23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
6 zuks for 2 people? Hearty laugh! Most years 1 zuk and 1 yellow crook neck do the 3 of us just fine! We don't have the dreaded SVB though!
Squash doesn't freeze very well except grated for stews, soups, breads etc.
We get along with just a few chard plants, but they grow year round here and I don't freeze (don't they get soggy?)
Be sure to seed radishes every few weeks so they don't all get to size at once! I guess you could make a radish slaw if you got too many at once! Hmmmm, that sounds good!
WHAT! No tomatoes???????? Nancy
gjcore, kathy and nancy thanks a lot for your valuable inputs.
gjcore.. i thought I need to plant the taller plants on the north side and shorter on the south. I will take your suggestions and change the layout.
kathy .. last year we planted 3 rows of chard (in the same spot) and we ate it without much problem. We also gave some to our friends.
Nancy, we lost our zuks last year to svb and squash bugs. It was very disappointing. And we love zuks. Thats why I was thinking to plant more, so even if we get hit by the svb, we still will get some before it hits.
regarding tomato, I have a 12x12 feet space just for tomatoes.
I also have another 10x20 feet bed, which I need to plan as well.
This post was edited by robert2014 on Sat, Feb 22, 14 at 21:48
Lots of 'favorite mulch' discussions here and even more over on the Soil & Mulch forum. Several contain long lists of things to use for mulching and plastic/landscape fabric isn't very high on the list.
While plastic mulches can work ok on some crops it's is only on specific crops (like melons) and in the northern zones where soil warming is required. And once full summer arrives it can cook the plant roots unless removed or covered.
I agree with lacey that you must have been mowing grass that had gone to seed or a lawn with lots of weeds that had gone to seed. Pretty hard to get seeds from grass clippings otherwise.
Straw, chopped or not, is often touted as the perfect mulch with old hay and compost close seconds. Other good alternatives are leaf mold or shredded leaves, cardboard, newspaper (shredded or multiple layers), pine straw, etc. but regardless of what it used it has to be applied thickly to work and to remain in place.
All of those have the added benefits of soil improvement. Plastic doesn't contribute anything to the soil.
Dave
We have a large, hilly yard and my husband works 60-80 hours a week... I'm not skilled/confident enough to handle the steep slopes with a riding mower, so yes... the lawn doesn't get mowed nearly as often as it should. I often pull tall, seeded grass by hand from around the planting beds and other areas that are hard to reach with the riding mower (we're finally getting a trimmer this year). When I did try mulching with grass clippings, I tried to make sure there weren't any seeds mixed in, but it was just too much trouble.
I hadn't really considered straw, sounds like that might be a good option for me.
What variety are you growing specifically? The wall thickness in bells is primarily determined by the genetics of the variety.
Another contributing factor can be very INconsistent soil moisture levels after fruit set.
Dave
With heavy clay soil you need to add compost every spring and fall and maybe a bit of lime. For my clay soil in the spring I add lime, humus and manure bought from HD on sale and leaf compost obtained from the county recycle center for free. Finally when the plants are up, I mulch them with free leaf compost. In the fall I add a layer of leaf compost and if no crop is growing turn the compost under. Seems to work well. The soil in dark and fertile. Plants grow well.
Charlie: lime will raise ph. Not a good thing for alkaline soils. Especially since most veggies like it a bit on the acidic side or neutral.
If one wants to lower ph, one would add sulfur. Gypsum won't raise it or lower it.
Kevin
My wife grows red bell peppers. She makes a spaghetti sauce by roasting the peppers and removing the skin and seeds. Then in a blender she places the peppers, an egg yolk, olive oil, and garlic cloves and liquifies it. She places the sauce over hot spaghetti which cooks the yolk. Delicious!
Please HELP!
My husband and I are at a difference of opinions about preserving the wood for our vegetable garden raised beds. He has already painted part of the beds with a white paint to preserve them. I would've rathered him not do this. My belief is that the chemicals will leach in to the soil then in to the veggies. Can this be remedied? I was thinking that maybe we can then either cover the painted part with garden sheeting plastic or apply a more non-toxic preservative over the painted part of the raised beds. Can someone please give me your opinion? He's moving faster than I can type!
Agree, although i don't think it is all that rare when one grows lots of plants from seed. Sometimes fasciated plants turn out ok but usually not worth the space and care so in the greenhouse we usually just pitch them as we find them.
Dave
Nancy, I have seen some impressive nasturiums in California, for sure! They don't overwinter here and never sprawl that much. They are so pretty, especially with heavy dew on them. No clue where the OP is, but somewhere that they have winter, so probably no trouble from the nasturtiums.
