23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Cats

Get some 3" nails and drill a hole through your wooden mouse traps and anchor them to the earth. That makes all the energy of the snap go into the bar, rather than flipping the trap around. Then, if you want to be extra diligent, make some tunnel covers out of rain gutter. That way you can set a trap on opposite sides of the hole and force them to step on it if they want to go anywhere. Works a charm around the potatoes.

Soaking the paper in a sugar solution will cut down on the blow away. They do the same thing with "EZ straw" and sell it as "tackifier" when its really just a sugar.

It makes a fine mulch if you add some worms, they keep it broken up and penetrable for water.

That's a clever idea, "tackifying" the paper with some kind of sugar. I have to assume, though, that it gets less tacky after some rain. The guar tack that is used in EZ-Straw is probably a less soluble kind of sugar than kitchen sugar.

I planted Red Russian kale in Jan. and it has lasted 2 years...next year planted earlier, in Oct. and it bolted early next spring...plants are confusin!

Red Russian is a great self sower for me. I always leave a few plants to flower. Last year I cut the stems with green seed pods and used them to cover a row of freshly sown peas. I find that covering peas with something twiggy puts off the wood pigeons which are a menace here. My thinking was that the kale would then drop its seeds in the pea row and by the time the peas were done I'd have a row of kale babies. It worked perfectly and I have a row of kale where I had peas . I will definitely do it again this year.

It's definitely not too late to start again from seed in Utah. I am also in Utah (Spanish Fork) and my zucchini just barely sprouted a week ago. Put some seeds in the ground and you will have a stronger plant than putting a transplant in.

Thanks everybody for the confirmation. I am not quitting now, I'm having to much fun.

I am planing on growing a single stem and thus the stake.

Example: http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/pruning-zucchini/

Here is a link that might be useful: Single stem zucchini

I'm in zone 7 or Chattanooga, TN. It rained last week a bit and I checked the soil and I didn't water them because the soil was quite wet. But Friday they were getting to the watering stage and I thought about watering then the rain started. So it's been raining a lot these past few days.

The peppers have been gradually getting light green, but I didn't notice how much until I planted some Red Savina's beside them and noticed the completely different green. I'll post a photo of the Red Savinas to see.

Well I planted them almost a month ago on May 6th. I watered them and gave them a bit of fertilizer to start off, it was Miracle grow All Purpose. So that was the last time I fertilized them.

Once I noticed the peppers changing I did a home soil test, one of the ones that tests pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potash. The Nitrogen and Phosphorous were low so that's when I figured I was about to have something happen.

I started using an Epsom Salt spray about a week ago to see if it was something easy to fix quick, but sadly not.

My watering before was the first two days I planted them I watered them with a gallon can so I put about 2 gallons over the 220 sq. ft. Did this for two days.

So once I got the water levels when I wanted them I left them be.

So,
pH 6.5 - 6.8
Nitrogen - Low
Phosphorous - Low
Potash - Medium

The soil I am using is compost i've made from bagged leaves, grass, small sticks, and let it sit, that's it. Each bed has about 9 inches of this compost before it meets regular ground.

Jean, Sorry did not see your post. Someone had sprayed some weeks and weeks ago, but nothing recent, it had killed all the grass around but the grass is growing back no problems

Row covers, row covers, row covers. Easy, cheap, reusable, organic, effective--what more could you want?

Row covers would be useless in my backyard. Row covers are for people who have space.

Kevin

Like ltilton says.........it's healthy. Rejoice!

I WISH I had that problem! I need to keep amending our soil. It's only the first year though, so who knows what will happen! Enjoy!

Yes. I agree. I live in Zone 8 and I just planted my okra about ten days ago, and that was pushing it with the late cool weather we have had.

If the plants die, just plant more when the soil warms up. If the soil is really warm, new seeds will take off and out grow these by far, even if you baby them along.

Agree. Far too early for okra. It is a heat lover and responds poorly to fluctuating spring weather and temps. No one ever plants it here until late June.

Dave

Thanks Dave, I never thought about ventilation. Having said that, I don't think cooking the plants will be an issue. I live in Ireland. We don't have an abundance of heat or sunshine here. Quite the opposite! Thanks also to fruitnut, that info is handy to know for next year but since I've already bought this roll of poly, I might as well use it this year.

This post was edited by Growing-In-The-Dark on Sun, May 19, 13 at 16:34

As long as it's think enough, your plastic should hold up for a season. If you decide you want to grow under plastic next year, you would be better off getting UV-resistant greenhouse plastic. Do be careful, though - just a few hours direct sun can cook plants if there's no ventilation.

From what I've read, the western spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), sometimes called a "green lady bug," is a major problem in California. It may be different from the one I've dealt with in Ohio.

You can drape something light over your remaining plant during the hottest part of the day...I used a semi-sheer curtain. My plants were on the west side of our building(when we were in Wisconsin)and it got very hot. The fabric kept the plants cooler but I still had to water the containers twice a day.

Totally agree with Dave.

Ok, thanks for the input. That's kinda what I was thinking!