23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Color of leaves indicate the state of Nitrogen, in most case. I dark green like the one seen, tells me that the soil is rich in nitrogen and thus the plant get more thirsty. Just like us when we eat too salty food.

Drooping and getting leggy , and not being unable to stand up, is because of the lack of light. They need light as long as they are indoor. And the light source should be so close that they don't grow two high to reach it. But generally, it is very difficult to keep cucurbitacea indoors for two long. I rarely start them indoors and even do not like buying seedling from nurseries unless it is something special. Direct sowing is the simplest way to go.

Highly appreciate your responses.

Unfortunately that one just died. The stem was able to hold on, but the leaves just fell off just hanging on to the stem.

One of the other stem is also falling down and I dont know what to do. Outside the temps are too high for me to do planting.

The leaves are not crisp to suggest they are thirsty, infact they were very soft to the touch - very very soft. Was it a problem of under watering?

It seems I will try out outside. At the moment the daily highs reach 95F between 11 am to 3 pm. Is it ok to sow them outside now and shade them during the above time with a 50% cloth? Is it advisable to try or a waste of time? I thought the forecast temp graph on the link below will provide you with a much better picture of the present and forecaster weather situation over here.

I have some other tomatoes and pepper seedling also inside. I am waiting for their true leaves to come before I plant them in their final containers for outdoor world. How long does it take for the true leaves to emerge. It has been some time now (around a week but still no sign of true leaves).

Any suggestions?

Here is a link that might be useful: Dharan Saudi Arabia - 30 day Weather Forecast

Ah crap. I bought that one as a pack of 4 seedlings from the supermarket and it was the only one that had survived (the rest i'm pretty sure were eaten by snails). It was already in the ground. Luckily I've been drying out some seeds that are just about ready.
Yeah, I'm in Australia. So it's just entered spring.

Keep it watered and see what it does! I've had pumpkins eaten almost to the ground by snails or slugs come back. It might happen! Nancy

Texas has higher absolute temps in summer, that is true, bit it also tends to have soil that hold much more moisture than florida sand, so on moisture content it may be about even.

Also I am talking about different crop families entirely; for example pigeon pea may be productive in circumstances too harsh even for cowpea.

I was thinking you had to be taking about a different crop family. Point noted. I'm not sure I want to devote my home garden to millet, sorghum, maize and cowpeas but, if I did, I might well be able to put away my hose!

@DragonFlyTx- Thank you. Next year I want to do a lot more veges, like Pumpkin, Cantaloupe, and watermelon. With those I will use a trellis, so I have more room to do other types of plants.

Well I just harvested 24 ears today and still have ears that I'll wait on picking.

WHITE Russian Kale -- I wonder if it tastes like Vodka, Kahlua, and milk. ;)

Kevin

Thanks florauk- just never noticed it do that before

woohooman- no-but it does taste very good and is the most productive variety I have tried.

I plant my garlic in the fall and sometimes they do come up by November if the temperatures remain mild. To me this not a problem, but as i am in Norway and temp can get to 0F, i always put a layer of straw on the top of the bed to act as an insulator for over winter.
Ralph

You don't have to mulch them. I've left garlic plants in the garden for two winters and the plants are fine. I do this because from one clove, you get 6 new bulbs...each clove in the first summer's bulb makes a whole bulb the following year. They're very hardy.

"And, IMHO, if you haven't grown or tried a Jimmy Nardello pepper yet, you have really been missing out on something (although I find the thin walls to be rather disappointing)."

Considering how many people cook and make salads with sweet peppers...Jimmy Nardello and Aji Dulce types (various) are grossly underused in most countries. They're thin, but rather uniquely and richly flavored.

Thanks Tom,. sometimes we have different tastes and preferences, like Jalapeno, that came up.

I have stopped growing bell peppers for more than one reason.
--- Not very tasty and flavorful.
--- They are always available in the produce section, at a reasonable price.
--- Honestly, I could not grow them successfully.
Just this past season , I bough a bell plant with 4 good size tomatoes on it. @ $3.95 I though it is worth trying it. Well, what you know, they were the only peppers all season long it had.

BACK TO POINT>

I have a pepper grow list . Right now all I am lacking is ALMA PAPRIKA. I may try Jimmy Nordella, if I have space for it.

The grasshopper lives :-) Still hanging out in my pepper plant, which I thought for sure would be spent by now but continues to pump out more jalapenos than we will ever, ever eat... Perhaps this particular grasshopper is a lucky one?!?

The grasshopper lives :-) Still hanging out in my pepper plant, which I thought for sure would be spent by now but continues to pump out more jalapenos than we will ever, ever eat... Perhaps this particular grasshopper is a lucky one?!?

Would it be ok to harvest some of the bigger outer leaves to eat, while I'm waiting for the heads to form?
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Sure thing. you can. They might be even tastier.

Same thing that happened to me in the spring. They kept getting bigger and bigger, and I was just about ready to give up on them heading. All of a sudden, heads!

Sure. You can harvest some of the outer leaves, but maybe just a couple from each plant at a time. Those large outer leaves create lots of surface area for photosynthesis.

Glib, I've got the hardware cloth and raised beds. Also new raised containers, no bunnies or squirrels (maybe turkeys, not sure!)
I grew beets a couple of years ago, got distracted, and when I went to check they had gotten all woody!
I don't can any more (might start again since I've retired), but can they be frozen? I have a Food saver and freeze most things I grow/sauce/chop/etc. Nancy

I don't know if beets freeze. But I think that in Zone 8 they can stay in the ground uncovered, unless your rodent pressure is overwhelming.

To some degree, it may make a difference where you live. (Just one more reason why it's helpful for you to include your zone in every post.) In my zone, Kale grows all winter long, so I would not want to cut the entire plant. I harvest the larger lower leaves and leave the smaller top leaves to continue to grow. In this manner, I harvest continually from fall to spring from the same plants. Last year, I actually used Red Russian as the background of my pansy planting of Ultima Morpho pansies. It was a beautiful bed all winter and we ate from it too.

But, if you live farther north, it might be better to harvest the entire plant.

Red Russian Kale may just be my favorite green of all, and I like nearly all of them. It's delicious. Enjoy!

Even up north, we harvest the leaves and leave the growing tip. If the plant winters over, it will grow sweet side shoots in early spring (snap them off and eat them.)

sweetquietplace,

How do you normally do it?

To everyone else posting on this subject, I appreciate your input and thank you for the time that you spent to put up additional information! :)

Lots of videos on Youtube showing exactly how to can veggies - I'm sure some discuss potatoes. You'll need a pressure cooker to can spuds.

I had a drier spring in 2012 and saw 5 Japanese Beetles. This spring was wetter and I saw 24 JBs.

ps, I trapped an estimated 270,000 in 2003 and killed hundreds more that year.

Potato beetles live in the soil. So if you were diligent last year and didn't allow any to mature, then it stands to reason there won't be any this year.
We also know that they 'fly in' from surrounding areas, perhaps your neighbours were more diligent also.
Lucky you!!!!!
We tend to forget, this years actions affect next years bugs?

Thanks for the help. I cut one open and it was still white inside. Maybe I'll have better luck next year.

not sure if you have tasted the white one, but last year I picked a sugarbaby that I thought was ripe, but was still white. I tasted it anyway, and to my surprise, it was sweet... not quite as sweet as a full ripe red one, but it was definelty edible..