from the sky is working just fine. ;-)
If that's what happened to your cute little lettuce there, I would expect the new growth to be fine and no long term concerns on this front..
The first photo looks like something is munching on the leaves ( more that the more minor sun damage). Baby slugs ?
Or what are your more common garden munchers over on your side of the state ?
This post was edited by plaidbird on Sun, May 4, 14 at 23:14
I am on the edge of zones 6a and 5b, and I just started my sugar baby watermelons and cantaloupe in pots indoors. They sprout quickly in my plant room. My last frost date is April 30. I usually plant them outside in containers at the end of May. By August I get melons. I agree that you have time to reseed. Melons are very sensitive to root disturbance. They need to be transplanted into the garden before they start to vine. If they are too big when you do that, they will be permanently set back.
OK, guys, you convinced me) I dig the seeds that I jut planted yesterday out of the big pots and seeded them again in the small ones, like last year. Reseeding is not an option - I am out of seeds and do not want to pay $5-10 delivery charge for a pack of the same seeds, and I do not want to risk a different one. To tell you the truth, I only had success with melon last year. Year before it was eaten by cucumber beetles. So last year I seeded three pots, with intention to use 2 in my cucumber chamber(insect screen over 7' high greenhouse like structure with net trellis ). And one should be just unfortunate and go to grow in a compost pile(most likely upside down). I was already walking to compost pile, when my husband (plant rescuer) stopped me. He said, it is unfair to throw it away and I should plant it. So I asked where EXACTLY I should plant it, and looked at the garden, where paths between beds are not more then a foot wide, and all beds are full. So he looked at turnips we already started to eat and said - here, here is an empty spot! I started to laugh, right, melon would grow between turnips! But to make him happy I made a hole and planted the poor melon. I covered the bed back with insect cover against cabbage flies(to save my turnips) and forgot about it. I eventually took the cover off when turnips were all gone to find a lot of female and male flowers on the melon.I left it open and forgot about it again. 11 melons, around 2 pounds each - sweet, as it can be from late July to start of September - I guess it was its way to say thank you)
Two other melons were overtaken by cucumbers, produced one apple size melon in august(despite my hand pollination, I guess I am a little too heavy for a bee) ), got sick and died quietly.
So from now on, turnips is only place where I grow melons))
This post was edited by galinas on Sun, May 4, 14 at 21:04
I had this type of land when I lived in SW OK. When I bought my 5 acres the soil would crack so wide in the dry summers that you could fall in. When it rained you couldn't walk around because it was a slippery mess and stuck to your boots until they fell off.
After a couple of years of piling up tons of stall cleanings from the horses on every part of the property it was fertile and had beautiful top soil. I literally dumped wheelbarrows full everywhere and let them compost in place. My peach trees were amazing!
What I'm saying is that if you want to start a garden area for the long haul, starting with a truckload of horse manure and wait until it's fully composted to use that area of the garden. In the meantime a small, raised bed with bought soil and compost should do great. I'm not sure you even have to dig down. In fact, digging down may cause your drainage to be far worse.
I have my current raised beds on the surface of extremely compacted clay and after four years of amendments I'm finally starting to be able to dig down into the surface of the soil.
Thanks for the replies!
My plan now is to wait for the rain forecast for this weekend to wet my dirt, which usually makes it crumbly, then mix it with the garden soil I've bought.
Oddly enough, I've encountered a lot of earthworms while digging this trench. I wonder if they are related to the batch of nightcrawlers that I dumped in my compost heap the first year? They are on the other side of the yard, most of which is covered by plastic sheets and dirt on top of the sheets.
Since these things are said to grow from a tuberous root that can be overwintered, I brought mine indoors in its pot for the winter, I think (!!!???)
Well, I lost it -- literally. I can't find where in the house I stashed the pot, which is pretty large (about an 14" diameter tub).
I know I brought it in for the winter -- it's a fairly distinctive pot, and it's nowhere to be found outside.
