23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I believe that the problem may be the plants you are buying, and what season you are planting them in. If you buy your plants from a big mega store like Home Depot or Lowes, you run the risk of buying plants that are heavily dependent on fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides. I would recommend you grow your garden from seed, and follow a planting guide.You can check out our Facebook page for free info on planting and seed selection.

Quick bits of advice would be;
Grow from heirloom seeds
Grown in season
Grow organically
Plant companions

Even people with a black thumb should have no problem growing a beautiful garden if they stick to those few guidelines. Hope this helped, feel free to contact me at flseeds@live.com or here for more information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Facebook Page

I grew a container garden in south FL for several years. It's a fabulous climate for gardening! Just don't expect broccoli and peas in summer. See link for planting calendar.

As mentioned above, fall winter and spring are the only times worth growing many of the traditional annual veggies.

Look into tropicals! First of all, get some pineapples going! There is nothing more satisfying than growing a pineapple, tons of youtube on how to start from the tops of storebought pineapples.

Sweet potatoes!

Ginger, lemongrass, turmeric do fantastically.

Grow mangoes, coconuts, loquats, bananas, citrus!

Some exotic summer veg are malabar spinach, kang kong (ipomoea aquatica), asian winged bean, Moringa Oleifera.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/calendar/index.html

Think how much better it'll be next year!

Just living in Montana would be good enough for me.

Thanks all, for the info, folks.

Nancy, you were right. I washed the potato and it smelled very moldy while wet. (No black spots. They were perfect). I let it dry and there is no smell at all now, and they taste fine.

Glib, what's the difference between the seed potato and the new potato? I didn't dig up the one I planted (the seed potato?). Is it even there anymore? I guess I'll eventually dig to find out.

Seysonn, none of my other root/soil crops (or soil) ever smelled as moldy as these potatoes. I wonder if it's just a characteristic of potatoes. It's amazing how the smell disappears when dry.

sometimes the seed potato, if planted whole (I plant whole small potatoes, saves time) will not disintegrate, but the skin will be darker, the flesh is translucent, and they smell. I picked mine 4 weeks ago and there were several, maybe one in 5 plants. Obviously, they are not good to eat.

A good cabbage variety for California is Early Jersey Wakefield. This was a favorite of famed organic gardener, Alan Chadwick. He grew it in Santa Cruz, but its performance in San Diego should be equally as good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

I agree with Donnabaskets.. have always had great results with Premium Crop. It has been my go-to performer. Others which I've tried with good results are Everest, Majestic Crown, and Packman. All of the preceding are hybrids. The only OP broccoli that has done well for me is Green Goliath.

I don't usually plant cabbage; I prefer to use all avaible space for broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. However, Flat Dutch would be what I would plant if planting cabbage.

The list below might be helpful. It is not complete as Diplomat (a new cultivar I am trying this year) is not on the list...

The sad news is that folks at the garden center in town are telling that they will not likely be able to get Premium Crop any longer. Diplomat is their trial replacement.

Here is a link that might be useful: Broccoli Cultivars

Prairiemoon, I agree with the above posts. This year I have had a lot of spotty germination for some reason, even things like cucs and squash. I have done a lot of digging of seedling plants and moving them into proper spacing and have been very pleasantly surprised with the results. The trick seems to be to wait for the first set of true leaves before moving, then dig, trying not to disturb roots and water instantly.
I was short of broccoli seeds so I pricked out every last one that came up and moved it. Didn't lose a single one. Good luck to you!

Oh, great! Thanks for sharing your experiences, I have a lot that germinated, (emptying the pack lol). Now to find somewhere to put them all. I just commandeered a spot in the perennial border for Brussel Sprouts, so I guess that is an option. I still have tomatoes hanging on in a lot of my beds and peppers in the others, that still have a lot of small ones. I'm hoping it will stay warm long enough for them to mature before I pull the plants.

I always plant my cucs and zucs at the end of june, and they thrive until frost.

If I plant them early in the summer, they succumb to bacterial wilt and vine borers. I really want to plant them earlier, I only just last week am harvesting, but I get more fruit this way.

