23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Both, some of the seeds I planted beets, carrots and pots, have all sprouted, but are not growing, it has been in the 70's-80's, just a lot of rain that with the mulch is holding in all the water. That is why I though about using some peroxide solution to air things out, but I have never tried this method.

I'm in the very eastern part if Kentucky and an having the exact same problem. My lettuce is the only thing that seems to be doing well under such conditions, and I'm waiting for a dry spell before I sow any if my pepper seeds as I'm pretty sure they would just rot anyway. :/ Hope things dry up a bit for you, too!

I'm fond of little Thumbalina Zinnias - they germinate fast and stay small so you can tuck them everywhere and they start blooming really fast too. I find Marigolds to be slug magnets, so I stay away from them. I usually have some sort of flowers in all of my beds, but its more about aesthetics than companion planting. Last year I had Nasturtiums, Blue Lobelia, Impatiens, Borage, Petunias, Violas, Zinnia, Galardia, Morning Glories, and bedding Dahlias mixed in through the veg garden.

It was the same for me with sunflowers...trying to pull up tree trunks. So this year, I put the sunflowers outside the fence instead of in the garden itself. Always marigolds, some cosmos and zinnias are my go-to flowers.

UC Davis has studied gophers extensively.

Here are two URL's:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/QT/gopherscard.html
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7433.html

I will put one of them in the "Optional Link URL" box so that you can click on it. But you can also cut and paste the above URL's. If you want to solve the problem, read the info from UC Davis. There are a lot of commonly recommended remedies which just do not work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gophers--UC IPM

I found this blurb in that link that the poster above linked in their message regarding pocket gopher control:
LEGAL STATUS
The California Fish and Game Code classifies pocket gophers as nongame mammals. This means if you are the owner or tenant of the premises and you find pocket gophers that are injuring growing crops or other property, including garden and landscape plants, you can control them at any time and in any legal manner.

So, knowing all that... should I wait till the buds are a bit bigger and then nip them?

JMO, ok? but I would snip them off as soon as they appear until after they are transplanted.

I agree that plants have a natural cycle built in to their genetics. So when we are trying to force them out of that natural pattern - ie: stay in your container and make more vegetative growth now rather than setting fruit now - then leaving the blooms on defeats that goal.

Sometimes I know that the plant will go ahead and drop that bloom or abort the small fruit anyway so some argue to just leave it to do what it does naturally. But if it is going to drop the blossom or abort the fruit anyway - and it would when you transplanted it - then there is no point in leaving it on the plant. Get it off ASAP and reduce the stress on the plant.

Dave

Thank you, Dave :).

The finger sized roots are very tasty!

I ordered Beiler White, Cox's Yellow Jersey, Korean Purple and Tennessee Top Mark from Sand Hill. Those plus my Red Wine Velvet should give me a good mix.
I don't want potatoes rooting everywhere... so from what I gather they can root where the vines touch the ground? Maybe I could snip unruly vines and use the leaves as greens?
Thanks for all the replies!

Abby

I vote eggs too....but I can't say I'm a reliable source, just questimating.....

Perhaps aphids.

If you could catch one in a jar or glass or something (covered) and throw it in the freezer for a little bit, you should be able to get up close shots without any problem.

Definitely not thrips.

That's all. Just some small teeth marks in the skin of the squash? Were they still small and green or ripening on the vine. The squash weren't broken open or part of them missing, no actual bites out of them? No damage to the plant itself? So you were still able to harvest them?

Reason I ask is all those points can help distinguish the culprit. Small teeth marks just on the outer skin of the squash with no real damage done often indicates mice or rats bites, maybe a ground squirrel but they usually do more damage than that IME. Baited traps work for them.

Dave

Hard to remember but I think some were damaged beyond being harvestable some could be harvested just looked weird cos already chomped on, none actually broken in half. I do find mouse poop around my outdoor picnic table so that is "evidence"

Sweet. I did not realize how it takes a few growth cycles before you can really start harvesting the asparagus. I am lucky!

Lucky you! There is nothing better than freshly harvested asparagus. It is an entirely different flavor than whatever has been sitting around the produce department. Enjoy.

There is nothing better than newly harvested lettuce with its tender crispness. It is one of the reasons I garden since I can't buy that freshness anywhere. Enjoy!

I've been harvesting spinach for a while. it's holding me over until the peas come in.

I just want to point out that if there are toxins in the finish, sanding it will most definitely put you at a greater risk of harm than using the wood as a garden. The worst thing you can do with a toxic finish is sand it, inhaling all that dust straight into your body.

However, from the original poster's description, these sound like particle board kind of bookshelves. Therefore, I'm guessing, probably post-1978 and if so, no concerns about lead at least. I'm not sure if there are other things to be concerned about (since furniture usually is pressure treated, either).

I do agree mckensie re 5' wide beds potentially being too wide. For me it seems fine. Mostly.

This is a Harvest Forum question. It is the food preservation forum here at GW and is linked in the Related Forums list above.

But I can tell you the basic answer is it can't be done. Milk, cream and other dairy products can't be safely processed at home, even in a pressure canner. The fats in them insulates any bacteria and prevents the heat from killing them.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Soup canning guidelines

You could do something like what Campbell's et al does-- prepare all but the dairy. That way when you want some soup, you just add milk and/or cream.

But what do I know? I don't even do any canning. Going to have to start though -- freezing and pickling just doesn't do the trick for many veggies.

Kevin

Maybe i should try Churchill downs...
Silver kelt- not negative, i totally agree that free would be the way to go... But I guess once i used the zoo compost, i was hooked and am willing to pay for my little pot of gold. Thanks for the advice on the horse track, i did not know that! I will keep that in mind!

"Seems when one alpaca poops, the others all come and poop in the same spot."

Well... I've learned something new today! :)

How about some GREEN MULCH?
right now I have lettuce, chards, onions(for greens) between my tomato/eggplant/pepper plants. So by the time the toms are grown those vegies will be gone.

Yet I have a permanent green mulch idea: FENUGREE. i have tried clover but did not work. But fenugreeg ( from alfalfa family) iworks fine. More than anything else, it is also a green manure. Fenugreeg produces nitrogen by its roots(like some beans) so instead of gettinh nutient out , it ads free nitrogen that it gets from air. What's more, its seeds and gree are edible and medicinal too.
You can buy the seeds real cheap from any Indo-Pakistany grocery store by the pound. Indians, chinese..use fenugreek and seeds in cooking extensivly....

Maybe lawn clippings use as mulch depends on the climate where one lives. In So. CA I spread the lawn clippings thinly, keeping them well away from the base of the plant. They dry out quickly and make a nice mulch. Some have warned that they will contain weed seeds, but I haven't had a problem with that. I stay on top of weeds pretty well anyway.

PS I would hate the extra step of spreading them out separately to dry. Too much work.

This post was edited by socks12345 on Wed, May 22, 13 at 10:46