23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

A zucchini of course, you noobs! Lol

Probably the second most common garden vegetable there is after tomatoes.

Dave.

Yes but you may find it bitter. Cooking with white wine willl help reduce the bitterness.

If a raw leaf tases bitter to you, try blanching the leaves first in rapidly boiling water for 30 seconds and then into another pot of boiling water briefly. That's how bitter wild greens are handled in order to get rid of some of the bitter principle. ('Course, spinach greens are a lot less durable than dandelion greens!)
Just a thought. Of course, anything composted is never really wasted! :-)

I always plant Swiss chard in addition to spinach. Slower-growing but more reliably tasty for weeks beyond the time spinach has bolted.

Thanks for the replies. I got some ideas now on what it could be. I will look tomorrow to see what the tracks could be. And I willpost more pics tomorrow.

this is another egg plant pic.

Earlier posters correctly addressed the issue of not pruning the ferns since they are strengthening the roots for next year.
However, looks like you have at least 3 plants within a pretty small area. Asparagus needs a good, fertile soil to do well, so be sure to top-dress it with a good couple of inches of compost after frost (which is when you can/should remove the dry,yellowed ferns) and on top of that add 4-6" of chopped or shredded leaves. This also will serve the important task of keeping out weeds. A generous sprinkling of blood meal in early spring would not be amiss, either, to give it the nitrogen this hungry green plant requires.

Thanks, weedlady. There are 2 crowns in a 3' circle. I will have plenty of compost to add this fall, and will remember to add the bloodmeal in the spring. We mainly grow enough to munch on as we cruise the garden...kinda like the cherry tomatoes later in the summer.

Two crops? Yes.
Two large central heads? No

It's a first crop of the large central head, a second (third and fourth, too) of smaller side shoots.

Plants will continue to put out side shoots as long as the weather doesn't fry or freeze them too much and water, etc. is available. If you don't cut them regularly, they will flower like hers. Yes, you can "rescue" them at any time by cutting off the flowers and trimming them back. You may, or may not, feel the resulting small side shoots are worth it.

I often prefer to get the plants out of the garden after the early harvest and restart with new plants later in the year for another large head harvest followed by small side shoots into the early winter. I don't like to deal with the summertime broccoli pests and prefer the taste of cool weather broccoli anyway.

I've got one broccoli plant that's in it's 4th year, now. They are pretty cold hardy.

so the picture i just posted im assuming that one is not ready to be picked? When you say young and seedy how do i know just by looking at it?

When to harvest : You can harvest them any time that fruit is over 5" long. Pickling one will not be much longer than that anyway. Basically, smaller ones are tender and tastier. But You want to get a good mileage by letting it grow bigger, but not to the point that the seeds inside start hardening and the rind getting tough and brownish. So you can experiment different sizes and find out which one tastes better.

There's a very round zucchini variety called eight ball. Pretty popular at the farmers markets around here. Maybe one of your plant's parents was that type.

-Anne

yea. I have planted a variety that is said will bear globe shaped fruits but stripy. Mine has just starting with male flowers.

The herb is Basil. There are no mulberries in the photo.

good ID florauk the mulberries were in the link i posted. They arent doing too good. but the herbs are doing 80 percent better since I watered it more. Jean was right it was dying of thirst.

There's a forum just for figs. Try posting your pic over there. They really know their stuff.

thanks for the advice esp about the fig /fruit forums. This site has changed since I last was on it.

My thoughts are herbicide damage -- any chance of that used anywhere nearby?

Or virus.

It's possible for herbicide damage, I guess. I don't use any herbicides, but I live on a corner lot of a relatively busy street, so who knows what has come by on cars. The lot next to ours is an open field. I don't think they use herbicides but I can't be sure. I do not see similar damage on any of my other plants (12 other containers).

I'm hoping it is not viral :( It's probably too late to start another tomatillo plant and get much from it, and I had a difficult time finding the seedlings anyway.

I just recently started my garden in my atrium (located on the southeast corner of my home) here in Vegas about two months ago and my plants were doing fine. I have 2 Tomato plants, a habanero, 2 morning glories. the hab seemed to stop growing (which i read somewhere that it was normal), my tomatoes are healthy and thriving.

This past week has been (Chronicles of Riddick you step into the sun you burst into flames) hot, so the last two days I have noticed that leaves are turning crispy (still green not brown) and falling off. Today I watered in the am (5-6) and my hab was fine and happy, but I just checked them all the habs leaves are crispy and falling off.

The plant food I use is an up to two month Scotts blend and they have another month before i feed again. My plants receive 4-7 hour of direct sun
Any suggestions on how to keep my habs from dying I want it to produce at least one pepper before it dies.

This post was edited by Demannu on Wed, Jul 3, 13 at 19:45

I'll say it again... Mulch., mulch, mulch! 3-4 inches if need be. As mentioned above, evaporation is one thing, but you guys are struggling because of SOIL temps. Shade cloth, sheets, trees are all very helpful too for that afternoon heat. Try to rig something up when those afternoon temps hit 95 and up. When it cools off in the evening, pull the shade off. Make it a daily ritual, if you can. Otherwise, plant in containers that can go under partially shaded patio covers.

But, MULCH!

Good luck.

Kevin

Very nice peppers, especially. Looks like SD does not suffer from imported cabbage moth, either...

Quintoga: In a Southern California tract home backyard, yes. Real estate is always at a premium here... even if it is just veggies. 1st time growing melons--- from what I've read, you don't want to let them dangle on a trellis. I make slings out of pantyhose.

pnbrown: lmao --- I have a flyswatter just for the loopers and spray BT almost year round.

Thanks for the props.

Kevin

Thanks Dave!
The reason I ask is also because I bought some bags of it once and the dang stuff seemed to REPEL water. It was really annoying. Appreciate the links.
Angie

Well I took Dave's advice and checked out the suggested links. I have always used chopped tree (mostly oak) leaves and grass clippings and after reading through the posts I am happy with my method and have no reason to change. Not to say other mulches don't work just nothing to convince me to change, thanks Dave.

Black heart disease of tomato is another name for internal BER. Causes are the same: Calcium not transported to where it should be.

Thank you Jean.

Thanks for the comments.For now, I will use it on everything (and as long as the packet lasts).

Next time I will try to be more to the requirements of the plants.

Thanks
G

There is also the sister product called Plant Tone. It is richer in nitrogen, and I tend to favor it over Tomato Tone. Why? Because many plants need more nitrogen...and SOME nitrogen can be lost through heavy rains...hello! Eastern and Midwest areas.

This post was edited by wayne_5 on Wed, Jul 3, 13 at 13:32