23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I'm new to this forum and trying to go big with my garden this year so get ready for questions as spring approaches, lol.

Anyway, I've had both good and bad customer service at both Lowes and HD. Most recently was last Spring when I was trying to buy metal conduit to build my trellis frames. I went expecting to get a few pieces of 10' conduit cut to the sizes I needed and then connect them at home with 90 degree corner connections. Problem was, the first guy I found to help me said they couldn't cut conduit in the store and I knew I wouldn't be able to cut it by hand at home. The shorter pieces cost nearly as much as the 10' pieces so it would more than double my cost. Thankfully, a helpful employee was walking by and saw how frustrated I was with the first guy and stepped in to see if he could help. I told him what was going on and he says "oh yeah, we can cut that for you over in the plumbing department" THANK YOU!!!

For the most part, I've found the people in the gardening department to be completely useless. I've had pretty good service for the most part over in lumber though - usually get better service when I bring my sister and leave my husband at home, lol

Looking forward to hanging out here, I'm stepping into new territory in many ways with my garden this year and I'm likely to need help!

Melissa

Good luck with the new garden.

You can cut it at home -- a 5 dollar hacksaw does the trick in no time. I don't cut it though --- I slam rebar into the ground about 3 feet and then slip the conduit over it and drive that into the ground a foot or so. Slip on the corner pieces along with the horizontal, tie up those nylon trellis nets and voila!

You're right... garden center help is atrocious at both.

I have found that plumbing help is probably the most knowledgeable.

Kevin

Get a Baxter. Mine was free. :)

I worried about rabbits the first year we had a garden because I had seen so many around the house already (despite having a dog). I bought short chicken wire fencing to put around the garden but ran out before I could finish the second bed. The second bed had several square feet of strawberries and carrots right in the front that would be free picking for the rabbits, but they never disturbed them... it seems that rabbits prefer clover and my weed-filled yard was FULL of clover. I'd watch them hop right up to the strawberries and choose the clover just in front of the bed and leave the strawberries alone. I was shocked, but in 3 years I've yet to put more fencing around that second bed and the rabbits never seemed to bother it.

If you don't want to deal with fencing, maybe plant a patch of clover for the rabbits away from your garden before deciding if a fence is really necessary.

Melissa

You mean transparent roof but not the side walls?
But how can the temps come down just by transparent roofs ?

To clarify, our roofs are not like those slanting ones usually found in US. We have concrete straight roofs.

I understand. If you want to protect your vegetables from the weather, you have to allow ventilation or the temperature will rise. Standard vents in standard greenhouses can not remove a lot of heat. Also, greenhouses breed a lot of plant diseases, again due to poor ventilation. Hoop houses in this country are often made with removable sides, to insure excellent ventilation.

Well thank you :) this is why i love gardenweb. I was planning to plant them this sunday after i wash the roots (they are going to be used as an ornamental because i like asparagus leaves)

Where are you in zone 6 that you can plant anything now?

I tape a length of wax paper to the tabletop. Marker and glue dots don't stick and the finished "seedtape" comes off easier.
A single sheet of paper towel works great for square foot gardening also.

Having done a variation of this many times I feel kinda stupid never thinking to tape the TP down before laying the seeds (which would help a lot). It seem obvious upon reflection. Thanks.

I like to start mine just 3 weeks ahead in paper cups with holes poked in. I plant out into black plastic mulch with drip tape underneath and cover with row cover until they start flowering well. Melons are not the easiest thing to grow. It always seems like some plants don't make it. I look under the row cover 2 weeks after planting and add some more seed if necessary. I do 2-3 different plantings to stagger the harvest. Shut the water off once the fruits reach full size so they will be much sweeter. Early on they need lots of water. Do not rush planting. Prep the soil with any kind of manure. They can handle rich soil. I have sandy soil.

insteng, it a shame you had to bury all of those melons. Maybe next time you could take them to a food bank instead?

Would careless watering lead to unintentional electrocution?

I got my shelving unit at Costco. Yes, Ceth, I thought about the watering-thing, too. The first year I had it, I draped painters plastic (cut to size) over each light unit. But since my shelves are now covered, the water cannot fall down unto the light underneath. I water with a pitcher and if I overfill, the water runs out the bottom and just rolls off the sides. If a person used a hose, I would think they would have to be careful not to spray the light bulbs.

All the electrical cords look over-done, but very little electricity is being used at one time. Again, a hose-in-hand might be a dangerous thing if the surge protectors were to get splashed.

