23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Your raised beds are really containers since they are not in contact with the ground. The combination of Miracle Gro garden soil and top soil is a very heavy and water retentive mix that really shouldn't be used in a container. Do the beds have good drainage? Is the soil drying out between waterings? If your plants haven't shown growth in a couple weeks, your problem is not going to be solved by adding fertilizer. If the soil is waterlogged, the plants are drowning and can't use fertilizer. If that's the case, you might want to pull the plants, replace part of the soil with a container potting mix and get new plants.
These are red potatoes. The two I started 5 weeks ago from last year's crop (two tiny potatoes) are as big as the one I started 2-3 weeks ago from seed potatoes purchased from the farmers market. It's possible that they are different, but they're both red. I'm surprised to see flowers so early too. Maybe it's the Arizona sun. A few days ago I found a little potato the size of a nickle.
I will take your advise and pile more dirt as they grow taller. How many inches of leaves should I leave above the soil?
Not long after we moved in, a few volunteers popped up near the house. Two tomatoes, some basil, a cantalope, and a few pumpkins. I had a quick chat with them. "Thanks for popping up, fellas, but here's how it is: I have two kids, a new baby, and a house to move into. I won't be out here weeding, staking, and watering, so youre on your own. Survival of the fittest...lets see what you can do."
Darned if it wasn't one of my most successful gardens in terms of high yield for low effort! :)
Mine do something like that when night temperatures drop below about 60F. I think it's showing stress. I planted too early this year, but now that the weather has been warmer for a week or more, a few flowers are blooming and I think they will be OK.
Case closed. I found USDA "O" seed in bulk at a local heath food store, which is right across the street from a nursery that I frequent. The prices are reasonable, and the brand is Handy Pantry.
transplanting can slow down squash, but I grow several every year and always transplant. Even my giant pumpkins get transplanted after it is 2 feet tall and wide. Transplant carefully and you should have no problem. It looks to me like maybe too cold and too wet. ? Where are you located? I am on the coast of British Columbia and this (last week of May or first week of June) is when I set my plants to ground from the green house.
Don't fertilize until they show growth. If you can put a cover over them that will help to warm them up but DON"T burn them!. You need root growth in June. Taking off the first few flowers will let leaves and roots develop. Leaves and roots are what feed the fruit.
Sounds to me like these guys just need to get their roots established. I transplant squash routinely with success, but squash that are transplanted out of a rootbound pot will take longer to get established. The existing roots aren't pointed radially outward. The plants look reasonably healthy, but are those flowers??? Get rid of them. The plants needs to be concentrating on greenery. If you get a fruit set right now on one of those plants, it isn't going to grow any more. I also agree that you should hold off on the fertilizers until they are established.
For staking tall tomatoes - 10ft long, 1/2" iron rebar works best for me. Driven 2' into the ground leaves you with 8' to work with. Lasts forever. Use visegrips and 5# hammer to drive into ground. Home improvement stores have them. I bought all of mine (30) almost 30 years ago when they were a bit cheaper.
Happy Staking!
Definite yes to chard -- mine grows all summer, even last summer when it was ridiculously hot and dry. Qualified yes to beets and carrots. The ones I planted in May and June last year grew well, but I had a difficult time getting either to germinate in July and August when it was really hot.
Other ideas -- how about green beans, soy beans, melons, squash, sweet potatoes? They all like the heat.
Kathy
Wow, great suggestions, thanks.. Sweet potatoes sound great and the carrots and chard would make great use of the garden space too! I tried to germinate Swiss chard seeds about 3 wks ago (last year's seeds) to no avail, but I think they may have been in the sunlight in the sunroom over the winter.
I could probably plant 4 melon/squash plants per bed if I wanted to - I'll have to think about that because I decided not to do melons thios year (because of the space).
Thanks again y'all and happy gardening!
I've had this before on occassion with seedlings and it can be on any kind of plant. I just always assumed it was a kind of damping off/rot issue, staying too wet perhaps.
I just toss it including the soil around it, and try again fresh but try to not let the soil stay soggy if I can help it. Of course mother nature doesn't always cooperate.
Damping off fungus imo. Usually from overwatering and/or fungus gnats. Usually it's accompanied with indoor starts. I've read that cinnamon, hydrogen peroxide, and chamomile tea are good remedies.
You may want to just start fresh with a direct sow though, keep soil moist but water lightly, and THEN if you see them shriveling again try one of the remedies above..
Kevin
This post was edited by woohooman on Sun, Jun 2, 13 at 16:20
Yes, my asparagus is flowering. I've only seen one or two adult beetles (which are now dead) but I've got lots of larvae. Plus, I don't really want to spray unless it's absolutely necessary. So I'm just going to cut my ferns, dispose of them, and stay on the lookout for adult beetles when the ferns regrow.
Rodney
Are you sure it's St. Augustine? Usually St. Augustine is pretty easily smothered for me, but it takes a lot to kill bermuda grass. If it really is St. Augustine coming up, the few times that's happened for me, it's been really really easy to pull up - just a patch here or there.
But I keep thinking maybe you have Bermuda coming up instead - that stuff sure is tenacious.
please post images