23,822 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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chaman(z7MD)

Adding absorbable Calcium with Vitamin D in the soil will do the job.

    Bookmark     April 3, 2013 at 4:59PM
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pnbrown

Apropos to NC's post, I think I over did it with wood ash on some of my bean plantings this spring, as some areas had very poor germination and failed seedlings.

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 1:51PM
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elisa_z5

Now that's impressive -- guitar or reading. You've reminded me that when a kid has resources within themselves, even isolation in the country doesn't need to send them always to video games and TV for entertainment. (I'm a suburban person moved to the country, so the isolation is new to me.)

And actually, I think it was the new electric tiller that made working in my garden so attractive to these boys.
Boys + power tools = good times :)

Enough strawberries for jam? Yum!

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 9:20AM
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2ajsmama

Oh, I've been making jam (only 5 jars per batch, I don't use pectin so 1/2 lb of berries per jar) every other day. Winding down now - I just came in from picking (didn't pick yesterday) and haven't weighed them but probably less than a lb. Finished making that batch started yesterday (it needs to sit a while both before and after cooking). Made 3 batches this week so 15 jars, sold 2 at market Wednesday and hope to sell a lot more next week.

I don't think DS watches TV at all - unless it's a rare time when I'm not watching The Voice so he may join DH for Antiques Roadshow. And my parents have satellite, will record nature shows, country music awards shows for the kids to watch when they visit but DS is too busy to visit them often.

I watch The Voice and Revolution when they're not reruns, but our antenna broke about 2 weeks ago so I had to catch the season finales online. Wouldn't you know it was just that one channel affected (though we never were able to pick up ABC so now we're down to CBS, PBS, FOX and some Spanish channels).

We went to my cousin's kids' birthday party (they live next door 1 mile down the road) yesterday, he was really bored the whole 4 hours (didn't take a book) since he and DD were the oldest ones there (she's 9, he's 14). He just went for the food. He didn't ask to go home though.

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 12:29PM
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defrost49

Does more frequent watering help? I like the book Square Foot Gardening that encourages people to plant a little more densely than the package does. Two rows of bush beans can be 6" apart. You can still easily harvest the plants. Three rows means the middle row is harder to reach. In a small patch, you could plant every seed 3-4" apart. One year I had a wonderful harvest from a 3x3' square bed.

One of the problems with weeds is that mother nature doesn't like bare soil. I've done things like plant cucumbers around young blueberrie bushes. I don't usually mulch but that might help. I think when you leave so much ground bare, you are just inviting weeds and wasting good growing space. The other thing is that I rarely see a decent hand weeder for sale in regular garden centers, only the more upscale ones. I have what was originally called a Cape Cod weeder. Only thing similar I have seen advertised is a Cobra head weeder. Mine is an "L" shaped blade I can scrape thru the top 1/2 inch or so of soil. This gets a lot of the little roots just pulling doesn't get. I also wear the rubber coated cheap gloves from the farm and feed store that gives me a better grip. I cover walkways with layers of newspaper covered with grass clippings. Sometimes I edge the beds this way too. With a larger, more open space between rows that you have, you might try a scuffle hoe. Good luck!

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 6:45AM
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donna_in_sask

That's a heck of a lot of portulaca competing with your bean plants. I suggest you weed more than once a week so that you can get control of it.

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 11:55AM
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2ajsmama

Just an update - I was going to throw out the top of the pepper seedling I was trying to root in water, but it has 2 tiny roots now (weeks later!). So may be too late to plant in garden for you if you do this (maybe you've already composted the tops of your plants), but it does work, though they're much slower at it than tomatoes. I plan on putting this one in a pot and trying to keep it til next year.

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 8:27AM
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edweather(Zone 5a/b Central NY)

Very sorry to hear about your hail storm. Last year we had one, nothing like yours, but big for here, and it severed the growth points of some of my tomatoes and watermelons. They all made it, but it took a little while for them to recover. Your tomatoes should come back strong.

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 10:30AM
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ltilton

The floods washed the nutrients from my broccoli bed and left it with purple, dying leaves. A couple doses of liquid fert brought it right around.

Whether the heads will be worthwhile or stunted is another question, but no more purple leaves.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 7:13PM
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justjohn(8 AR/LA Stateline)

Your squash needs feeding. Mine looked that way, I sprinkled a small handful of 13-13-13 on top of soil and watered it into the ground. You'll see it turn bright green in about a week.

    Bookmark     June 23, 2013 at 10:26AM
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ccabal(7)

squirrelwhispererpup,
I also suggest burying your vines, or mulching your plants heavily so that the main vines are covered up with dirt. That protects the main vine from SVB eggs, and also helps the plant send down more roots. That way you have less vine you have to inspect and inject.

This post was edited by ccabal on Thu, Jun 20, 13 at 12:04

    Bookmark     June 20, 2013 at 12:03PM
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squirrelwhispererpup(9a)

Thanks ccabal. They are in large smart pots and their vines hang over the sides but I think I will see about adding soil to the pots to raise the level and cover at least the bases of the plants.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 9:49PM
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Slimy_Okra(2b)

The okra issue looks physiological to me. I'd say it's sunburn in the first pic. Not sure about the second pic but could be an opportunistic fungus because the soil looks really soggy.

