23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Thanks to all for your great advice. At the garden site there's a very wide assortment of ideas being tried. Some don't have any fencing (although there's not too many of those), some use non-fencing (I've seen some with tin plates, some use natural fragrances, others use scarecrows, and still others use fishing line, oh and I even saw one fence made out of playing cards), most do have fencing from wooden to metal to rope with electrical also included. And that's just what comes to my immediate recollection. The site's management says fencing is highly recommened, but not required. The general word seems to be to get around the pests - plant more than you need and be ready to share.
Wolverine summed it up pretty good, I think.
Then, it depend how your plot is situated in the community. If it is somewhere in the middle, you are partly shielded. But if it is on the edge then you have to take rabbits seriously. For deers the bells and vessels, old CDs, etc might work but not for Mr. Vabbit...haha
Nancy- yes it is actually a fountain, it does not spray water but rather works like a see saw and when one side fills up with water it drops down and hits the bamboo under making a somewhat loud thump (depending on the size of course) it scares deer and most likely turkeys with sounds they are not used to hearing in your garden.
Frost finally coming tonight, so those gardening in points East probably don't have long to wait either. No complaints, it's been unseasonably (and pleasantly) warm, a 1-year-in-10 October.
If the killing frost comes when a pepper is just beginning to ripen, I pull the entire plant by the roots & hang it in the garage. The plant responds by pulling moisture from the smallest immature fruits, and attempting to ripen the largest. This is highly effective with hot peppers intended for drying, but also works moderately well with larger sweet peppers. Peppers ripened this way are not as sweet as those ripened naturally, but still better than green... and it beats losing them to the frost.
Curious that you mention serranos. I have an heirloom serrano-type ("Red Chile") that I pulled out today. It has ripened only enough pods for me to save seed, probably due to the partial shade it had received from adjacent pole beans. The ripe peppers, when dehydrated, make a great pepper powder, and there are enough peppers close to maturity that they should turn color quickly now that the plants have been hung.
This is a fascinating thread and I learned a lot. Thank you to all of you for your input. I hopefully have another two or three weeks till first frost, but our temperatures have turned unseasonably cool here for October. Many of my peppers are rotting on the vine before they fully ripen. I will put some Agribon around the plants tomorrow. The plants are still loaded and I was hoping to get one more picking before calling it quits.
In my experience the key is knowing if the butternut had finished growing. Once they are full size and the skin is still green but hardening then they will keep ripening to some degree once picked and even chnage colour, however if the skin was green but still soft as the butternut was still growing it will not continue to ripen and should be eaten quickly as they will dry out. They are still delicious young too! And i often cut them thinly into stir fries at that stage.
Also for storage green picked butternut won't store as long as those that have fully ripened on the vine.
Ralph
My seedlings are inside right now therefore they don't face the hot sun except for the early morning sun. They are cucumber, pepper and tomato.
My real problem is to determine when the soil has dried out. The surface does get very dry (because of the fan that is constantly running near them), - so dry that it becomes very hard over the top. But down under I am guessing it is not dry. Now because there are quite a few seedling in each pot, it is difficult for me to determine the moisture level down under (not enough space to put my finger in to determine the condition under the surface).
Therefore I usually just mist the top with a sprinke of water to ease the hardness off the surface. That is a little bit. Is that ok?
For the overall bottom watering I use the weight as an indicator that it is dry after which I bottom water. Inside that happens around every 4-5 days.
I donâÂÂt generally have a fan on my seedlings. I do water from the bottom. When I notice the top is getting dry, itâÂÂs a good indicator that the water in the bottom of the tray has been all soaked up. I will typically add an 8th to a 4th of an inch to the bottom. The idea is to keep the soil moist but not soggy.
You could try to stick a bamboo skewer or something thin like that in the side of one of your pots then see if the skewer is picking up any moisture. If so you could probably put some grit on-top of the soil to stop it from drying out so much.
Good Luck!!
pnbrown .....Interesting takes.
I also think of "DIGGING" like you described : digging a hole and taking the soil out, or digging and looking for something like potatoes, carrots. And digging a trench. Again removing soil/dirt out of it. None of these is aimed to condition a bed for planting. BUT then we have the term DOUBLE DIGGING (vs single digging) which aims to prepare a bed for planting. I personally call that kind of digging (like you said) "turning over". And that is how I do it to loosen the soil, to mix a layer of amendments(compost, manure) into the soil and LET it air and bake under sun, (if possible). This kind of TURNING OVER has another advantage(IMO) and it bring some of the soil at the depth to surface, which possibly has more nutrients due to leaching effect. THAT IS REALLY WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT: == TO TILL OR NOT TO TILL == I DO THIS MANUALLY or by a power tiller,like DAN does.
