24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

The soil doesn't get as hot as you'd think a few inches down. The water at the bottom of my pool is downright cold because of the soil temperature that deep. It's just the surface that gets hot. I've got kale seedlings already that I direct-seeded and they're fine. I'm in PHX. So, sow away and just keep it moist and it should be fine.

Thank you both for the input. I have some other plants that have been ravished, and by the compete devastation, I'm guessing it's hungry caterpillars there as well. I've searched the foliage carefully but haven't spotted the culprits. So I think I'll give the BT a try and see how it goes.

also consider Neem oil as an alternative. IMO it is probably a better option because it STOPS critters from eating the plant from the getgo. BT only kills AFTER they ate the plant. the real question is how long does it take BT to kill after they took a single bite?
Neem oil works against ALL leaf eating bugs, while BT only works specifically against caterpillars. from what i gather about Neem oil is that its suppose to be safe for the good bugs (lady bugs, bees, etc). not sure about BT, but Neem oil is also organic.


At this point probably not. The seed beans themselves are already infected/
Dave

'Dwarf Blue Curled Vates' is a very well-rounded variety that I have been growing for a couple years. It easily dealt with heat up to 92° F, although it's hard to say how well it will handle zone 8 heat. It survives through the winter as well, even with several snows, freezing rain and below 0° F temps. I really like the look of the leaves as well. They're almost pre-historic looking, like something dinosaurs would eat. The seeds are sold at most Dollar Tree stores I've been to.

You can plant them far more than an inch or two deeper. As digdirt2 said above you can bury them right up to the first set of true leaves, even covering the cotyledons (if they are still present). If your plants blew over I would suggest you try putting them deeper next time. They have the ability to root from the stem. My purple sprouting, for example, has to stand from July until the following May in a wet and windy climate. It needs all the support it can get.

I've had spinach winter over and start growing again in the early spring without any covering. See if there are any local growers around who might have seedlings available. The backyard grower I get tomato plants from in spring is now offering seedlings for fall. Also, check with any gardening neighbors if you live in a hilly area. I'm in the colder part of zone 5 but because we're at a low elevation with hills on three sides, my garden gets a light frost around Sept 18. If I cover with something like Remay (I have a portable tunnel covered with Agribon) I can keep bush beans going for another couple of weeks. After a couple of cool nights, it usually gets warm again. Bush beans are about 6" high right now so I'm not sure I got them in early enough this year.

Unless there is a non-organic border that it can't cross, something like plastic or wood edging set a couple of inches into the ground, grass is going to encroach on anything. Some types and even crawl over the non-organic borders. So consider putting in edging to frame the area, cover it with landscape barrier and decorative mulch and then use an arrangement of various large pots/containers set on top of it to frame in the garden. That way you can grow anything you want to in the pots, keep them under control, rotate their contents annually or even more often, move them around as needed, etc.
Just something to consider.
Dave
Something like this to give you an idea of what I mean.

If he were not VERY apologetic, I would quietly plant some poison ivy on his side, preferably along the fence on the far side. Where I live he would not be permitted to store non-working autos on his property. i would notify the authorities. He may be in his right but he was an *** for doing it the way he did.

rjs, we're not allowed to have non-working vehicles on our property here either.
I used to have an enormous arbor vitae hedge that divided our yards out front (he never pruned that--just complained, so I pruned both sides). Until the day he came out to tell me that if I put on a bikini I could charge money for people to watch me pruning! Gross. Arbor vitae hedge is gone & I had a 6' cedar fence put up--part of it is "good neighbor" part of it is solid to block one of the vehicles that's parked there.
Donna, yes I came home just as he was finishing his work. The hops weave in & out of the chain link so I'm sure some of it is still alive, it does look pretty bad though.
Galinas, not planning on starting a war. Probably some silent treatment and no more sharing tomatoes or eggs with him!
Marianne, while I understand he has the right to prune his side, I do question his timing & technique. The whole mess will be gone in October anyway..
rhizo, good advice. To answer your question, my husband's actually the brewer (I just grow the hops). He started at about time I planted them. He's not too into the flavored beers, but a cherry ale sounds delish. I'm trying to convince him to make me some kind of a hot pepper brew.
Thanks all for helping me make sense of this.
Beth


glib 5.5 why plant turnips? I'm curious. Is that a way to control the grubs and rid the soil of infestation? I have four plants that got hit by what looks like powdery mildew but then the svb showed up. I thought the mildew weakened the plant to allow the svb to do its job. Please tell me about the turnip idea.


Update: soil test lab didn't call me back-on holidays. Will send sample off to university for testing instead.
In the meantime, 4 days ago, I planted 5 pea seeds in a bowl of the leaf mold, as per daninthedirt's suggestion. It was a struggle to find some of the only partially broken down stuff since the majority of the pile is well composted now which is good news for fall mulching.
No germination of pea seeds yet. I have this in the kitchen windowsill and so far no curious cats have gone into it and removed or added anything, :)
I pulled all plants from the beds and dug up & removed some of the soil and sure enough, I found uncomposted leaf mold about at root level and below. So I dug it up & removed it all. This we/end I will add lime probably and mix it well, assuming I have test results by then.
The tomatoes I grew in containers are doing beautifully and will probably get a crop of about 50 large toms and consistently getting lots of cherry tomatoes so I don't feel all is lost. I will still have to buy tomatoes, peppers & zucchini for sauce-making but that's not a significant hardship :)
Thanks for all your advice-will keep posted!




The damage is just cosmetic and your plant if fine. You don't need to do anything.
Thank you so much for the good news:)