23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Hmmm. Then I guess it must've been labeled incorrectly cause that's what it said when I bought them. Oh well, I guess if that big one matures I'll see what it is.

Any idea why the others would be getting soft on the end?

Incomplete pollination

Kats, just to add to my first post above - My local Aug 23rd planting date for a fall garden is approximately 8 weeks before my area's first frost date, so to follow my schedule you'll need to adjust your planting time accordingly for your area's first average frost date.

Don't forget fall Peas!

yep too much all at once, with my pumpkins i look at them careful, and if they are nearing maturity then i watch the weather, but the fruit in your case still very much edible.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

So as they reach maturity are you supposed to cut back on water?

Some times the tiny eggplant is hidden inside the dried
flower petals and therefore it is not readily visible. By feeling it you can tell that there is one forming.

Thanks everybody. I have two tiny eggplant already, not near ready to pick but its there at least. I just hope I get more.

Oh, yes. Quite active. I was slow getting my plants covered and I picked two or three dozen eggs off them last week. Then covered. I believe we get two "crops" of them each year. That's the downside of living in the south where we have a seven month summer growing season.

That does complicate matters.

For starters, asparagus rises a little every year so mulching each winter is good for it.

As far as the beetles, I think every season is different. Some years I get them and others not. I haven't noticed much damage from them as they only seem to eat the ferns once i'm done harvesting. I did spray some pyrethrin this year as they were out in full force.
Your idea sounds like a good one, but i'm not sure it's the end all solution. I mulch in the fall after the beetles are all gone and still they seem to overwinter somewhere.

-Mark

usc- the soil has dropped about 6", not the gus.AND I probably didn't plant them deep enough to begin with cause I have to use hardware cloth to keep gophers out.
Mark- I usually dump some compost and either cardboard or newspaper on top (I'm very lazy in the winter!)
I didn't know gus rises a little each year! I guess adding stuff will be good!
This was my first year with beetle damage or shepard's crook, so I had very curvy, but still tasty asparagus! Just would like it to be nice and straight! LOL Nancy

Looks pumpkin-like to me!
I got a load of soil to fill a new bed one year, and we had boat loads of volunteer pumpkins! They got to be large for Jack-O-lanterns!
It worked out well, cause my DH is a professional pumpkin carver!
I would post pics if I knew how! Maybe sometime! Nancy

Thank you both! We couldn't think of anything but pumpkin for our new found friend. I'll be sure to post a follow up at harvest time. :)

Ground cherry are small fruited and have correspondingly small husks, around the size of a marble. Tomatillo can be more golf-ball sized. And chinese lanterns tend to turn orange on their husks, having a large husk and small fruit. And that about covers the ones I know. Apparently chinese lanterns are also edible, at least according to Trade Winds seeds and a brief mention in wikipedia.

I do not know about other related species, other than a book I have says that many related species are called the same common names (cape gooseberries, ground cherries are one group and tomatillo, mexican husk tomato, tomatito verde are another group). I get the impression you are only likely to run into these others if you are foraging (or market shopping) in Mexico and points south. I don't know if any non-edible physalis were ever introduced to north america or not. I actually don't know if you are likely to find any other physalis than the three mentioned in this country.

Thanks, folks - I am thinking it is tomatillo, as from your descriptions, it is too large for ground cherry. I will let them ripen and see what happens.

Keeping the surface of soil moist helps a lot with flea-beetles.

Flea-beetles like dry warm or hot conditions while slugs like cool damp conditions so I think it is unlikely to be experiencing significant damage from both at any given time.

Also give your region if you want more helpful advice. if you are in socal you won't get much useful advice from someone who has only gardened in ME, for example.

I don't think the beetle in your photo is a flea beetle. And I don't see flea beetle damage on your plants. Flea beetles are very, very small and more round and they leave uniformly round little holes in the leaves. At least that has been my experience in central North Carolina. It is more likely a caterpillar (like a cabbage worm) and/or slugs. Cabbage worms can be hard to detect because they are exactly the same color as the leaves, but you will see them eventually. I would use the techniques (such as row cover and Sluggo) described in earlier posts. You can also try beer traps for the slugs. I hear they like Budweiser and PBR. :-)

-Anne

Agree. A Honeydew can ripen maybe 3 fruit. If you let them have more, it will take much longer time for the early ones to ripen. And the small ones might not have a chance.

BTW, small honydews are edible like cucumber( when the seeds inside have not hardened). So if you end up having some at the end of season, you can, peel, slice and eat.

Sometimes, if the vines are still healthy, they'll start over again after the first fruit is picked. More usually, tho, it's a race to get fruit before the vines die, with all the diseases they're heir to.

Ragweed - the only way I've found to get rid of it is to cover with clear plastic to cook it, then pull it out roots and all. But you have to get all of it, b/c if you leave any roots it will grow back (as I found when I solarized what was inside/just outside the fence and pulled it back just past the fence but didn't get everything from 2ft+ outside, it's grown back under the fence again).

Pull it out, hopefully before it flowers. Don't let it go to seed. It is an annual and any plants that grow next year will begin as small seedlings. Learn what they look like and remove them early. If you have hay fever allergies, have someone else remove it for you if it has begun flowering or wear a breathing mask such as one you might use when spray painting.

Around our yard, I'm the one who gets to go after any we miss early in the season. It makes my DH very congested once it is in flower.

It has been hot and excessively humid here on Long Island and my zucchini and squash just came down with Powdery mildew also. I cut off some of those very worst leaves and sprayed with Neem. Always use Neem in the late evening. But if I was you I would deffinatley get a fungus veggie garden product and spray weekly from now on to control the mildew.

I tried a version of the Cornell formula on a few squash plants. In a quart of water I added 1 tsp baking soda, 1 1/2 tbs cotton seed oil, 1 drop dish washing soap. Before applying I removed the worst infected leaves. It seems to be working and as a bonus the plants that were previously damaged by SVB are no longer wilting. The oil on the leaves is conserving moisture.

This year I'm fighting squash bugs, squash beetles, squash vine bores and powder mildew on the same plants. Five of my six squash plants are still alive so I haven't lost the battle.

Nice!! How long did it take for it to get that size after being pollinated..?

Not very long Drew. Maybe 2 or 3 weeks tops. It's been growing so fast, that's why I thought it might be a watermelon. The butternuts on the vine next to it that started at the same time are still only like maybe 3-4 inches long.