23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Ah, makes perfect sense. Now that you say that the few times I've had them split was after some heavy duty rain! Thanks!

My red cabbage does the same thing after a big rain sometimes - just go ahead and harvest it. Don't wait for the insects to move in.

It is a mongrel. It has happened to me many times. I have always eaten my mongrels. This year I had a zucchini turn into a bottle shaped gourd (I ate it, nothing special). Two years ago I had a winter squash, nominally a butternut, with butternut shape and Hubbard size and warty rind, which was one of the best tasting squashes I have ever had (I saved the seeds). I had to tie it to the trellis because it would have broken the vine. One other zucchini made a giant vine and is blooming only now. This has happened with both Territorial and Johnny seeds. With Territorial melon seeds I had a veritable house of ill repute, and numerous soapy tasting melons.

I'm sorry to hear that about Territorial seeds.

Lettuces are not grown in Summer. Please see below link.

Personally I only grow Romaine Lettuce, aka Cos Lettuce. I grow them from Fall to Winter and Spring. In Southern California, we don't get any freeze... well some.. but not a lot. I've never started them indoors; I always had sown them directly in-ground.

Not sure how cold it gets up where you are. But Summer isn't the time to grow lettuce. And they don't really need much TLC. Possibly you're over doing it?

If you want to grow them indoors, then get a pot (about 3 to 5 gallon sized) with water retainer on the bottom. Put it next to a window where it will get enough sunlight.

Here is a link that might be useful: lettuce growing

This post was edited by Avocado101 on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 22:57

"Lettuces are not grown in Summer" That's rather a categorical statement. It depends where you live, what your climate is like and which varieties you choose. In many climates they can be grown throughout the summer.

Nightrun86's seedlings just look etiolated to me. ie they need more light. I'd be interested to know what his/her outdoor temps are at the moment. Maybe they don't need to be inside at all?

Since when the mealybugs become the good guys? The good guy is "mealybug destroyer", which is a totally different bug which looked very similar to the pest mealybugs.

And the yellow worm-like thing is likely a flower fly larva which also eats aphids.

Unfortunately, old corn stalks have very few nutrients to add to garden soil. Even in compost, they will need some nitrogen-rich materials to help them break down. When you put corn stalks or fresh leaves or sawdust into the soil, they suck much of the nitrogen out of the soil to use in their own decomposition process. This is counterproductive to building soil fertility.

I would collect all the corn stalks, make a flat layer of them over some good soil outside your garden beds, and then start a compost pile over them. They will assist in air entering the pile from below, which will speed up composting. After six or eight months, aided by the nutrients above them in the pile, they can be added to soil if they look like they have rotted adequately. The website below has a lot of information on composting. Click on "Techniques" then on "compost."

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

Nutrients aren't everything. The stalks will produce humid acids and feed the earthworms, who will turn the soil over the years. I think grinding vegetable residual in place is the way to go, and I do it all the time. There is no possibility of increasing the nutrients in the soil by taking it away and composting it elsewhere. Caveat: if the vegetable is diseased, I prefer to bury it.

Preserving summer squash methods are limited. As often discussed on the Harvest forum there - the food preservation forum - sliced they dehydrate well into zucchini chips and will store for months that way. I doubt the chickens would care if they get them as dried chips.

Otherwise, they can't be canned but you can freeze them shredded in ziplock bags.

Dave

I've kept large zucchini inside on the counter for 2 months or more in the fall. They were okay to dice and add to soups or shred and add to baked goods: not so good for stir fry, etc. I've used overgrown zucchini along with pumpkins, winter squash, etc. for fall decorations on the porch. The zukes were fine out there for several weeks of mild weather. Freezing wrecks them, of course.

You should be able to easily store an older zucchini with a tough skin for a few months if you aren't concerned with how it tastes to you. I'd try a dry place such as a garage or shed and avoid the moist, humid cellar. I'm not sure if storage all through the winter would work, though. Check them weekly and let the chickens feast more often if the zukes aren't doing so well.

Well, OK. Jokes on us. It turns out this was a cantaloupe. It became obvious as it matured, with the net-like skin, and once harvested, was solidly orange and entirely cantaloupy inside.

The lesson here is that, when immature, cantaloupe and honeydews look almost identical.

Ah, the pleasures of volunteers.

Of course I'd never say that it was actually a muskmelon and not a cantaloupe, and that anything with a net-like covering is a muskmelon :-)

NO melon/cantaloupe there.
On the top right hand I see squash. Lobed leaves)
The rest are most likely cucumbers.
With cucumbers, once they start flowering, you should harvest fruits within 2 to 3 weeks. That is what I like about cukes: You don't have to wait for months. Summer squash is also like cucumber.

FWIW, I have both butternut squash and canteloupes, and the leaves and look a lot like those in the picture, though of course the leaf size in the picture isn't very obvious. The lobes in the picture are sort of pointy, though, and mine are sort of rounded. That may well point to cukes. All the cukes I've ever grown have lobed leaves.

ltilton, maybe you can setup some shade for some of your plants.

WEll, weather is crazy. Here at PNW, almost zone 8, our highs are in low 70s and going down to 60s soon. A LOOOONG fall is ahead of us.

Of the fall crops, all I have is fall radish(oriental variety) and onions that I intend to use as green onions. Also experiment overwintering. I might try some garlic and shallots after the tomatoes are done.

But about your case, I don't think your fall crops will be harmed in one week. Just keep" their feet wet"'. I would cover the emerging seedlings by straw/hay ? I have seen, that is how they grow grass in the heat of summer. And keep sprinkling few times in a day.
They might grow a bit faster.

Sorry, blanching will help with flavor by limiting chlorophyll production, but it won't do a thing for texture. The stringy stalks are from not enough water while growing, as someone else said. Celery feeder roots are very shallow and need lots of surface moisture.

Don't give up hope though, It still might get better over the fall with the cooler weather.

I've been growing it for market for a dozen years now and still think celery is one of the more difficult plants to grow unless you have the right soil and the right climate, which I don't. :(

-Mark

Lolear, how big are your stalks now?

I accidentally bought a flat of celery seedlings this Spring, because I thought they were flat leaf parsley. Decided to just plant them, and bought some more parsley seedlings. (Usually I start parsley from seed, but accidentally fried the seedlings.)

Have never grown celery before, and am wondering how big they should be by now. Mine are only about 1/4 inch thickness.

I have given my container grown peppers osmocote once monthly this summer. I just use the recommended amount for the size pot the plants are in. I have probably chopped and frozen a three years supply of peppers from five plants and I still have a good 8 to 10 weeks more of growing season left. With good care, your peppers will continue to bear until the weather gets too cold for their liking. (And it's possible to take them inside to finish, if you have adequate light for them.)

I'd do what nc said. Half strength of MG All -purpose once a week or 2 until frost hits.

Kevin

Homemade compost as long as it lasts.

Cover crop. I couldn't possibly say enough good about its ease, price, and effectiveness.

composted horse or chicken manure. They are what I can get and they are both excellent. My soil is very nitrogen poor.

In a pinch, in the heat of summer, or when I just need a little filler for a raised bed that has diminished in mid summer, bagged Cow Manure.

ialbtc "It All Leads Back to Compost"

You Know You are a Compost Whacko When.......