24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Do you have a picture?
Things like my kale & spinach sometimes seem to have been planted not deeply enough so the base of the plant ends up a little ways up the seedling's stem - they fall over then grow up from the base and seem fine after they get a little bigger. A picture of your plants might help.

I've heard this is because of insufficient light / wind, but they get at least 7 hours of light a day and with the draft from the window, there's almost always a little breeze. Any tips? Is it because it's a low winter light?
Yes. There is simply no way windows can provide sufficient light for seedlings this time of year. It isn't enough hours, enough intensity, nor enough of a full spectrum. Even greenhouses use supplemental lighting this time of year.
This is a common question over on the Growing from Seed forum and there is a FAQ there about it.
Dave

You say that you're concerned for space. Here's some things I grow in my garden that take up little space (so far):
Sunflowers: My 4 yr. old niece Jocie was SO EXCITED to go outside and dig holes to plant her favorite flower, sunflower. She learned about them in school and knew I had space to grow them. I dug up the grass with the shovel, but using a small trowel she dug holes to plant the seeds. To see her face when she came back to my house was priceless--the sunflower grew to be taller than her, and had not one seed to give back to her but thousands. I highly recommend sunflowers because you can plant a single row, and they mainly take up vertical space! You can grow them against the house, against a sunny fence, or just grow one for the heck of it.
Green Bean (bush or vining): Jocie also helped me plant the beans. Like someone said earlier, bean seeds are large enough that they instill some sort of mystery in children, it seems. Whenever she'd visit my house, it became her 'chore' to pick the green beans from the bean bushes. They grew low enough to the ground that she had an easy time hunting for the beans, and I was able to interplant some catnip and rosemary which made the experience a bit more sensory. We didn't realize why we weren't getting a green bean crop until we noticed that she was eating every last bean she'd pick! The plants grow low to the ground, and didn't bush out more than maybe 2'x2'. I've read about making bean teepee with trailing beans, and including a small door so that children her age can walk into the teepee to pick the dangling beans. This would be LOADS of fun for a child, but would take up considerable amounts of space.
Stevia: If you can get your hands on it, and if you can provide it a moist, not-too-hot place, stevia is a winner. I grew a lot of herbs in my garden, and one of Jocie's favorite things was to rub the leaves and guess which plant was which based on the odor. Stevia, on the other hand, is a leaf you'd have to taste to identify. This was a good learning experience for her (some plants are safe to eat, others must be identified by smelling/etc first). The leaves do not have a particular odor, but taste of sugar cubes. The bush grows as big as you'll let it grow (it did well when clipped, ripped, eaten, etc) and it is a FAVORITE with Jocie, and probably all kids. What kid wouldn't love a sugary treat in the garden?!



The mosquito dunks contain a strain of Bt. I don't know if it is the same strain that is used to kill caterpillars (when sprayed onto plants).
Bt is not a toxin. It is a type of bacteria that selectively infects insect larvae (caterpillars are the larvae of moths and butterflies). As far as I know, Bt has no effect on other plants or animals other than insect larvae.
You can put it in ponds and it won't hurt the fish or kill the algae or anything like that.
The full name is Bacillus thuringiensis. You can read about it at wikipedia if interested.
--McKenzie


Thanks Jonfrum, this is why I ask questions early and not right before planting. I will keep looking.
Tish, I hadn't thought about frost protection. I have done it with more moderately sized plants, but never even considered it for such a sprawling type as winter squash. As far last frost, well, off the top of my head I was planting cucumbers and green beans in 70+ degrees at the beginning of April two years ago while last year, we were buried in feet of snow right up 'til May! I was planning on using plastic to warm the soil where the squash will go, and starting a few indoors a couple weeks before my *tentative* plant-out date in mid-May. Like you we are very lucky if we have any 60+ nights (our night average is in the 50's all summer). I've only ever grown the short season tender plants like cucumbers and summer squash, so I have never had any problem with direct sowing at the end of may and still getting a good harvest without any season extending methods. I do like the idea of using milk jugs though, probably would be helpful even if I transplant from indoors. Thanks!