I know a fellow who farms a bit, he told me to plant cucumbers on June 21.
Never mentioned why, however I'm going to try that next season.
His cucumbers are gorgeous.
By the way, I ordered cuke seeds this year from Twilley's seeds.
They have a cucumber named, thunder, other seed catalogs have it also.
Thunder is noted as being resistant to many maladies, 1 of which is the bacterial wilt.
I havent had cucumbers like this years crop, ever.
Although it could be that I changed over to SFG.

The two fruits growing close together - I don't think it's anything to worry about.

What zone are you in? Sometimes they are slow to fruit, and some varieties just don't produce that much fruit. Not sure about your variety as I've never grown it. I hope you get more!

-Anne

Im on long island the northeast region of us, in ny. Well I have planted this variety before and it usually grows pretty rapidly and provide a reasonably big abundance of fruit. I did plant these kind of late in the season and by me they coukd grow till about tge end of october depending on weather conditions, but never had them grow so close.

This post was edited by krissylovesplants79 on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 14:55

vgkg, How did you deal with the skunk?

Wayne, this was the 3rd skunk that I've caught over the past 10 years. Other critters are easy to transport far out into the countryside and release, but placing a skunk in my vehicle is not an option. So as to not upset the sensitivities of animal lovers here send me an email and I'll give you the details.

I did, both from a hose then with soapy water made from baby shampoo.

Neither worked and the next day the ants appeared.

Cut off all the affected leaves and throw them in the garbage can. Then start the watering to wash off any remaining bugs and maybe add a bit of soluble fertilizer. The plants will grow new leaves. It's worth a try.

Sure they will last till fall planting.
The only thing that I think of is that they will dry up faster. Keep them in like sawdust, shredded news paper.
Also, you wouln't want to plant the tiny ones in the middle. So use them in cooking/personal use and kepp the big cloves for planting.

Next time you miss harvest time, leave the plants in the ground for another winter. The one plant will produce a lot of new bulbs, one from each clove that has split. I did that last year and I will always do that now! What a harvest! I left the six biggest plants in the ground and got 6 big bulbs from each plant the second summer.

My old muscles are now taking half the load in twice the time :)
But it's a good kinda hurt.

Older muscles here too. I pulled my back muscle in the garden this spring and ended up at PT. I didn't realize how de conditioned I was. I have underlying medical issues that keep me inactive for periods of time and that unravels the muscles I manage to build up in the garden.

I'm back in the garden and comfortable again and now I've added more structured exercise and stretching to my routine. I've done that before but I do get off track. I think it is essential at my age to work as hard as I can to build muscle and keep it. Flexibility doesn't hurt either.

One thing the PT person said that sticks with me. I was explaining that I thought my brain/muscle connections were all rusty at first but that I felt them starting to feel a better connection. She said for the first 6 weeks you begin using muscles you haven't used in awhile, your brain is 'recruiting' your muscles and you don't really start seeing any building muscle results that first 6 weeks, then you can see steady progress after that.

Definitely never going to have the muscles I had in my 20s or 30s again though. :-)

Wow, this late in the season? Were they huge? My zukes aren't looking too good - not PM, I don't know maybe the SB just damaged them too much (they've been chewing on the fruit and stems and petioles). Only 1 has new flowers. I do have 2 coming up from my 3rd planting (2nd was old seed and none germinated). Don't know if I have enough time before frost to get anything out of them though. Yellow Prolific Straightneck still going strong - and I planted 3 more looks like we won't need!

They were pretty big, but not any bigger than some that I killed a month ago.

Edie,

I'd think Alabama would be gardening heaven. Long growing season and plenty of rain I imagine.

Suggest that your son make acquaintance with local gardeners and ask them for advice. I've cultivated a few friendships and learned a great deal just by stopping by someone's garden while out in the car. Common hobbies, as you know, are a great conversation starter. And it doesn't hurt when you offer to help with the weeding while chatting.

There might be a "gardening in Alabama, or southeast" board here, check it out! Nancy