And, I swear I remember hauling it indoors on a cold, blustery Sunday in mid-October with a hand truck.
I was sneaking things in the house that day -- I had emergency abdominal surgery the week before for a hernia, and wasn't allowed to lift anything over 8 lbs. But, you know how guys are .... so, whenever I had the opportunity and the family wasn't looking, so they didn't yell at me, I brought stuff in by dragging, pushing, shoving, etc.
But, it's been a real mystery and puzzle to me what happened to my big pot with the Chayote root in it.
Oh well, I picked up 3 more sprouty looking fruits at the grocery store the other day!
I'm in Idaho and decided to try growing Chayote/Mirliton this year. Our summers are rather hot in the summer...I'm talking 110*F in the shade sometimes, but our winters and springs can be surprisingly cold.
It took me forever to get some Chayote squash. Local stores had none even though we have a good sized ethnic group living here... yet none of the stores had these. I finally found some sprouted fruit on Ebay of all places. I bought 2 and the seller sent me 3. I'm having to make do with the containers I have so I used a used pot for the largest chayote. Because I was setting this in my window sill I didn't want it to drain water all over the place so I stuck the pot in a plastic folgiers container... and used a plastic bag from a thing of dog treats as a make shift green house. The other two chayote I just stuck in paper beverage cups. Well hmmm the chayote in the big pot nested in the plastic folgers container is doing really well! btw.. I put the fat sprouted end up and the pointy end down. The other two... not so much. I got online to see why this might be. I read where Chayote should be placed in the ground AFTER the soil reaches 65*F. I suspect that the reason the one did so well is because I basically made a greenhouse for the roots by sticking the pot in the folgers container. Today upon inspection I see that one of the 2 in the beverage cups is not doing anything... the other is trying to bud. I recently planted an azalea so I used it's pot and some more soil... and another Folgers container... If my thinking is correct this baby should be going bonkers soon.
I plan to plant mine on the south facing side of my house and garage in big containers and allow them to grow up and over to help shade the place. If I get fruits it would be a bonus. I'll try to report back with results.
I've grown both those varieties here in western OR and they should get full sized and be similar to what you find in the store. Tracydr is right about the blanched stalks (which is easy to do) making them lighter colored and more tender, but your plants should be getting much bigger than you describe. So my thoughts are that you're not giving the plants what they need, (which as tracydr also said) is lots of fertility and very regular watering.
Celery is possibly the hardest veg for me to grow and i've given up growing enough for the farmers market I sell at. Instead i'm opting for more celeriac, which seems less picky.
I suggest you keep building your soil and do some extra research on growing celery and it's special requirements, and you'll get it right. Good luck.
-Mark
In our part of the country, celery is almost exclusively grown in muck soil. I'm not really sure how you would simulate muck - it's sandy, organically rich (black), and floats on an endless supply of water. The link is a very short read, but interesting nonetheless.
Here is a link that might be useful: Celeryville
Being a new transplant in PNW, I am also trying to germinate and eventually grow some okra. But I am not holding my breath. I used to grow them back in Atl. GA area for years, with no problem. Okra is basically a Southern plant with Hot and LONG growing season. Unless they is a one bred for cooler climates that I don't know of. Everywhere I go, all I can find is CLEMSON SPINELESS. Not a good one : It gets woody before you can say AAH.
If the climate is like Cuenca's, you should be able to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini fairly easily, especially if you use black plastic mulch.
Plus all the veggies that have been suggested by others. And don't forget beets, carrots and chard.
The only crops you may not be able to grow are the heat-lovers, including peppers, eggplants and (water)melons.
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, May 4, 14 at 14:46
pnbrown,
You make good points but the picture is far bigger than that.
The very fact that OP is able to say "OK, let's move to Ecuador and have a garden!" is proof of the divide between the developed and developing world. For most Ecuadorians, it's a wild fantasy to be able to move to the US at all, much less move to the US and have a house and garden. No offense to OP intended.
