23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Hmm, this question has been floating unanswered for a while. I'm not an artichoke expert, but maybe I can begin an answer. Yes, there are different types. Two main types are the Green Globe type and the other is the Imperial Star type. They do have distinctive, but slight differences in shape. I'm not sure about the heart size being related to type, though. It could be, or it could just be natural variation in the plants. Artichokes don't seem to have undergone the same intensive breeding as some other vegetables, or maybe they just don't lend themselves very well to standardization. When you buy artichoke seed, there is great variation in whether the seeds germinate and if they do, how they grow. And another thought is that maybe the ones with bigger hearts just had better fertility and water during growth.

So, I don't know the answer to your whole question, but there's a bit of what I do know and a couple of guesses. Cheers!

Thank you. Maybe if I email a seed company they'd know. If they do I'll post the answer.

https://www2.ag.purdue.edu/hla/fruitveg/MidWest%20Trial%20Reports/2012/01-01_McGrath_Cucumber.pdf. Marketmore 76 was developed for DM resistance, but a new strain has developed which renders M 76 susceptible. At present there does not appear to be any variety with good resistance.

I have grown Diva, Johnny's two years in a row. Last year in unheated greenhouse, this year in GH and outside. I have had only minor problems with Downy Mildew, markedly less than Lemon Cucumber (outside). I have been overrun with cucumbers both years, despite having half as many planted this year as last.
Do I need to be concerned about a new strain of DM for next years crop?
KateQ

My experience matches that of Mark above. In northern California you just sow it direct without any cold treatment or sanding the shell and it generally germinates nearly 100%. A good description of the process can be found at the following link:
Alan Chadwick
Click on "Techniques", and then on "Spinach".

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

I got good results with indoor starting [74 degrees] on July 23rd and outdoor starting on August 23rd.

Plant survival and edibility are two things. Small spring radishes are just good fro a few weeks for eaeting. Then they will bolt or tubers will crack and get wood. But some of the green can be edible. But it will never grow another tuber.

Last fall Iplanted some chinese winter radishes. They did not bulb because I think I planted them too late. Anyway, the overwintered an I kept a few of them to go for seed and the did. They were still live after first set of seeds and were flowering more . the I just pulled them, since I got the seeds I wanted. Now my winter radishes are growing. If I let them they will keep on going till the end of next summer.

The point is that, they wont just die off fast. They are sort of like carrots.

As a general rule of thumb, root crops do not do well with transplanting. This includes: beets, carrots, turnips, radish, Swiss chard (I know, it's grown for its leaves, but it has a deep tap root), parslely (for the same reason), etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

No need for a Canadian SASE, I can't imagine how difficult that would be to accomplish... just send me your address via my member page.

Pnbrown, a SASE would be fine... email sent.

As Alan Chadwick taught, washing the frost off with the hose before the sun hits the plants in the morning will usually save them. Check the following website for more on this.

Alan Chadwick

Click on techniques, then on your subject.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

There is a possibility they are off type. I bought some broccoli seedlings to supplement the ones I grew myself, and two of them have turned out to be Romanescos rather than Premium Crop. Not complaining.

My guess would be that some of the plants you bought at the nursery were in good shape, while others were root bound or otherwise defective. Nurseries are motivated to sell what they have, even if it is of terrible quality. You have to remove some of the plants from their medium (pots, trays, etc.) to check their roots. If there is any sign or bolting or being root-bound, do not buy the plant. Once a plant starts bolting, there is no stopping it. Cutting it back will do no good. The best solution is to start your own seeds, if possible. A good introduction to seed propagation can be found at the website below.

Alan Chadwick

Click on "Techniques" and then choose your subject. These methods are based on those of Alan Chadwick, who brought organic gardening to the USA in the 1960's and 1970's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

i am really into wild foraging. =)

just yesterday i found some matsutake mushrooms! woo hoo, gonna make a nice stir fry with them later. went to a spot with a lot of tan oak, seems they must like this kind of wood.

of course it helps that i live in some really awesome wild land, with thousands and thousands of acres in every direction being an abundant forest, lots of rivers, and hardly no humans!
unfortunately areas like this are too rare.

some of my favorite wild edibles are mallow, very mild taste to the leaves, i find it quite pleasant in salads and on soup. sheep sorrel, i love the zing of any sorrel but this one has the best flavor, chicory, wild grapes, elderberries, and mushrooms among others.

I have tremendous respect for people who grow food and who also look to the outdoors.
I'm a lifelong southern Californian suburbs type, and container gardening is all I can do, so when I read (drooling with envy) about your harvests, wild or not, I really am impressed.

SVB has a life cycle that is actually rather short so in warmer climates one can see 2 or even 3 life cycles in a season. In your zone you may only have one.

But even then the larvae/pupa are only in the soil for a brief period and they do no damage while there. They aren't the problem. The moths are. Even if you have never had SVB in your garden the moths that emerged elsewhere can fly into your garden and lay their eggs.

Preventing the moths from access to the plants to lay eggs is the goal.

Dave

Hi guys...new to the forum and had to look up info about SVB as well....I had a bad season with them killing all my differnet Zucchini plants fairly quickly. My one major mistake I think, was getting them in the ground too early in the season-May. I live in NJ Metro (MYC Area) Zone 7.

