23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
IF you need TWO plants it means that one is male and the other female.
No it doesn't. Just like tomato plants the tomatillo plants don't have separate sexes.
Having two increases the number of blooms at the same time and the amount of available pollen 200 fold so adequate pollination for a good crop is also increased. Same holds true for squash plants for example.
if you want to hand pollinate 1 plant or raise your own bees fine. Otherwise multiple plants is the way to go.
Dave
The first time I tried, I just got one plant and very few fruit. Then I gave up for a couple of years!
Last year a volunteer came up, and I had bunches!
This year I planted 2 and am getting so so amounts, but I still have almost 3 months of time before it starts getting cold!
Good luck! Nancy
Loam and manure sound good, providing the manure is well composted, but adding sand to clay is a recipe for cement. I'm getting good results with the Square Foot Garden mix - peat, vermiculite and compost in equal parts, but when I first started my raised bed, I just added Amend to the native soil. Mine was clay, too, but probably not as hard as Phoenix clay. One positive aspect of clay is that it contains lots of minerals.
Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed garden
I don't know about adding sand to Arizona clay, but I've been adding sand to New Jersey, Oregon and Washington clay for about 40 years now, and it works great. You have to add quite a bit of sand for it to really work. Like 1/4 to 1/3 by volume. Google "soil triangle".
The real problem here is that ddot15 is giving us almost no information. Have you had a soil test done? Do your neighbors grow good vegetables? Is your soil still extremely dense, even with the sand? Do weeds grow in your soil mix?
You are growing in an 18 inch deep container, right? Soil with some sand mixed in is not going to drain well in that situation. That's why they make potting mix. It's very coarse, so it drains even in a container. Your plant roots need oxygen. They can't get it if they are in saturated soil. You can break up your soil mix by adding perlite or pumice or gravel to it. Sand isn't good enough; its particle size is too small for container mix.
Are the sides of your containers shaded from the sun? If the soil gets too hot, the roots will die.
Link below is to several discussions of the same question that the search pulls up and will answer your question.
Looks like you have both powdery and downey mildew problems and both are discussed in the link.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Squash leaves turn yellow discussions
Soaked my Dwarf Gray Sugar and Oregon Sugar for a little over 24 hours, was going to plant yesterday but had to do grocery shopping, laundry and Dwarf weren't germinating yet in the baggie. Going to plant today in full sun empty spot between my pole beans and tomatoes, see how they do. I want August to be warm enough for tomatoes and peppers (and my 2nd crop of summer squash just seeded a couple of days ago) but not too hot for the peas!
I should have done spring peas but we went on vacation in April and I thought it was going to get too warm too soon for peas (and it did get hot the end of May but bet they would have loved all the rain in June!). My dad started snow peas at Memorial Day, they got washed out and he replanted though I told him they were a cool-weather crop, now he's got pods! Big "I told you so" from Dad! But his peas are in shade - I'll have to see how some do next year in spot where my Little Leaf and de Bourbonne cukes are now - shaded until 10AM .
County Fair - first time this year. I liked them very much but I did get Target Leaf Spot on all my plants because of the incessant rain.
I have since pulled all my plants (County Fair, Ashley, Muncher) but did manage to get quite a few pickles put up and a few batches of Tzadziki and fresh salads made.
Ed,
Yes, I used PVC. The structure looks like it's about to fall apart, but it has been looking like that for two years now. However we are moving this fall and I'll have to tear it down. I thought about melons but they take up so much space for the yield.
pnbrown,
Thanks. I was reading up on sweet potatoes and read that long days favor vegetative growth. That doesn't portend well for my crop since we get frost while the days are still longer than nights. If that turns out to be true, it could be a major impediment to growing them here.
You've got a at least a couple different varieties, looks like.
FWIW, if you try them again another season, the Korean Purple (purple skin, white flesh - yellowish when cooked) has proved to be by far the best producer here, along with of course the reliable ole Beureguard. However I much prefer a white-fleshed SP over the latter.
Zackey, my regular beds are totally done with home done compost! I have 4 different bins!
This is my first year having raised container beds, so I was trying to go with the stuff I had in the beds (don't know what it was, cause I bought it from the neighbors who moved to Maui) and trying to go with the guys on the container forums!
I went to the container forum, looking for advice, and kept hearing PINE FINES! Couldn't find them, so added a conditioner for the soil (kinda woody stuff) instead.
The Osmocote is for containers, cause it's a time released fert.
This is my first time using fertilizer! I've always used my own compost! Nancy
Turn it over. Look for a gray-brown splotch opposite the yellow spots.
Getting both PM and DM isn't all that common, because they thrive under different conditions. But cucurbits are mostly huge disease wells, and all gardeners can usually hope for is to get some crop before they totally succumb.
I would take immediate action to spray with anti fungus spray.
PM is so obvious. if there is also DM, spray should take care of that too.
PRECAUTION:
I would also spray the cukes , just as preventive measure. I do not know about DM, but PM is air borne and thus can infect other cucurbits around.
Sounds like it might be stink bug damage or have you seen that before and this is different? The other possibility that comes to mind is what is called green shoulders - a hard cape-like formation that forms over the top 1/4 of the fruit caused by uneven ripening due to fluctuating temps.
Any chance of a photo?
Dave
Stink bugs! I have seen a lot of them this year for the first time. Oh, well. Just cut out the bad spot, as my grandmother used to say.
Thanks, digdirt. I rather think you are right. Odd I've never seen this before. (Counting blessings)
black plastic mulch, with 1 inch drill holes for the transplants?
I don't think you should rely on mulch to control Bermuda grass. It may prevent above-ground greenery, but runners will penetrate it readily and travel long horizontal distances undetected.
You should maybe solarize a huge area, then put your bed in the middle of the solarized area. That way there is a buffer zone between your bed and the bermuda grass. Then aggressively pull up runners in the buffer area.
You could also put in a concrete slab, then put your raised bed on top of the slab (need some holes in the side near the bottom for drainage). That would be a permanent solution, as long as you don't let runners find their way into the drainage holes. The slab should extend several feet on either side of the raised bed to make this less likely.
Just brainstorming. I haven't had problems with bermuda grass where I live. I don't think it can survive the summer without irrigation.
--McKenzie