23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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

What a great forum! Thank you everyone. I feel much better. I will pull up as much plastic as I can find and mix in lots of compost and start planting! Thanks again.

I watered about 2-3 times when I had a stretch of weather in the 70's to 80's for the last week of March. I haven't watered since then, or any other time this year.

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)..

well, the cuke seeds were purchased recently. I think they are Burpee brand, I will try some bottom heat to see if that helps.

You might want to do some reading about these set-ups over on the Greenhouse forum here for more opinions.

Dave

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

Can you give us a citation for the deactivation of Rubisco at low temps? I just did a quick search, and the literature I found only talks about the inactivation of Rubisco at HIGH temperatures.

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

My understanding is 1/2" line at 25-30 psi can do 200 ft, and that is the recommend maximum.

Never run more than 30' of 1/4" from the 1/2"

Never run 1/4" porous tubing more than 15'

Cool.
The 10 day weather forecast looks nice enough for me to get some more of my summer veggies planted, too.

Now comes the hard part...deciding on which ones to go with and which ones to try n find a new home for.

Take care tn - was 78 here today but headed for 33 here tonight and for the next 3 nights. And it is headed your way.

Dave

Yes! That's it! Thank you!

Speak info wicking beds, I saw my first pit garden last week. Very cool, if you have the strength and stamina to dig the pit. The raised rows inside wick water from the deep trenches on each side.

I am in MD and grow peanuts every year. Because they need a long, warm growing season I always start them in pots in a cold frame. After I transplant them I've never had a squirrel bother them. Try transplanting.

They get the sunflower seeds, too.

What kind of kale is it? My russian kale seems to maintain its mild flavor even when bolting.

It is true.

My slow bolting mustard green started bolting this week. Past years, they used to wait till May or June. Surprise!

Double post with Name That Plant.

This is a mesclun mix ie various salad plants designed to be cut continuously as baby leaves, not to be grown as full sized individual plants, so the pot is adequate imo.

THANK YOU so much! What's weird is that I don't see a packet in my seed box with this mix, I wonder if it's just missing somehow. THANK YOU!

And yes, I grow these as baby greens for salads :) I have 20+ other pots and just didn't realize what these were.

Thanks!