23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Well, I killed my jalapeno plant last year. Basically a newbie mistake & put it into shock. Before that, I was getting some great jalapenos.

My Tabasco & Poblano plants were gorgeous & growing & producing like champs.

My big Jim was a slow grower & then exploded with pellets but too late cuz I had to pick them early when they were small cuz winter was around the corner.

I'm trying to over winter my big jim, poblano, & Tabasco this year. Well see if they grow back!

ThatâÂÂs a LOT of peppers, Little Minnie! lol
I appreciate your notes on what youâÂÂve grown that you liked. Just in time for me to put my seed order in this week. I had Odessa Market on my list and had taken it off to make room for another, but itâÂÂs going back on.

IâÂÂm ordering from FEDCO and they didnâÂÂt have a number of the others. So far, IâÂÂm ordering, Carmen, Jimmy NardelloâÂÂs, Gilboa, and now Odessa Market. I donâÂÂt have the room for a lot more, maybe 10 plants.

I had a pretty good experience with my peppers last year. âÂÂGypsyâ grew well and produced more than the others. I had âÂÂRed BeautyâÂÂ, âÂÂOrange Blazeâ and âÂÂGolden California WonderâÂÂ. âÂÂRed Beautyâ and âÂÂOrange Blazeâ did well, but I would not say spectacular.

I wish we could use hot peppers, but theyâÂÂre not a frequent addition to meals here. Guacamole and Chili are about it. And we keep those mild.

Lori, if you have never worked with mushrooms before, I suggest starting with the plugs. To work with spores you need a sterile environment and patience. With plugs you can immediately start growing the mycelium in a suitable medium.

That said, if you get some big, mature portobellos and make spore prints in a sterile place, you have your spores. Mycologists who don't have clean rooms often work in an oven that's been hot enough to bake bread and allowed to cool unopened. Until the mycelium starts running, everything must be kept sterile or you get green mold instead of mushroom mycelium.

Planatus -

Thanks so much for the info and advice. I was under the impression that a successful inoculation could occur if the spores were added directly from the syringe into the substrate. Please forgive my ignorance.

Any recommendations for substrate? Also, are the plugs specifically for growing in logs or stumps, or can they also be used indoors with a substrate?

Thanks again. ;)

Start them early enough to grow without 24/7. They will not be growing in 24/7 when they are in the real world.

I took cuttings from the garden for the past two falls and rooted then in water for a few days, then stuck them in the greenhouse for the winter. They grew LONG and leggy, lost their leaves, etc. But when spring was near, it was a simple matter of cutting the stems into about 8 inch lengths, root in water for about a week, and they were ready for the garden. Tons of them..... I had a fine crop of sweetpotatoes, growing as ground cover under the tomatoes. Think I will move them this year to the orchard through the wood chips.... I better put some in the raised beds as well, as I want a good crop again. They are wonderful!!!

Thanks Donnabaskets, that makes sense, I'll try that. And thanks for another name of a string bean to try. :-)

Edie, Provider is a name I've heard now that you mention it. and I'll add Top Crop to the list. Maybe I'll grow them all and see which one we like. Thanks.

Doing a little research before I make a seed order and ran across this thread from last year. Just wanted to update that I did grow the peas and I got a very small harvest from them. After doing some reading, I've figured out that my vegetable plot has less sun on that side in late summer because of the changing track of the sun. So beyond lettuce and greens, not much use in planting fall crops there.

I've also learned that I need to buy enough seed now for fall planting to speed up these last minute decisions. :-) Lots of lettuce and Kale on my list this year.

Depends on type of pepper, ammount of nutrients available to plant, room for roots (container size can affect this), watering, weed/other plant competition, ammount of light, etc.

What kind is it and what were your growing conditions?

That is how big my Thai chilli peppers grow... I will add though this is my preferred chili to cook with.. In southeast asian countries (I am Indian) we use these a lot... they are small but they pack a good punch.

Well if you plan on doing any cool season gardening now is the perfect time to plant things like spinach & peas etc outside- they can be planted 4 to 6 weeks before your last frost, no need to start them indoors or in seed trays! I would plant out your cilantro as soon as you have passed your frost date, they like cool weather but i think can be damaged by freezing. Good luck with all your warm season starts too :)

So its not safe to just stick something down the edges of the ells and pull out the seedlings with their dirt?

