23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Ralph ... I think all tree roots and leaves/needles acidify soil, not just pine. I have used pine straw as mulch and never have had a problem. The advantage of pine straw it that it don't get wet and mushy, as opposed to leaves and wheat straw. Also, they make a good soil amendment, IF you don't have serious LOW pH problem.
Like you said, I also do think that a soil test is necessary at this point. Then if soil was acidic (pH less than 6. 6.8 being ideal) it can be corrected to some extent by adding lime, tilling it in and letting it work in during winter months.
But it is up to Kelby to decide what to do or not to do. To establish a garden one has to make some investment in time, efforts and money. I said INVESTMENT not EXPENSE. expense goes but investment has return.
Kelby: you've gotten a lot of good advice. I just want to add that using leaves for compost or adding to the garden will work much better if the leaves are shredded. You can use a lawn mower to do this as suggested. I have been using a leaf blower that has a reverse setting so it acts like a vacuum and shreds them while picking them up. This has been a wonderful experience. Huge amounts of leaves are turned into manageable amounts of ground cover with a small amount of effort. I got my leaf blower for $60 from a hardware store. If you don't shred the leaves, they can become a matted mess and take more than a year to breakdown in your garden.
Hi Raistlyn, yes you can try it without the urine, and there is another recipe I've read that recommends using horticultural castor oil (not sure what that is) and about a spoonful of dish detergent as a surfactant, I would guess.
I have used CVS brand castor oil, and "Homehealth" brand and had success with both. I don't know if "horticultural" castor oil would work better or not.
The voles were wreaking carnage in my front gardens 2 years ago, I lost many many bulbs and perennials. I was despondent when my seed-grown native Hyacinth were disappearing day by day, and appalled to watch 1/2 of an old established Buddleja davidii come loose at the roots and blow across the front yard like a tumbleweed. I was desperate!
This castor oil solution saved my last 2 remaining Camassia scilloides bulbs and everything else for that matter. The mixture lasts a long time and it seems you need to reapply about ever 2-3 months. It does not appear to cause any ill effects to the plants. Btw, not sure exactly what the urine does in this mixture, but in general diluted urine makes an excellent nitrogen rich fertilizer for plants.
I scrounged up that pic of the parsley and a few other pics of vole damage from 2011.
Nothing left of these parsley roots.
Hosta eaten by voles -
These are the remnants of 2 very large Baptisia 'Twilight Prairie Blues'. Fortunately, they are recovering!
This post was edited by terrene on Mon, Oct 28, 13 at 18:12
Variety, some weather interaction, but overall, just the wrong varieties.
There is no problem growing sh2 varieties IF you start the seed in trays at constant warm temps. The plants are pretty much all somewhat tolerant of cold weather, but seed in the cold cold ground are not.
Give one of the synergistics a try. Some of them are excellent.
DarJones
I plant in the 9pack seedling flats around March 20, transplant to 2-3" cells in early April and plant in the ground through clear plastic around tax day, April 15.
Early Sunglow grown this way produces in mid June in the Washington DC area. It's a good first corn while waiting for main crop varieties to crop in early July. I've gotten it as early as June 6(2012) and as late as June 27(2003).
with this method. I plant successive crops and try to have corn until mid October here. After the first crop I only grow full season varieties such as Silver Queen, Kandy Korn, and Delectable. Their quality is just.. better and
in our hot summers growing time is not a problem.
Corn needs sun to develop good flavor. Cloudy hot muggy weather produces the worst ears. Mild (80 day 60 night) produces the best flavor
and highest yields though hotter than that results in a faster but smaller crop.
This is a condition known as brown bead. Multiple factors can cause it, but often associated with stunted growth. Some varieties are much more susceptible than others. http://growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu/growingsmallfarms-broccoliproblem06/
Here is a link that might be useful: Brown Bead
Yes! That looks just like it, thank you! Since stunted growth was not a problem, and high temperatures were listed as another associated factor, I'll figure it was that heat we got just before the rain. I get great satisfaction knowing what that is.
Now as I see in this thread, there are two opposing views - well not so very opposing - but still some difference of opinion:
1/ You opinion is that the intensity does not matter as long as the temps are under control. Higher intensity may actually be a good thing. UV is not a problem in low areas
2/ The other opinion is that higher intensity sunlight is actually not of any major use because of the concept of light saturation. Generally (and exceptions may exist) higher light intensity brings with it higher temperatures and therefore shading to reduce light intensity (and therefore temperatures) is not detrimental to the plant growth as the shade cover is only reducing the light intensity which is above saturation point (and therefore of not much use anyways).
Do you think I have summarized the two views properly?
I think these two views are pretty consistent.
Though as I said, it's simplistic to use a light meter to determine whether the lighting is above or below the saturation point. In all of my plants, there are few leaves that are both face-on to the sun and unshadowed by other leaves. In full sunlight, I doubt if the rest of the leaves are saturated with sunlight. So if you're going to shadow the plant to keep those few well-exposed leaves at the sunlight saturation level, all the other leaves are going to be WAY below the saturation level.
That being the case, just put the light meter away, and look at how stressed the plants are. If you think they might be stressed because of overheating, try some shading. But if you're shading when they aren't heat stressed, you're probably losing out.
This isn't about conserving sunlight. If a plant gets more than it needs, as long as it isn't being stressed, so what?
Cotton seed oil is just more saturated. Sunflower seeds oil should be close enough. They are originally solid.
The oil itself and the soap do not destroy the spores. They just create a film/layer that spores cannot get in. It is the same idea with milk and water. So, IMO, low fat milk is better that skim, because of the oil's film and sealing effect.