So the burning question(!?) here is : IS IT WORTH IT ? Why bother? just dig a hole big enough for your mater and plant it and STOP breaking your back. LOL
I do use a potato fork sometimes to more deeply mix things. I am rather moderate with this. I don't usually just rock it back and forth, but part way tip up some deeper soil. I like a 10 inch depth in what was originally clay loam or silty clay loam. Just southwest and west of me it is more silt loam...all the way to the Rockies I suppose.
I have very nice loose soil in most of the gardens, but that is partly because of heavy amending. Still, I like a loose and deep bed. I think it is partly because of the years disking soil in the fields to get a decent seed bed. Right across the fence it is no-till which is ok for farm crops with their big machinery to plant the seed.
If you are bottom-watering, then i wouldn't worry about the surface dryness.
Actually surface dryness is a plus, that there will be less bacterial and insect infestation. Depending on the size of your seedlings, most probably the roots are already way down, near the bottom of 4" pot.
Leave them on the vine, if the vine is live and going. Chances are they might change color. But after the vine dies pick them and keep the in a place like a garage and see what happens.
Nothing else, you can cook them and see how they taste. Butternut squash is the sweetest squash/pumpkin that I know.
stuffradio .... I don,t think the spay garlics with anything. Maybe they do it with some potatoes. Garlics have many wraps. I also I know that the garlics imported from China have shaved old roots. But that is no problem. And I have heard that it is better to keep garlic at around 55-65F. Or just at room temperature. Keeping them in refrigerator can encourage sprouting.
We grew a new-to-us variety of squash this year called "Dinosaur Eggs". They don't get very big but boy, are they prolific, even in the awful weather we had this year. Most everything else went belly-up but these guys are STILL producing! So they are on the must-grow list for next year.
The rest of my grow-again list is:
Magda squash - not quite as prolific as DE but still outperformed zucchini and straightneck yellow (those 2 are out)
Peas - Now or Later. We were super impressed with both production and taste
Swiss Chard - Bright Lights. Love the flavor and the colors.
Basil - Nufar and Lettuce Leaf. One for cooking and the other for just what it sounds like. It is SUPER on sandwiches.
Parsley, both curly and Italian
Lettuce - any of the mixed packages. I love the different colors and textures.
Tomatoes - Estler's Mortgage Lifter, SunSugar and Black Cherry, not sure about what other varieties. Had a horrible tomato year this year so I didn't get to save any seeds for anything except the SS. All the ones in the garden died, but this volunteer came up IN THE DRIVEWAY (which is mixed gravel and sand, not concrete). It was very small but very healthy and determined to produce so I figure if it was strong enough to survive where it did, hopefully it will do well next year in a better location. I have about 2 dozen seeds I saved from it.
Beans - bush - either Top Crop or Contender; runner - Scarlet. We grew the Scarlet Runners more or less just for fun because we'd never grown pole beans before. I only planted 12 seeds along the fence but we got beans for several meals just from those 12 plants. In fact, it is still blooming! I think I will also try some Kentucky Wonders for taste comparison.
Corn - but probably a different variety than what we tried this year. Probably Peaches & Cream.
Peppers - Banana, and bell, just not sure what varieties yet.
On my no-more list are cabbage, broccoli, melons, beets and carrots. None of those have done well in the last few years and I am not going to waste real estate on them any more.
As far as new things, I'm not sure yet. I am sure, however, that when the catalogs start rolling in in the next few weeks I will find more things than I have room for that I'd like to try!
Edie
I'm not in Virginia, but I am in Utah zone 6a and planted and grew Imperial Star Artichokes for the first time this year and am attempting to overwinter them. We already had our first light frost about a week ago and this did not phase my chokes, but in anticipation of a hard frost sure to come soon I prepared my chokes today for overwintering.
This is what I did:
Cut the foliage down to about 6 inches. Covered them with about six inches of compost, then put about one foot of straw over each plant.
I have four. Fingers crossed that at least a few survive!
Good Luck!!!
usc just give them time. Garlic grows faster in cooler temperatures. I'm in Mi. in the 40's & 50's and mine are sprouting.
gmom
Garlics , just like most bulbs, love cool soil and air. That is why they will overwinter with no problem.
Here is a picture of my garlic patch about mid Feb, few years ago.