So in the grand scheme of things, the ability to hire cheap labor is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Substitute US with Canada, Australia or any other new world developed nation, and substitute Ecuador with any other developing country. Same story.
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, May 4, 14 at 14:53
I use half inch conduit for trellis frames. I got a roll of heavy wire at Lowes that I use to anchor the vertical conduit to hold up in high winds. I use it for tomatoes by running lines down from the top and weaving from side to side. Works great, and breaks down easily. I use PVC elbows to connect the vertical and horizontal bars.
Grandad, your growing season is so different than ours here in Massachusetts, obviously. I see how the plastic can keep the plants from rooting the runners if you are going to pull them out after a main harvest.
We have less sun than we started out with now that the neighboring trees have matured. Not much we can do about that. I used to be able to grow full size tomatoes but now I stick to the cherries.
Jonfrum, anchoring is another way to go too. ItâÂÂs so interesting how people find their own adaptation to different ideas. Thanks.
I think you can plant and grow successfully JUST ABOUT ANYTHING you want in that space, with 6 hours of sun, down in Memphis, TN. I am gardening in a situation that I get hardly 5 hours of direct sun and I grow tomatoes, potatoes, pepper, cucumbers, squash, garden bean, chard, ... all kinds of herbs.
Here are some plants that wont mind even less direct sun:
---- chards, parsley, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, any member of onion family (chives, onions, leeks, shallot,) any member of cabbage family,
But it might be a bit too late for some of them to start from seeds but you can always buy plants and plant them.
Thank you both for your responses, I appreciate it-great suggestions. Seysonn, we actually just planted a whole 8x4 bed with seeds of Swiss Chard and Kale. I know Kale especially is supposed to be a cool season plant, but we use Kale in smoothies and would be covering up up bitter tastes anyway. When you say it may be too late are you referring to the bitterness as the weather gets hot-or an issue with germination and growth? Thanks!
To make matters worse the conditions which slow the basil growth also favor many basil diseases. That is my main reason for only early starting disease resistant varieties like Nufar, Emily or Genoveser. Also use a potting mix with biofungicide if possible as added insurance and then you still need to keep young seedlings warmer than most other crops. Temps dipping into the mid 40s often leeds to "Tanning" of the leaves; low of
boil baking potatoes and an onion in good stock. Add spices and salt to taste (I like a little chili and salt). When cooked, blend the soup with one or two handfuls of sorrel leaves, stems removed. serve immediately. the secret is to blend instantly when leaves and soup are in the blender. then the soup will stay a bright green. if you wait, it will turn grey. Baking potatoes are much easier on your blender than waxy. Sorrel soup with waxy destroyed our previous blender.
I also add tallow or olive oil to the soup when serving. This is served in April and for Thanksgiving here.
Sorrel leaves effectively 'melt' when heated so you can make a quick sauce for grilled or fried fish by just cooking some gently in a little butter. It has the acidity you need and fulfils the same function as a slice of lemon.
Or you can make it slightly fancier by adding the fish juices and some crème fraiche.
We don't mulch in Zone 3 - maybe we should but the asparagus seems to emerge when it is ready - We would actually rather it come up a little later as others commented - the early warm break in the weather kicks everything in gear and then Mother Nature reminds us that winter is not over yet - the Asparagus has to shiver in it's boots for a day or two.
"Same thing with kale and chard. Once bolted, they're done. "
Not so, for sure, IME. I have had chard plants go 3-4 years in well-protected locations. Kale plants are well known to produce for longer than that in greenhouses or very mild climates, though I have not had one go for more than about 3 years.
Fertilizers are like cleaners/soaps. They take the same cleaner and market for various uses. So goes for the fertilizers. Add or subtract from a given NPK and market it for orchids, tomatoes, roses et cetera. The trace elements shown in the analysis is not going to harm anything in small amounts.
I would use the one in question in 1/2 strength, occasionally on just about anything I want until it is all gone.
Got it. Thanks guys! I'll just use it for now and look for something better for the veggie in the future. I hate wasting. :)