23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

If it hasn't grown in two weeks, it never will. Cut it off or leave it there, it makes no difference. Maturing to full size versus maturing to ripeness are two different things. To ripen... maybe 6 weeks... at least. Buttercup is a C. Maxima hard-shelled winter squash. Best quality comes from leaving it on the vine as long as there is life in the vine, and maybe longer. And then storing the harvested squashes indoors for 2 months. But if you want to eat sooner, you should at least wait until the shell hardens to the point where your thumb nail won't break thru the rind, being too leathery-hard and tough. Some fruits may not ever get to that point and will last the least amount of time in storage, so eat those first. They aren't full ripe but can make pretty good eatin' anyway.

A female blossom has an small undeveloped potential squash at its base. This may swell and look like its going to grow but for some reason does not fully develop, They stop getting larger at some point and when you realize this they can be eaten like a summer squash.

I started some zucchini indoors a few years ago when we lived in Colorado. I also direct seeded some that same year. The ones that lived indoors for a month under lights did not produce significantly earlier than the others did. Maybe a day or so, but close enough I decided it was not worth the effort to start them early.

I tossed them all today especially the fact that I started them in the jiffy pellets. There was no way they were going to do well when transplanted. Just waiting for the warm weather and I'm directly sowing them. Thank you everyone!!

Like many, I collect my leaves, shred them and cold compost them for 2 years. The second year they turn into this amazing, fluffy, half soil, half mulch material that is incredible. When i run out of that, i use what an old timer taught me to do. Collect your grass clippings and lay them on a tarp in your driveway in the afternoon sun. They will dry right up and turn into a wonderful mulch. It breaks down slowly and works very well. About 50% thickness remains in the beds i put it in last year. I lifted it up and was happy to see hundreds of worms happily living bellow the grass mulch in my raised beds. I have been using dried grass clippings for several years now and have been pleased with the results.

My preference is spoiled hay. I have no probs w/ seeds sprouting from it. & it seems to help prevent diseases better than any other type of mulch I've used. I put it on very thickly - 3-4 inches @ least.

I buy a bale & leave it to weather & turn grayish. I have used it fresh too & as long as it's very thick, I've had no weed probs @ all. I make sure it's matted down, not loose & fluffy - it comes off the bale in compressed layers & I use it like that w/o breaking them up.

Here in FL, we have what's called 'coastal hay' @ the feed stores.

I split them, I'll start cukes inside early but plant squash seed outside once it's warm enough. I do it this way because I plant 3 crops of cukes during the season and pickle a lot so want an early start, plus we eat fresh cukes too. The squash grows fast but usually dies hard so I plant a 2nd crop of those to extend the harvest, both started in ground.

I did it both ways last year and the seeds directly sown rapidly outgrew the seedlings started indoors. They need a lot of watering too indoors and are quick to dry out and get damaged, and hardening off is a pain. I will never start cucurbits inside again. I imagine it takes quite a lot of skill for that jump start on the season to actually work out in a positive way to actually give a jump start and not have too much of a transplant setback.

Thanks Minnie. It's good to hear they will be a long season--we can have early frosts. So they will probably be fine for the early planting too with a good hardening off period and the extra protection?

Volunteers come up much later here.

On Sunday I transplanted 6 artichoke plants into my raised garden in Northern VA (zone 7a). Last night I covered each of them with a pot. Temprature was down to 40 degrees last night; and this morning they looked alright. What I hope will happen is that the pots will protect them from frost but the 38-50 degree temps will vernalize them and allow blooming. I kept 6 plants under lights in case these get killed by a late freeze. Fingers are crossed and the dogs have been warned!

One more night survived with temperature of 36 degrees. So far, so good!

As a test, I left one of my plants uncovered during the frost last night. It appears to be completely unharmed. Of course, it was thoroughly acclimated to cold temps. Under a row cover they seem to have no problem with cold temps from day 1.

Based on this year's experience, for me the tough part has been keeping the artichokes healthy indoors, rather than keeping them alive outdoors. Hopefully they take off, some of the droopy leaves the occurred after potting up still look terrible, but the new growth all looks so much better than anything the plant was doing indoors.

I think the point here is that there is no evidence that one variety of plant actually helps another variety of plant by just by being near it. As noted, it's a fad idea that doesn't have much solid grounding in conventional science. But you can look up the fads. It does make sense to plant things together that like the same conditions. Of course, big plants can shade smaller plants, so that's a good reason NOT to plant big plants on the sunward side of sun-loving smaller plants. By the same token, big plants can be used to shade plants that need some shade.

Now, nitrogen fixing legumes can help other plants, but probably not much in the same season, as the roots won't overlap much. Of course, you can have your beans climb up corn stalks, but their root systems would be sharing the same soil, which is not optimal.

There may be some value in companion planting for pest deterrence, but that's a matter of deciding what pests you need to deter.

