23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Dear Vic,
I think that price is really high. 5-10 cents per seed for a small packet is acceptable. Some hybrid seed sometimes goes for a lot more, but what is the use if you can only grow the plant once? There are some good open-pollinated varieties still left out there.
The company which produces territorial seeds web application has a version for the ipad... check out growveg.com I have been using spreadsheets for a few years and this year I started the free trial with territorial seeds and boy is it easy.... and I will say I am pretty proficient with spreadsheets and I still found it nice to use the app.
My friend uses gardentracker which is also available for the ipad/iphone crowd.
(I am a android junkie so I am waiting for these guys to come out with a android version.)
Thanks for all of the thoughtful posts. I am sure Blue Jade is a good one for me; it even looks blue at the milk stage apparently, and gets darken when its cooked. I will probably get that for an OP heirloom selection, and choose another from the local seed rack based on maturity time.
I was wondering, if I want the corn to have a chewier texture and be a little less sweet, could I just choose an SE type and leave it on the stalk a little bit longer than normal? Or do they suddenly loose all of their sweetness overnight?
It is not a sudden transition from sugar to starch as you would see in older varieties. Silver Queen (normal sugary) would go past the milk stage faster than a good SE variety. I admit I don't really need the SE characteristic because we watch the ears like coons, can't wait to eat them. However, the sugar level of Luscious comes out at a balanced level after the corn has been blanched and frozen.
Do you have a picture?
Things like my kale & spinach sometimes seem to have been planted not deeply enough so the base of the plant ends up a little ways up the seedling's stem - they fall over then grow up from the base and seem fine after they get a little bigger. A picture of your plants might help.
I've heard this is because of insufficient light / wind, but they get at least 7 hours of light a day and with the draft from the window, there's almost always a little breeze. Any tips? Is it because it's a low winter light?
Yes. There is simply no way windows can provide sufficient light for seedlings this time of year. It isn't enough hours, enough intensity, nor enough of a full spectrum. Even greenhouses use supplemental lighting this time of year.
This is a common question over on the Growing from Seed forum and there is a FAQ there about it.
Dave
You say that you're concerned for space. Here's some things I grow in my garden that take up little space (so far):
Sunflowers: My 4 yr. old niece Jocie was SO EXCITED to go outside and dig holes to plant her favorite flower, sunflower. She learned about them in school and knew I had space to grow them. I dug up the grass with the shovel, but using a small trowel she dug holes to plant the seeds. To see her face when she came back to my house was priceless--the sunflower grew to be taller than her, and had not one seed to give back to her but thousands. I highly recommend sunflowers because you can plant a single row, and they mainly take up vertical space! You can grow them against the house, against a sunny fence, or just grow one for the heck of it.
Green Bean (bush or vining): Jocie also helped me plant the beans. Like someone said earlier, bean seeds are large enough that they instill some sort of mystery in children, it seems. Whenever she'd visit my house, it became her 'chore' to pick the green beans from the bean bushes. They grew low enough to the ground that she had an easy time hunting for the beans, and I was able to interplant some catnip and rosemary which made the experience a bit more sensory. We didn't realize why we weren't getting a green bean crop until we noticed that she was eating every last bean she'd pick! The plants grow low to the ground, and didn't bush out more than maybe 2'x2'. I've read about making bean teepee with trailing beans, and including a small door so that children her age can walk into the teepee to pick the dangling beans. This would be LOADS of fun for a child, but would take up considerable amounts of space.
Stevia: If you can get your hands on it, and if you can provide it a moist, not-too-hot place, stevia is a winner. I grew a lot of herbs in my garden, and one of Jocie's favorite things was to rub the leaves and guess which plant was which based on the odor. Stevia, on the other hand, is a leaf you'd have to taste to identify. This was a good learning experience for her (some plants are safe to eat, others must be identified by smelling/etc first). The leaves do not have a particular odor, but taste of sugar cubes. The bush grows as big as you'll let it grow (it did well when clipped, ripped, eaten, etc) and it is a FAVORITE with Jocie, and probably all kids. What kid wouldn't love a sugary treat in the garden?!
Shade cloth makes it a few degrees cooler. It comes in different grades.I used 30% in my greenhouse. I probably vote for regular screening. There are mosquito dunks available. You just toss them in the water and somehow they kill the mosquitoes.
The mosquito dunks contain a strain of Bt. I don't know if it is the same strain that is used to kill caterpillars (when sprayed onto plants).
Bt is not a toxin. It is a type of bacteria that selectively infects insect larvae (caterpillars are the larvae of moths and butterflies). As far as I know, Bt has no effect on other plants or animals other than insect larvae.
You can put it in ponds and it won't hurt the fish or kill the algae or anything like that.
The full name is Bacillus thuringiensis. You can read about it at wikipedia if interested.
--McKenzie
Thanks Jonfrum, this is why I ask questions early and not right before planting. I will keep looking.
Tish, I hadn't thought about frost protection. I have done it with more moderately sized plants, but never even considered it for such a sprawling type as winter squash. As far last frost, well, off the top of my head I was planting cucumbers and green beans in 70+ degrees at the beginning of April two years ago while last year, we were buried in feet of snow right up 'til May! I was planning on using plastic to warm the soil where the squash will go, and starting a few indoors a couple weeks before my *tentative* plant-out date in mid-May. Like you we are very lucky if we have any 60+ nights (our night average is in the 50's all summer). I've only ever grown the short season tender plants like cucumbers and summer squash, so I have never had any problem with direct sowing at the end of may and still getting a good harvest without any season extending methods. I do like the idea of using milk jugs though, probably would be helpful even if I transplant from indoors. Thanks!
They would do better planted in late spring or early summer (around may or June), I think August is too late. They like warm weather. They should be harvested in the fall after the first frost or when the vines start to die. Don't forget to cure them before cooking with them.
That's good for transplants, but when you have a seed packet full of peas coming up, that strategy isn't going to be easy. That's a lot of tubes.
Sevin dust, Bt, Diatomaceous earth, or go out at night with a flashlight and hand-pick them. I've heard that cornmeal messes with their digestive system, though I've never tried that myself.
Although birds will sometimes clip off the stem of a young seedling, this typically occurs during the day. If it's at night, this is probably the cutworm, as others have already written.
Alan Chadwick had a technique for dealing with these larva which I have not seen mentioned here so far, so I'll briefly describe it.
In the morning, when you discover the severed plant lying on the ground, look carefully within a circle of about 6' from the stem. Most often you will discover a small hole in the surface of the soil (about 1/16' in diameter). Take a table knife (not sharp) and dig down abut an inch or two to the side of that little hole. Flip the soil up onto the surface and look for the cutworm. They are quite easy to catch that way.
As one or two of them can do a lot of damage, usually there aren't very many of them to worry about. Just be careful not to disturb the soil around the stricken plant, so that you can find the little hole.
Chadwick called these larva by the name used in England where he was trained: Leatherjackets. More information about his masterful gardening techniques can be found at the link below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick garden techniques
Magda is a great squash. Per Johnnys (I think) the supplier may be phasing it out. So this might be a good time to get seeds if you want to try it.
I have grown this variety twice. It is a very good summer variety. The taste is quite good. It is somewhat resistant to Squash Vine Borers and it produces fairly well for the size. I have a blog post about my experience below.
Here is a link that might be useful: Rounde De Nice