24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

Cantaloupes have 4 or 5 main vines. Then after the males blossoms start flowering along the main vine, little short side vines appear. The female blossoms are on the side shoots.

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

That's interesting. I'll try to keep things a little more organized next year and look for that. It really is a PIA to have to examine every flower in detail to have any success with hand pollination. Cantaloupe flowers are small, and the m/f distinction is subtle.

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Marianne W (zone 10A)

If you look closely in your 2nd picture you can see how the big, dying leaf is blocking the sunlight from a set of smaller new growth--probably why the plant is dropping some leaves.

The droopyness can be from watering problems. It is ok for eggplants to go a bit between waterings. Are you watering it everyday and it isn't +100 out everyday? You might be watering too much. Let them go a day or two between waterings to see if that helps. They shouldn't need quite as much/often water as tomatoes and there's a decent chance that the roots are clogging up the pot's drain hole preventing the water from properly draining now that they're so big (I assume your pot has a drain). A mature eggplant's root ball will easily fill a 5 gallon pot.

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tomtuxman(6bNY)

Sounds like an awful lot of fertilizers unless in very weak doses.

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Plant foodShould I feed plants with sugar?
Posted by Smugung Smungung(Zone 6)
9 Comments
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purslanegarden(Zone 8)

The plants won't use that sugar the way that you think, but the microbes and bacteria will. That in turn, makes the soil better, which may result in a better plant.

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

Wish it were that simple. If it was, I'll repeat, sugar would be a standard ingredient in fertilizer. It is fantastically cheap, so if it worked at all, fertilizer manufacturers wouldn't hesitate to use it, and mark it up accordingly. It isn't a standard ingredient, for good reason. It has been studied, and it doesn't work.

http://www.petrik.com/PUBLIC/library/misc/sugar.htm

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jensubzero1(z9 CA)

With any of these diseases, is it safe to save the tomatoes to ripen and eat?

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Peter (6b SE NY)

They won't affect people, if that's what you mean, but obviously don't eat any rotted fruit (though you some types of rot you can cut off.)

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hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

We ripen them every year at the end of the season, when we want to clean out the veggie garden but there are a bunch of green tomatoes left. Spread them out on sheets of clean newspaper in a cool dry place, not touching. Check and remove any that are going bad. They will all ripen. They won't be as good as vine ripe, but they will still be way, way, way better than any tomato you can buy at the store.

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lkzz(7b)

Green Tomato Hot Dog Relish

Flavorful green tomato relish is the perfect relish for hot dogs and hamburgers, or stir some into your dressing for pasta or potato salad.

Ingredients:

•8 cups finely chopped (processed or ground) cored green tomatoes

•2 cups finely chopped (processed or ground) peeled onions

•4 bell peppers, part red, finely chopped (processed or ground)

•1/3 cup pickling salt

•2 tablespoons mixed pickling spices

•1/2 teaspoon celery seed

•1 clove garlic, chopped

•2 1/4 cups white vinegar

•1 2/3 cups packed light brown sugar

Preparation:

Combine the chopped vegetables and salt in a large stainless steel pan. Cover and let stand in a cool place (about 65° tF to 70° F) for 10 to 12 hours, or overnight.

Pour the vegetables in a colander over the sink and let drain. Rinse with cool water and use your hands to squeeze out any excess liquids.

Tie the pickling spices and celery seeds in a cheesecloth spice bag.

In a large stainless steel or enamel-lined pan, combine the vinegar, the spice bag, chopped garlic, and the vinegar. Put the vinegar mixture over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add the drained green tomato mixture and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and boil gently, stirring often, for 1 hour.

While the mixture is cooking, prepare the work area, canner, jars, and lids. See Preparing Jars for Canning and Boiling Water Processing.

Fill hot, prepared jars and remove any air bubbles with a small plastic spatula, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Clean jar rims and fit with lids and rings. Process in a covered boiling-water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove the cover, and let jars stand in the hot water for 5 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

Makes about 7 half-pint jars of relish.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/picklesrelishes/r/r90712a.htm

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bossyvossy(TX 9a)

dan, that was useful, thanks.

