24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

"I'm growing 127 Cossack Pineapple, 16 Cape Gooseberry and 16 Goldie plants this year."

My eyes glazed over after "127". Yikes!!! That will be a lot of bent over, off the ground harvesting... and you'll need to do it often. Chances are that you will need to control rodents somehow, even in my small planting I found many chewed, empty husks. They eat the ripest ones first, probably attracted by the smell.

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Slimy_Okra(2b)

Yes, I think I went a little overboard this year ;-). I had rodents in mind when I planted so many, since I know I'm going to lose some of the fruit. They even went after my beets and turnips and chewed a hole through the side of my tunnel to get in. Inside the tunnels, where I have 48 ground cherry plants, I'm going to set a lot of traps baited with PB and hope they find PB more attractive. The crows could do with a meaty snack, right? Outside, I'll just hope for the best - there are lots of hawks and feral cats on patrol.

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Bloomin_Onion(2/3)

I was wondering the question about the multiple photo thing myself, I couldn't figure it out so I just create a collage of the pics I have and post them. I have posted at the most a collage of 4 photos and it seems to work out ok since most computers these days can zoom-in on a picture.

On the transplanting, I can say that I'm pretty good at it even though I'm new. I've even successfully created new plants from clippings which was fun, and a bit of a science project too. I prep either the ground or a pot with soil on the bottom, then squeeze the container the plant came in so it loosens, then I carefully tip the plant upside down, the plant and soil, and roots drop out, place it quickly in the new pot or ground, and quickly cover it up and around with soil, give it a good water, and leave it out of full sun for a few days to recover. The plant has to process sunlight and draws nutrients from its roots to do so. If the roots are in shock, it will be stressed to process the light. Lots of my plants have gone through shock, but I can say that the only plant that died was a nearly fully-grown sunflower I accidentally yanked from the ground with the roots. Don't ask. lol

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ZachS. z5 Littleton, CO

The cucumbers look OK, I generally don't sweat the seed leaves, but I do keep an eye on them a little closer if I think they are fading before they are supposed to.

Colorado gardening is tough for many unique reasons (as is everywhere). The high altitude means our sunlight is far more intense then it is at sea level and our summers, though sometimes short, can be blazing hot. Denver is regularly ranked in the top 3 driest cities in the country. 70F for a week and then 1' of snow. 80 MPH winds (which in the summers heat feels like your standing in a blow dryer) just saps every lick of moisture out of EVERYTHING, including your plants. The climate is really just a b!@#$.

We do, however, tend to have fewer pest and disease issues, and the 40-50* drop in temperature between noon and midnight makes for mighty tasty produce, if you can make it to that point lol.

Don't be a stranger over at the Rocky Mountain forum either.

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davids10 z7a nv.

asparagus should be top dressed with a couple of inches of manure every year so building up the soil is probably fine. you might want to do the whole 5 in over 2 yrs. soil for asp really cant be too rich.

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howelbama(7 NJ)

I'm not 100%, but it looks like it could be a severe nutrient deficiency.

What are your watering and/or fertilizing habits?

What type of soil is it growing in?

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jean001a(Portland OR 7b)

In the 2nd image, the dry leaf edges indicate the plants ran short of water.

Which could have damaged roots, thus caused deficiency like symptoms in the leaves. It's rather like dominoes -- one thing leads to another.

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HotHabaneroLady(7a Central MD)

That quality question is a sticking point. I've been looking since last year. And I too found hoots of search hits, but it was kind of a wasteland. Many were no longer active. Others just junk, etc. It seems like surely there should be some good ones out there!

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

As with so many things in life, it is often difficult to find any correlation between quality information and personal opinion. :)

As with YouTube gardening videos, each reader has to evaluate the credentials of the blog author (if any ever provided) and determine if any personal agendas are coloring the information provided. Then you still have to take it all with several grains of salt.

Dave

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loribee2(CA 9)

LOL Deeby. Your comment reminds me of the California cheese commercial (happy cows make better cheese) with the earthquake. Typical Californians making fun of our natural disasters.

Here is a link that might be useful: Happy Cows Earthquake Commerical

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carol6ma_7ari(zones 6 & 7a)

You were right, loribee2; I checked with my son (in Berkeley) and he says it's been about 10 years since anyone felt a bump or rattle.

Here's the 2014 list of hurricane names, though, just in case you want to follow them from your west coast perch, the way I follow earthquake tremors (online, on a weather site) from the east coast:
Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gonzalo
Hanna
Isaias
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paulette
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred

Carol (not a hurricane)

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loribee2(CA 9)

Zucchini are the only plants in my garden I don't fertilize after planting, mostly because I don't want to encourage even more zucchini, LOL

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planatus(6)

Once the fruits are setting I stay out of the vines, neither weeding nor feeding. I like buttercups, too, but they can run 15 feet or more. You can nip off the ends of the vines if they threaten to take over city hall.

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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

You've got Powdery Mildew. The plant int the first photo probably will not survive.

However you can try to save Plant #2. If you start treating it right away.

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jean001a(Portland OR 7b)

Please show us the critters & the damage.

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mdy113

I too have seen no females all season! been like 3-4 weeks and all male flowers every few days, until this past weekend when i saw ONE female starting to grow ( hopefully will flower soon). i really hope my zucchini plant doesnt produce only 1 fruit all summer lol

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2ajsmama

I've got the opposite - all females, haven't seen a male yet. Thinking of asking my neighbors if one of their plants can make a pollen donation ;-)

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Slimy_Okra(2b)

Mine are golf-ball sized at best. They emerged only in late May and early June, thanks to an extremely cold spring and a very late thaw. A full ground thaw occurred at my place only in late May and in some other people's farms it wasn't until June.

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ltilton

My ground was frozen too. This may be one good argument for bins, to get an earlier start than the frozen soil allows.

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ju1234((8 Dallas TX))

Egg plant seeds don't digest and act as laxative. If that's what you want, wait till it "give" feel otherwise pick when not.

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

As least for purple asian eggplants, if you wait until they're full sized, they'll be soft but have noticeable seeds. If you're going to broil them or stir fry them, I'm not quite sure why you'd want them to be soft. They'll soften up nicely just by being cooked.

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What is this?Fuzzy melon thing growing in my garden?
Posted by Spiritlove
3 Comments
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farmerdill

Some type of Cucumis melo. Probably a cantaloupe.

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Spiritlove

Bloomin_Onion
Thanks for your help!
And yes it was like winning the seed lotto or alien growing.

Farmerdill, I didn't plant a cantaloupe but I'll take it!!
Thanks.

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planatus(6)

Some varieties are much worse than others about not knowing where to put their peppers.

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loribee2(CA 9)

Yes, I grow both Ace and Lipstick. The Lipstick never poses a problem, though admittedly, they are smaller sweet peppers and grow pointy (like lipstick) so I think they slide out from the "Y" as they grow.

The Ace, I've learned, definitely can't be trusted to grow unattended. Most likely because of their shape, they are constantly wedging themselves in the crux of branches.

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n2xjk

A picture would help. There are a zillion potential corn diseases. If the leaves looked freckled before turning brown, it could be Stewart's Wilt.

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lazy_gardens

I water them every 2 days

How MUCH every 2 days? Is the soil moist 6" and more down?

Dig down and see if it's a simple case of underwatering.

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