Neem Oil, I think,, does the same when it comes to PM. But it also repels some insects. Again,, I don;t think it kills anything .
Thanks for the link, danzeb. Checked it out and at the bottom of the page, 3 veg oils are mentioned: cottonseed, soy and canola. It looks as though cottonseed is better at controlling insect pests than the other 2.
If I can't find cottonseed oil for sale here, I think I will try the canola and will post the results. Cheers.
Hi there, You say that it is your radishes turning yellow, I had the same problem a mini crop of cherry tomatoes, i Tried to solve the problem by taking the plants out with all the soil still around the roots and added more potting soil with topsoil, sometimes i have found that the compost and the potting soil is too strong for the seedlings too handle ( to acidic) or even just not enough nutrition. But i managed to save the plants, well most of them at least, some of them were too far gone, and what i would do is also too secure the roots a bit more, once sprouted i would gently compact the soil around the base too better absorption of water and minerals. And also I would try a small shade net as well from say 9 in the morning till about 1500, then remove so it still gets sun but doesn't burn to a crisp or just get too much sun. Maybe you've tried everything i mentioned but everything has worked for me in the past. So goodluck, hope you have success with this.
If your in clay I would suggest going up as opposed to tilling deeper.
Best thing, ADD ORGANIC MATTER!!!
Whatever you have that will break down and be ready for spring can be added, assuming it will not throw off your ph. I would stay away from the branches unless they are smaller than about 1/2" dia, otherwise they could take too long to break down.
Normally I add leaves, manure, and ash -till that in about 6" deep then add a layer of leaves / mulch on top. In the spring I till that top layer in and plant.
Good luck
If I were to do it , I would take all the top good portion out. (pile it on the side)Then dig inside the box , a good shovel depth. Then add compost, About 6 to 8 bags. and mix everything real good. Then return whatever you took out. Add about another 4 to 6 bags of compost/manur and mix it all together. Clay when amended with organic matter is good.
If you do this. you will have more than enough depth for just about any vegetables.
In general, you need a minimum of 10 to 12 inches of good mixture.
With a 4'x4' it should not be very hard to do.
Interesting. You have chosen the perfect variety to work with, because although Merit was bred by Asgrow and released in 1961, it is now owned by Monsanto. A re-selected strain will take a few years, but if you start growing a few plants just for seed and select for top characteristics, you can do it. Merit is a Golden Bantam type, most likely hybridized for earliness and rust resistance. Several seed companies sell improved strains of Golden Bantam, so you could even do your own crossing by interplanting the two varieties. Good luck!
As stated already, uniformity is important to many growers. I have planted an op yellow meal corn that has some stalks pollinating 2 or 3 weeks before the last ones. I had a very nice acorn squash volunteer that produced nice ones the next year, but since then things have deteriated into orange ones and long bullet shaped ones.
PN & Fusion, thanks for steering me clear of Beauregards as I'd much rather have good tasting really sweet potatoes. Beauregards are the mainstay at nurseries around here in Spring, they must be like hybrid tomatoes - look great, easy growing, but taste bland?
Wayne, thanks for the tip on suppliers too. I'll also continue to scan the produce sections of stores here while the harvest iron is hot. Of the 2 I've already bought the Jewel Sweets are sweeter than the Red Garnets. I had never heard of either one till seeing them at the market. But then again sweetness has a lot to do with growing conditions and soil types.
I had a feeling you were in Australia. :) When you say 25-30 degrees, I assume you mean Celsius, if so then that would be 77-80*F. Those temps are fine to plant watermelons outside. Just as long as the lows don't drop below 10*C. Soil temp also plays a factor but I assume the soil is sufficiently warmed. So plant them outside if you want. Just harden your seedlings off before planting.
As for starting plants inside with lights, the length of time seems okay (keep it consistent!) but the light needs to be directly above the leaves of the plants. As close as possible without burning the leaves. A fan blowing gently on the seedlings also helps to make them stockier and less leggy.
And if I were you, I'd do a search here about using peat pots for starting seeds. In theory they sound like a good idea (you plant the whole pot and don't have to disturb the plants' roots) but in practice they don't seem to be. Lots of people have had problems with them. The main issues are that they dry out too fast when starting seeds. They restrict the plants roots when planted whole in the garden because they don't compost quickly enough. And if the rim of the pots aren't completely buried below ground then the peat wicks away the moisture from the roots and dries them out. So cut or tear away the peat pot before planting.
Rodney
Technically, plants do produce cholesterol...but practically, it's a rather insignificant amount when it comes to human consumption and humans can't uptake them efficiently.
Long story short...technically, yes...realistically to human consumption and intake, too insignificant to even count it as a source.
Plant cholesterol is rather ignorable compared to the good they do, especially the role of some other plant compounds in blocking uptake or otherwise helping the body pass other "bad" cholesterol from meat sources. Just a fyi...
I wouldn't grow food in treated lumber, especially old lumber which may have been treated with arsenic compounds. It would leach poisons into your food. Stick to ornamentals or containers placed into the hayrack.
You've got the artistic idea. That is number one.
I would make a step to get on the wagon. Then have a 2ft walkway length wise in the center.Now you will have a "U" shaped garden on the wagon. That way you will have UP TO about 80 sqr-ft garden, if fully packed.
Then you pack both sides with rectangular containers, similar to plastic storage boxes. (of course you have to drill holes at the bottom)
This way you can dedicated them to differen things. Diffrent thing require different waterig an fertilizing need. This, IMO, is better than just filling the whole wagon as a single bed/container.
Of course, you will have to spend some extra money on those containers but it will worth it.
This post was edited by seysonn on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 0:21