23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
You need one foot of organic matter, or three inches of finished compost, just to get started. That works out to 1cy per 108 sqft. IMHO, burying or tilling raw organic matter is better long term, but you can do it both ways, laying down some compost where you will direct seed, and burying/laying down raw organic matter where you will plant vegetables that do well in compost piles (virtually all summer vegetables). I collect 30 leaf bags a year from curbside, just to maintain fertility, you should collect at least 100.
I use the lasagna method of layering brown (i.e old leaves run over with mower) and green (free grass clippings). You can also use straw ($8/bale around here - straw not hay which contains seeds), wood chips (some tree cutting services will dump at your house for free), shredded paper, kitchen waste as long as it's not meat, and whatever else. Check Craigslist for free manure. The important thing is she suggests a pile 24-30 inches tall (if I remember correctly) which will compost/shrink over winter. We even asked neighbors for grass clippings (as long as they don't use chemicals). My original beds are now level with the ground and are very nice soil. Take a look a lists of what you can compost to help you figure out what you can use as cheaply as possible. Good luck. BTW continue to add compost every year.
Yes I like those small bulbs -not for cooking obviously but to throw them in the salad.
Also if you let the main bulbs stay in the ground a little too long then you will get lots of these in amongst the main body (the same as in lettuces except that then it is an indication that the lettuce is starting to become bitter also any slugs have also have had longer to do their damage)
This post was edited by lucyfretwell on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 14:51
Ralph I can't say if it is too late in your part of zone 6 or not but it isn't here in my part. We just planted a mix of turnips and radish in several beds middle of the past week. Normally they will do well into mid to late January and we till them in then weather permitting.
Two of the other garden beds get planted with various deer fodder crops - winter peas, clover, chicory.etc. and all work well for green manures.
Dave
1/ that's right. 2 seeds in 2" pots. Then gently tease them apart and pot them up.
2/ they do get very big. And like a lot of water. Here it gets into the 100's and is quite dry mid season. I did use a peat based compost, and would water when I stuck my finger in the soil 1" and it was dry. And would water until it was draining from the bottom.
3/ transplant shock can be as little as the plant just seems to slow down growth to wilting disastrously. Don't worry about it too much, just keep them watered and wait, almost always they will pull through. And the younger the plant the better it will transplant.
I'm not trying to discourage on growing cukes in containers. I did get fruit, just not nearly as much as in ground cukes. And it was more effort. If I were to try it again I would try to keep the pot cooler by keeping it shaded, and maybe adding some mulch. Straw or leaf mold.
Good luck!
Never had any tomatillo problem. Actually all my tomatoes got zapped by LB but the tomatillo is there.
I can think of some ROOT problem. Now that the season over, just clean up around the root and check for any irregularity.
Do you have things like gophers around ?
Seysonn: BT for slugs???
I think not. BT controls CATERPILLARS only.
Kevin
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kevin .... As I said, I have not used it my self. I might have heard it wrong.
But I have my own mixture:
-- used coffee ground
-- pavers sand
-- saw dust ,
-- paRtially ground egg shell
- some broken slugo type bait.
You can sprinkle some sand first then the mixture. This way it will stay dryer better. With this mixture I can be generous. Since it is not costly.
AND IT WORKS JUST AS GOOD AS PLAIN SLUGO... THEY RUN BLEEDING TO DEATH.
Thanks to all for your great advice. At the garden site there's a very wide assortment of ideas being tried. Some don't have any fencing (although there's not too many of those), some use non-fencing (I've seen some with tin plates, some use natural fragrances, others use scarecrows, and still others use fishing line, oh and I even saw one fence made out of playing cards), most do have fencing from wooden to metal to rope with electrical also included. And that's just what comes to my immediate recollection. The site's management says fencing is highly recommened, but not required. The general word seems to be to get around the pests - plant more than you need and be ready to share.
Wolverine summed it up pretty good, I think.
Then, it depend how your plot is situated in the community. If it is somewhere in the middle, you are partly shielded. But if it is on the edge then you have to take rabbits seriously. For deers the bells and vessels, old CDs, etc might work but not for Mr. Vabbit...haha
Nancy- yes it is actually a fountain, it does not spray water but rather works like a see saw and when one side fills up with water it drops down and hits the bamboo under making a somewhat loud thump (depending on the size of course) it scares deer and most likely turkeys with sounds they are not used to hearing in your garden.
Frost finally coming tonight, so those gardening in points East probably don't have long to wait either. No complaints, it's been unseasonably (and pleasantly) warm, a 1-year-in-10 October.
If the killing frost comes when a pepper is just beginning to ripen, I pull the entire plant by the roots & hang it in the garage. The plant responds by pulling moisture from the smallest immature fruits, and attempting to ripen the largest. This is highly effective with hot peppers intended for drying, but also works moderately well with larger sweet peppers. Peppers ripened this way are not as sweet as those ripened naturally, but still better than green... and it beats losing them to the frost.
Curious that you mention serranos. I have an heirloom serrano-type ("Red Chile") that I pulled out today. It has ripened only enough pods for me to save seed, probably due to the partial shade it had received from adjacent pole beans. The ripe peppers, when dehydrated, make a great pepper powder, and there are enough peppers close to maturity that they should turn color quickly now that the plants have been hung.
This is a fascinating thread and I learned a lot. Thank you to all of you for your input. I hopefully have another two or three weeks till first frost, but our temperatures have turned unseasonably cool here for October. Many of my peppers are rotting on the vine before they fully ripen. I will put some Agribon around the plants tomorrow. The plants are still loaded and I was hoping to get one more picking before calling it quits.
Ceth ... you pointed out to an important issue.
So, in drip irrigation, closer spacing is needes in sandy soil or soil rich in compost and organic matter as they hav a good drainage property. But I thin the 6" mentioned by dmak124 should be fine., AS LONG AS the lines ar also spaced every 6" or so.
Hello Adam, With the compost and good drainage in your soil you might find that 45 minutes is too long and once a week is not enough. When starting out or as the seasons change, it is a good idea to check your soil after watering to see how deep and how spread out the watering is. I like to let the soil rest for 30 minutes after watering before checking. This allows the soil to adequately disperse the water, otherwise known as capillary action. Then before watering again, I repeat but this time I am look for dry soil. By doing this, it gives me a good idea about what is going on below the surface. Hope that helps.