24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


"NC, can you elaborate about early explorers bringing maize cultivars to eastern north america? "
To Europe...I mean. Sorry, that was clear as mud.
"You might be able to find a European source, though...it's one of the original corns brought over by European explorers."
...I should have said "brought back by European explorers"

Well the eggplants are still there but they are the size of chick peas. The rest of them I guess I should just leave be. The psrt I took off was the dried up flower at the end of the fruit. I kept tge outer part that holds the fruit.
This post was edited by krissylovesplants79 on Tue, Aug 27, 13 at 9:07

psrt I took off was the dried up flower at the end of the fruit
That won't hurt anything IF the bloom has actually been pollinated. But there is no reason to do it either. If you leave it alone it will fall off on its own. Not all blooms will set fruit and sometimes what you think is a small fruit the size of the pea is just the ovule of the bloom that will shrivel and die.
But basically it doesn't help the plant in anyway for you to do "house-keeping" on it and you can do damage so yes, it is best to just leave them alone except to monitor for pests.
Dave

Peppers are often overwintered indoors. Plenty of threads about how to do this here on GW, see link below. One of the keys, as mentioned, is don't overwater.
I am hoping to grow one that will overwinter outdoors in my zone 9 garden. My Rocoto pepper (c. pubescens) survived last winter mostly unprotected and is in it's second season producing like a champ. But that is a hot pepper, I want a sweet pepper that will do the same.
Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg090801272024.html

My first planting of cukes has looked awful for a month. The last few cukes were misshapen and then for a couple of weeks, nothing. I was ready to pull the vines, except that up at the top there were healthy looking new sprouts.
So I waited, and now I see new cukes growing. It's like the vines needed a 2nd wind. And yes fertilized and watered to give them a boost.

ltilton: That is correct. In July, the sun rises at 5AM, and sets at 10PM.
florauk: I don't remember planting beans. When they came up I thought that it was a watermelon. When they made pretty flowers, I came here and that is when I learned what it was.
I pulled one off today:





It is a mongrel. It has happened to me many times. I have always eaten my mongrels. This year I had a zucchini turn into a bottle shaped gourd (I ate it, nothing special). Two years ago I had a winter squash, nominally a butternut, with butternut shape and Hubbard size and warty rind, which was one of the best tasting squashes I have ever had (I saved the seeds). I had to tie it to the trellis because it would have broken the vine. One other zucchini made a giant vine and is blooming only now. This has happened with both Territorial and Johnny seeds. With Territorial melon seeds I had a veritable house of ill repute, and numerous soapy tasting melons.

Lettuces are not grown in Summer. Please see below link.
Personally I only grow Romaine Lettuce, aka Cos Lettuce. I grow them from Fall to Winter and Spring. In Southern California, we don't get any freeze... well some.. but not a lot. I've never started them indoors; I always had sown them directly in-ground.
Not sure how cold it gets up where you are. But Summer isn't the time to grow lettuce. And they don't really need much TLC. Possibly you're over doing it?
If you want to grow them indoors, then get a pot (about 3 to 5 gallon sized) with water retainer on the bottom. Put it next to a window where it will get enough sunlight.
Here is a link that might be useful: lettuce growing
This post was edited by Avocado101 on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 22:57

"Lettuces are not grown in Summer" That's rather a categorical statement. It depends where you live, what your climate is like and which varieties you choose. In many climates they can be grown throughout the summer.
Nightrun86's seedlings just look etiolated to me. ie they need more light. I'd be interested to know what his/her outdoor temps are at the moment. Maybe they don't need to be inside at all?


Unfortunately, old corn stalks have very few nutrients to add to garden soil. Even in compost, they will need some nitrogen-rich materials to help them break down. When you put corn stalks or fresh leaves or sawdust into the soil, they suck much of the nitrogen out of the soil to use in their own decomposition process. This is counterproductive to building soil fertility.
I would collect all the corn stalks, make a flat layer of them over some good soil outside your garden beds, and then start a compost pile over them. They will assist in air entering the pile from below, which will speed up composting. After six or eight months, aided by the nutrients above them in the pile, they can be added to soil if they look like they have rotted adequately. The website below has a lot of information on composting. Click on "Techniques" then on "compost."
Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

Nutrients aren't everything. The stalks will produce humid acids and feed the earthworms, who will turn the soil over the years. I think grinding vegetable residual in place is the way to go, and I do it all the time. There is no possibility of increasing the nutrients in the soil by taking it away and composting it elsewhere. Caveat: if the vegetable is diseased, I prefer to bury it.


I have found it all depends on the depths of the damage. If it is just the skin and not into the meat then they will often scar over and do fine. As long as bacteria doesn't get a handle in the wound. You can use a diluted mix of 10% hydrogen peroxide spritzed into the wound to keep it clean until it begins to scab. Otherwise keep it dry and exposed to the air..
If the wound is deep then they usually begin to rot so those I harvest, partially cook, peel, cut up the meat into chunks and freeze it. later it can be thawed, cooked and mashed.
Dave