23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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.

When I did a search for photos, they (monogerm) look like typical beet seeds (fruit?) just smaller. What I received look like poppy seeds but blacker whereas poppy seeds often look a blue-black color.

Would a company that sells seed internationally go through the trouble of removing the actual seeds from the shell to save on shipping? Maybe they have factories in China where labor rates are probably like $1.20 per day (8-10 work hours) and have crews smashing open beet seedpods and harvesting the actual seeds inside. I know commercial tomato seeds are de-fuzzed for weight reduction, maybe disease reduction too, but beet seeds?? What is your job? "Beetcracker."

The other problem from the same vendor was Stevia seeds that turned out to be basil once they germinated. Maybe I better try germinating some of these in #4 coffee filter paper to see what they look like germinated?

If you're going to pregerminate them, try doing it in a CD case as I have done. This is rainbow chard in the picture below. With beets/chards, each seedling develops root first, then seed leaves before exiting the communal seed case. Wait until then before potting up ... if you really do have beet seeds.

I think some may wonder why you start your peppers so early, and maybe that was part of the reason for that last commentary. You did clearly say you transplanted outside in your post though. If you're not planting out til late May then how large are your seedlings by then? It looks like they are definitely transplant size already and they have a month more to go. I'd imagine it's challenging to keep them happy for 3+ months inside, plus all the space it would take up.

I usually set them out already with peppers on them about 2.5 feet high) Last 2-3 weeks depending on the weather they are in the greenhouse set on my deck, with a heater for cold nights and a fan. If my pots are big enough (I use 2.2 quarts) , that schedule works the best for me. First, I have fruit earlier in the season, and by the middle of October when first frost kills perfectly fine plants I have enough frozen and canned for whole winter long. My yard (including house, two sheds, small orchard and huge compost pile) is just 6000 sq feet. And I grow ALL our summer veggies for 2 people, so I can't plant more peppers, to get more crop. I have to keep them longer, an it generally works. My limit is 30 peppers, 10 eggplants, 18 tomatoes. And I have about 80 pot places - home made growing shelf 2X2X7 feet with two layers, each has 8 2-feet long adjustable height lights and can accommodate 20 pots. Whole construction sits near the deck door(the one that doesn't open) facing south. Another location is spare bedroom, where I have two shelves one layer each(2 regular south facing windows ) with adjustable lights as well. They also can take 20 pots each. Normally, by that time they will be already in the green house, but this year winter was terribly long and my last snow just melted a couple weeks ago!

Doesn't it depend on what weeds these are? Some are easily pulled/hoed, while others can have deep roots & runners that are a nightmare to try to remove by hand(Bermuda grass!). I prefer to pull/hoe when possible. Smothering can work very well w/ very thick mulches - w/ or w/o paper/cardboard underneath. Whatever manages to struggle through thick mulch tends to come up easily when pulled.

You can mulch & wait for several weeks before pulling back the mulch to plant seeds.

Chemical weed killers might be best for those areas where you're not growing things to eat, IMO.

Agree with carolb that it is important to know what weeds these are, specifically if they are spreading by seed or by rhizomes. For example, mulching does nothing to quack grass except make it even happier to be alive. And roundup doesn't even work on it.

Can you post pictures of what weeds you have?

multiple tilling, solarizing, or covering with black plastic for a season are more effective with really difficult weeds than even sprays (if a weed is spreading via roots, and the spray kills the leaves, the roots keep on spreading). These methods can cost you most of a season, but then you save your back from then on. You could work on eliminating the weeds on say, half of the beds, and do what you've always done with the other half. Then next year, switch. With a little luck, in two seasons of 1/2 a garden you'll have eliminated most of your problems.

I like the propane torch idea too. Plus, it's really fun to use, and you can even dress up as a super hero and shout "die!" as you do it. (I had fun with my brother's torch last summer. Very empowering.)

Once Brussel Sprouts flower they are in their final stage of growth. Brussels take a long season. They need to be tranplanted in July for harvest in November, December, January. Because of the summerheat, I have not had much luck getting them started in Georgia.

BTW, eat the flowers and the bolted part. It's all delicious. Sometimes if you cut off the bolted part of a brassica plant, it regrows, too.

Thin and spindly, though still able to stand upright, sounds right to me. I just added 20 new 1 year old crowns to one of my beds earlier this year and everyone of them is 1/4" in diameter or less.

Dave

Thanks. I put a lot of work into that bed. I expected Gus to be a little more impressive for his debut!