23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

If seedlings are leggy/floppy, the first thing that comes to mind is:

-insufficient light, you need bright light, as close to the plants as possible

Insufficient strength, you need a fan on seedlings, it will mimic the natural envornment and strengthen them.. Think of it this way, would you grow that tall if you knew one gust of wind will knock you out? Or would you want to train for the wind, an get stalky and strong for preparation for the big fight with the outside..

Bright light, and a fan should beam on the seedlings as soon as they sprout.. If not, in a few days they are already leggy!

Joe

Just wanted to let everyone know that I successfully hardened off and transplanted my cilantro into the garden yesterday. It is standing up nicely and seems to have handled the transplanting well!

Aili.... yep, your fine. They'll break through eventually.

Thank you everyone for the information and reassurance!

I'm still a little confused about what I do when it comes time to plant I heard I have to lay a type of plastic down what is it called and how do I do it?"

You don't have to do anything, you could just dig a whole and plant your plant, that simple.. You are going to get 100 different answers from 100 different people, you are just going to get more confused.. Just remember it's not rocket science, don get overwhelmed keep it simple..

Lay down plastic for what, to kill grass, for mulch, why are you thinking about laying plastic? Did you already till your soil? Is there grass growing on your soon to be garden area? Do you have your garden ready to plant?

Below is an article for planning a vegetable garden in Maine from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Planning a home vegetable garden

Their site has the most relevant information to you since you are in Maine and have a comparatively shorter growing season than most of us.

They are probably Carola aka German Butterball. Whatever they are, put a few in a sunny window to green up and plant them. My favorite potatoes last year came from the supermarket. The little blue potatoes in a microwave-ready bag grew out to the loveliest blues I've ever grown.

German Butterballs are not smooth. They have a skin almost like a russet, but yellower, and yellow flesh. I grow them -- I love them!

Woohooman has a great point about the different watering preferences.Two years ago in the heat and drought, my cucs all died in the raised bed while the peppers thrived. I replanted cucs in totes and they did very well. Putting in totes is a lot easier to do than turning soil where I live.

I put these totes in four years ago after a hip replacement limited what I could do in the garden. They are planted in sugar snap peas at the moment, but will have cucs again for the summer. It would be an easy option to have cucs for you without taking up your garden space,
Carol

Just wanted to give you a close up of the mote under the totes. There is a frame of treated 1 by 6 with plastic holding water. I water the tote, fill the mote, and when the mote is empty (and all mosquite larva therefore gone), I repeat the process.

This supplies the constant source of moisture that woohooman was referring to that cucs need.

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I never considered the possibility that I don't need a fence at all. It's hard for me to imagine that the rodents wouldn't find their way up into the containers without any sort of barrier. Hmm.

By the way, the patio is at ground level, so any animal could wander onto it freely. I don't think the deer would mind coming close to the house, it certainly never stopped them from cleaning out the flowers we have planted in the front.

Here's one thing:

"Also you may consider placing small wire on the area' ground, they will sense wire and not go near it."

What kind of wire? Plugged into something, with current running through it? Just a wire laying on the ground? Not sure what you're actually suggesting here.

Chicken wire, grid wire, fence wire, etc.
Their feet will detect the wire, consider a dangerous feeling and stay out.
Also, if you can place any upright stakes of any sort, deer will detect them also, they only need to be of a height that would make them feel uncomfortable..
My veggie fence entrances are only 3 feet high, however due to all the interference inside the area, I have never had a deer enter, they could jump in very easily.
Me..I wouldn't mess with any electrical items to deter animals.

Elisa, I also have a troy built pony, one of the oldies, and those were the best built. I have a furrow maker that I use for making raised beds, and it works very well. I have not planted potatoes, but that is on my list. I got the furrow maker on eBay, and for the $60 I paid for it, it is an enormous time saver.

This year I used the rotary plow to make the potato-trenches. Comes out deeper than using the tiller w/furrower behind, but the soil is all on one side.

I've never grown Kale, so I don't know about that. But all the others you mention need at least six hours of sun a day. They would do better with more.

Kale will tolerate a little shade, afternoon shade, but it prefers sun and all the others on your list are 6-8 hour sun vegetables.

Dave

Corn do better in square shape planting. Do not plant them in rows that have large space in between. Corn is not suitable on raised bed. Their roots are easily exposed that way. They are more suited to deep beds.

Drive some stakes deep into the ground around the corn plants perimeter. When they get higher and the wind is strong tie each of them to the stakes with nylon ropes to give them some badly needed wind resistance.

I planted my first 6 plantings of corn in a large raised bed last year. It did well. I plant in rectangle plots 4 rows wide. Three is ok if you assist pollination a bit.

Some people would envy you. Don't worry if the sprouts break off, they'll regrow.

Definitely not a problem. That's how I know it's time to plant potatoes -- the ones in my kitchen start sprouting!

Potatoes are strong growers. I planted a potato last fall, but forgot about it. Then I ended up placing a stepping stone over it this spring and the potato just sprouted around it.

Njitgrad: if you are interested in making your own potting mix, follow the link below to the most popular thread on the Container Gardening Forum. It has run for more than 8 years with well over 2,000 posts. Do yourself a favor and read the long introduction to see the recipe for 5-1-1. I've used this mix to grow tomatoes and lots of other vegetables for three years. It costs me about $3 a cubic foot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention

but alot of liquid organic fertilizers are already consumed by microbs and ready to use(fish emulsion,fox farm, any other liquid fertilizer), many people even use them hydroponically. The majority of organic fertilzers are inoculated with the organisms to begin with.

You have taken it out of context.

Yes I am well aware of the nature of some liquid organic fertilizers and frequently make that point myself. However it cannot be said about all or even the majority of the many brands available and care must be taken when purchasing.

But you see this discussion is not about liquid fertilizers so all that isn't relevant to it. This discussion has been about dry potting mixes used to fill containers - the so-called expensive organic mixes vs. the less expensive mixes without the hyped "organic" label. And with all dry potting mixes you have to add microbes in some form.

Did you look at how expensive a bag of foxfarm is?

Fox Farm makes several different varieties of mix and yes I am aware of the costs but then I wasn't recommending it either. I merely included it in a short list of some of the 100's of different potting mix brands as one that comes with active mycor already added.

Some mixes don't even have the proper type of fungus fo vegetables,

Name one.

I would just buy a bag of peat moss($10) and a bag or two of compost($3-6).. For 10-15 bucks you can have dozens of containers filled.

You make it sound so simple. But what proportions would you use? And which of the umpteen varieties of bagged compost would you purchase? How do you eliminate the salt build up that comes with using bagged manured compost? Or would you only use non-manured? How much of which type lime would you add to balance the pH? And which wetting agent would you add in what amount to eliminate the hydrophobic nature of peat? There are at least 15-20 recipes for making your own that I know of and likely 50 more. Each has associated issues. The pre-made stuff addresses all those issues so if you advocate making your own to someone who has no basic knowledge then you have to provide all the necessary info or you do them no service.

njitgrad - Container Gardening - the focus of your post - is a totally unique form of growing, regardless of the plant in question, with little if anything in common with standard vegetable gardening. That is why it was given its own forum 10 years ago.

So my point is that all your questions about containers, container mixes, container fertilizing, and container gardening in general are already answered in great detail by highly experienced container growers over on that forum. That includes at least 50 discussions about "what is the 5-1-1 mix", and recipes for making your own.

ProMix BX....can it be purchased at HD or Lowes?

No it is a professional/commercial mix. However it is available from any growers supply and online.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: 5-1-1 discussions