23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I did some reading on this recently. In a quick cruise of my bookmarks I don't see the links (I can look again when less tired), but basically what I found was that studies show tree fruits do not put much of the copper and arsenic from treated wood into their fruits, although it shows up in other parts of the tree. The fruit is pretty safe.
(The study was on particular varieties of apricots and apples, and the guess is that this is true for other fruits as well.)
Vegetables that you eat the roots and leaves of, OTOH, are more problematic. Especially roots.
Near houses and roads, lead is an issue. It is not recommended that you plant leafy vegetables there -- or, if you do, wash them very thoroughly. A lot of the lead is in surface dust on plant leaves, and on the dirt on root vegies, rather than in the tissues of the plants, so you can wash it off.
You might consider raised beds... if you know the history of the dirt you would be importing.
I feed the birds through the winter, LOTS of them of ALL kinds, Starlings rarely feed here and English Sparrows never (we're out in the country), and they return a lot of the seeds & suet in digested form and deposit it on our parked automobiles, but they also reward us by hanging around and nesting in the Spring and eating LOTS of bugs too.
Birds eat bugs.
It would be of great help to know your location, or at least your garden zone. Note how the rest of us include that info. Especially so since it is quite unusual to have all those crops growing at the same time, much less doing it right now.
Each crop has different nutrient needs and different feeding schedules. As already mentioned, usually fertilizers are worked into the soil prior to planting and then each crop fed its supplemental needs on the schedule for that crop.
For ex:
Tomatoes at first fruit set and then approx. every 6 weeks. Corn side dressed when 12-18" tall. Cukes every 2 weeks. Peppers low N every 6 weeks. etc.
Never heard of Medina so had to look it up. It is listed as a lawn fertilizer and thatch remover when lawn clippings are not picked up. It also includes a pre-emergent for weed control. It is listed as safe for vegetable gardens but that is not its primary purpose, especially with the weed killer in it. It is rated at 4-2-3. Personally I would return it to the store.
Manure tea is to be used only when extremely well-diluted and only as a root drench, not on the leaves, and never around low-growing crops where it can contaminate the edible parts. Bone meal takes from 6 months to 1 year to have any effect.
I recommend some extensive reading over on the Organic Gardening forum here about safe and proper use of organic gardening supplements..
Dave
I live in south coastal texas. I know I'm a bit early for okra but am basing the rest of what I plant on the other community gardeners in my town. I don't really think its that unusual to have these crops growing in the south at this time especially since most everything I have is doing well. I will do some extra reading and get other opinions. Thank you for your insight.
As others mentioned, I wouldn't be to concerned, that is if, mulch bags were the only products you found. Just pull up as much of it as you can... I frequently get compost from the city, and there is tons of plastic in that, I'm sure other pollutants as well.. But aye, my plants love it... Besides you are doing so much good, to worry about such a trivial amount of pollutants, if there are any to begin with ..
I just moved in a house a couple years ago, the former owners loved their weed fabric! They put half a foot of topsoil on top of it, with long stakes securing it down... Let me tell you, it was a pain in the a**! but it's worth it.. You're only doing it once..
Good luck,
Joe
All of the above is good stuff!
I try to group plants with similar needs together. The tomatoes are all in one bed cause they like the same watering pattern. I let them dry out a bit rather than sprinkle a bit each day.
I actually have a set up for each of 4 large beds. I bought a hose splitter that has 4 different spigots, each controlled by it's own control.Each connected to a soaker hose.
The tomatoes get about 1/2 hour once a week, the asparagus, 2x per week etc etc.
This way I only have to dedicate about an hour a day (or less) to watering.
I also make sure to hand water about once a week in order to inspect all of my plants and look for critters etc!
Garden ON! Nancy
Joe listed a lot of good ones. Others you may want to consider are cottonseed and alfalfa meal(N), bone meal(P), kelp meal(K). Fish and seaweed emulsions and extracts. Bat guano, manures, and worm castings.
Everything but the guano(including the supplemental city-produced compost and mulch) I buy in bulk to keep costs down.
Kevin
Max,
Also get some good books,or research online.. Look up Composting,cover crops/green manures, sustainable Permaculture, organic gardening... There is much more to gardening than fertilizers.. Watch the back to Eden film it will give you some ideas(backtoedenfilm.com)..
Tomatoes should be kept above 50 degrees, but there is a trick that can help if they get colder. Say your tomatoes go down to 35 degrees overnight and sit at that temp for 6 hours. The next day, put them in a greenhouse and let them get up above 90 degrees for 6 hours. Each hour above 90 degrees counters an hour spent below 50 degrees.
Why is this so?
When a tomato gets cold, Rubisco - a chemical vital to plant growth - is deactivated. Letting the plant get above 90 degrees the next day reverses the effect. I use this trick to very good effect in my greenhouse. It allows me to deliberately cold stress my tomato plants and then reverse the effects the next day.
So you don't have a greenhouse? Well, you can make do with a plastic tent or even a partially covered aquarium. Don't EVER put seedlings in a fully closed aquarium, the temperature can easily get above 200 degrees in full sun. A gap an inch wide at one end is usually enough to bring the temp down below 120 degrees which is safe for tomatoes. Be sure to water them well, seedlings will consume incredible amounts of water when in direct sun.
DarJones
Local sources will definitely save you money, the shipping if nothing else, and both HD and Lowe's carry the basic supplies.
Online there are any number of suppliers for both kits and the individual components. dripworks.com, dripdepot.com, growersupply.com, just to name a few.
I'd encourage you to look into using drip tape instead however as it is less prone to problems - clogging, spacing issues, GPH emitter sizes for different plants, etc. Plus it generally tends to be cheaper. There have been recent discussions here about such systems the search will pull up for you.
I have about 150 - 200 feet of row
That is going to be your primary problem. No system will maintain pressure over that long a run without inline pressure boost pumps. You'll have to divide it into separate zones.
Dave
I put them in deep shade (under a table on my porch, on a cloudy day) for the first day or two, then lighter full shade, then one hour direct light (on a cloudy day), and so on. Takes more than a week to get them to the full sun stage.
Small seedlings are sometimes more adaptable than larger starts, and can take only a week.
I have a greenhouse. When I move my plants from indoors to the greenhouse, I cover each tray of seedlings with a laundry basket that allows 33-50% of light to pass through. (The greenhouse itself reduces the sunlight by about 25%.)
After about three days, I remove the baskets. Then when the weather forecast predicts temps warm enough, I move them to a screened enclosure outside where they get outside temperatures, breezes, hail protection, and full sun exposure. Works great!.
Before I had the greenhouse, I would put my seedlings outside in full shade for several hours. The next day, several hours in full shade plus 1 hour in late day sun. Then I would increase the sun exposure by an hour a day for 4-5 days. Then I just left them in full exposure until I planted them.
This post was edited by tdscpa on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 3:16