23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Oh, grrr... I feel like a bit of an idiot. Thanks, FruitNut - I'm pretty sure you're right. I looked around a bit more after you answered, and it looks like these may be something called "grape pearls" that can appear on grape plants in the spring.
Thanks!
Here is a link that might be useful: Iowa State U : Grape Pearls
Rhizo,
I was pretty confused about this because I didn't see any bugs on the plant. Now that I know what it is, though, I can move it out of isolation soon. :) I also plan to let the garden dept at WM next time I'm there. I now believe the remaining grape vines were looking so rough because she was covering them in crap.. Yikes!
Thanks!
I wouldn't worry about it perfectly square, rains going to wash the soil, plants are going to sprawl out the garden, it's never going to be perfect.. There are plenty ways to get a rough square, your eyes being one of them, a tape measure being another..
What I would think about is maximum planting space for the area.. Instead of a 20 foot square with 10 rows(1 foot beds)!and 10 walk pathes(1foot), etc.. Have five beds 3 feet across, with 4 one foot walk paths.. Instead of having 200 foot gardening bed,and 200 foot walk pathes.. You would have 300 feet of garden beds, and only 80 feet on walk space, versus 200 foot garden and 200 foot walk space.. You are getting 100 more square foot, which is 20-30 tomato plants, or 50 pepper plants, 100 cabbages,etc...
I would focus on yield, aesthetics would come naturally..
Joe
Also lookup for free compost from the city, it's not uncommon to find city's dumping compost for free pickup, they have to dispose of the plant wasted somehow.. That's where I get my compost from, very good stuff, and its free! Much better then buying the bags, man you'll be paying.. Worst comes to worst, your local nursery,etc would have compost/soil in bulk.. One-two inches would be fine.. Although I put down half a foot of compost for my beds, if I have the compost! As Dave mentioned, You can never have enough compost!
PS- the best compost is the compost you make yourself, start throwing your leaves, grass clippings and kitchen scraps in a corner of your yard... It's not going to get you no 400 square foot bed(unless you are serious and have lots of plant matter/manure), but it will get you in the right direction..
Best of luck,
Joe
Dropping down to 12 hours a day will be fine for your tomatoes.
I use a phillips screw driver, heated in a candle flame for a minute to punch hole in plastic cups (I punch 4 holes). Those are a pretty soft plastic and much pressure on them will crumple them and really disturb the soil/roots.
When I pot up smallish transplants to bigger containers, I water lightly (using a squirt top water bottle) from the top for a while. The soil will stay to wet for to long if you soak it before the roots have a chance to develop more.
I would water from the top, with containers of that dimension. You need to get oxygenated water throughout the volume of medium.
May I ask what size cell packs you're transplanting from? I ask because the shallower depth of a cell pack is more ideal for herbaceous transplants than tall. No big deal. Next time, if you do go with the cups again, consider purchasing colored ones. Roots need to be in the dark for optimum branching.
Well, good luck with the wheat crop ;).
Aw, thanks for asking about my garden :). My established plants and beans are very excited about the truckloads of compost and wood chip mulch my crew have been spreading.
My squashes are complaining that i started them too early. the temps are ok, but they are not getting enough sun and consequently are being eaten by aphids :(.
Here peas end in the middle of the season, July 20th or so. So I follow them with fall crops, I think its some beets this year.
I plant spinich or mustard greens before Bush or pole beans.The greens are usualy done by June 10th.
If I plant raddishes before beans I can get the beans in by May 18th.
I've never done later pole beans, but I've gotten a crop off bush beans planted no later than July 1st.
Of course these dates are aproximate.
Swiss chard likes the heat so you should be able to leave it in place all summer. I started mine in mid-May last year and they produced well into fall. This year, I started them mid-April (this past weekend) to extend the harvest even further; just keep picking the outer leaves and let the middles grow all season.
For the others, it depends on what varieties you're using and their days to maturity, as well as whether you'll be harvesting all at once or bit by bit. And, of course, the weather doesn't always cooperate -- it could get so hot in May your lettuce will bolt, or it could be so cool that you need to hold the tomatoes until June.
So my suggestion is to make a general plan based on days to maturity of your various plants, while recognizing that you'll need to be flexible if crops aren't as far along as you'd hoped by a given date. (At which point, you'd need to either find a different spot for the warm season crop that is supposed to go there, or pull the cool season crop early to make room.)
Since this is a repeat discussion let's try it this way. You tell us how much room you have for a garden and what shape you want it to be. If you have a couple of different sizes in mind, post them. Then we'll go from there.
We gave you sizes required for each type of plant in the other thread eg. each tomato needs a minimum of 2 sq. feet so for a row of 10 tomatoes you need an area at least 2-3 feet wide and at least 20 feet long. So it should be pretty easy to add those together for a total.
Dave
I agree with Dave. All there really is, is plant spacing... Once you know that, you can research yields of each plant, from there figure out how many plants suits your needs.. Then multiply how many plants you need by the spacing of each plant, bingo, that is your garden space! Don't make it harder than it is.. Just make a garden and go from there. You could determine the perfect garden spacing for years, that could be time you spent planting! Its never going to add up correctly, nature has her own agenda.. Some years you'll get tons of tomatoes, other years few... You can't make an exact calculation on nature, but you could get a rough idea.. The best way to do so is go out there and get some real experience! Get a rough idea, and get gardening my friend!
Joe
Purple1701, I think trial and error is the way most of us learn. Indeed, although I do consult a few resources now and then, most of my gardening is still done that way. (My mother says I was a stubborn child :)) I find it more fun than the scientific method. Admittedly, it's probably a bit more expensive, but since I grow mostly from seed, it's not too bad. Best wishes on your new endeavor!
...and here is part 2 of that video
Here is a link that might be useful: Drip Irrigation Part 2
By any chance did you take them from inside into the outside sunshine recently? If you don't do this gradually in a process called "hardening off" the leaves will get sunscorched. That's what it sounds like.
If they are scorched but not badly so, they will recover.
On a related note, I'm copying my question from the seed propagation page:
Can anyone identify if this leaf damage on my eggplant seedlings is a problem?
To me, it looks like light damage from the t5 bulbs, but if it is an insect or disease problem, the sooner I know the better.
thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8698937@N02/8647323808/lightbox/
Farmerbill1952, your 1015 onions are short day onions. In my zone 9a we plant these in December. You are are one zone up. My guess your issues are mostly related to timing - not sure what is the proper planting month for area...
This post was edited by grandad on Mon, Apr 15, 13 at 9:37
Right. Your error was in timing. Onions are usually the very last thing that I plant in my fall/winter garden. They grow green onion tops all winter and into spring and then begin to bulb in April or so. Depending on the type, they are ready for harvest in May or June.
It is not recommended that you add nitrogen fertilizer to them once they start the bulbing process.
If you go to the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Website, they have a very detailed and informative tutorial on growing onions. Check it out.There is also an Allium Forum here on Gardenweb. Those folks really know their stuff, including the ones who responded here.
24L x 18.38W x 15.75H"
Ok I'm guessing that is feet not inches? Hard to imagine a compost bin that would be only 2 feet long and 18" wide. That would be a really tiny, microscopic compost bin.
But just in case that would hold 1 plant only and it would be hanging over the sides. How much would depend on the variety as not all zucchini plants are the same.
See the discussion further down the page about growing yellow crookneck in pots. Same thing applies.
Dave
I have read that you can dig up the roots and overwinter in a bucket with moistened soil as long as the temp in your greenhouse does not go below freezing.