23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
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)
I said "may". The OP didn't say exactly where he/she was, and since (s)he's a novice may have planted fall crops too early - or the basil and beans too late. Need more info, but original ? was about thinning so I guessed at location and gave best answer I could about which to thin now. I guess you can eat bean sprouts if it turns out it's too late in the season to get beans (app. 60 DTM)!
Thanks for the help. I planted everything 18 days ago and all but the lettuce sprouted but now dont seem to be growing much. The sprouts are still only no more than 3 inches tall on most. Some are getting more leaves. Also some are kind of falling over and they are only a couple inches tall but look like they are very healthy and growing.
A foot deep for squash, probably not quite enough but then it depend on the other dimensions of the box.(length, width). In addition to tap root, they also grow lateral roots.
Also, when you provide the nutrients, it can compensate for shallow depth.
WE often hear that plants shut down after a good run, especially if you get real hot weather. In zone 9 , how are your temperatures?
The spaghetti squash is in a 3x3x1 box with the zucchini I mentioned, as well as one each cantaloupe and watermelon. Their effective space is probably 2-3 sq ft, 1 ft deep.
It's been relatively mild this week, highs in the 90s.
Had been over 100 for six weeks or more, including a 10-day or so stretch where every day was at least 105, some as high as 114.
During those hottest days, the leaves would wilt at midday, then be fine. Plants seemed healthy otherwise and produced nicely during and after that hottest stretch.
As gin gin noted above, I think one of your biggest problems is the mix you used to fill them. Lots of good recommendations in the container forum for that, but at the very least it should be a potting mix, not potting soil... And definetly not top soil.
Also, did you get dolomite lime and use it per the instructions?
I grow mostly in raised beds and buckets, but I purchased one city picker this year and I'm giving it a try with some okra. I used raybo's mix in mine.
I just wanted to post an update. I followed the directions that came with the box to the letter, except for how many plants they said you could put in it.
Believe it or not the instructions said you could put 8 pepper plants in it! I knew that would be too many, so I put 4 peppers and 1 columnar basil. The plants are quite crowded, so next year I will plant only 3 peppers. Despite being overcrowded the plants look amazing. They are way happier than my other peppers that are in regular pots. And before anyone says too much nitrogen, there are dozens of peppers growing and dozens more flowers, you just can't see them without pushing back the foliage.
So to the OP if you see this, I would say try again next year, but follow the instructions! :D
To add to what macky said, there is a distinct west-east gradient in summer temperatures along the Canada-U.S border east of the Rockies. The hottest summers are in southern Manitoba and North Dakota. Further west, elevation increases and summers get progressively cooler, then warmer again once you're on the west side of the Rockies. Further east, the cooling effect of Lake Superior becomes an issue, with subtle effects in the entire region. Even though the lake is supposed to moderate night temperatures as well, it doesn't - at least not in the summer. The lake doesn't even begin to warm up until August, and even then only into the upper 40s or low 50s. July and August frosts are not uncommon in northern MN and even northern MI, but quite rare in Fargo or Winnipeg. This is despite all these regions being at generally the same latitude. As you proceed into fall and winter, the gradient disappears and then reverses.
This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Thu, Aug 1, 13 at 21:41
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.
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