A few things I'd like to point out:
- the okra plants are too crowded. Okra can get huge if the weather cooperates. One per pot is sufficient.
- Don't use insecticides, particularly Sevin, unless you have a very good reason to use it, such as an uncontrollable infestation. Sevin should never be used as a preventative. It kills off beneficials, which sets you up for a future infestation.
-the tomato problem looks unrelated to the okra issue. I'd say that is blight but maybe a tomato expert could chime in.

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 19:16

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 7:15PM
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cgollahon26

Thank you! I had planned on thinning out tomorrow, but didn't know if my strongest plant had issues or not. Thank you for the feedback!

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 8:37PM
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lkzz(7b)

Beautiful! So much creativity.
What is planted next to the lettuce (?) - is that borage? I love not having to bend over for everything too. I just put mounds and mounds of compost around my many tomato and pepper plants this morning...a little stiff I am.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 3:49PM
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mandolls(4)

LKZZ - thank you - I assume you are referring to the bottom pic in the original post?

Thats actually not lettuce, it is napa cabbage, and purple cabbage in front of the peas. The blue flowers are lobelia, and there are petunias and zinnia squeezed in here and there. There are a few borage around the garden that seeded themselves from last years plants, but I didnt plant any this year because they got eaten up by bugs last year and looked pretty ratty.

The first week or two of gardening season I am always stiff and hurting. But its good hurt usually :)

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 5:54PM
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Nole_Nurse00

I am in N. Florida and it has been raining a TON the last week, I haven't watered in over a week because of the rain. The soil is pretty wet. Not mud consistency but wet. There isn't much I can do about the rain though.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 3:34PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

The plant is far from dying but it is stressed and as Ed said most likely from over-watering. The leaf roll is a classic sign of over-watering. So if it has been "raining a ton" that could be it. It always pays to have a rain gauge in the garden so you can keep track of exactly how much rain fall there has been.

Pepper plants don't like wet soil. They prefer to dry out between waterings - be that rain or gardener supplied water.

Dave

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 4:44PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Sorry but I'm not sure what advice you are looking for. The worms in the corn? Can you post a picture of them or at least provide a detailed description? Corn ear worms are green but if there are no ears or tassels then you wouldn't normally see them when the corn is as young as you describe it.

Both Bt (Dipel) and Spinosad are both quite effective on corn ear worms and Spinosad works on whiteflies too..

I have tried everything that is supposed to get rid of them, and none of it works,they just laugh at me and fly around.

So what all have you tried and for which pest? The whiteflies? They are the only thing that flies around. The aphids? The worms?

Is gardening in Florida new for you? Different planting times, different pest issues, etc.

Dave

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 4:38PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Bush beans don't need a trellis. They don't climb. Plant them close together and the plants support themselves.

It is late to plant beets unless you grow them just for leaves.

Dave

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 11:06AM
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njitgrad

Dave, thanks for the info on the trellis. I planted the beets yesterday, should I just plant more beans over the beets and pull the beet seedlings out when they emerge? This way that whole bed will be bush beans, with a row of carrots and a row of dill on the perimeters of the bed.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 2:47PM
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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Yellowing of older leaves is usually caused by either over-watering or lack of nutrients. So cutting back on watering, especially if you have had lots of rain, and feeding them usually fixes it. The yellow leaves will just die and fall off but the new growth should be healthy.

What and how often have you fed them?

Dave

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 1:51PM
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casi(5)

I watered with Miracle grow when I watered this am

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 2:19PM
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newyorkrita(z6b/7a LI NY)

I bet you can still find seedlings at your local nursery. Peppers, Eggplant and there are smaller varieties of zucchini made for container gardening. My local nursery has a zucchini called EIGHT BALL for containers.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 1:31PM
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glib(5.5)

Cabbage (red or short season green) is a perfect fit for 5 gallons, and will give you the most food per area.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 1:33PM
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seysonn(8a WA/HZ 1)

You can provide shade and some insulation from direct sun during germination time. Seeds do not need light/sun to germinate but proper soil temperature. So , if the things you want to grow are heat loving types, then they can benefit from warm weather. I know, for example, that eggplant and peppers are like that.

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 4:26AM
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ltilton

Here's my favorite chart of optimum soil temps for germination of various common vegetables - alas, not your oriental varieties.

As other posters are saying, the key is soil temperature. To take soil temp, get a digital meat thermometer. I find it really helps at this time of year to use cold water out of a hose - let all the warmed water out of it before turning it on your seeded rows.

Here is a link that might be useful: optimum soil temperatures for germination

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 10:17AM
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nc_crn

Out there (Tucson, specifically) the best protection I've seen are those that totally enclose the garden with a breathable/mesh shelter around their planting area...which is neither attractive, nor convenient to install/maintain (especially with the wind).

Small fences work in some more urban or less animal-active areas.

There's a quite active AZ Gardening forum on GardenWeb...some people there might be able to help you out.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/azgard/

Here is a link that might be useful: GW AZ Gardening forum

    Bookmark     June 22, 2013 at 1:18AM
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