From what a friend told me, we are out of freeze danger. I like the bucket idea, Kevin.

Marbella...advertizing is a no no

Saxton,
Last June I decided to expand my gardening area by laying down cardboard. The same day I planted some corn and butternut squash seeds in that area--they grew great!
I just cut small holes and removed the grass under the holes, filled with soil and mounded the area a bit, planted seeds, and then covered the remaining area with compost.
You might not be able to kill the grass before planting time, but you might be able to plant there anyway (with a little extra work).

It takes a long time to kill grass roots but you can put down cardboard and mulchy stuff on top and then make holes and plant in them. It won't work for small seeded things like carrots but you can make holes in your cardboard and mulch and plant tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, etc. Then in fall keep all that stuff decomposing and layer more good organic matter on it.

Thank you jimster for the PAN link. Unfortunately it is a 2001 link.

To determine what effects rotenone has been reported to have on the brain since the PAN review, I did the following Google Scholar searches.

Google Scholar search using the keywords rotenone and brain.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=+rotenone+brain&btnG=&as_sdt=15&as_sdtp=

I then did a more restrictive search using the keywords rotenone and parkinson.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=rotenone+and+parkinson.&btnG=&as_sdt=15&as_sdtp=

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Scholar rotenone and parkinson search

I use a shop vac on cucumber beetles.

I just think it is funny that people assume organic pesticides will somehow know how to kill bad bugs but do no other damage. If you kill the pests you kill the bees as well.

It may be fusarium, but I might go with powdery mildew. Since I'm in SoCal also, mine look like that usually in may or so when it starts to warm up. I started planting snow peas in late Oct/Nov and that way I get some very nice harvest from Jan- April. Now that I understand Powdery mildew a bit more, I bet I can get them to go until late June, in the future.

I'm not growing them this year... water shortage. But with the unseasonably warm weather we've been having, I can see Powdery mildew showing up in peas this early.

JMO

Kevin

If you're still curious you could cut the affected stems (and roots) and look at the vascular tissue. Sometimes you'll see a yellow or orange discoloration inside with Fusarium wilt. It's the soil temp warming into the 70's that bring on the wilt symptoms, so I would think potted plants would be affected sooner. If there's any powdery mildew on the foliage the spots would be very obvious. It could also come in after another disease weakens the plant.

Kevin -- Interesting that you should mention the number of plants in my pot. I started with four, the recommended amount by my nursery. The next day, my dog at most of the leaves! Even though he didn't eat the stems or tear them up, I thought they might be goners, and bought four more. The nursery said there would be no trouble adding the four to the pot with the possibly-dying four. I wondered about that! Should I remove the original four?

Harvest after harvest? I was told the kale would die in the summer (so I would have to harvest it before it gets too hot. I'm in Arizona, where it will be over 100 by May, even April.)

GreenDream: As long as the most inner leaves are there, then they'll continue. So, it's up to you. I still say any more than 3 is too many, but if they bolt in say june/july, then there won't be such a need for root growth.

I've yet to grow kale that has bolted though, unlike collards. But I've only grown ONE(hybrid starbor) variety. And it gets pretty warm here also(inland San Diego), but Arizona is on a whole different level of heat than most of us in the summer.

That's the great thing about Kale(where I am, at least)... I can plant a few plants in the garden and it last me a good year or 2 before I pull it to make room for something else.

If you want to prolong the harvests, try to keep that pot cool when it really heats up. Maybe put some wheels under it so you can get it sun in the mornings and try to shade it when it gets hot. it's not so much much the air temperature, but the soil temperature that knocks cool weather veggies out. Maybe some mulch too.

But, yes. 2(3 max) for that pot, IN MY OPINION. (They do much better in-ground from my experience, though). But that's for when they're many months old. By the time May comes around, who knows if EIGHT(LOL) plants is too many?

In the future, try for a fall planting. That way, you can get many months of nice harvests. Check with your county extension to find out the earliest time you can plant.

"harvest after harvest" -- yes... you don't have to wait for the plants to get full size to harvest. Just pick the outer leaves and as long as you leaves the innermost leaves and they don't bolt, you can harvest anytime. It's one of those veggies that just keeps giving and giving.

Good luck and any more questions, feel free.

Kevin

You don't worry about your well?

I do, tho the well guys say I shouldn't have to.

I am on a well, too. Seems to be a good one. There is also a creek on the property boundary. It is just a trickle during summer, but it doesn't quite dry up.