23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Well, I missed my window of opportunity, and they were bitter today :(.
I cut them all, and stuck them in boiling water for 3 minutes. Still bitter. But 4 minutes worked :).
They have made lovely large beets, and I m still wondering if I'm doing the right thing, leaving them in the ground in hope of more leaves (which will presumably make the roots woody and icky),
Thing is, I still have beetroots in the fridge from the winter crop...
Wait till fall for the spinach and let it winter over, protected with some autumn leaves. You'll have huge plants in spring. Plant now and it will bolt and you'll have nothing.
The rest you can plant now.
This post was edited by susanzone5 on Sun, Jul 28, 13 at 19:47
I planted horseradish iin the garden one year and dug it up in the fall And the roots were thin and long. Good flavor. Some of the roots snapped off way way down deep deep.
The next year it came back up 6 or 7 feet from where I planted it. I dug it up. And it snapped off way way down deep deep. Had good flavor. Long thin root.
The next year it came back up to 20 feet away from where it was planted. It is going to take a backhoe to dig deep enough to get all the root. If one little piece gets left in the ground, it will be back next year. Good luck.
I am no expert...but your plant looks fine to me. The tips of a few leaves are yellowing and that might be over-watering(???).
There is a tutorial on this website that simply explains how to imbed a photo in the post. You will probably get more responses if you try to do that.
Could it be early blight or another blight? I took my affected plant leaves to a local store where they have gardeners who have been gardening for years and that is what they told me I and my entire garden community had. If it is blight, remove all yellowing, dead branches with some clippers and throw the affected branches away. Sanitize the clippers after use. Water with a soaker or be careful with the hose so it doesn't splash up onto the plant. Some people will spray fungicide others will just remove the affected leaves and not spray anything. You may be able to do that too because we are far along in the growing season, at least in my area. My community garden is picky so I could only spray some potassium bicarbonate (bi-carb old fashioned fungicide). They do look a lot better now that I sprayed. Your plants are really robust looking so maybe just removing the leaves would be enough? The only thing is, is that if you have to remove too many leaves I've read it can cause some sun damage. I hope this helps and good luck!
Sunscald. Thick fleshed varieties, like bells, are more prone than others.
How to prevent it... well, if their in a container, rotate the container occasionally. In ground, shade cloth during hot, bright hours of the day can help. Or, you just accept the fact that some fruit may not make it.
Kevin
Great news. We picked our first 2 red tomatoes on Thursday of last week. They came from the plant that's apparently a cross between last year's "regular"-sized big tomatoes and last year's cherry/grape tomatoes.
Even better news. Those 2 tomatoes taste dee-lish! They're so juicy and flavorful. I was surprised how good they are, after reading I might be disappointed. I hope their seeds produce true next year. Wow, that 84-count plant (it probably has over a 100 toms on it now I guess) not only produces tasty tomatoes but it produces them fast. We have another 4 toms ripening red right now, and, although we have lots of toms on our "regular," big-sized tomato plants, they're all still green as of today I think.
By the way, the size of the first 2 red toms on that 84-count plant was about 1.5 inches tall and 1.5 inches wide. They're pretty round. I guess each tomato is about the size of 2 ping pong balls.
The roots are probably restricted because of where you planted them. Melons and their roots need lots of space, and planting mix is not ideal, and neither is daily watering in such a restricted space. You have some type of wilt, and the plant is probably toast. Next year, pick a better spot; the one you have is not ideal.
This post was edited by rayrose on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 8:29
This looks like it could be Phytophthora blight. Here's a recent discussion of it.
Here is a link that might be useful: phytophthora blight
Re: compost it depends. I always prefer to do as much composting in place as possible, first mulch, but I get such healthy vegetables by burying kitchen scraps and/or dead plants at the end of season that I do that as well whenever possible (to avoid spreading diseases, I bury all dead plants in a single bed, then plant something that does not get diseases). The fine compost you are referring to, I use it only for direct seeding, most often by simply mixing, say, one tbsp of seeds in one bucket of compost, then I spread it.
Mulch has a lot of advantages. If wood chips, it is free, lasting, and conditions the soil. it encourages slugs and mice, though. slugs are dealt with sluggo, but at my previous garden I would occasionally get mice colonies.
So, lots of way to skin this cat. given soil and local fauna.
Start with the soil tests. The first year you might have to buy compost (make sure it's been tested for herbicide residue) to amend as early in the spring as you can to plant your summer annual garden, and any perennials you want to start the first year. You can start the compost going the first year too, with a large extended family (I have one too) maybe you can get lots of kitchen scraps, leaves, grass (no weed and feed!) etc. to add to it. I assume your family doesn't garden themselves - mine does, so I rarely get anything to compost since they compost their own (I forgot to ask my uncle and cousin for chicken litter this spring when they cleaned out the coops - have to see if they have any in the fall, I'm not sure when they clean). Also look around the area for dairy, beef or horse farms with free manure (esp. with the horses, ask where they got their hay and straw to make sure it's herbicide-free). The goats will be a great source of manure for you. I personally won't use pig manure.
Sounds like you're starting a small farm! Hope the extended family will put in some labor too. Good luck!
I bet its borers. I live in Texas, and 95 is a nice and cool day for us!! When it gets over 100, my plants will wilt a little bit, but as soon as shade hits them in the evening they perk back up right away. (even when its in the upper 90s in the evening).
One way I can tell borers is not only the frass, but look at the vines. If they look green and healthy they they are OK. But if they look swollen and yellow, its time to inject with BT or stab them with a needle.
I've found that if you keep watering them after they fall you risk splitting, which is when the onion swells quickly and splits a few layers of skin. While this isn't the end of the world, it does mean the onion won't keep as well.
If there is some ground moisture that should be fine to keep them growing larger till they are done, which should be in just over a week. If it's bone dry, by all means give them a little water.
I see no reason to leave them in the ground till the tops are brown, by that point sunburn becomes an issue. I lift mine while mostly green but dry, brown skin has formed. Then I cure them with tops on in a well ventilated, dry, shady place.
But this is just the advice from someone that grows thousands of pounds of onions every year :)
-Mark
nice flowers. Is the black thing at the back a kind of plastic mulch?