No.

Also seedlings once they've started to grow don't benefit from the heating mat?

No, it can be harmful. It can cook the roots and causes leggy growth that is top heavy with poor root development. Discussed in detail on the Growing from Seed forum.

I also got a 7'' dome to put over them once they got larger and I moved them to pots/cups (plastic cups with holes in the bottom.)

Domes are used for germination phase only, and not for growing on. Trapped humidity caused plants to damp-off and die.

Dave

You may want to rethink the rail road ties, they have a been shown to leach creosolte into your soil.

Try to get black locust. It is highly decay resistant. That's why it is used for fence posts. If black locust is plentiful in your area a local sawmill may be able to supply it rough sawn at a reasonable cost.

Jim

Yes thank you ZachS, very scientific, interesting info!!
Appreciate it.

No problem. Although I do have to correct myself (this is pretty common theme in my life....)

I was doing some research the other day on some other biology stuff and I came across in one of my other books a much better description of a eudicot then the one I had before. It seems I have forgotten more things then I ever actually knew...

Eudicots (meaning "true dicots") does indeed refer to plants which have three openings on the pollen grains (monocots have only one) but there are several other traits that differentiate the two. The number of "seed leaves", or cotyledons, and their structure (the fact I didn't remember THAT when its in the darn name is really embarrassing), Eudicots have two cotyledons, monocots have only one sheath-like cleoptile from which the flag leaf emerges. The cleoptile also serves to protect the seedling as it pushes through the surface. In eudicots, this function is preformed by way of hypocotyl, gently pulling the seedling through the dirt. The root structure is also different as monocots generally lack the tap root of eudicots. Leaf structures and vascular tissues are also different.

So, not that any of that is important or really relates to the post, I just wanted to correct my previous mistake.

If powdery mildew is a problem for you, I'd find a resistant variety.

They use to use panty hose as the support product. They can be cut up and secured to your tresses

I would like to try Mrs.Amerson winter squash for this year's garden. Any comments on this variety for growing ,taste an keeping?

markwv
I did not care too much for the Mrs Amerson but I only grew it one year and it could do well in your area. I got my seed from Sand Hill. Does not keep as well as a maxima.

My favorite so far is Canada Crookneck for a moschata and Sibley for a maxima but maximas are harder to grow here in the midwest. I only got three last year before the SVB got them. The others that set did not mature.

Our other favorite is Dickenson, a Moschata that I believe Libby used for their pumpkin. That is what we use it for; pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread, etc. Seed from Sand Hill. There is also a hybrid called Buckskin but I only see it from NE Seed. I usually try one or two new varieties each year so might try Sunshine this year and maybe Bucksin, but we really like the Dickenson.

I am really getting spring fever as this has been a cold snowy winter. Monday will be -20 and more snow tomorrow. Lp prices have skyrocketed.

DKH2

Looks similar to sweat meat but that is a maxima and your pumpkin-acorn squash would be c pepo more than likely. I had a cross with my Sibley last year so must isolate or hand pollinate.

Thanks for your replies.
I read a lot of thing about oca. And Oca is have to small yield. Maybe mashua would be better, but it's hard to get them. Mainly in europe this root vegetables are rare.

Kristianhun - if you put 'crosnes' into the search box at the top of the page you will find several old threads about them. Putting in their alternative common name 'Chinese artichokes ' also yields some threads.

Magda is a great squash. Per Johnnys (I think) the supplier may be phasing it out. So this might be a good time to get seeds if you want to try it.

I have grown this variety twice. It is a very good summer variety. The taste is quite good. It is somewhat resistant to Squash Vine Borers and it produces fairly well for the size. I have a blog post about my experience below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rounde De Nice

Thank you Victoria.

I agree, at 6.95, zucchinis are almost cheaper per pound at the grocery store, lol. That is criminal!

Dear Vic,

I think that price is really high. 5-10 cents per seed for a small packet is acceptable. Some hybrid seed sometimes goes for a lot more, but what is the use if you can only grow the plant once? There are some good open-pollinated varieties still left out there.