23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Plants are green correct? That means that the plants do not absorb the yellow through green spectrum of light,
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Color is our perception of wave length of the light that is reflected from an object. When we see something green, it means that just that specific wave length is reflected from that object and the rest is absorbed. In other words, color doe not exist as a matter.

Wow...I wish this thread existed last year.

Last summer was my "plastic mulch experiment year." I read about all those studies and wanted to find out if they would help my harvest in my garden. Here's what I discovered:

In a nutshell - they were far more trouble than they were worth. Red, green, blue and clear would work fine to heat the soil up if you had no weed-seeds whatsoever underneath. In my garden the weeds were in 7th-heaven under there and grew until they made tents out of the stuff. Black, brown, and the double black/white stuff worked much better for weed suppression. For my northern garden the dark colors actually "shaded" the soil instead of warming it up faster. But once the summer heat hit, it basically cooked everything that is still low enough to be touching (melons especially). My bare (no mulch) tomatoes did not grow any different than the ones that had red under them. (Although Wall-o-waters significantly improved vigor). I used aluminum foil in place of silver and that worked pretty well actually, and I didn't have ANY flea beetle damage on any of the plants it was under. Black/white was my favorite and I will use it for beans again this year. It suppressed weeds (black side down) but reflected light (white side up) and my beans grew really fast, healthy and did not get dirty.

One thing that is an absolute must - You must have an installed drip system underneath the plastic. I thought I could get away with not having it, by leaving bare soil strips between the rows. Not enough. The water just pools on top and then evaporates off.

Also, the colored mulches are very flimsy. Kind of like the real wimpy painter's plastic. The slightest breeze and you will need at least two people to peg it down, and then it still rips free from the pegs.

My plans for this year based on last year's experiments - Wall-o-waters for sure! Black/White under beans and melons. Aluminum foil under eggplants.

I use the wood chips (1/4-inch sized or so) in the veggie garden routinely. I think the trick is not to overload the soil with them, since they'll take some time to decompose completely. You don't want to have your plants growing in a thoroughly "pebbled" medium. But after a year or two, they're mostly gone, and while they're there, they greatly improve soil aeration and resist compacting. In fact, since they take some time composting there, you don't get a nitrogen deprivation shock like you would with something like sawdust.

Wood chips come in "decorative" size, which is definitely not for digging in to gardens. I like the smaller stuff. So I think a lot of the argument about wood chips in the garden depends on how big and how much.

JCTsai, I just filled out the form, I think if you go to their home page they might have contact info.

I've been hauling mulch all day, I'll do 3 loads then rest. I'm trying to polish it off by tomorrow afternoon since there will be rain the day after tomorrow and I don't want to move damp mulch.

Taste is subjective Wayne. I personally do not like the taste and texture of super sweets. So I rarely grow one. The Mirai to me has better texture and flavor and they produced better. Of course the variety I tried was really a synergistic rather than a true supersweet. Not my favorite, I prefer se, but acceptable as an extra sweet.

I too prefer the se+ corns. I have tried the newer synergistics and am still hunting a fully good one. Montauk was ok. I have heard about Obsession, but realize that those who say, "Boy, this is the best corn ever," may not really know many good corns.

You'll probably notice that your pepper plant won't handle low light as well either and may not survive if held for too long without sufficient light. Typically the lower leaves will drop first and the rest may yellow. Don't be concerned that new blossoms aren't showing. When you provide sufficient artificial light or you get enough natural light your plant should regain color and resume blooming assuming the stress has not been too great.

Posted by bmoser z6PA (b2m2@moserproduce.com) on Thu, Feb 6, 14 at 18:47

Last October, I moved this bell pepper and two tomatoes indoors. The tomatoes died within a month. But this pepper survived today and is growing okay. It has a small West facing window. I do not expect peppers now. I will move it out in mid-March. I hope it starts to grow better then.

You shouldn't be allowing the plants to self seed. Your asparagus bed will deteriorate and you will lose the quality of the plants. (Assuming you planted an all male bed). If you started them from seed you need to rogue the female plants out. It sounds as if you need to do a bit of reading on Asparagus growing. This link is informative.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus

I don't think the bucket would work very well, either. The baby asparagus roots when I first planted them were easily the circumference of a 5 gallon bucket. Now that they've been in their beds for many years they have really stretched out. Think of them like a giant starfish instead of regular down-ward growing roots on a shrub or veggie.

As far as the plant becoming invasive and spreading....I don't think that happens very often, unless it goes to seed and you allow every baby to grow. When books say it spreads, I think they are referring to the root's desire to spread open like a ...well... a starfish.

