24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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ilodato(6b)

I stored mine in the kitchen and they did great. Its about 70 degrees in there (maybe more when we are cooking.) we ate the last one in I think April and it was terrific.

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exocytosis

ilodatao, great to hear that. Guess I don't need to worry about rats now.

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prput68

An old timer once told me to plant turnips on the 25th of July wet or dry and harvest them on the 25th of October drunk or sober. I'm in northern Missouri so I don't know if this works for your area or not.

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laceyvail(6A, WV)

I'll be planting mine in a week or so.

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glib(5.5)

I am also a collard fan. Extremely nutritious, extremely hardy, easy to grow, disease resistant. The stems are used for stock. People here can not believe that I harvest things in January ad February. Most of the time I wait for a thaw to pick them, because it is hard work to saw a bunch of frozen collard trunks while hunkering down in a hoop house. Cleaned and washed, they remain pristine for 2 or 3 weeks in the fridge inside a garbage bag.

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laceyvail(6A, WV)

By far the hardiest vegetable I grow are Savoy cabbages, which winter in the open garden with only a double fold of medium weight row cover. I have harvested them with no damage at all after nighttime temps of 10 below zero.

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glib(5.5)

Yes, the N/P needs vary from about 3/1 (fruiting plants like tomatoes) to 4/1(leafy plants like collards). Dan, I agree that optimum is a fuzzy concept. But why go above optimum? and spend money in doing it? and pollute the environment in the process?

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azdoctor

Healthy plant leaves typically contain roughly from 2.5 to 3.5% nitrogen (on a dry weight basis), 0.2 to 0.35% phosphorus, and 1.5 to 3% potassium. We often don't apply them in these relative quantities, partially because uptake efficiency varies. Nitrogen, particularly, is easily lost from soil, and target plants absorb between 30 to 75% of applied nitrogen.

The ratio of your fertilizer is relatively unimportant. Apply as much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as is needed. Find a fertilizer that fits your needs. This applies to organic and synthetic nutrient sources.

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farmerdill

Looks more like a melon than a gourd or squash. You will not know until you taste it if it is palatable. Even the ornamental gourds are edible, some of them just taste bad.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

<I rely on saving seeds each year to plant my selection of ornamental and edible gourds. >

That will create chronic ID problems for you then since they are one of, if not THE, most prone to cross pollination items there is. Saved seeds routinely produce what I call"mutants". So if you want to know what you are getting then like even the most avid seed-savers, don't save seeds from the gourd/squash family. It is nigh onto impossible to get them to breed true.

Dave

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jocoyn

Say my first year with eggplants was so so but this year I planted peppermint as a companion. WOW. They are going gangbusters ....... This ping tung long is AMAZING it is almost 4' high and have produced about 10 good eggplants with as many starting formation. I planted as a plant but will order seeds next year.

http://www.southernexposure.com/ping-tung-long-eggplant-025-g-p-1109.html

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krissy Canto

Only a few inches small, not ideal for stuffi g but luckily I have big ones from the farmers market. Stuffed zuchini soubds good. My grandmother used to stuff eggplant thst way but without riccotta. Riccotta sounds great though and I make fresh riccota I could even try stuffing my eggplant that same way. Those zuchini look very good.

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tcgardener

Not sure how much longer your growing season is but if they don't produce blossoms you can always include the leaves in your salads. They are quite tasty.

Craig

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RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)

My peppers were still producing by mid October. But the frost came on about 10/20/2014. So I figure I have at least two more months to go. Same with tomatoes....

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Larry Welch

My experience with Fortex has been great. I'v had them keep producing up untill insect pressure got very high late in summer.

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springtogarden(6A)

I am thinking of the same kind of freezer too Peter. I have just the spot for it.

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

DE wouldn't do anything to voles. I personally haven't had any experience with them (yet) so can't really offer much advice but hardware cloth seems to be the best choice of protection.

Rodney

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nonoyabusiness

A few years ago a similar fate,befell oriental lilies so he put DE in the planting holes when replanting and they have been OK since then. I will send him your suggestions. Thanks!

