23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I have not seen any white "butterfly" around the garden but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been visiting. I will keep an eye out for it. Are the holes damaging to the plant's health or future production? I will use some organic spray on the garden in the morning. Maybe that will help....
If it's cabbage worms, the standard defense is to use Bt. I only grow a dozen or so brassica plants at a time (broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts) so I've been able to just handpick any caterpillars I find and not bother spraying. I also cover young plants with a wire cage covered in tulle to protect them when they are small. If you make your cage big enough, you could keep them covered all the time; that would also keep out the cabbage worms.
If it's slug damage, try putting out low bowls of beer in the evenings and see how many you catch. You could also go out at midnight (not sunset) with a flashlight and see if there are any on the plant. I finally resorted to slug killer (Sluggo, etc.) and was able to take care of them with a single application. (Though I keep an eye out for new damage and can always apply more.)
dunno if i can suggest much, yep make the beds at least a good foot deep +, ensure their is drainage a layer of small rocks in the bottom, we only water by hand as needed, which is once or twice a week in the heat of summer, if we get good rain then no watering at all we do mulch heavily.
our beds are 6mX1m and about 500 to 600mm high
len
Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
The length described sounds to me like they are being picked maybe a little early, but just about right (seed development or lack thereof is a better indicator than length). My experience is that younger beans are more tender, the toughening fiber occur more with age. Maybe pick a variety of ages and see which she likes, if any. Otherwise maybe a high water content makes them have more crunch and she should leave them out on the counter for a day and they'll go limp. Limper. Or perhaps the variety is just that way... Good luck!
Female flowers have a small 'baby' squash on the end. The male flowers don't. The stamens are different too, but on zukes the baby squash is obvious enough that that's the easiest way.
One male flower can be used to pollinate multiple female flowers. I walk the garden every morning and look for open female flowers, if I see any, I pick a male and just walk through and swirl it in them all.
Also most weeds have not seeded yet. Hoeing now, without worrying about vegetable plants, has its advantages. It is not all bad news, and next year there will be fewer weeds. Lettuce seeds will not germinate now, it is too hot. Beet and carrot seeds will struggle too, and peas will not germinate either (all this for direct seeded). But many brassica seeds (komatsuna, bekana, arugula, napa, turnip,kale) will germinate just fine. In fact it is too early for bekana and arugula.
I don't know how long the 90f days will be around , BUT for most of the fall crop it will take at lest a month to germinate and grow to small seedlings and by then hopefully, it will cool off
Most fall gardeners start those fall crops in cells, in shade during germination time, then move them to partial sun as they grow. And transplant, when it has cooled off a bit. I am doing this right now with bunching onions. The poit is that there is a window of time that this should be done. I done TOO LATE, obviously it will be just that TOO LATE.
If you live in the Rio Grande valley (as your screen name implies) its probably several months too early for fall planting. The chart I have shows most fall planting is done September - December in deep south Texas.