23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

"Heck, even the Irish can grow potatoes". I am Irish clorpt.

"Heck, even the Irish can grow potatoes". I am Irish clorpt.

Thanks, everyone for excellent advice. I go forth now with some confidence. I had never tried seeding anything here in July or August, and was wondering if it was a totally crazy thing to do. I resign myself to the fact that I'll be doing especially frequent watering.

I will take seriously the advice about Fortex as a good alternative to KW. Planting Fortex indoors and transplanting outside probably won't work here though, as hitting seedlings with 100F+ temps when they've been growing lazily indoors with a/c is probably not good.

One advantage with beans for hot weather sowing is that they get planted deep, so the soil they're growing in doesn't have to dry out.

If your soil is at all heavy, Dan, consider making holes in the soil with a dibble and filling the holes part way with potting soil, into which you will plant your beans, then cover with potting soil. Helps them pop out of the ground without messing up their first true leaves. Makes it convenient to inoculate them, too.

I start late beans and other seeds indoors in deep "root trainers" and move them into the 100 degree heat (with a little afternoon shade) as soon as they germinate. Have to keep them watered thereafter.

The Louisiana Purple Pod pole sounds good. Most of the time I plant bush beans, even though the harvest (especially on the most heat-tolerant varieties) is concentrated. I have lots of space for succession planting, though, and pole beans give out in our summer heat (pretty much no common bean I know of sets edible beans when temps are above about 104 for a few days). For fall, Espada is another white-seeded bush bean with some heat tolerance (probably not as much as Brio or Festina) which bears over a longer season. Some of the specialty bush beans also bear over a longer season.

The effect of plastics(similar to trash bags) is not so much for absorption of solar heat but slowing down the soil underneath from cooling due to convection(air movement). In effect, it keeps more of ground's own heat coming up. Average ground temperature is about 65F. which is almost perfect for most plants. So in the winter it cools down(even freezes) down to several feet and in the summer(depending on location) warms up to several feet.

I think, therefore, technically, plastics, black or any color, when tightly sitting on the ground, also traps the moisture. So as the surface temperature rises, the warm moisture penetrate deeper into the ground. That is the mechanism of heat transfer due to plastics.

I am not for plastics, because they suffocate the ground. I think the soil should get both sunshine and air. That is why the old tradition of hoeing makes sense. It might be hard work but it has benefits.

In other words, plastic row covering for the purpose of weed prevention and moisture maintenance, in hot summer days just not in harmony with the nature of the plants and the earth underneath. JMO, that's all.

Let me share my experience with row covers and plastic mulch. BTW, these are both new to me this year.

I have 4 raised bed, each 4'x 10'. For my cold crops, which I planted in early march (well before the last frost) I used hoop covers during times when the temperature dipped into the mid-twenties or less. I took it off during the day. I haven't used a row cover for them for about 5-6 weeks now and they have done great.

In another bed I have a combination of cold and warm weather crops. I planted mid-late April and even though I used a row cover, one cold windy nite zapped all of my peppers and tomatoes in this raised bed. I replanted and now all plants are doing well, including cabbage which is a new vegetable for me.

My other 2 raised beds are strictly warm weather crops (tomatoes, squash, melons, etc). They have IRT plastic mulch and row covers. These 2 strategies kept the crops in a warm environment even with cool daytime highs and they are doing great. I plan on covering the plastic mulch with organic mulch sometime in the next 2 weeks... depending on the weather.

Tom

I think the difference would be that you can choose not to use a sprinkler.

~emmers

Overhead sprinkling most definitely does *not* preclude deep watering. Once our plants are established, we usually only water once a week (if it hasn't rained) and it *does* go deep. I've dug holes myself to see for sure. You have to choose a good sprinkler that puts the water down nicely for your soil.

Healthy plants, at least those I've observed, do not sag under the weight of water from an overhead sprinkler. If they are, they're either already stressed or the sprinkler is applying the water too fast and/or the droplet is too large.

Watering with a good-quality overhead sprinkler is *not* aimless. If it is, you're not positioning it properly or you're trying to water in the wind. Get a better sprinkler if you're having problems getting the water where you want it.

Yes, some plants shouldn't be touched when they're wet. In my garden, it's beans. The solution is simple - handle them before you water them, just like you would handle them (weed, pick, etc.) before a predicted rain.

My beds are rectangular (11 by 15 feet on the west side and 11 by 18 feet on the east side) and Gardenia makes an adjustable (I have some other slimmer beds as well) oscillating sprinkler that's just perfect for their size and shape and the water pressure we're putting out with our pump. That's not to say it's the perfect sprinkler for someone else, though.

