23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I have grown Ambrosia cantaloupes for many years. There is not a better tasting one anywhere. One year, I decided to keep count of how many I picked off one plant. The average was 11. Since I have plenty of room, they grow no the ground, not on a trellis. I arrange the vines so I have a little footpath to walk on. When you think they are getting ripe a small push on the stem will usually let them come off, if not try again tomorrow. My neighbors love me, not unlike when I have zucchini in abundance.
I know there's a contest as to which is the best and a lot has to do with the growers practices, environment, weather, etc.etc. But I've grown Ambrosia, amongst others, and the best I've ever grown and the only one that I still grow is Super 45. I have a "waiting" list for it every year. It's that good!!
Check with your county extension. Usually there are different planting dates for brassicas for SEEDS and PLANTS.
I do all my brassicas as indoor starts. It's just so much easier, especially for fall plantings. 6-8 weeks before expected planting. Also... it's easy for ME to say because we hardly ever get a hard freeze here, but brassicas handle frost pretty well -- upper 20's no problem..
Kevin
My frost date is Oct 10, but we have long and lovely falls that last through November. I start B sprout seeds June 5-10, cauliflower June 20-30, and broccoli and cabbage right after that. In July I direct-sow rutabaga, but start all the others in pots so I can watch them. If you wait for retail seedlings, it will be too late. Good luck!
I always let my chard bolt. I haven't had to sow fresh seed for years. And I continue to harvest the leaves on the flowers stalks. The small leaves and some of the flower heads go into salads. Bolting chard amongst Papaver somniferum on my allotment:
This post was edited by flora_uk on Wed, Jun 19, 13 at 16:38
Forgot to mention... with bush type squash, its easy to keep the SVBs at bay with BT injections, along the stems. I did that last year with my yellow crookneck, and did OK with them. Would have been better if the spot I picked for them had not become very shady towards the mid Fall, so they ended up getting little sun.
Mine plants look ok, but the squash themselves are awful. They are VERY orange, instead of the nice yellow color, and their skins are very hard, with dry, tough insides?? We grew them from seeds...can seeds go bad? This is our first year to garden and we aren't having much luck. :(
Hope I can help everyone with this pest. I have also for the first time experianced this bug and have done some research. They say it wont "kill" the plant.. but like all of you I dont like anything chowing on a few leaves! So... I took a little recipe I got from Jerry Bakers "Supermarket SUPER gardens" As with any home remedy spray a few leaves and let sit 24 hours. Mix 1 cup of rubbing alcohol ( NOT denatured alcohol ) with 1 tsp vegetable oil into 1 quart of water. Pour into a hand held sprayer and spray top and bottom of leaves that are affected. Good luck everyone...... Happy tomato/pepper season :-) (these bugs like peppers too :-( )
Hey Sandra,
Just wanted to let you know that - I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!!
I too have had major issues with this beetle, and for the last 4 weeks I had NO IDEA what it was and how to safely and organically combat it. At first I thought it was a type of lady bug and was keeping a close eye however I determined it was the culprit after a short period. They started with my tomatoes but have moved on to the eggplant, pole beans, squash AND my cucumbers yada yada.
Anyway, I know exactly what you need. Check out http://ourgardenpatch.com/ under agricultural products youll find the plant wash concentrate. This stuff is organic and inexpensive (at least to me, a 10 dollar 16oz bottle of "organic plant soap" lasted me 2 garden sprays where as with this stuff you get the concentrate and can make it by the gallon!!)
I sprayed this stuff on at night and by the morning there was no sign of the beetles. I respray every 1-2 weeks and after heavy rains and my veggies are looking great now!
When they are young and small it is easy to do but probably too late now to do it with out killing one or both. Still I have had a 2fer grow and do fine as long as they get enough water and nutrients. Maybe the individual heads are quite as big as they would be otherwise but still worth growing and still better than trying to separate them.
Dave
just relax and let them do thier thing. If you prepared a good seedbed and started them early enough you have done about all that is needed other than weeding and maybe watering. They are a cool season vegetable and will struggle in hot weather. They have a relatively short harvest window so unless you have a giant variety, harvest when no larger than baseball size.
I'm going to get the soil tested before doing anything...but I'm thinking its more of a nitrogen problem now because I also have a hydrangea in this bed, and it should be doing great with the acid but it's not. The blooms are also pink which leads me to believe there is a problem.
What do you recommend for increasing the nitrogen in the bed? I looked up some stuff, and found many different fertilizers so not sure what to use!
That sure looks like a lot of shredded wood which would deplete soil nitrogen temporarily while it's decomposing.
Miracle Gro or any high N soluble plant food will help with that.
The pH sure is weird though.
Any topsoil blend is probably better if you buy it in fall and let it rest and age through the winter. These kinds of kinks have time to work themselves out.
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Your soil looks reasonably OK but yes you will need to fertilize with a balanced fertilizer. The other thing is that some of your plants are too crowded, especially the squashes and the peppers/swiss chard (swiss chard will easily shade the pepper plants next to it).
My potato plants always grow a couple of feet tall, and I try and hill them as much as possible. Cut down on the nitrogen at this point. Some fertilizer is good, but low on the nitrogen. You want to concentrate on the tubers, not the foliage.
Very cute! Like the sign. :)
Thanks everyone!