23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
They are definitely easier to clean than if I had hilled them.
Just to be clear, I look back at the picture and though the whites are high on the leek, the flash makes it seem more than it is. I'll try to get some better pictures soon.
-Mark
I grow Bleu de Solaise leeks, a late, enormous leek. I start them in mid Feb in a deep pot, set the pot outside as long as the temp is above freezing (bringing them in at night) and set them in the garden some time in April when I'm sure night time temps won't get too cold. (If you have too many very cold nights, the leeks think they've been through a mediterranean winter and they bolt).
When I set them out, I set them deep, but no deeper than the lowest leaf. As they grow I pack hay around them--hay keeps them clean. Now, as I harvest, they have very long and very thick white portions that have no dirt in them at all.
Sorry, no pictures. I'm a good gardener, but I'm technologically challenged.
Hey Glib, I think you were the one who let me know they needed a lot of water to be right. Thanks!I like them a lot and so does my husband so we're both very glad to be able to enjoy some of those bountiful leaves. I believe, as members of the thistle family they are helpful to the liver. Seems to me they have a bit of an effect on the old blood sugar as well.
I would look at it this way:
What is the diameter of an onion ? 3 inches " then i will grasually thin them so they are about 3" apat.
What is rh e diameter of a carrot? ONE inch : Then thin them one inch apart.
I will let the spinach grow in clumps. Thou you can tin and eat them as thin them. Same goes for things like parsley, coriander, chive. Let them clumpup. That is ok.
SNIPE them with your finger nails. Or just pull after watering.
'Stomping'......using your size 11s to firm the ground where you will plant the brassicas.
Seems they don't like a loose root area and will not grow firm heads or sprouts, prevents plants from falling over.
I do know, since I remembered this my brassicas have improved tremendously.
Give it a try, nothing to lose.
Reviving this thread to do a follow up post........
Still no heads on my cauliflower (Snowball), but some of my broccoli (Pacman) is maturing........ Last fall & this spring's plantings produced main broccoli heads the size of golf balls & the cauliflower produced zip! Can't imagine what could be different.... Oh well, I'll take whatever mother nature gives!
Here's a head from this fall's Pacman.........
If you ate any of this corn, was it still sweet? If it was mostly starchy, perhaps what happened is this field of corn was too close to an incompatible type like popcorn or flint that pollinated at the same time. The sweetness genes are recessive and pollination with any unsweet type wipes out the sweet flavor. If it crossed with something like popcorn, might explain the strange kernels.
Yes you can and many do according to the past discussions over on the Organic Gardening forum. The point often made is that the better the quality of the compost, the more diverse its ingredients, the higher the quality of the tea.
Dave
Make tea for what kind of plants? I would say it is ok for small seedlings.
If you read the ANALYSIS on the bag (if there is one), you will see that bagged composts are very pour on NPK. They are just good soil amenders. So, soaking them in water (further diluting) and giving it to plants is not going to accomplish much. If I wanted to do such a thing, I would use MANUREs that there is some juice to it.
JMO.
In part it is normal for the older bottom leaves to die and fall off. But is usually with much older plants than these appear to be.
Over-watering/overly wet soil is the most common cause of yellowing such as in your picture.
Excess N may cause a similar condition when very high N fertilizers are used but your fertilizer is not high N. Plus with excess N the younger leaves would be very dark green - yours are not - and here would be green veins in the yellow leaves - yours are not.
Too little N would show up most in the new leaves as yellowing.
So consider it a possible over-water issue. Excess rain? How often are you watering?
Dave
They were staying kind of wet with the mulch on there and that's another reason I took the mulch off. I was worried about them staying too wet and not getting enough oxygen.
When the mulch was still there, I was watering maybe 2x a week. I took the mulch off about 2 weeks ago and the combination of that and us finally getting cooler/drier air here in central FL, I've been watering probably every other day when needed (if i stuck my finger in and felt dry).
Very possible they were staying too wet with the mulch but I've been careful not to overwater them since taking the mulch off.
If the seeds are germinating, then the problem can't be attributed to the seeds. Peppers take longer to germinate and they grow slower than most other vegetable seedlings but they don't take this long (once sprouted). The problems have to be environmental.
Lighting. If the CFL's you're using are the same that I have in my house, then I don't think they are strong enough/bright enough to grow decent seedlings. Just my opinion. And when growing under lights, you want the light as close as possible to the leaves without burning them. I use a 4-foot flourenscent shop light (it has two bulbs) to start seeds in Spring and the leaves can actually touch the bulbs and they won't burn (disclaimer: it's not good to let them touch it). Moving the bulbs away from the plants results in weak, leggy plants.
Growing media. What type of potting soil are you using? And what are the main ingredients in it? From the picture it looks heavy. And from another of your posts, the fact that it gets crusty on top seems like it has a lot of peat in it.
Pots. What size pots are you using? I seem to recall reading that you said they were in 4 inch pots. Anyway, a pot doesn't need to be that big when starting seeds. When a larger pot than required is watered, the potting soil stays wet longer than a smaller size pot. Especially is the plant doesn't have a good root system, which is what plants that have just sprouted don't have, because the plant can't utilize all that extra water quick enough. The fact that the pot stays wet longer is detrimental to a seedling roots because the roots won't grow well in wet soil (not moist, wet). And a plant without good roots won't grow well. The way around this is to use smaller pots, use a lighter potting soil, and/or use a pot that has a large surface area which allows excess water to evaporate quicker (flats, for example).
Rodney
Thanks Rodney for your reply. Seems to cover all aspects where I should be looking.
Btw, the same way (same CFL, same pot size, same medium) I got the tomato and the cucumber germinated and now they are outside in their own individual large containers. I believe the CFL should not hopefully be a problem. As for the pot size, since I think that cucumbers and tomato germinate fast and grow quickly the medium had not got very hard and compacted by then and therefore it did not hinder their growth. The pepper are a bit late to germinate and by that time the soil may have become a bit uneasy for them. So the pot size along with the medium could be a reason for this sluggish (or no) growth. I can get a flatter surface for germination, but my real problem is the seed starting mix. I cannot find any over here. The only thing available is potting soil - high in peat. How should I overcome this problem? I have perlite separately and fine sand along with the regular high peat based potting soil? Can I prepare one with what I have available? Will just fine sand be ok for germination?
Perhaps I may have even sown them a bit deep? How deep the seeds of pepper should be planted?
Thanks for your responses. Our average first frost date is October 15...We have had one night go down to 31 so far. At least the plants look good..Just like the picture you posted, farmerdill. I grew fall broccoli one year and it was the best I ever tasted. Finally tried it again and I thought it would be easy...!
PS. Black rot is a tropical disease. It originated in West Africa. It loses fights with the local temperate microfauna (hence the suggestion of more OM), but it can survive in bits of brassica (stems for example) that are in the garden and have not composted yet. Just eat all you can, then clean it well in February or whenever you are ready, then add something fast composting, like good grass clippings and shredded leaves well mixed together. I prefer shredded leaves and shredded kitchen scraps, or semi-fresh manure, but I see you are far neater than I am.
As I understand, the BR is just a plant disease. You can consume the vegetable. Don' throw them away. Just trim off the affected leaves.