23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
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 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.
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 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.
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.
Duplicate post. Here is a link to your previous post of this same question.
Here is a link that might be useful: Your duplicate post of this question
I plant the fingerling potato sampler from Fedco last year plus a small amount of German Butterballs. Unfortunately, the German Butterballs were still in the barn drying when the temperatures dropped and I lost most to freezing although was able to salvage some for Thanksgiving. The fingerlings (5 lbs total of several different kinds) were very productive. We still have a lot to eat. There are only 2 of us except for once a week family dinners when I sometimes serve potatoes.
My first hilling was done with dirt. The next with straw but I waited too long and the job was harder getting straw under plants so I lost a few potatoes that were exposed.
I was also careless about exposure to sunlight. One variety in a box was exposed to sun when it came thru the south facing windows in the garage doors. Dumb!
This year I will do more hilling with dirt but do a final hilling with straw. Two bales were enough for my smallish patch. I don't see how any thing else can be planted next to the potatoes but I did put beans very close to one row.
A neighbor had very good luck because of our wet spring and his too wet garden growing potatoes in felt buckets. Don't know where he got them but I saw what might be similar in the Gurney's catalog.
I got red and white seed potatoes at my local feed store. planted those three wide in a three foot wide row. I think it ended up being about 30 feet of row. They did great like that. I don''t hill much. Run the rototiller down the path and rake that on. Add compost. I bought a bag of yukon gold at Walmart. Got it pretty cheap. Seems there were about 25 in the bag so I planted a four by six bed with a foot apart. It did very nicely.Hardest part is amending the clay enough that they're not a nightmare to dig when the time comes.
Chitting /sprouting/greening seed potato is not absolutely necessary, although it might be helpful for faster coming up. I don't think that commercial potato farmer would take that route. As far as the backyard gardening is concerned, I would think that shorter sprout (less than 3/8" ) is better over all.
seysonn - we are talking about the same beans. What I am saying is that they are very widely grown and eaten over here but they are ALWAYS eaten fresh, green and preferably very young. If you look at the picture at my link you'll see the kind of size we'd eat them. We don't use them as dried beans, so peeling them doesn't arise. Some people peel them when used fresh but if they need it imo they are well past their best. I pod them and cook just like peas. i.e. about 2 - 3 minutes in boiling water.
Flora and Camp, yes I've tried the broad beans very young and to me they did not seem quite as good as young peas, or about the same perhaps. I rather like them better as mature beans, but then all the peeling is tiresome.
No doubt this is a case of what one is used to. I love young peas - but most other legumes I prefer as shellies, or fully dry (I also love peas as mature shellies - still green in the pods but VERY strong flavor in the peas).
I don't know in what form or chemical composition magnesium is normally present in natural soil and how stable it is. But Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate) is water soluble, like nitrogen in the fertilizers. This means that it can be depleted and leached by watering and frequent rain, the same way it happens to nitrogen. I usually apply it in small amounts few times in the season. The normal recommendation is ONE TBspoon per gallon. I use ONE TBspoon per two gallons and with that I water an area of about 20-30 square foot.
JMO
Here you will fine an article written by WSU
Here is a link that might be useful: Adding Epsom salts to garden
This post was edited by seysonn on Sun, Feb 2, 14 at 8:26
Florida sand is remarkably consistent throughout the peninsula, though the underlying substrates can vary. I tested two plots in central florida, one high in very deep sand, the other lakeside.
They showed 62% and 58% of the optimum Mag level. Many elements are far lower than that in florida sand, so Mag is a pretty easy one to bring up - probably a couple of applications over a few years will do it.
Mix that OM into the sand!
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.