This was the first season I tried growing them and I sure learned alot! I tried looking for frass, holes from the borer almost daily yet I was unsuccessful apparently. I even tried slicing the vines once I noticed symptoms to catch the borer but I could never find him! After speaking with a Master Gardener from Rutgers and tons of reading up on it, I think Ill try succession planting with row covers for first half and only remove for pollinating and then do the second planting after July 1st as suggested by MG. I tried all kinds of insect. soaps, DE, and even lots of yellow sticky tapes but wasnt lucky in cathing moths...just a small challenge till next year! BTW, I also hear the larva eggs in soil overwinter. This was a new raised bed with new compost soil, amendments etc so I know that wasnt the case. I read spraying Nematodes now and then in early spring along with tilling or flipping soil at same time will help kill the suckers before they emerge and kill plants.

This post was edited by NJUrbanFarmer on Tue, Oct 1, 13 at 14:59

These were peppers which were brought into the office, and 2 or 3 were outdoors and had plenty of buggies crawling and multiplying out of the soil.

I consulted various online sources and found these 3 substances to be safe for organic use, I assumed they were also safe for the plant.

I followed the ratio for each on the bottle or from the online reference.

So does drying out make sense for a plant sprayed with each (or ANY) of these "safe" pest control agents?

Scott

They are all safe for plants, and humans, if used correctly. But, they are also contact killers, so usually one can rinse them off a few hours after spraying to prevent "possible" harm, like burning foliage et al. The possible exception would probably be the neem, for it also has anti-feeding properties, so NOT rinsing is a wise choice. Again, as long as the conditions are right. For instance, never spray a pesticide when the temps are above 80F or the sum of both the temp AND the relative humidity is greater than 140.

Let's get back to WHAT you were trying to control???

Sounds to me that you visually saw the insects. Next time, take a pic and post it here or in the Garden Clinic forum so it can be identified. After that, it's pretty easy--- You can then attack in the appropriate manner.

Drying out? Sure. Peppers like to dry out between waterings anyhow. But first rinse them off real well and if the bugs show back up, take a pic.

Good luck.

Kevin

"Variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all it's flavour." - William Cowper

I have to admit that I simply do not understand the logic that if a person, for whatever reason, cannot grow as much as is wanted of a certain vegetable variety for every desired purpose then it is not worth growing any of it. When did veggie gardening become an all-or-nothing proposition?

Just for the sake of discussion, asparagus may not be the most efficient use of space but melons, winter squash, and pumpkins are themselves horribly inefficient. Corns are even worse. Cucumbers are terrible unless trellised. The value of anything with a high water content should be suspect (water weight skews yield/sq. ft. totals). The value of anything with a high susceptibility to disease or other problems should also be questioned (a rather inefficient use of space if the plants get sick and die, so there go the tomatoes as they would no longer be worth the risk). What about breaking things down to efficiently and effectively producing the highest amount of human nutrition per square foot - is that not the ultimate goal? It is not just about weights or quantities, or total canning jars filled after all. We should learn the nutritional specs of every vegetable being planted so that information can be properly included into the equation.

If a person wanted to use space as efficiently and effectively as possible then the garden should be completely seeded with something like turnips. Turnips produce an incredible amount of nutritious food (roots and greens) by weight per square foot. They can be eaten fresh, they can be stored long term in the fridge or the root cellar, and they can be preserved using the methods of canning, freezing, or dehydrating. To increase the efficiency even further all the scraps could be fed to pigs to aid in home meat production. Of course I am taking things to an extreme. Obviously it would be a real drag only having turnips to eat, but it makes the point of my argument which is that gardening is about making decisions and decisions should be based on balance, not all or nothing.

If you like the stuff, why not plant one asparagus plant in the garden? It will be a wonderful spring treat and will taste better than any asparagus you buy at any grocery store or farmers market because the spears will be harvested from your plant that is growing in your garden and they will only be touched by your hands. It will also be an experiment that would allow you to observe how much yield you can get from one plant growing in your local conditions. Who knows, you might find the yield to be acceptable enough to allot more garden space for planting more.

Congratulations on your gardening success this year! Nice to hear good things, so many gardening woes posted in this forum during the growing season that it gets rather dreary here at times.

-Tom

Tom, you raise a valid point. In fact turnips and beets are in my plan for next year for the exact reasons you stated.
In my experience the actual bed space required for vining squashes and melons is very small, provided you have an area of non bed space for the vines to go. These can be tied to sturdy trellises as well.

I didnt say that my method is the only way to operate a veg garden, only that its my way. I do not disdain others for planting, harvesting and consuming in a way that pleases them. Filling my pantry with a year's supply of homegrown diet staples is what pleases me.

As the others mentioned, the green stuff is the larvas poop, not eggs.

If you only have a few plants you don't need to spray bt, just find the larva and squash them. Once you know what to look for, they're easy to spot and kill.

-Mark

The next time, cover them wit nylone tulle. The white butterflies lay the eggs. I learned after my cabbages were destroyed.

Of all the butterflies , I dislike those white ones. Ghirrrr !

We have clay and we get all sorts of split and stunted carrots - we are managing to improve them over the years - but my aunt has a garden that has been producing lovely veges for years - look at the carrot she got this year! Not sure how to explain that!

It looks like as if you cut of the young carrot, little below the top, it will shoot out more roots and each one becoming a carrot.
Or it may be that the original one rotted or something ate it.
Juts a theory.

Please just move it outside where they can hatch. Preferably on a plant of some kind. The parasitic wasps that will hatch from it will benefit you 100x more than any damage the hornworm will do.

Dave

will do tomorrow dave, thanks.