23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thanks Farmerdill, Rhizi 1, Digdirt, Pnbrown and Cleverley

I had no idea about some of those things. I guess that is why I never see seeds for sweet potatoes!

My sweet potatoes produced a few flowers for the very first time here in central OH - it was so hot last year I expect they thought they were in NC or somewhere! LOL Of course, they are the same family (Convolvulaceae) as morning glories, and that is just what the flowers looked like.
Glad I saw this post (en route to searching for something else!)... reminds me I am late starting my slips!

Erica, I lived & gardened in San Diego & the Bay area for 16 years... so noting your location, there are quite a few additional things I could suggest. It all depends, I suppose, on how much time, space, and water you have available.

- C. pubescens peppers (such as Manzano and Rocoto) are long-season peppers which are best grown as perennials. They will form small bushes. You might have to cover them & maybe place a heat source under the cover if a frost or freeze is expected.
- I think someone might have suggested Pepino (Solanum muricatum), but if not you might want to look into it. Another perennial, frost sensitive plant.
- Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) a long-season bean grown not only for its 4-sided pods, but for its edible leaves & tubers.
- Hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab) and Sword bean (Canavalia gladiata) are rampant climbing beans. Both can be either edible or toxic, depending upon what part is eaten when... but they are both spectacular plants which are fragrant in bloom.
- Chayote squash (Sechium edule) are rampantly climbing perennial squash. These are the pear-shaped squash sold mostly in Asian markets. These vines need a lot of space & a large, strong trellis; but given that, can produce as much as 100 squashes per vine in their second year. This was easily the most interesting & rewarding plant I grew in California.
- Malabar gourd (a.k.a. Chilcayote, Figleaf Gourd) is another perennial squash that requires a huge growing area. I never had a chance to grow it in SoCal, but when I grew it here, the vines ran 20 feet even in my short summers. Like many tropical vegetables, it requires short days to bloom, so I was only able to harvest the immature squash; but you should be able to get them to mature. The immature squash are also good, look up recipes by their Chinese name of Shark Fin Melon (there is a good thread about them on the GW Asian Vegetable forum).
- Yacon (Polymnia sonchifolia) is a sunflower relative that forms edible tubers. These are nothing like their relatives the Jerusalem artichokes; the tubers are roughly the size & shape of small sweet potatoes, and very sweet. Like many Andean root crops, they require short days to stimulate tuber production, but that is obviously not a problem in the warmer zones of California.

If you have trouble locating any of these, contact me... but most should have California sources.

Zeedman, thanks for the additional information. All of these things that you are suggesting sound marvelous (although I might not have room for a 20 foot vine). I am trying a manzano pepper this year. I didn't even know that black-seeded peppers existed until a couple months ago. Your mention of the rocoto is the first I've heard of that one though. I have heard of winged beans, but I was not aware that the leaves and tubers of the plant were also edible. That makes it all the more desirable. The Yacon is another thing that I've recently become aware of. That is actually something that went on my seed/plant exchange want list, shortly after I heard of it. Apparently that is another one with edible roots, as well as leaves. It is supposedly quite healthy.

I did send you an email after your first posting. I'd love to be able to do a seed trade with you, if I happen to have anything you might be interested in.

Again, thank you for all the great information. It is much appreciated.

Ugggggh! mandolls!! My older sister lived in WI (Madison/Beaver Dam) for 15 years & never adapted to WI winters! Kansas winters can be brutal, but we can't compete with WI!

I've got my brassicas under low tunnels & we're supposed to be down to 20F tonight...... Agribon protects to 26-27F, so I may be replanting!

The good thing is that all of those veggies except the potatoes are quite tolerant of mildly alkaline soil.
Properly hardened off, your arugula, radishes and spinach will shrug off 20 F no problem. Damage won't start showing up until it gets below about 15 degrees. Don't be alarmed if the cotyledon leaves get burned by a freeze - this is normal.

Pea plants are good down to about 20 degrees.

Lettuce doesn't like it if it gets below the high 20s F, so I would focus on protecting that.

Edit: just reread your post and realized you sowed them today, so it doesn't really matter.

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sun, Mar 16, 14 at 21:29

delete - I was attempting humor. Sorry.

This post was edited by albert_135 on Sat, Mar 15, 14 at 15:53

Don't blame the gnomes! It was the gremlins!
Take advantage of your bum foot and hire someone to prep your garden this year! Then all you have to do is water and pick! Nancy

Don't know whether this thread has been closed or not... but since this thread no longer shows up on search results, I am bumping it to keep it from dropping off the radar. Please use the new thread, Unusual/Odd Veggies, for posts on this topic.

Almost lost this thread, it no longer came up in search results... but I had saved it in my clippings. Bumping to keep it in the active archive. Again, please do not post on this thread, but use the current "What's Your Favorite Unusual Vegetable" thread.

Kale is starting, spinach just a few since seeding on Tuesday (too warm at 67 degrees? About to move everything to basement). Lettuce germinated in 3 days and it's crowded - I tried for 5 seeds per cell since seed was packed for 2012, I bought it end of year to use 2013. But some cells have a dozen seedlings in them!

When to thin (1-2" like outside)? Can these be separated and when? Starting peppers today.

Call me crazy but I thin that little tiny stuff with a cuticle scissor. Just snip the ones you don't want. I figure the sooner I get the extras out the better the others will do.

Fungus gnats could have been my issue in the past with the plant I brought to the office that had been outdoors. I've not really had issues with seed starting and bugs before now but since I was starting seeds in the office I didn't want this to be the first time.

So I have a related question, when you guys start peppers or tomatoes at how many days or at what stage of their growth do you move them to pots? I think in the past I've kept them in the tray weeks too long.

I don't do my peppers/toms in trays... I use the paper towel/baggy method(peppers) or straight into containers from the get go. But, generally you would want to do it right away so you can get them under lights right away.

Kevin

I would plant tillage radishes right away, and forget about them until 2015. The twins will be demanding.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I decided to go with red clover, ? with oats as a nurse crop? (that would suppress weeds better?)

How soon can we plant it? (there's currently 2 feet of snow on the ground, so it won't be very soon but can it be planted once the ground thaws in April? or does it need to wait until after the last frost (traditionally Memorial Day around here)?

Thanks!

What Dave said. Another thing though. Whether you use water, insecticidal soap, neem oil, or something else; you have to stay diligent. Instead of the recommended weekly treatments on the bottle for heavy infestations, try every 3-4 days for the 1st couple weeks until you can bring down the populations. Aphids reproduce at very rapid rates, so really attacking them is key, IMO. You could also release some ladybugs or lacewing larvae to clean up the guys. If you do, no pesticides.

Good luck

Kevin

Ladybugs are really a good control if you have them. They go to bed around Oct. 15 here, and all of a sudden pristine brassica plants get populated with these.