24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

It is nice that so many people are now in favor of compost in place. Traditional composting is good for exercise, like going out in midwinter to turn a pile, and bad for nitrogen content. It is also negative for earthworms and fungal flora, which are deprived of the food they need, and which are the two best friends a gardener has.

I do sheet composting I would say...adding rotted horse manure with a lot of hay in it...leaf mulch,...and the crop residues chopped up in situ.
I even till these things in and have added other texture improving material to my silty clay soil to improve friability [looseness and workability].


Yeah, but they are food-grade. But mostly it's because I'm 65 with a lot of painful arthritis throughout my body and having them raised will allow me to continue gardening. I'm fortunate to be able to afford them, and they will keep my spirits up. I've been gardening for 40 years and I can't imagine not being able to.

Your plants look like they have some serious nutritional deficiencies to me IMO. Not sure which exactly offhand, maybe someone else will, but I suggest some balanced soluble fertilizer ASAP as a quick fix... work on that soil in the future.
Also watering every other day is probably too much water and can contribute to the problem.

Cuke plant looks like it has a severe case of powdery mildew and maybe even spider mites - can't tell for sure about them from the pics. But given all the interveinal chlorosis they were nutrient deprived before the PM developed. That plant is likely not salvageable at this stage.
The yellowing on the tomato plants combined with their retarded development and the leaf roll indicates over-watering along with nutrient deprivation. Neither is of a size to begin bearing fruit.
So what, how much, and how often have you fed them?
Dave

I just trimmed up three of my summer squash plants and they seem to be doing fine, plenty of new growth. If I am not mistaken, it actually looks like a spurt of new growth, actually.
Several of mine were so large that I just cut the leaf at the tip of the stem. I have read that they should be pruned back to the main trunk/branch, but I could not get in that far. I do not know if I did any damage to it by doing it that way, but after several days they all appear to be just fine.
For what it is worth, my zucchini plant covers an area that is at least a 6 x 6 square foot area on the ground, so you may have a lot more growth coming.

If there is enough room, you can also gently push the leaves away from the non squash plants that need more room and hold the leaves in place with a few long sticks. I'm moving sticks around often to "steer" leaves into areas where they won't interfere with neighboring plants.


Agree with Peter. Many home canners just freeze their tomatoes whole in ziplock bags until they have enough to do one big canning session. Whether or not you want to core them first all depends on how you plan to make your sauce. Check out all the discussions about this over on the Harvest forum here - the canning and preserving forum.
Dave


If what you have is really BW then the pathogenic bacteria is systemic and in the fruit as well. I wouldn't eat them but it is your choice. If you have researched BW then you know there is an easy test you can do to determine if that is really what it is.
Squash plants can be affected by it but the odds heavily favor one of the more common squash problems instead.
If either plant recovers after watering or when "out of the sun" then it isn't BW.
Dave

You can pick them at any time. The rule with the Spanish tapas peppers is the longer they sit on the plant, the hotter they get. So, depending on how spicy you want them, either pick them right after they look edible size for mild or wait until they start blushing with color for hot.






Here is one of mine. I have another one on the plant growing which is a little bit more symmetrical.



The white tail deer have begun eating my kennebec potato leaves. This is the first time I have ever had non-sweet potatoes leaves eaten. They started with buds and are coming back every night until now the plants are only a foot tall. My question is, will I still get potatoes or will production stop when the leaves are gone? I'm in the Maryland and the plants were not mature.
Spraying the potato plants with seaweed/fish emulsion will definitely deter the deer.
They do eat mine when nothing else appeals to them, but usually just the tops. We now have five bucks around.