They would do better planted in late spring or early summer (around may or June), I think August is too late. They like warm weather. They should be harvested in the fall after the first frost or when the vines start to die. Don't forget to cure them before cooking with them.

Very cool! I also decided to start everything from seed this year. I didn't hear about any seed exchanges in my area, but I had an Amazon gift card, and another gift card to a local nursery and I bought all of me seeds.
Yesterday I ordered a very fancy grow light system from Gardener's supply, and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.
I only work part-time, so I had the same thought as you, Nancy--it'll give me something to do.

In the USA, seeds are tested for germination in Fall and packaged for the next year. So those labeled 2014 should should have the germination rates listed if planted early in 2014 . Onions may fall below that if you wait for fall planting as they are relatively short life seeds. Still good. Example. I just recieved 1000 seeds of Miss Megan , Tested at 75% germination in August and packaged for 2014. I will plant them the first of September and expect a germination rate of less than 75%.

You should look at the test date as Farmerdill noted but if you want to keep onion seeds for another season all you need to do is keep them stored in your freezer. I have had excellent germination results with onion seeds held for 7 years that way. The tricky part is to avoid condensation when using a portion of those seeds. I pour an amount out of the packs I want while never removing the seed packs from the freezer compartment. Since I order larger quantities of these seeds I test germination (by planting) soon after receiving the seeds and I wouldn't hesitate to call the company if germination results were poor.

I would put 9, each on a 16 inches square. The 45-54 spears then will come up over a long period, with only the first flush having a reasonable population. You will have to pick them, one or two at a time, and put them in the fridge until there is enough to dress pasta. This is why asparagus needs space. You are really in business at 35 plants or more. 100 would give you plenty, but still not enough to waste if you intend to use asparagus as your staple vegetable for a family over the 4 weeks harvest.

Have you checked with the hydro growers over on the Hydroponics forum here? While I have worked some with grodan it isn't something most vegetable gardeners would have any experience with. Personally I don't even like to work with the small 1" cubes for anything much less cut them down to a smaller size.
Dave

The other day I started some corn salad in my cold frames. I will start some lettuce when a get a nice day. With things like lettuce (Most cold crop) the difficult part is to get the seeds germinate. Once you do that (indoor or in cold frame) they cane be transplanted into garden. Better yet, under a plastic hoop.

The active ingredient in AzaGard is azadirachtin which comes from Neem Oil. There have been mixed reports about its effectiveness against stink bugs. It appears to be most effective against them in the nymph stage, but it needs to come into direct contact with them to kill. How many stink bug nymphs did you see in your garden? I didn't even see the bugs themselves, but I did see extensive damage on my tomatoes and peppers at harvest. If you can't find them, you can't kill them.
An organic insecticide that is supposed to be a little more effective against them is pyrethrin. There are also traps that work like Japanese beetle traps, but if you look at the reviews they get on Amazon.com, you can see that most people didn't think they were effective.
The problem is that contact insecticides are not effective because of the bugs have hard coats, and they feed by piercing the skin of the fruit or vegetable, so they avoid most of the insecticide on the surface. They feed on so many different kinds of plants that you would need to treat everything in your garden to begin to make a dent. It sounds like the most effective control for home gardeners is growing trap crops (like okra or amaranth), using row covers and, from what Dave says, using a kaolin clay product like Surround.

Thanks for all the input.
Dave, thanks for the Kaolin advice. I have a ton of the stuff and I've used it on cukes to stop the cucumber beetles. Will try it elsewhere and see what happens. Any idea of whether it inhibits corn pollination?
Last year I spent every evening killing 1000's of the two types of beetles.
Scott


That's very nice of you to share this. I only had a $20 order, but was hesitant because the shipping added so much to it. So you helped me out, too. Thanks!
I wish I had seen this yesterday. :-(