23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Looks very familiar. We have horrible bugs in Southeast Texas. I'm thinking of covering my vegetable garden this year with netting.

No, they are not ladybugs, nor are they bean beetles. I would have liked to know where the OP is from.

Well, you mean like a houseplant? Sure, they'll be green, they'll probably get leggy for lack of much sun, and they won't fruit, but there is no reason why they won't live. Not entirely clear what your goals are here. If you're practicing gardening skills, you might be better off doing different things than starting tomatoes in autumn. You don't say where you are (I have to assume southern hemisphere), but there are likely better things to plant outside at this time.

I live in the Deep South, where, theoretically, we should be able to raise and harvest tomatoes in the ground well into the fall. However, my experience says otherwise. When our high temps climb above 90 and stay there, the plants stop setting fruit. We have a lot of soil borne diseases that take a toll on the plants, as well. Once the temps fall in the late summer and early fall, the daylight is less and less. They don't like that. Then add the increased insect pressure of fall and I have had very little luck with tomatoes. On the other hand, I have had very good luck with growing hybrid cherry tomatoes in pots from spring all the way to late October or early November. I think it's because the soil is disease free and I give the plants daily inspections as I water. AND, I fertilize them in the pots at least once a month. For my main crop, I plant as many plants as I have room for, can them and pull the plants out by mid July. (but continue to nurture the 3 plants I put in pots.) I then plant something else in those spots that can take the heat: okra, cowpeas, etc. What will do for you depends on where you live.

Agree with slugs doing the damage. They thrive in all that wood chip mulch. Another good reason to avoid using wood chips as the mulch in vegetable gardens.

Dave

Oh my! When artichoke plants are young, slugs and snails, and other creepy crawlers will munch it down to a nub! When they are large, the leaves get tough, throny, and taste bitter. So, the bugs tend to leave them alone when the plants grow large. However, you will have to watch for earwigs and ants getting into the grooves and crevices of the leaves and globes. You can use organic slug and snail pellets. Covering with a net will also help keep the buggers away. Also watch out for grubs and gophers under the ground which will devour an artichoke plant of any size. Gail www.sweetheartartichokes.com

If you search for "sweet potato over winter", you might find the thread you are looking for. I found several on that topic.

Thanks, zeedman. We had a few freezes, but just for a few hours at a time.

We never harvest our parsnips until spring. They need to be dug as soon as you can dig. Once they sprout leaves, they are getting too old. I've never had woody parsnips so I'm following comments so I can learn something. I garden in NH.

Defrost: Do you protect them? Mulch? Tunnel? Or just let them fend?

Charlie- don't know about trimming them, never have, but you can get a jump on them forming a nice white shaft by adding some soil at the base of those.

Wild Haired Maven: Agree with hokiehorticulture. I also did NOT use peat moss starter mix. I used a mix recommended by Johnny's for their soil blockers. (google: johnny's seeds soil block recipe pdf should be at top of list) It was left over from summer starting, but it was NOT under three feet of snow (New England...) So it was not sterile, and I am watching it carefully for damping off, but they are up and under lights as of 3 Mar. This mix takes and holds water much better that peat moss, in fact I have been very careful to water lightly.

Thanks rhizo_1! I read that thread and that was how I found Sakata and they pointed me to several sites that I could get broccolini seeds from. I was just wondering if there's a way to make sure they go to seed, otherwise I'll have keep rebuying seeds.

As Dave notes above, as they are a hybrid, if they go to seed you will likely not get broccolini so if you really love it, you should probably just plan on buying seeds. If you are averse to purchasing seeds, you can try other things in the family to see how they fare for you such as sprouting broccoli, Chinese broccoli, etc.

Thanks! I'm glad I can use it for something.

I should add, on further review, that ammonium nitrate, when combined with water, generally doesn't release nitrogen. It takes heat to make it do that, and then what you get is nitrous oxide (get a laugh out of that!) This is, of course, why ammonium nitrate works fine as a fertilizer, when dumped on moist soil. That is, your fertilizer gets plenty wet when you put it on the ground, and it still works. So to the extent that your fertilizer is ammonium nitrate (urea is very different) the chemistry is pretty much water-proof.

How long before diamonds have fruit and how long til ripe? NJ hot months are only 3-4, maybe 5.

Eggplant fruits thankfully do not take a long time to ripen. You do not eat them fully ripe. You should be fine with any variety that isn't a standard long-DTM variety like Black Beauty. You may have success with Black Beauty, this could be a long hot sunny summer, but another variety like Diamond would be better IMHO. (I am no expert, just basing this on my 1 year's experience growing eggplants in NY.)

I am leaning away from Mg given that the chlorotic (yellowing) symptoms are typically more "blotchy" looking and can be raised or puckered, and more vibrant yellow. Mg Def also begins on lower, mature leaves for what its worth. It looks more like Fe or N Def to me given the "paler" look to the chlorosis (S deficiencies are much less common, but are very similar to N Defs) the differences being that Fe Defs start on the upper, youngest leaves and can progress downwards and N Def start on lowest, mature leaves, sometimes N Defs can also exhibit a reddish cast, but not always. S Defs differs from N in that typically the entire plant will exhibit the symptoms you show on the two leaves and not just one portion or another. Hopefully this clarifies a little bit of the differences between all of these deficiencies.

Could this be zinc deficiency?

There are a lot of such tools out there. See this for example. Of course then you have to come up with your own GDD-to--harvest, which will be different for different crops. You can easily go online and find those numbers for various stages of corn, and I think I saw them for tomatoes.

P.S. In that last link I gave, GDD=GDU. Same thing, different terminology.

Google "compost corpus christi" or here's a link.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas compost suppliers

Any time you purchase compost from a local municipality be sure to ask them what all is in their compost. Frequently I've found that greenery that has been treated with herbicides are added in just as frequently as "clean" greenery. If you are trying to grow sensitive vegetables or tender new growth plants, you may find it dies before it has a chance to grow. I have found that it is better (not necessarily faster) to find a local horse stable and volunteer to take away some of their oldest manure as well as friends and neighbors leaves every fall and spring. Dig down as far as I can, throw the manure and leaves in, then add the dirt back in.... It all breaks down and your soil will reward you for years.