We're all entitled to our own method, experience and opinion. That's true. Those of us who overhead water - and have done so successfully for many years - are just sharing our equally valid points of view as well.

Annew21, in my climate and conditions, there is no difference between rain and sprinkling. I can't comment for anyone else's climate and conditions, though.

BTW, mine are two kinds: bush types and runners.
I am hooked on bush types. They stay low and seem to be pretty productive too. And I don't have to provide trellis and training for climbing either.

Im way behind on both.. its been so cold and rainy here, of course the 3 days of sun we had got into the 90s and back to 50s and rain for this weekend.

Not really complaining, not just opitimal growth pattern. Still its nice to be outside from time to time.

Lettuce likes it =)

So it's a good thing my cukes are all leaves and only 1 flowering cucumber so far? It's about 3 feet high and looks healthy otherwise.

If you provide the good growing condition, they will resume normal growth. This happened to me once. There was a gourd plant , out of my garden in a hard clay soil. It was about a foot tall, yellow and had few flowers on it. I dug around it, removed the clay , as much as possible and replaced with good garden soil , watered it and took care of it. The plant dropped the flower and start growing and became a big healthy gourd plant ,with tens of feet healthy vines ,with many gourd on it.

Kevin... Alas, the bane of my existence strikes again... too short of a season! ;) But yeah, my main heads of broccoli average 1 to 1.5 lbs each. Love that!

QBush... re: right fertilizer at the right time...

I test and then feed the soil in the spring (if needed), use a soluble starter fertilizer when I transplant (I start my own from seed) and then add nothing the rest of the season. My neighbour down the road (we're rural) has very similar soil, but they don't add as much organic matter as we do. She plops greenhouse starts in the dirt, waters when she remembers, doesn't fertilize... and gets lovely heads every year.

Could it be that brassicas *like* to be somewhat starved in order to form nice heads (or sprouts in the case of the Brussels)?

Never heard that one macky. I think they all prefer pretty fertile soil. I think it's all about a timing thing. I've had differently timed successions of broccoli and cauli in the same plot turn out different sized heads. I can plant them from Aug-Feb, but I notice the closer I get to the winter solstice to planting, the smaller the head. Which makes sense because the amount of sunlight. I also notice that my winter harvests(when planted in late/summer/early fall) are a bit better than my early summer summer harvests.

With my Brussels, I get big plants and I get sprouts. They're just always loose leaf sprouts. I read last year that July is supposed to be optimum for them here, so I'll give it one more shot I don't know how that's supposed to work out though -- our summers don't really get going until late july.

Kevin

My garden is the first place I go in the morning, and the last place I go in the evening.

The house ee live in we are renting but we are looking to buy it. Its a beautiful piece of property. The house sets on a hill and my garden is down by the creek. I have big plans for the yard but i don't wanna do to much till after we close on it. After that let the games begin. We also have a natural pond that i wanna turn into a koi pond. I dream about it at night. In obsessed.

I have ants all over my plants as well--especially the cucumbers. They don't seem to be a problem though. At least, I don't have any of the yellowing leaves like you do, so the leaf problem might not be related.

I'm a beginner as well though, so someone else might have better advice.

Thank you, Aili. The ants don't seem to be eating anything that I can see...just traveling like an army.
Fruity chick, good luck with your garden! :-)

The drip system can be the culprit but it has been very hot and dry in NorthernCalifornia. They are bell pepers not hot but that was the only group coming Up when I searched for pepper answer. We have been having colder nights very common here. Have to stop at nursery later
Thanks

Same rules apply for bells than hot peppers when it comes to watering, soil, ferts.

Let them almost wilt before giving a good soak.

Also, folks over in the hot pepper forum are more than willing to help you with SWEET peppers.

Kevin

If they are bolting already in their first year from seed there is an implication that they are under some kind of stress. If the caterpillars are on bolted kale I'd save my money on BT and pull the plants.

thanks everyone... im near vancouver...
i may just start some more of everything from seed again.. could anyone tell me when i should put kale into the garden to keep from bolting to fast.. and the brussell sprouts..
\ i bought some BT .. dont know if i should keep the plants that havnt bolted yet or harvest them all while i can and plant more....

any advice.?

I pick them on the morning that they open. Bugs is often a problem, especially ants, inside the flowers. Though I am not grossed out eating them, I'd prefer to check and clean the inside first. Another consideration is if you are going to stuff it, since it is easier to stuff the flowers if they are not closed. You can pick them and keep stems in water in a cup in the fridge. They will last til the evening that way.

How do you know if you're picking off the blossoms before pollination has happened? I would think the more you pick the blossoms, the more it will lessen your chances of pollination.