23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I prefer the pale ones, much sweeter. Typically they pickling cucumbers and are very tasty. They have a thinner skin than the dark green but usually more seeds. Yummy!

There are varieties that are pale groon, other than some pickling cuke. I have grown Korean cukes that are long(12"+), crooked and pale green. They are some of the better ones.

Yep.. That's why the old Italian chefs will tell you to tear basil leaves and not cut with a knife.

Kevin

That looks a bit like bruising, and is exactly the color you get when cut basil is exposed to air for a while. (Oxidation.) That's why you don't cut basil and leave the pieces exposed to the air. Instead, you cut (blend, chop, tear) the basil with oil. The oil covering the leaves keeps the air out. That's how pesto keeps from turning brown.

But yes, when washing the leaves before making pesto, just hose em' down and drain. Don't squeeze or flex them by hand.

Have you used any fertilizer? They might appreciate some compost or a good balanced fertilizer. Also, they do have a finite life span, which is why succession planting is a good idea. Put a few new seeds in the ground every month so new plants will take off when the old ones are in decline.

Here is a link that might be useful: What's Growing On?

I did spread some organic manure compost recently just over the top of the entire bed...this was about a week after I applied the fish emulsion. That's really the only fertilizing I've done since planting in March.

I didn't realize that about their life span. I do have a lot of seeds left...would you just bury them in between the others?? I currently have eight plants equally spaced in each square foot. Would that make them too crowded?

Thanks to all for your input. I'm getting back to gardening after about a 20 year layoff. I lost my first round of starts to gophers. The second round was planted during constant winds in northern CA. I've never had a wind problem before. The plants were healthy when set out and the soil in the raised beds is rich. We learn each year for the next one. :) Thank

My mom uses old wooden (cedar?) shingles on 2 or 3 sides to temporarily protect young transplants from wind or to shade them for a bit after planting out.

Try Googling ~ Laserboy532 site:.gardenweb.com ~ if you want a different ordering of results.

I would be interested in reading if you find that better, worse or just different than searching here as some similar forums such as SDMB are now urging users to do Google searches.

Thanks albert, I tried that method, but didn't find it any more convenient than using GW's search.

But I do appreciate learning yet one more neat Google 'trick' =)

Not in my case wertach. Don't get me wrong -- we have many, many microclimates in SoCal. But, the town that they(TWC) forecast is right next to mine. Same valley, same temps, same everything. Both cities are on the local weather broadcasts, but the only thing that ever changes is a degree now and then. In fact, the place that they do their readings is at an airport on the border of the 2 cities.

Kevin

yeh i'm 67 and my wife tells me dearest if you walk outside and get wet it is raining, sunburnt then put a hat on.

me with all this science implanted into such a simple affair, her advice will do me.

enjoy

one day we may return to observation and common sense, in our area early in the year in a dry spell the official rain guage recorded 50mm of rain but no one in our area had had rain, weather reporter copped heaps of flack that he didn't realy deserve.

hnycrk, you said " I shoveled dirt, well mud from the center of the rows"

As Dave said, You probably did more damage than good. As close as that corn is planted you were digging feeder roots up with that mud!

Have you ever tilled between the rows after the corn was over a foot tall and saw that the corn kinda slumped for a few days?

That is because you are cutting roots!

OP, IMHO, It is best to just leave it alone. I always have and my neighbor didn't. He would get out there and try to straighten it up and stuff and mine would always do better.

If we didn't have a high wind storm and he didn't have to "fix" it we would usually have about the same yield.

I learned that from an old farmer that new his stuff, My Dad!

This post was edited by wertach on Sat, Jun 29, 13 at 14:20

Well hopefully I didn't do to much damage. When I say center of the row I meant between the rows because I grow it in raised rows 3ft apart. Here's an older pic to show what I mean between the rows like where all the water was. Ill keep y'all posted on the outcome.

Oh, how out numbered she is! I will save some male flowers and hopefully she is won't play ''hard to get'. ðÂÂÂ

Me and my four year old 'painted' the flowers. Not happy when I opened the male flower... SVB CITY. It's gonna be a fun summer. Hopefully they won't do too much damage before some fruit come it. Eeeek!! Trying to stay positive :)
Alley

It is pointless to put in fruit pits as one year later they will look exactly the same, same with olive pits or anything else equally hard

I will be putting them into a hugel garden, so it would add aration to the hugel. Thanks anyway.

There are always a few odd plants that fizzle out in the end.

There are always a few odd plants that fizzle out in the end.

I've had to hand pollinate summer squash, and it's more difficult once the male flower closes. You can try, but your success rate will probably be higher if you can catch male and female flowers open at the same time. I found this conversation on the Asian Vegetables forum that might be of use.

-Anne

Thanks for link to other thread Anne!

Another Milwaukee gardener. My toms and peppers are are flowering and have plentiful fruit but my plants that are not in raised beds are not pleased! My watermelons are basically in a puddle and my cukes are dead.

Oh... but the weeds are happy. Very, very happy.

Yeah, weeds are loving it. Veggies have mixed opinions.

Raised beds aren't immune. The soil in my carrot bed is completly washed out at one end.

Y'know, well-grown spinach seeds come from big, robust, widely spaced plants that have not been picked from and therefore produce really nice seeds. Saving seeds from randomly bolted spinach plants will not give the same results.

Thanks :). My spinach got big and bolted before I had a chance to pick from most of it. I planted a little too late. So I have big plants that were not picked from that I want to save the seed from. Same happened to my bok choy. I didn't pick any of that. It grew great in the fall but planting in the spring didn't work for me. It flowered and now has pods.