23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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

This weekend I will finally have time to do this! I am going with 36" smart pot and mound, and planning to do 5-6 seedlings and thin down to 2. I got seeds for Costata romanesco and Zucchnio Rampicante and will have a high trellis for Rampicante. So excited! Hope it works out well!

What type of soil do they like the best? I was thinking of doing mel's mix, but anything more favorable for summer squashes, wise gardeners?

Containers - which you are using - are normally filled with a soil-less mix blend. Mel's Mix is for beds not containers and requires frequent nutrient additions. You'll find many recommendations on the Container Gardening forum - 5-1-1 is common as is Miracle Grow Potting Mix and similar products. Do NOT use Miracle Grow garden Soil as it is not for containers.

Dave

Directions a bit more specific than Dave's:

Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

Thansk i did it.

The purpling of the underside of the leaves is normal in young plants and it disappears on its own as the plant begins to mature. It is a normal physiological response of the plant and it isn't a phos deficiency as it would be in mature plants. You'll find many discussions about it over on the Growing Tomatoes forum here.

The yellowing stems and leaves is usually a symptom of over-watering and with a homemade mix it can be difficult to avoid doing that. Leaves droop for many reasons and they will droop just as often from over-watering and the resulting root rot as they do from under-watering.

However, please do note how weak the nutrient levels in fish emulsion is compared to most other liquid fertilizers. Using it at least at 1/2 strength or even at full dilution rates isn't the issue it is with other fertilizers. Many will use it at 1/4 strength every time they water, not just once as you have done.

Lastly, I strongly agree with the need for increased air circulation.

Dave

what's in your homemade potting mix?

Looks like red leaf lettuce to me... and not at all crispy.

Yeah looks just like Red Sails or maybe, Vulcan Red leaf.

Dave

My Jet Star looked like that after missing them during watering and letting the pot completely dry out.

Thanks! They should go into the ground around Mother's Day. I got them into larger pots now. I hope they recover. I actually started them later than I usually do. I have transplanted them around that size and larger with no problem, though this batch this year does seem larger than in years past.

Purple skin purple-fleshed sweet potatoes, tastes may be not so good as white skin purple-fleshed ones( Okinawan sweet potatoes), will grow again 2015.

http://www.stokesfoods.com/nutrition.htm

Anthocyanin content in the Stokes Purple is 4 times greater than in Okinawan sweet potatoes.(Truong, 2009).(Truong, 2009)

Squash - This was my first year to grow Yokohama, Chirimen, Kikuza, Anna Swartz, Pink Jumbo Banana, Hessel's Sugarloaf, Australian Butter, Jarrahdale, Honeyboat Delicata, Thelma Sander's Sweet Potato, Shishigatani, & Rugosa Butternut. Squash is my fave veg so I had fun. These were all fun but none were better than, for my taste, my Fave - Kabocha. They all were good in their own way and in diff't dishes, pies, soups, etc. I also grew Homestead Sweetmeat, Blue Kuri, Waltham Butternut [For my wife], Golden Pippin and Winter Luxury. Going to try all new ones this year, BUT will remember the better ones from 2014 for the future.

Just a note on peppers as perennials. I do it routinely, but they suffer each winter with freezing temps that I (barely) protect them from. By spring, they may look pretty ragged, but I trim the damaged foliage mercilessly, fertilize (ideally with a strong hit of N), and they seem to recover. This was a particularly rough winter, but I have lot of new green foliage on my 3-yr old TAM Jalapenos, and even a few flowers. They are built like small trees, about three feet tall after trimming, with woody trunks.

That doesn't explain why your peppers are fading, but it may be for some other reason than age. Perhaps a less tolerant variety that came out of your hybrids. Now, you don't say where you are, but I know that you can get hard freezes in the Costa Rican mountains. You do say, however, that you have year-round growing season, so maybe cold weather stresses aren't to blame.

Specifically, I'm near the Orosi Valley just a few kilometers south of Paraiso. Elevation is a little above 4,000 feet. The mountains south of me on the road to Panama have higher elevations and occasionally get snow and freezing temps. Not often, but maybe every few years or so. Here, on rare occasions, it might get down to the upper 40's. Since my original plants are still healthy and producing the long, smooth, serranos and cayennes, I'm going to try several versions of pruning the second generation plants. From radically cutting to only a stalk, to less radical pruning and leaving some limbs. I've got about 10 plants to work with so maybe I'll get results. BTW, I just planted seeds from my second generation and about 90% of them are coming up like weeds. I look forward to putting them in the ground in a month or so.