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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

njit, I understand your problem. I have had it off and on for umpteen years. Vine crops are the only crop I tend to have disease problems very much with except for some early blight on tomatoes.

Rotation helps a bit sometimes. The best solution was to find virgin soil or soil that melons [watermelons and cantaloupes] had never been planted in before....fantastic results...like a 22 pound crenshaw cantaloupe and 38 pound Raspa watermelon...234 pounds of melon on a single plant.

The problem I have is soil disease...Mature Vine decline, yellow starting in the middle, and just no finishing plant health.

2 or 3 years and disease has been there.

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njitgrad(6A/6B)

Dave - I did not think I needed to feed my cukes any fertilizer (since my soil results three years ago were great). All I do is water. Should I feed before the season starts or and/or during the season? I just assumed that since everything else is growing so well (bush beans, zucchini, basil, and parsley) that I had enough nutrients in my soil.

What do you recommend I do next year ?

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hoppedup(Maine zone 5a)

It's definitely not moles, they're insectivores, only eat insects. They are known for pushing plants up as they tunnel but otherwise they are pretty harmless to your garden excepting their holes everywhere. They would also tunnel up to the carrot versus down assuming they'd even eat it in the first place which they wouldn't.

It could certainly be voles, they're more like rats and mice (both of which it could also be) You could try planting something to keep them away, you could try trapping them, some find that fake owls will keep rodents away but I've never experienced any luck with them, put and anchor some sticky traps out with a piece of carrot looking all enticing, you'll at least know what you're up against and how to move forward.

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Jeannie Hubing

Thanks, I was thinking of the evil sticky board. Thanks everyone for your help.

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PRO
Jim's(6 East end of Long Island)

Success DOES taste better! Congrats!

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Chris B(6a NY)

Congrats! Doesn't get more fresh than picking from your own plants.

If you ever get around to growing cherry/grape tomatoes, the taste(compared to supermarket bought) is UNBELIEVABLE.

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Peter (6b SE NY)

I planted sweet potatoes this year and they are not doing well. They are shaded by other more vigorous plants in the garden especially with the late planting date, and the slips I got from Steele were completely dried up. They sent more but they weren't much better and were very slow to get going, I was disappointed. I doubt I will grow them again. Maybe if I could plant them outside the fenced garden but as they are very attractive to deer I don't anticipate success. If I get a meal or two of fingerling sweet potatoes my expectations will be met.

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annie1992

I've grown sweet potatoes three times here in Northern Michigan, I'm zone 5. The first year the Georgia Jets I planted did wonderfully. The last two years I've planted Beauregard, Nancy Hall, Georgia Jet and another white skinned sweet potato. My yield has been pretty much zero, in spite of watering, mulching, building up that high "hill" that Steele tells me SPs like. I've given them up, I'll just have to buy them, the slips cost about $20 by the time I pay shipping and SPs are less than 50 cents a pound here in season. Definitely not cost effective, as well as frustrating...

I never thought of the night time temps, although I did cover the ground around the plants with black plastic to keep in heat, with no apparent improvement. It's usually in the 50s here at night, even in July and August, and some nights dip into the 40s.

Annie

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emmalehman

Thanks, that is the first I have heard of biofumigation. What a cool process.... I use beneficial nematodes, but this is the first I have heard of using plants to control detrimental ones.

I appreciate all the advice, I will hopefully update you all in a few months how things go. My garden is weed central, so I need to spend days dealing with that before I cover crop.

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exmar

No advice as to what to plant, that seems to be well covered. I used to like buckwheat, but it's gotten very expensive in recent years. Anyway, just wanted to pass along a trick to seeding cover crops or lawns. After you've tilled and got the seed bed ready and spread the seed, then use a rear tine tiller. I'm talking about the reverse tine tiller sold by lowe's, sears, etc. etc. Put the depth stake at "transport" tines in forward, enough throttle above idle just to keep it going and go over the seed bed. It scatters the seed around and slightly covers it. Very slick.

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