I have pocket gophers. I read as many threads as I could stand, then went to work. I started with Juicy Fruit, the cheapest option. Nothing. Then moved on to pellets, gas and flooding. Nothing. The neighborhood cat tries, but is hit or miss. I ordered Cinch traps, and have a 100% success rate! Some are caught within an hour, but most are overnight. Minimal digging, traps don't get pulled in the tunnel, no need to block the hole after setting, proof that the pests are DEAD--what more could you ask for? The neighborhood cat has gotten better since I give him the dead ones, too. He has a taste for them now!
Thanks quone!
I use Macabee style traps. I will look into the cinch traps on the strength of your recommendation. The gum thing is a known myth. There is a researcher in UC Davis who was able to feed captive gophers juicy-fruit for an extended period. He observed no obvious ill-effect. Apparently they do eat it, though. It just doesn't hurt them.
--McKenzie
You're right that many kinds of lilies can be toxic... If enough is ingested. Unless you're planning to eat that soil there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. In fact the flowers of Hemerocalis sp. (a.k.a. daylilies) are edible and with a mild unobtrusive flavor. You could actually plant vegetables immediately adjacent to Agapanthus or Hemerocalis without any fear whatsoever it's not something they exude which may then be taken up by other plants.
Besides that part I'm going to suggest a thorough amending of the spot before planting your veggies. Agapanthus and daylilies are famed for their ability to grow in horrible soil which is generally not so for vegetables.
I have been using salt on my asparagus bed ever since it developed fusarium crown rot which I discovered 4 years after I put in the bed. I use about 1/2-3/4 lb food grade rock salt late winter on a bed maybe 20 feet long. I have quick draining sandy soil.
Asparagus is one of the most salt tolerant plants known and for generations, growers controlled weeds by salting. When chemical pre-emergents entered the market after WWII, growers switched and then fusariaum crown and root rots began to invade beds. Salt prevents the fusarium rots, and as I can attest, also cures it You might want to take a look at the following:
â Rock Salt Supresses Fusarium Crown and Root Rot of AsparagusâÂÂ: openagricola.nal.usda.gov/Record/IND92009783
Looks pretty normal to me. I also grow the purple varieties and they are PUR-ple. That one isn't nearly as purple like they are.
Assuming your soil has adequate P in it, which most all do, then the cooler springs temps can often create the look of pink/purpling of many varieties of young plants as they have a bit of difficulty absorbing phos when the roots are cool. Usually disappears normally as the weather warms and the plants mature.
Dave
My cucumbers get planted right next to the zucchini, so I should treat them too, right? They didn't really seem very affected last year. Maybe because they were more affected by some sort of yellow wilting that I didn't notice much powdery mildew.
Can you tell me more about treatments? I've used baking soda/water because that's what I read can help it and I had it on hand... but it's harsh on the leaves so I tried to only use it where it was already slightly affected by the mildew (really bad leaves were just removed, the baking soda was only on the ones I was trying to save).
I'm trying to keep organic or, more importantly, non-toxic since my little girls like to help in the garden too. Is there a better alternative to baking soda that isn't so harsh to the leaves, but is also non-toxic?
All of the above that I mentioned are organic. I've tried the baking soda and milk before and didn't have too much luck but that was before I knew that proactive treatments were necessary for keeping PM at bay.
Neem works good, but in the summer when it's over 80F or the sum of the temps AND humidity is >140, then you shouldn't use pesticides et al. If you do use, wait until at dusk.
Potassium bicarbonate works well also. And for the money, is economical. I still lost my cantaloupes to PM last year but that was because summer came early here and I didn't practice what I preach by treating from day 1. It won't happen again! You can buy it online but wine and brewer's shops have it also. The brew shops wanted too much but I found a wine shop that sells it for $6/lb. So, shop around. Use at a rate of 4 tsp/gallon of water.
Yep. treat any cucurbit(cukes, squashes, melons) since they tend to be the most susceptible. I did see some on my maters last year, but not bad enough to inhibit production. Peas can also have a problem with PM, but it usually doesn't affect it until they're about done for the season anyway.
As far as the milk treatment, I've heard some rave about it. I also have heard some wide ranging ratios. From 10:1 to 4:1, from fat free to whole. Dunno.
Regarding toxicity, the harshness you mention may have been too much baking soda mixed with water. Try it about the same ratio as the potassium bicarbonate. It may have also been the whole temp thing I mentioned. With any treatment, do at dusk, and if it's going to be a scorcher and/or very bright(sun) the next day, rinse off in the morning. Good idea for any pesticide et al in the dead of summer..
Good luck.
Kevin
This post was edited by woohooman on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 21:13
pnbrown:
So is red meat. But you don't see on the side of a package of cheese, for example, "beef free."
Eat some veggies in one's diet and maybe he/she can digest more properly.
No, the grain digestibility issues are not related to other plant foods for the most part. Eating greens does not solve the problems around using wheat (whether whole or white) as the diet staple. It is simply good to eat greens, but not magic.