23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
glib(5.5)

black plastic mulch, with 1 inch drill holes for the transplants?

    Bookmark     July 21, 2013 at 5:55PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
mckenziek(9CA)

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

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 9:59PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

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

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 8:46PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

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

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 8:53PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

Your plant is not very healthy and vigorous, that is why.
It can be told from the size of stems and leaves. IMO, either the plants are getting ready to retire OR something is lacking.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 11:46AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
mommomsgarden(6/Jersey Girl!)

What could b lacking?

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 6:57PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
lgteacher(SCal)

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

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 3:37PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
lilydude

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.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 4:04PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

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

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 2:28PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
susanzone5(z5NY)

Peas can handle some frost. Now is a good time to plant them in zone 5. You can also plant lettuce, kale, chard, radishes, dill and other short season crops. Wait till October to plant garlic and spinach, which will winter over.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 1:36PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Agree. They are quite frost tolerant, just not hard freeze tolerant so planting now should be ideal for you. I can't plant mine until mid-September as it is still far too hot for them til then.

Dave

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 2:23PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
2ajsmama

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 .

    Bookmark     July 28, 2013 at 8:58AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
newyorkrita(z6b/7a LI NY)

My peas are up.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 2:12PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

Those shown in the picture, above, have been picked at the right time.

Straight 8 !??!! No way Jose'...
They look like Boston pickling. (Two on the left)

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 12:40AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Marcijean(9A)

I live in Southern California too and I am having the same problem. But I am growing them in containers and letting the vine on a trellis. I just figure the roots are unhappy.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 1:14PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
catherinet(5 IN)

LOL!

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 8:42PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
lkzz(7b)

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.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 10:13AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
Slimy_Okra(2b)

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.

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 8:20PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
pnbrown

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.

    Bookmark     August 3, 2013 at 7:39AM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
zzackey(8b GA)

Osmocote never did much for me. I'm trying to go all organic and use kitchen scraps, leaves, grass clippings, etc. instead. We had our first hugel and the plants did the best ever I have seen since we moved here in 89.

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 9:04PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

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

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 9:37PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
CaraRose

Are the insides eaten out completely, or just a small surface hole?

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 10:21AM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
springtogarden(6)

CaraRose-I dissected one of the tomatoes and there are no tunnels just a shallow hole on the outside. We have had some seriously hot days. Could it just be catface or splitting of some sort?
Thanks for all your ideas :)!

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 7:16PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
cb-garden(6b heatzone 7 Perry county tn)

Yellow dolls have done great for me. This is my first time growing melons and i have gotten 8 melons so far off 3 plants. My kids love them. they are 5 to 7 pounds and yellow on the in side and super sweet.

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 5:33PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
ltilton

I've managed to get some Yellow Dolls some years. If I were growing watermelons again, that's the one I'd pick.

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 5:56PM
Sign Up to comment
Summer SquashWas wondering what this is on my squash leaves?
Posted by eng6trk(7) August 2, 2013
4 Comments
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
ltilton

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.

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 3:23PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

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.

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 5:36PM
Sign Up to comment
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

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

    Bookmark     July 15, 2013 at 6:45PM
Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo
donnabaskets(Zone 8a, Central MS)

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)

    Bookmark     August 2, 2013 at 5:34PM
Sign Up to comment
© 2015 Houzz Inc. Houzz® The new way to design your home™