23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I don't put the roots in water. I wait for them to sprout "dry" in a fairly warm place (for me, it's in the fruit bowl in the kitchen). Then when the sprouts get big enough (about 3-4 inches long), I put the sprouts in water and they root very quickly. I've tried putting the whole root in water and it just never worked for me. Good luck!
-Anne
Chitting or Greening:
When potatoes sprout in the dark, they are white and long: NO GOOD FOR PLANTING. twist them off.
Best way is to single layer them, like on the kitchen counter. The skin starts getting green (Thus the term greening), Then they start sprouting healthy greenish sprouts. Now that is worth planting. BUT the sprouts should be no longer than 1". Then you have to handle them carefully , not to break them.
I prefer shorter sprouts with just some suggestion that they are growing.
.
I did consider automotive fluids, but it is a very well maintained company vehicle and definitely doesn't have any leaks. Also, he always backs in to the spot, so his front end is out toward the road... its only where the back end sits that I'd be planting (and he's only been parking there for about a month - long enough to rip up the yard, but not really long enough to impact the soil toxicity).
Thanks so much everyone for all of your help working through this. I feel like I have a much better plan for these crops now!
2cents from one who has done the 3 sister garden "successfully". The garden was 40x50, I did 4foot diameter mounds with about 3feet between. Put Silver Queen corn all over the mound with red yardlong beans around the perimeter of each. Threw in some butternut squash, Cinderella pumpkins, cantaloupe seeds and walked away. Weeded once mid season, picked a few bushels of corn, picked the yard longs as long as they were coming in, got a few anemic cantaloupe but several squash and pumpkins that were good. Even got some volunteer ground cherries and tomatillos from the soil seed bank. For not giving much effort, zero watering and maintenance, I thought it did fairly well. This method worked for a garden of neglect, I wouldn't bother with it again unless I had a large garden space that I didn't have a better idea for. This was my old garden that I didn't want to invest in because our house was on the market and I didn't want to sell after spending a lot of early season effort. New garden is much better cared for.
It looks like spinach to me.
There are different types of spinach, having different types and sizes of leaves. The one in your picture appears to have crinkled leaves, like savoy cabbage. Other varieties have smooth leaves.
I can't tell you which variety is best. It's a matter opinion I think. Try to find one which is slow to bolt and grow it in cool weather.
Jim
I just picked a dozen yesterday and toally nuked them in the oven! The risoto took 20 minutes longer that I expected and I totally forgot to take them out of the oven! DOH! They still tasted great, though! LOL
I'll have plenty more next week! YUM! Nancy
Long squash is easy to grow, less insect problem, it is a hot season crop, taste good too.
If you are growing for the beetroot then yes, single plants. Othersie you don't get roots just tops. That's one reason why beets are normally direct seeded. That plus the fact that they don't transplant well when that root is disturbed.
If you are growing them for the leaves, the tops only, then it makes no difference.
Dave
Otcay, that looks like what the Filipinos call Kamote, a sweet potato grown mainly for its leaves. I grew that for many years in SoCal, and even tried it once here. If that is the same one I grew, the tubers wander quite far from the plant, and are difficult to find (except by digging up the whole area). Those tubers were white & very twisted like the ones in your photo, and had a very dry texture when cooked. Dryness aside, they weren't bad tasting.
Yeah, I don't remember if I pre-sprouted them or not when I grew them before. I've currently got them in a cold closet in the basement with no light since I probably wont be planting them until mid-late April (I'm hoping I didn't buy them early but I think they only get one shipment of seed potatoes each year and once they're gone, they're gone) so, Ill bring them out around the beginning of April to where it's warmer and with light to chit them. Then I just pick off the extra stems that spout huh? Too easy.
Have you figured this out yet? I have the EXACT same thing! I'm in Austin and got a new cedar fence put in next to my raised garden beds last fall. Shortly after the fence went up, a 15 foot area was covered by these tiny little hard things from the picture, with the greatest infestation closer to the ground/garden. They soon covered my plants in the area and the plants ended up dying. They're not moist at all, and hard to the touch, so it doesn't sound like cabbage beetle. I tried spraying them with soap, but no change. Even now they're still there.
Artillery fungus spores as rhizo said above.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of artillery fungus spores
I tried the taste test method- definitely snow peas! Thanks everyone! I did try to grow snap peas too but half of them died when we got an unseasonable heat wave, but the survivors seem to be recovering. The snow peas are doing very well, glad I know what they are now, and should be able to tell them apart once the shelling peas start producing.
"Insects are great survivors."
Especially in urban or suburban areas, where they can take shelter in heated human structures. Unfortunately, that is where most vegetable gardens are located.
I too am hoping that the severe cold will reduce some insect pests... and since JB are just beginning to move into my area, it wouldn't break my heart to slow them down for a year or two. Maybe SVB will be reduced too, if we are lucky.
I'm not holding out too much hope for the deep freeze killing the stinkbugs since they like to overwinter in people's houses. Judging by the fact that we've picked up and flushed at least one a day all winter long (yes, even when it was below 0) and during this recent warm up (in the 40s), we've had more like 2-3 a day. We got horrible swarms here last year and I have no doubt that my attic and siding are full of them just waiting for warmth to emerge and harass us again.
This year, I'm planning on treating the house (inside and out) with cedarcide. It's the only thing that I feel comfortable using around my kids and pets (and my garden) - it's made from cedar oil. I may even use the outside stuff (PCO Choice) on my pear trees after petal fall. It doesn't affect sight-driven insects like bees and butterflies and other important pollinators, just scent-driven ones like fleas, ticks and stink bugs.
The stink bugs were so bad last year, when they swarmed it was like something out of a horror film... and my husband wonders why my girls are afraid of them, lol. They also ruined my whole pear crop last year. I'm not ready to put faith in the freeze killing them off, not considering that I've had the little pests in my house all winter. I'm going to be proactive this year to make sure we don't end up with a repeat of last year.
Melissa
Here is a link that might be useful: cedarcide
Looks like a lettuce to me too. But maybe a cabbage also.
That's a good idea elisa. Especially for the rotation thing. After a couple years of gardening, I pretty much knew what each plant looked like. Peppers, because I grow many varieties, are a different story if I grow multiple varieties where the pods look similar to another. Screwed up last year with my superhot varieties. Regarding the rotation, I usually just try to recollect when I had such or such where. Probably won't work so well when I get old-timer's disease.
;)
Kevin
This post was edited by woohooman on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 16:14
Even if the tag was missing, one should know what she/he planted there. Secondly, most garden vegetables are easy to identify close by and by tasting. Unless it is some kind of volunteer .
Having said that, often it is not possible to ID varieties of things like tomato b/c there so many varieties. So it makes sense to tag them if you want to save seeds from those.