23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


Thank you for the replies! I went out to the garden this morning to see if I could figure out how many male/female blooms I have. Of about 30ish blooms, I could only identify 3 females. I guess that could be my problem, huh? Any clue why there are so few females?

The goal is to have at least 1 pumpkin be harvested before it starts gettin cold. I doubt we have that many 80+ degree days left in this growing zone.
And here's the thing...there are side vines/branches beginning to sprawl over the collards & watermelon & such..and clearly, we all kno that they don't intend on stoppin anytime soon. Sooo, I'm wondering if I can snip those guys off, but keep any others that aren't strangling my others w/ their tendrils..

Nice recent harvests everybody! Great pics!
If you want to take a look at my most recent pepper pics, click on the link below.
Thanks.
Kevin
Here is a link that might be useful: Link to my post in the hot pepper forum
This post was edited by woohooman on Thu, Aug 8, 13 at 19:28

I love to grow eggplants and I love more eating them. I lov them fat an plumb because I cut and fry it, boil it and add vinegar and lemon juice and diced red pepper. I pickle it too. My woman like the long skinny ones she peels the inside and stuff it with rice and ground beef. I plant the black beauty and few trees of whatsmacall it to produce the long skinny ones for stuffing. When this thing works it over produce and the trees grow huge I had to put stakes for support. Last season I had 25 huge trees and now I just ate some pickled ones from a jar.

Sicilian are big and plump, good for eggplant parm, grilled, fried plain, sauteed in pasta and roasted. If picked early enough the skin is usually tender, except when roasting. Asian are smaller, ideal for dicing up in pasta and other vegetable dishes, good on cabobs on grill, and sauteed in scrambled eggs or omlets since there smaller. Both could used interchangably though. Asianhave less seeds so better for people who cant digest too many seeds cause its less to take out. In the past I found I got a larger abundant of sicilian. Sicilan coukd be very seedy for people with
some digestive problems.
This post was edited by krissylovesplants79 on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 15:34


There is a guy named TravisE here who grew gigantic pumpkin that I think you should really have at look here at this address below:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0600431112829.html
The guy is really awesome! You should ask him about it!

Well, with the shriveling fruits, I guess my bees just aren't getting to all of them. My plants are too crowded. So that doesn't surprise me. I was just afraid it was something new to worry about.
By losing blossoms, I guess I mean there are many, many blossoms that just bloom and then wilt and die. Also, it seems like I have an inordinate number of male blossoms in comparison to female blossoms. Maybe this is normal. I just love my squash, and I want more of it.




It could have been eaten by something like a squirl or racoon, try an all natural spray, either store bought or homeade. I fill a windex bottle with warm water, add a tbspn of hot sause, murphys soap and cayanne pepper, plray it on the fruit.

Well, based on my gardening experience for many many years, you're getting a perfectly normal crop. I don't know why the little short chubbies appear. My guess is it has something to do with pollination. But, they do appear regularly, and, as you say, they taste just as good as the pretty ones. I wouldn't worry over much about it.


I planted 25 crowns of asparagus this year so you're a year ahead of me but I can tell you what I've discovered in the process.
I was told that a "light" harvest can occur the second year and the following years you can normally pick what you want. When they say "thin" I've heard(read) it being compared to the thickness of a pencil.
Asparagus have male and female plants and the male tend to produce larger spears because the females put more energy towards seed production. I planted Guelph Millenium which is an all male plant so I don't get seeds and my spears will(should) be larger.
When I talk to people about asparagus I compare them to a tulip. The crown is like the bulb where energy is stored for next years spear productions. The more asparagus you allow to go to fern the more energy the crown stores for next year - don't remove the fern until it has died back in the fall or you may not have any asparagus next year because the plant was unable to store energy for spear production. Thin spears are generally female and are a result of little energy being stored, larger spears means more energy was stored.
When your female plants go to seed you can either pick the seeds or allow them to drop and then next year you'll also get asparagus growing from those seeds.
I don't see anything wrong with harvesting from the second growth as long as the spears are aren't too "thin." :)
When you're done harvesting your asparagus for the year and allow it to fern out I read that this is the time to fertilize. Fertilizing with a high nitrogen fertilizer allows the fern to grow and therefore transfer energy into storage for next year.
Like I said, this is mainly what I've read and don't have much first hand experience yet. Good Luck