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tishtoshnm Zone 6/NM

Personally, chimayo is my favorite. Here in New Mexico, at this time of the year the chile is labeled as hot, medium, or mild. You can buy it a 20 lb sack or larger. Most places, roasting is free (and the smell of chile roasting is indicative of fall). Even Wal-Mart roasts chile in my town. I would say that heat is like a jalapeno in that you do not always know what you are going to get. Some jalapenos have no heat when you buy them and that often depends on weather conditions. Here it is recommended that you sample the chile before buying the bag because once roasted, there are no refunds (somehow I have not been able to do that, but I a not a fire eater so I am not likely to complain that the chile is not hot enough). For those who are inclined, it is a good idea to ask if the chile is at least grown in the U.S. as with many other crops, cheaper chile is brought in from Mexico and it is an important industry. Happy eating.

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garockgrower(7b/8a)

Possibly Pickleworms. That's what happens to my summer squash late in the season. This was my first year trying Delicata squash and they got them also. I bag and dispose all affected squash, so no idea if there is anything left that is edible.

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Abid Raza

sorry what do you mean by grown under cover and how to pollinate them. thanks

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farmerdill

The ones typically marketed are green house grown. They can also be grown in high tunnels. This prevents pollinating insects from getting to them. If grown in the open, they will probably be pollinated by insects just like a regular cucumber. Some folks resort to hand pollinating cucumbers, but usually there are enogh pollinating insects around to do the job when the plant is in the open.

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

Is it safe to eat the one that grew?

Well since you say it "tastes good" you have already eaten at least some of it so what is the point of posting your question about safety after already eating it?

Why would a pepper plant ever produce only one pepper is the more important question. The answer to that is the poor growing conditions the gardener provided.

Dave

<Spelling doesnt matter>

But it is rude and disrespectful to the reader to not even make a minimal effort.

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krissy Canto

Nobody has to answer the question. This isnt grammer class. Its disrespectful to correct somones spelling.

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ocdigger

Try Blue Lake. They keep producing and are tasty even when picked a bit large.

Keski

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naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan(5B SW Michigan)

Many beans will be dry inside if they start to grow and then the soil gets dry or/and the weather gets hot. It is not because of the variety you are growing, although some varieties take heat better than others. Rattlesnake is one variety that does okay with higher temps if soil moisture is adequate.

If it gets hot before bean pods begin to grow the flowers will drop and no pods will form. No dry insides, but no beans at all til things cool down some.

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nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

Also, you need to plant corn in "blocks" so they pollinate each other. The smallest I've done is about a 4x8'. What I don't like is that all the corn gets ripe at once and there are only the 2 of us! I have read some stuff about freezing corn on the Harvest forum.

I prefer stealing corn from my neighbor! ;) Nancy

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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

Arti, here are some pictures of what garden sweet corn is supposed to look like, just for your future reference.

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

Yeah, it's the heat. The radish is bolting.

Rodney

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garf_gw

I pulled this thing. TOO STRONG.

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Lydia Monroe: Landscape Design and Consulting

also...where rabbits are getting in under the net...you can either use large ground staples or run the metal stakes on the outside of the beds into the ground and then net them.

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tiger_paw73

Re: cyrus_gardener 8' s comment

When you mentioned the 1"x1" plastic mesh being "both DEAR and rabbit proof . ." Does that mean it will keep your wife out too? . . . OR IN? . . . hmmmmmmm

And the BEST way I found to keep ANYTHING (including my dogs) IN or OUT, is to get chicken wire about 2' tall, and fold it lengthwise right along the center horizontal wire, and put it at the bottom of your regular fence (I have chain link), with half going up against the existing fence, and the lower half flat on the ground. I dug down about 3" all along my fence, and had the lower half of the chicken wire on the ground, and then filled in the dirt upon the chicken wire, after one or two tries my Lab gave up and has NEVER again tried to dig her way out, so I know nothing can get IN!

Susan in TX

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RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)

Then I do not know what this is. I have the Asian green cuke in the same bed and they look different. Green and smaller.

Here is another picture.

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

Seeds bought off ebay can be all sorts of things according to the many posts over on the Rate & Review Vendors forum. The odds of getting mis-labeled and cross-pollinated seeds is substantially higher than when buying from reputable vendors.

Dave

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