23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I say leave your plants alone. I think you are fussing over them too much and hurting rather than helping. Plants know how to take care of themselves most of the time believe it or not, you only need to help them if they are infested or becoming damaged. It doesn't sound like aphids either- they live on new plant growth, not in the soil, and don't really move around very much. If you do get actual aphids and are interested in using ladybugs to control them then yes that is the best method, or just blast the plants with plain water from a hose- but if you use your soapy spray it will also kill the ladybugs. I really recommend just not putting anything at all on your plants. I have an organic garden and have helped with a friends too- we have gone a whole 3 years without using ANY pesticide (organic or otherwise) and everything still was fine. Perhaps you are watering too much? I get gnats in my indoor plants when the soil is too wet. But bugs are basically a part of the ecosystem so theres no getting rid of all of them, and some bugs are actually helpful. Good luck!
And don't get me wrong it's not like we haven't had bug issues from time to time- we've just dealt with them without spraying. I got caterpillars that ate almost all the leaves off some kale plants, but I just picked them off by hand & the kale plants grew back. There was also something laying eggs on the undersides of my friend's kale leaves, so we picked off those leaves before the eggs could hatch & become pests. I get aphids now & then but usually just squish them with my fingers or blast them with water, or they sort of go away once the plants mature. I have lots of issues with snails but find if I go out after it rains or at night I can find and kill a bunch of them by hand, and I try to protect the plants they like the most as best I can with physical barriers (peas, basil & chard seem to be their favorite). Anyways, hope you learn to live with the pests, and manage them safely & naturally if they get out of control.
Duplicate post. Here is a link to your previous post of this same question.
Here is a link that might be useful: Your duplicate post of this question
I plant the fingerling potato sampler from Fedco last year plus a small amount of German Butterballs. Unfortunately, the German Butterballs were still in the barn drying when the temperatures dropped and I lost most to freezing although was able to salvage some for Thanksgiving. The fingerlings (5 lbs total of several different kinds) were very productive. We still have a lot to eat. There are only 2 of us except for once a week family dinners when I sometimes serve potatoes.
My first hilling was done with dirt. The next with straw but I waited too long and the job was harder getting straw under plants so I lost a few potatoes that were exposed.
I was also careless about exposure to sunlight. One variety in a box was exposed to sun when it came thru the south facing windows in the garage doors. Dumb!
This year I will do more hilling with dirt but do a final hilling with straw. Two bales were enough for my smallish patch. I don't see how any thing else can be planted next to the potatoes but I did put beans very close to one row.
A neighbor had very good luck because of our wet spring and his too wet garden growing potatoes in felt buckets. Don't know where he got them but I saw what might be similar in the Gurney's catalog.
I got red and white seed potatoes at my local feed store. planted those three wide in a three foot wide row. I think it ended up being about 30 feet of row. They did great like that. I don''t hill much. Run the rototiller down the path and rake that on. Add compost. I bought a bag of yukon gold at Walmart. Got it pretty cheap. Seems there were about 25 in the bag so I planted a four by six bed with a foot apart. It did very nicely.Hardest part is amending the clay enough that they're not a nightmare to dig when the time comes.
Chitting /sprouting/greening seed potato is not absolutely necessary, although it might be helpful for faster coming up. I don't think that commercial potato farmer would take that route. As far as the backyard gardening is concerned, I would think that shorter sprout (less than 3/8" ) is better over all.
seysonn - we are talking about the same beans. What I am saying is that they are very widely grown and eaten over here but they are ALWAYS eaten fresh, green and preferably very young. If you look at the picture at my link you'll see the kind of size we'd eat them. We don't use them as dried beans, so peeling them doesn't arise. Some people peel them when used fresh but if they need it imo they are well past their best. I pod them and cook just like peas. i.e. about 2 - 3 minutes in boiling water.
Flora and Camp, yes I've tried the broad beans very young and to me they did not seem quite as good as young peas, or about the same perhaps. I rather like them better as mature beans, but then all the peeling is tiresome.
No doubt this is a case of what one is used to. I love young peas - but most other legumes I prefer as shellies, or fully dry (I also love peas as mature shellies - still green in the pods but VERY strong flavor in the peas).
I don't know in what form or chemical composition magnesium is normally present in natural soil and how stable it is. But Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate) is water soluble, like nitrogen in the fertilizers. This means that it can be depleted and leached by watering and frequent rain, the same way it happens to nitrogen. I usually apply it in small amounts few times in the season. The normal recommendation is ONE TBspoon per gallon. I use ONE TBspoon per two gallons and with that I water an area of about 20-30 square foot.
JMO
Here you will fine an article written by WSU
Here is a link that might be useful: Adding Epsom salts to garden
This post was edited by seysonn on Sun, Feb 2, 14 at 8:26
Florida sand is remarkably consistent throughout the peninsula, though the underlying substrates can vary. I tested two plots in central florida, one high in very deep sand, the other lakeside.
They showed 62% and 58% of the optimum Mag level. Many elements are far lower than that in florida sand, so Mag is a pretty easy one to bring up - probably a couple of applications over a few years will do it.
Mix that OM into the sand!
Keep in mind that compost is basically a slow release fertilizer. It is possible to over fertilize, and likely to happen if you combine different methods.
