23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Mine own DH thought the wood ashes would be great for the garden but wasn't sure so he dumped them mostly in one pile, which became one soaking wet, cement-looking heap that made me say "What is that??!!" Got most of it out since I want to plant tomoatoes in that area this year.

Well, my plants are looking great, just forgot about the "extra" stuff added and added a little more! Oh MY!
I do have some flowers happening!
Should I just flood them to get rid of some of the xtra?


Its as much about how you plant them as what they look like. Dont plant them in rows - plant them in groups, as you would any annual - mix them up or create patterns. There is a current post in the Potager forum about someones new front yard edible landscaping - take a look at that.
Here is a link that might be useful: Edible Landscape


wolverine's right. Broccoli does the side shooting ..LOL
I wouldn't have pulled them -- some times(I've noticed) it was a rush of warmth that finally kicked my brassicas into heading.. Especially the broccoli -- not nearly as finicky to the heat as cauli.
Kevin

Probably not much at this point since they're so small. And since I don't know how much rainfall you'll get, you'll have to play that by ear. Almost all veggies prefer MOIST soil. Not wet.
One thing i noticed though -- no mulch. After you finally thin down to one plant per 18", you'll probably want to lay down 2-3" of mulch. This will help greatly with keeping the soil moist and cool throughout the coming hot season.
Kevin

Possibly what you see is what you will get. Both onions and carrots are small seeds and therefore require very fine soil in their bed. I have had good success broadcasting carrot seeds in a well worked bed and then cover with a thin layer of potting type soil (1/8") You might want to start over with the carrots (?)
It seems very late to be doing anything with onions. They are light sensitive and should have been planted months ago. Even if you had onion seedlings, it would be very late to be be starting now. Here in Zone 8, I am now harvesting (delicious) Keepsake onions which were planted in mid-August and over-wintered. And also have several long day varieties which have not bulbed yet and were planted as seedlings in March


I hardened them for about 10 days but the weather was so erratic, it was hard to get a few consecutive days in a row. I'd just leave them on the sill and open the window. I think next year I'm just going to direct seed them into the ground or use cloches or something.




It's a function of time available. Keeping weeds under good control on an acre by hand is a lot of time. IME, if you let grassy weeds get established you will not control them with a hoe, you either have to let it remain grass and cut it by hand or power, or turn the root mass by shovel which is mad amounts of labor. I find this in light soil, in heavy soil it is much more the case and the labor will be much greater.
If you are serious, you must hoe every area at least once a week until the crops shade the ground. Otherwise various difficult weeds will get beyond hoeing and then on the scale of an acre you will be overwhelmed without machinery.



I've heard of using broccoli leaves in place of cabbage to make rolls, so I tried it last year... after the broccoli headed. The leaves were very, very tough, much more so than any cabbage. I didn't try using them again, though I suppose I could have tried cooking them longer before making the rolls. I think younger, pre-heading leaves might taste better. Perhaps growing a row with tighter spacing just for the purpose of leaves?
I'd think they'd be more like collards, which imo, like to be cooked a long time. The reason I don't harvest broccoli leaves is because i usually have collards and kale going at the same time.
Nope. After my 1st and successful attempt at cabbage this past winter with Napa, it has now become my "go to" for that.
Kevin