24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


Thanks--since the fruit is already setting and growing rapidly, it shouldn't be a problem. There's a good week before the temperatures here even resembles 'chilly', and quite a few weeks after that before the first frost.
I've found that if tomatoes are planted over a more manageable period of several weeks, the 'tomato tsunami' is spread over a much longer season, and yield isn't affected.
Happy gardening!
Rick in CT


Most of the female flowers never open up. A few do, but most don't. . Not sure why. It might just be the variety. On the on the A&M Agrilife Extension Vegetable Variety Selector (information source most county extensions offices use in Texas), it suggest several varieties of Zucchini for my region, none of which I can find seeds for except for the Eight Ball Tigriss. I find if funny that the varieties they suggest are so rare and hard to find. Most of them are hybrids anyway and I wanted to stick with heirloom for seed collection. I will try and find some of these seeds before spring and give the a try if I have problem with my heirlooms this fall. I started some new seeds for a fall garden this week. These new seeds are heirloom seeds. Hopefully they will do better then the ones in the ground right now. I plan to plant them outside of the GH this time. It's risky, because of the adverse conditions of my region, but if the wind will stay below 80mph, they might survive.

Ground hogs & people don't mix, whether you garden or not; they are very destructive. I have a pole building with a gravel floor, and unknown to me, a ground hog tunneled under it. I discovered the tunnel when it collapsed under me, and I fell through to above my knees... it was just fortunate that the wood splitter I was pulling at the time didn't fall in with me, and I was not injured.
I would probably feel the same toward a neighbor who was sheltering ground hogs, as I would to someone I caught releasing one on my property - because there's not much difference. Their problem becomes my problem. When I lived in California, I once lived & gardened adjacent to a neglected property, that was riddled with gophers... as fast as I could kill them, more would move in from next door. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. I would never knowingly impose such a burden on my neighbors, nor should any responsible property owner.
But back to the original question... I concur with those who have mentioned rhubarb and alliums. Probably not much else is safe, and as they destroy one crop - which they can do quickly - they will move on to the next. Pretty much anything people will eat, they will too. I've had good luck with chicken wire fencing low, with electric fence wires just above it to prevent climbing over. This keeps out deer, rabbits & racoons as well. As others have mentioned, the electric fence does not need to be on all the time, but I energize it when I put out transplants, or when I see herbivores moving in.
When I see that a new ground hog has moved in (which tends to happen about this time of year, as the adolescents leave the nest) I break out the havahart, and usually catch it in a day or two. Dried apricots make great bait, but this year all I had to do was place the open trap - unbaited - next to the garden fence, and the ground hog walked right into it while looking for a way in.

Oh, I forgot -- they also love chard and beet greens. Funnily, my fat-butt groundhog, who escapes under an old child's playhouse that I use as a potting shed, has not touched my tomatoes, peppers or eggplants yet (fingers and toes crossed!). My squashes have all been retarded this year in terms of production, so who knows what will happen with them. However, I have hurled insults at this animal regarding its fat posterior, so it might be a female who is sensitive about that and therefore has limited herself to salad greens.

I am in Birmingham, AL. Today I went to a local nursery I like a lot and chatted with them. They also think it's not a virus which was reassuring. They thought fungus and recommended an organic insecticide. Tonight I did some cleaning in the garden bed and applied the product. Inspecting again today I saw a lot that matched downy mildew descriptions, especially having some grayish brown patchy spots of mold. Also the brand new leaves do not seem to be affected which seems good. We are careful to water at the base of the plant but it has been very rainy and VERY humid lately. Should the insecticide soap help? Or are there other treatments that would be better?
My cucumber plant has died completely at this point. Can downy mildew do this or might the culprit there be something different?
Thanks for the comments! I have browsed the forums a lot but this is my first time posting so I'm excited to participate!

95% of the time yellowing leaves = too much water or fertilizer related. if it starts out on the leaf tips its typically too much nutrients. if it starts like pale the center and progressing outwards its typically low nutrients. best bet is to check what you've done and haven't done. ;)


I use the maxicrop and and can vouch for it . I start a lot of cuttings inside over winter. Every 10-14 days I drench the pots with it and the leaves stay green all winter. It is not a fertilizer but it has lots of nutrients/minerals the plant can use. It seems to make a difference. Outside you most likely need to use it more often like at least once a week.

Why would you? If you are growing them for normal storage then all those in the pic are still healthy, green, and growing. Sure you can pull a few if you need them to use now - those few in the center with blooms on them for example - but the rest are no where near harvesting. Let them keep growing until they dry and turn brown.
Dave

I've got some hot banana plants growing, picked some when they weren't quite ripe, not hot at all. Started leaving them on the plants a lot longer, now they have a little heat to them. Have given some to a friend and she told they were pretty spicy and she eats Thai peppers all the time

Disclaimer, I prefer Hot Banana over Hungarian wax, by just a tad and for a different reasons, i've been eating and growing them both my entire life.
But otherwise it's fairly well known that Hot Banana has a lot of heat variance, and many of them will barely give you a tickle even when ripe. Whereas Hungarian wax, heatwise, is more reliable and predictable.
Steve


neem oil is probably the only thing i would use. it can be used as foilage spray or soil drench. in fact, the best properties of neem oil is the fact that it doesn't kill insects directly, but stops them from reproducing. so it should work wonders to eliminate the source (larvae). i would go with the concentrate neem oil extract, it's 70% neem oil and 30% emulsifier. use it at about 2 tbsp per gal.

I've grown them this year on tomato cages. They are nice and crisp with thin skins. The cucumbers/melons are long and pale green in appearance. This is the first time I've grown them in probably 10-15 years. It definitely won't be the last time but it's not a garden regular as space is limited.
I'm also growing a true cucumber called Japanese Climbing. It's a good slicing cucumber that has enjoyed climbing up the tomato cages. I've harvested several 9-12 inch fruits from the vines. This is the second year I've grown this heirloom and it's now considered a regular in my garden. I'm about ready to process seeds from a 16-inch long cucumber that I've allowed to mature.

I make bread & butter pickles out of my armenian's they are my favorite They are tasty and great on sandwiches I also makes relish out of them I like them better than cumcumbers
if anyone wants the recipe I'll try to copy the link and share I live in AZ and with the AZ heat Armenians grow great love them


As noinwi said previously, the silvering on the leaf veins was natural. However, you've got that plant in a relatively small pot for a zucchini and it was probably rootbound when you initially posted (due to the way some of the leaves have begun wilting). Since then it has only gotten more rootbound. Add to that the fact that you "barely fertilized" only once and you've got a plant that is severely stressed and more prone to pest/disease issues. Sorry to say but your plant is a goner at this point.
Rodney

Many of those small flying creatures are types of wasps, that do things like prey on caterpillars and other things that we don't like. The reason we avoid using pesticides is to protect these things so they can do all the hard work in the garden to get rid of things that want to harm our gardens. Spraying pesticides on them is a bad idea.

Joe,
I know what you mean by the terrier destroying things. They have a laser like focus once they start tracking a critter.
Not to sound like a alarmist, check with your vet if "lepto," leptospirosis is a problem in your area. Check this link out Lepto
The dogs can get it by sniffing or ingesting rat urine. After my sister lost her dog to it we had our dogs vaccinated for it.
A few years back I saw on National Geographic's where people are taking their dogs on organized rat hunts in big cities. They make a event of it and it is all done at night when the rats are active. Kind of like a tiny dog coon hunt.
Craig


okra?
Oh yeah, I did plant Okra. Thanks!