I agree about the dubiousness of companion planting science, but I do try to intermingle pollinator attractors (a.k.a. herbs & flowers) & aromatic plants w/ veggies - in an attempt to deter pests. Also, trying to combine those w/ similar cultural needs makes sense when space is limited.

< If too cold now, when is the right time to start seeds outdoors? Or should I start indoors now, but I heard they do not like to be transplanted.>

None of us can tell you the exact time for best planting in your garden. Weather plays a crucial role. As a general guide, watermelon is a warm weather crop, not a spring cool crop. But only your soil temps can tell you when to plant and so many factors affect that so even neighboring gardens are different. So you will need to learn how to take and monitor soil temps. There are many charts available on required soil temps for germination. Containers will warm faster than in ground beds but they will also cool off faster.

Watermelon can be started inside for transplant however it does best when direct seeded at the proper time as transplants are easily set-back or stunted.

Your obvious enthusiasm will see you through but it won't replace the research and homework to be done before planting and all kinds of "how to grow __________ in the home garden" info is available online. :)

http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-watermelons/

Dave

I've been growing icebox size watermelon (sugar baby and its hybrid cousin tiger baby) in a 25-gallon half whiskey barrel for the past five years, and it works well in my situation. I plant my seeds indoors and transplant them very gently when they have just formed their first true leaves and daytime temperatures are reliably above 70. I've grown four or five plants in the barrel and gotten an average of two watermelons for each plant. I did try trellissing them, but as soon as I see the melons begin to form, I gently rearrange the vines so the fruit is resting on the ground or some sturdy platform. The vines still range over the trellis, which is very pretty, but eventually they climb out of the pot and extend a few feet out from it on the ground. My melons are usually around five pounds, which may be a little smaller than ones grown in the ground, but they are so sweet and clean. The planting mix I've been using is the 5-1-1 they talk about in the Container forum. It's five parts pine bark fines to one part each perlite and peat moss. My situation may not be ideal, but I can't grow melons in the ground, and this works well for my small family. Here's a photo from last July.
And here's one from June, a year earlier:

Had a good hard frost yesterday morning and expect the same this morning. I saved the blueberries by spraying them with water as the sun was hitting them. I'll try the same this morning. Everything else that needed to be covered was.

There was ice in a bucket of water this morning so it was obviously at or below freezing here, just not sure how much lower. All my cool weather veggies as well as the flower seedlings that were winter sowed came through unscathed. What I'm most worried about are my gooseberries as they have flower buds on them. They've been covered with a double layer of row cover for the past few days and I haven't taken it off to check yet.

Rodney

I have read that cold temperatures can sometimes cause premature heading, but I don't put mine out early enough so that this has been an issue for me, so no personal experience.

I covered my broccoli to be safe. Forecast says 30, which means probably even colder in my garden. They are small and adjusting slowly and I don't want them bolting on me. I didn't cover the cabbage, if for no other reason I ran out of row cover.

I wouldn't go there if you don't know if they are heirlooms. I wasted lots of time nurturing and watering volunteer tomatoes. They all turned out to be bitter cherry tomatoes.

I think I id'ed the big plant. It does not have the smell. It seems like a seedling of the golden rain tree outside our fence. So that's that.

I will have to look at the location of the little seedlings and see I can leave them to grow there!

IME, mulch does help, but not until the plants have some size. We've always had multiple indoor/outdoor cats and they are attracted to newly worked beds. I have used 2"x4" welded wire fencing to cover new plants. Cat paws can get caught(even briefly)in chicken wire and cause havoc(struggling and flopping around)and that can damage plants nearby. The fencing can be easily bent and the edges can be clipped to leave "prongs" that sink into the ground. The fencing sections can also be easily removed when the plants are larger and more resistant to nearby digging by not only cats but skunks, racoons, opossums, etc. Shredded wood mulch works well since it kind of locks together and is more difficult(but not impossible) for animals to pull back and dig through. HTH

I used the wire this year and I can't weed very well. I'm going to cut the wire in sections for next year so I can remove them and weed. Last year I had a lot of bamboo trimmings and criss crossed them throughout the beds with several sticking out of the ground. That seemed to work pretty well. Nancy

Well, don't just throw it away. Brussel sprouts leaves are good eating. Taste somewhat like brussel sprouts, but a little less cabbagy. Think collards. The spring sprouts that grow out of the top are like rapini. So chuck 'em if all you want are the sprouts on the stem. But these plants have more to offer than that.

I gave up on BS after a couple of tries. My first batch I planted in July/Aug and were growing fine, but when I asked a guy at the local organic grocery (who I knew was a gardener) He mentioned that aphids swarm to them!

Apparently I hadn't been wearing my glasses while out in the garden, cause once I put them on I saw they were LOADED with aphids! Way past the spray them off with a stream of water! Nancy