I would recommend looking at each type of crop you are going to be growing and come up with a specific plan -what type of fertilizer is recommended, when to apply, amount of water and such. This should help when if comes to the layout of the garden as well.
Good luck
I have a question:
It has been said that PM spores are air born. Does it mean that the are not in the soil from previous season. If it is brought by the wind, where do they come from?
About milk/water spray:
I have used it in the past and will use it again. Some people add baking soda to it to: HOW MUCH BS do you add to be on the safe side and not to kill your plants? What the baking soda do ?
Seysonn: PM needs live tissue to survive, so I imagine it comes from plants that carry the spores but don't exactly exhibit symptoms. Trees, shrubs, bushes, I imagine.
Regarding Baking soda--- I've used it in the past but like most remedies, it isn't really effective if symptoms are already present. Never used it with milk though. I'm using Potassium bicarbonate now. it seems to do a much better job...available at wine shops and beer brew shops(got to shop around though). As with other home remedies( sodium and potassium bicarbonates, milk, etc), the idea is to change the ph of the foliage to a level that is unfavorable for the spores to thrive.
Kevin
I was told hat you needed to have 3 to 4 at a time for the cross polliation
Not true. Whoever or whatever told you that doesn't know gardening. And eggplant are self-pollinating anyway.
what other veggies need to be in a group and not ust a single plants??
Just as Rodney said above - none need to be but some will benefit from having more than one planted nearby. Of course there aren't very many vegetables where you would normally plant only one.
Dave
PS: and yes minnie it is quite aggravating. Especially when it is preached like gospel by some disreputable sources.
Either it is misinformation or lack of information. Plants group of nightshade family are self pollinating which includes eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, TOMATILLOES. I have heard a lot of people saying that you need more than one tomatillo plant to get fruits from them. I have experimented it not just once but twice, and am convinced that tomatillo is just like tomato and peppers and eggplants, self pollinating. In both cases I gardened in locations that there was no home gardens nearby, not much bee activities either. Last year my tomatillo plant burst into lanterns in late August while it was blooming since late May. Like the guy in I Love Lucy show used to say " Wa' happen ?".. hehe
At my house the north side is the spot that gets the most sun due to trees/buildings that shade the south side for most of the day. I grow plenty of vegetables with what I've got, which is fairly similar to you (sunlight hours-wise anyways). 6ish hours for 4 months (~120 days) I would imagine to be enough.
But like someone else said, the summer's heat may be a problem. Of course that's a pretty easy problem to handle by using the material used for row covers as a buffer and finding what cultivars are locally grown and proven in that environment. I've never been to Spain so I don't know what it's like, but I have been to Iraq and they grow plenty of vegetables in 120*F, so I know it can be done.
We've had the most bizarre weather here in No California this year!
2nd year of drought! Only about 2-3" when we are used to about 25" by this time and more to come!
We've been having lovely daytime weather (60-70) but had 2-3 weeks of freezing, as low as 19*! (remember, we're in California!)
I'm actually thinking of making a mini greenhouse to get things started early!
Everyone is starting on water saving. but we're on a well, which is doing fine!)
I'm chomping at the bit to start things going, but I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to get started! Nancy
I'm probably going to go ahead and just plan as normal no matter what long range forecasts call for. Start getting the tender plants out in the middle of May. The cold weather stuff will just have to go out in March/April when it seems about right. The weather varies so wildly here on the high plains that the only way many things survive is with the protection of tunnels or cold frames.
Just put up another tunnel last weekend. Mostly it's just helping thaw the ground out now. Surprisingly the lettuce I planted back in October is still alive in that area although quite small. I put a whole variety of seed in that bed it'll be interesting to see if some of it germinates.
I'm still eating spaghetti squash picked last September. Most of them are about 2.5-3.0 lbs. Three hill got me about 12-14 squashes. I just cooked one, and got 1.5 lbs of squash out of it. I'm not generally a fan of winter squash, but I do eat the spaghetti variety.
I have to say that I think the idea that spaghetti squash can replace pasta doesn't make much sense to me. I tried it with tomato sauce, and it just didn't work. I just eat it as a side dish - no sauces, but maybe herbs/seasonings. In spite of the fact that it kind of looks like spaghetti, it's still a winter squash, and tastes like it.
I agree with jonfrum that spaghetti squash tastes like winter squash when ripe. If you want it to taste more like spaghetti, pick and use it before it is ripe (after it reaches full size but before the skin hardens).
It will still flake out in somewhat noodle-like strands (not as long as when ripe) when steamed, but will have a much less pronounced flavor more like summer squash. Great with spaghetti sauce at that stage. Over-grown but unripe trombocino squash can also be used this way.
I think the key is the structures and the mulch. It you have nice structures and if you put in mulch over where you harvest it looks nice and tidy. I also think geometry helps if you're going large scale with veggies. Pepper plants on a border, radishes hiding with the flowers won't be noticed much one way or another, but if you want to really eat out of your front yard I think a good strong pattern, nice trellises, and keeping things trimmed and mulched is key. I'm using blackberries as a hedge on the "busy street" side of the house, blueberries around the foundation. I have a couple of cherry trees that I keep pruned very open and under them strawberries. Fruits are pretty easy to blend into your front yard.
Campanula - The way to prevent a shaggy looking garden after harvest of the edibles is to place potted plants in the gap. My wife uses gladiolas that are normally on our patio.