23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Yes there are several varieties of bush watermelon. Easiet to find is Bush Sugar Baby. It is not really a bush but has short stubby vines that only run three ft or so. Another option is to grow a persomal size melon on a trellis. Yellow Doll, Red Delicious, New Hampshire Midget etc.

Thank you! Can watermelon be grown in pots? I have a rocky hill covered with ground cover with a flat rock in the middle. I could set a big pot there and let the vines go every direction for about 6 fit. Only problem is, there is no soil to make additional roots for the vine,so the pot will be the only food and water source. Do you think it will work?



No need to toss it - yet. Many times they recover. The badly damaged leaves will likely die and fall off or you can remove them but watch for new growth and it should be normal in appearance. If not, then you can toss it.
On the other hand, since you already pruned it the production will be markedly reduced as Sweet n Neat is a very small determinant plant to begin with. So since it is so early in the season you might want to invest in an additional plant to get more fruit.
dave


The important thing about peas is that they don't like heat (I suspect you won't get too much heat in Seattle anyway), but they are freeze tolerant to 20F, which I suspect you don't get lot in the winter in your zone which, I believe, with regard to plant hardiness and winter survival, is the same as mine. (Everything else is different!) I plant my peas in November/December, and harvest in April. So yes, you definitely get another chance in the fall for peas. Yes, you COULD get a killer freeze, but it isn't likely, and the plants would be small then, so easy to protect. I used to live in Portland.


IME, the tricky part about starting any peas or brassicas indoors is that they are much less frost-tolerant than direct-seeded plants. Kale, one of the hardiest crops, will get zinged by even a light frost if you start it indoors and put it outside. Hardening off against wind and sun does not entirely help. You need to harden them to cold by exposing them to several cool nights (35 to 40 degrees F) in a row. Just something to think about for next year if you decide to go with transplants.

The peas have started sprouting! Not like crazy, but I have a few sprouts peeking out. I got the trellis up today.
I put my brassicas I transplanted under cover at night. I also put out my artichokes, and have them under cover also. Got a lot going now! Garlic, Leeks, Onions, Peas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Potatoes, Beets and Lettuce all sown or transplanted.


OK, I'll leave them be. Sorry -- I should not have used the word "dispose" ! I was not planning to harm them -- just wondering if there was a way to move them safely. But it seems not, so I will leave them in peace and hope one day they return the favor to my lettuce. :)

Weeds are a fact of life in gardening. You'll have them either way. :) However wasting good, proven-to-be-productive soil would be awfully difficult for the gardener in me to do so yeah I definitely use it. As you move the soil many of the clumps of weeds should be easy to pick out and toss.
Dave

Weeds are self-seeding, so if you do a decent job weeding this year, next year will probably be easier. If the seeds are getting blown in, putting in new soil isn't going to help in the long run. If you don't do decent weeding, it's going to end up filled with weeds as well. The weeds aren't a property of the soil. They've been added to it. If it works, use it.

I grow cukes up by tying a string (using jute twine) to the seedlings stem and running the string up to a crossbeam I have screwed to my bed frames. This holds even during the hurricane winds CT has at the end of the growing season when plants are loaded with their fruits.
It works so well I also tie up any other vines as well as tomatoes which can be heavy during Aug. & Sep. and works much better than those useless tomato cages.
I do use those cages for peppers and eggplants.
While any string or wire will work jute twine is compostable yet holds for the the growing season. Even if you don't compost the fall cleanup plants it makes cleanup easier since the plants can be quite twisted around the string. I would not use something you think can be re-used each year.

Thanks Dave. Good to know that BiotaMax has a positive reputation. It's something like $6 for a quarter-acre, so not too bad. I have limited garden area and would like to try minimizing the occurrence of Verticillium wilt in eggplants and peppers.

I believe that BiotaMax needs to be reapplied every week to thirty days, while RootShield suggests every 6-8 weeks. RS can also be applied in tank mixes with almost anything, including fungicides. That's extremely important for commercial applicators.
BM is not OMRI certified, RootShield is. That's also extremely important to certified commercial growers, not so much for back yard growers.
RS promotes soil borne disease protection as its primary purpose. It can be used on seeds, cuttings, in any kinds of growing medium including mist. It can be applied through fertigation and misting systems at the same time as soluble fertilizers.
I really don't think that the two products can be considered the same, so comparing the price alone doesn't make sense.





Here's a picture of the discoloration I'm talking about. It doesn't seem to be spreading. I thought maybe wind burn on the leafs but Iv'e never seen purple stocks like this. Is this normal for the variety?
That corn looks a bit stressed. Too wet maybe? The degree of purple showing depends on the variety. Some can show quite a lot, but I haven't grown Golden Bantam so can't say for that one in particular.