23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Yeah, my lettuce has been great this year, too. So satisfying not to have to go out and buy a bag of the organic gourmet mix for $$$.

Your lettuce beds look prolific rayinpenn! Wish you have the same success with your other cucurbit plants too.

I usually keep new plants that I have BOUGHT under a tree, or something shaded or protected for a day or so. Nancy

Don't forget to harden them "gradually", it is the most important thing before they go outside for good. I see some Cucurbitaceae plants that you should give a bit of shade in the first few days they were put out.

PN, read these

Western Diseases: Their Emergence and Prevention, by Drs. Trowell and Burkitt
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, by Dr. Weston Price
Health and the Rise of Civilization, by Dr. Mark Cohen
Food and Western Disease, by Dr. Staffan Lindeberg
Gun, germs, and steel, by Jared Diamond

If you want a shorter list, Diamond (brief history of the last 13,000 years) describes the transition to agriculture. Cohen does the best job of reviewing the archeological record. Lindenberg is of interest to you because he describes the lack of all diseases of civilization in a near vegetarian island (heavy smokers too, but they eat fish every day, and pork rarely).

Actually, if you do not want to fork the money, most of the work of Lindenberg is discussed in many older posts at Whole Health Source (tag: kitava). I have two copies of the Diamond book, which does not discuss diet directly, I consider it the most illuminating book I have ever read.

Cohen's work is the foundation of many websites discussing the paleo diet, although Dr Cordain is much more quoted. You can find Cordain on youtube nicely summarizing the evidence for humans as top predators. I am also very fond of the work of Weston Price, a dentist, his foundation has collected a lot of articles.

http://www.westonaprice.org

Sorry to disagree but properly grown pepper plants have a root system that is at least as big as the diameter of the top growth and usually as much as 2x the size of the top. The primary reason for using proper spacing is nutrient and moisture availability. Overly close plants are competing for both. The competition leads to stressed plants, increased BER, lower production, leaf drop, and disease and pest susceptibility.

Dave

I don't know what zone you're in, but my tabascos in containers get about 4' tall by 3' wide.

Here in zone 5 WV the traditional planting day for the crops you mention above is either memorial day or June 1st (depending on which farmer you're talking to). If you can get a forecast a week out around memorial day that says no frost, and night time temps not much lower than 50, then tomatoes can go out. Last year this time it was HOT.
Good luck with your shivering plants! Hope they make it.

I've always gone with 5/15, if the forecast is favorable.

Problems happen when the forecast changes. Latest cold snap wasn't predicted early enough.

I've done teepee trellises before the problem I ran into was that harvesting can be a bit tricky. It seems there always a few cukes hiding in there that I didn't see.

I go with 8 foot poles and then slide rolled fencing onto the poles.

Cucumbers like gourds etc can climb by getting grip by their tendrils. But a slightly sloaped trellis can be easy on them.. you can guide them at first and then tie their vines, now and then, to trellis, to be stable.

Store bought potatoes work ok, providing the variety is suited to your area. Long season potatoes do not do well in south for example. The other danger is introducing a disease. Seed potaoes are grown under very stringent conditions and must be certified disease free.

Yes, tomatoes and potatoes are cousins.
When they flower, start setting tubers. So if you have a small fruit, then you have even bigger potatoes in the ground. But still growing. Mine are just about to flower. I see small buds coming.

I have grown potatoes in ATL, GA. I harvested in July. They wont set fruits(in the ground , nor grow them bigger , when soil tems get arouhnd 75F or so.

Have the same problem here my house is about 15 -20 feet from the veggie garden. The person applying the treatment asked if I were growing any veggies along the base of the house (I'm not) as that would be the only location to be concerned about. Even though the landscape slopes toward the garden he said it would not be impacted.

Very good to know. I was getting really sad about the prospect of pulling all these healthy young plants. Thank you.

I think it is the right plant. Coloring is right and the plant tag description talks about the long slender fruits. They just goofed on the picture.

Not a nice day here. Breezy and drizzel. But I got my new eggplants planted.

I first saw fall brassica seedlings growing in a greenhouse in Tennessee where it was at least 90 degrees. Since then I have been amazed at how much heat they can take. In fact, if you start too late and the plants are not big enough to take advantage of late summer warmth, b sprouts, broccoli, rutabaga etc won't make a good crop.

Some people set up an outdoor nursery bed for growing seedlings in summer, but I let mine germinate indoors and grow them on the deck, under a glass-topped patio table. It filters a little sun and keeps my little nursery from getting swamped by thunderstorms.

It's hot summer when I set the seedlings out, so I cover them with flower pots for a couple of days after transplanting, and then install a tulle tunnel to prevent aggravation from cabbageworms and armyworms. B sprout seedlings take several weeks to outgrow that little setup, but eventually the plants get huge and produce all through Oct and Nov.

I'm going to start some broccoli too.