This is one of the reason they say hand-picking weed-control is so important in an asparagus bed. Because the roots grow so close to the surface it's easy to damage them (which they do show signs of resentment) with a hoe or other implement.

Asparagus likes to be in a permanent spot. So choose a bed that you will be happy in it's placement for many years. Also, the rule of thumb that many gardeners use is: 1st year, no harvest - let all the spears grow into ferns. 2nd year - only harvest 1/3 of the spears. 3rd year - you can harvest 2/3 of the spears. By the 4th year your plants should be mature and you can harvest at will, leaving a few spears to turn into ferns each year to re-energize the plant for next year's harvest.

I might have some leftover seed from clove if you want some.
It's hardneck.

I did a sort of experiment with garlic last summer, you might find it interesting...

Use the link below or look for it in the Far North forum....

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic Experiment

If I was in your position, I would set aside a day for internet research. I would get names of large commercial farms in general, large commercial farms in the area, and names of the pesticides you want to avoid.

I would then search for lawsuits past and present describing damage done by those pesticides connected with the problem of drift.

You will find descriptions of damage done and testimony of experts on both sides, all of which will allow you to make a more informed choice in your own plans.

The 'general' results will of course have more information, but the particular area results may have exactly the information that would be crucial to your choice.

If you're in fear or doubt, grow stuff that fruits rather than leafy stuff which is harder to intensely wash.

You can easily wash things that fruit and/or you're not planning on eating the outer parts (peppers, toms, eggplant, squash, melons, etc).

Nice land use gift you got there.

OK thanks little_minnie and digdirt!
It helped a lot!

The thing to remember is that you do not have to do bagging/protection all season long. Just try few buds early on, until they set fruits. Then remove the bag(whatever) and tag those fruits. You don't care what happens with the rest to come. One or two tomato or pepper can provide you more than enough seeds.

JMO

I moved back to Missouri 3 years ago. The first year I was to busy to start my garden. The last 2 years though I've lost all of my summer squash. Now I know what the problem is so I can take preventative measures.

I find the best tool for this is a meat syringe, meant for injecting butter or flavoring liquids into meat before cooking. It has a large bore, a sharp enough end to pierce the stem, and a large capacity.

If you have a Tractor Supply nearby, they have good prices on fencing and good variety.

The fencing is so heavy duty my wire cutters could not handle it when I went to start the project today. Actually heavy enough so I'm going to make tomato cages with some of it. Have ordered bolt cutters :)

I think the key is the structures and the mulch. It you have nice structures and if you put in mulch over where you harvest it looks nice and tidy. I also think geometry helps if you're going large scale with veggies. Pepper plants on a border, radishes hiding with the flowers won't be noticed much one way or another, but if you want to really eat out of your front yard I think a good strong pattern, nice trellises, and keeping things trimmed and mulched is key. I'm using blackberries as a hedge on the "busy street" side of the house, blueberries around the foundation. I have a couple of cherry trees that I keep pruned very open and under them strawberries. Fruits are pretty easy to blend into your front yard.

Campanula - The way to prevent a shaggy looking garden after harvest of the edibles is to place potted plants in the gap. My wife uses gladiolas that are normally on our patio.

I say leave your plants alone. I think you are fussing over them too much and hurting rather than helping. Plants know how to take care of themselves most of the time believe it or not, you only need to help them if they are infested or becoming damaged. It doesn't sound like aphids either- they live on new plant growth, not in the soil, and don't really move around very much. If you do get actual aphids and are interested in using ladybugs to control them then yes that is the best method, or just blast the plants with plain water from a hose- but if you use your soapy spray it will also kill the ladybugs. I really recommend just not putting anything at all on your plants. I have an organic garden and have helped with a friends too- we have gone a whole 3 years without using ANY pesticide (organic or otherwise) and everything still was fine. Perhaps you are watering too much? I get gnats in my indoor plants when the soil is too wet. But bugs are basically a part of the ecosystem so theres no getting rid of all of them, and some bugs are actually helpful. Good luck!

And don't get me wrong it's not like we haven't had bug issues from time to time- we've just dealt with them without spraying. I got caterpillars that ate almost all the leaves off some kale plants, but I just picked them off by hand & the kale plants grew back. There was also something laying eggs on the undersides of my friend's kale leaves, so we picked off those leaves before the eggs could hatch & become pests. I get aphids now & then but usually just squish them with my fingers or blast them with water, or they sort of go away once the plants mature. I have lots of issues with snails but find if I go out after it rains or at night I can find and kill a bunch of them by hand, and I try to protect the plants they like the most as best I can with physical barriers (peas, basil & chard seem to be their favorite). Anyways, hope you learn to live with the pests, and manage them safely & naturally if they get out of control.