23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

black works but clear is much more effective.

There are many charts available on the web that list the soil temperature required for germination for most all vegetables.

Since all your questions are container gardening related you'd really be better served going to the Container Gardening forum here as that is their focus. Container gardening isn't the focus of this forum. There are many very experienced container growers on that forum that could be of help to you.

Dave

Looks like ground hog raided your garden.In my garden I have seen them burrowing under the fence and also climbing over the chain link fence.

Wouldn't there be holes somewhere if it were a groundhog issue? Our backyard isn't all that large, so it seems like I would have noticed something like that. Also, the damage has occurred intermittently over the span of a couple weeks, making me even more sure I would have spotted something as out of place as a groundhog!

knoxvillegardener,

I plant initially three or four seeds per hill, then thin to the healthiest one plant when they are about 5-8 inches tall. Each hill is given three feet on all sides of the hill, meaning 6 feet between hills. This is usually enough space, but sometimes they get tangled up into a giant mess.

The terminology between summer and winter squash comes from the typical time of consumption. Summer squash are eaten right off the vine during the growing season (which is considerably shorter than winter squash). Winter squash on the other hand are generally harvested in the fall, cured, then stored. They are generally consumed during the winter months.

Hope that helps!
Michael

Hope people don't mind me digging up threads...

I had the same question and this thread was first on Google. I think I'll stick around too, this forum looks very interesting.

So far looking up what squash will grow on a trellis, it seems any squash will. I intend to have some on the ground while others climb, so I'd rather the climbers do so on their own. I know Cucumber and Watermelon plants have tendrils from growing them on a trellis, but I don't know about others. If anyone grows squash this year, could you post which ones have tendrils?

Funny space was mentioned. I don't have much space (4x8 cinder block raised bed) so I grew 5 plants in a 4x4 area of different types with 3 seeds per mound w/o thinning them as a test because I use to do it a little more spread out in Nevada. The watermelon grew up the trellis and grew a green golf ball, the cucumber also grew up a trellis but produced a lot of fruit, the straight-neck & zucchini turned into bushes turning out a lot of zucchini and a few straight-neck, and the pumpkin produced no fruit. Learned that watermelon and pumpkin need their space, but cucumbers need very little space with a trellis. Zucchini have a tendency to outgrow the competition and leaving multiple plants per hill let me leave one to grow a big zucchini while the other 2 grew small ones ( I shred big zucchini for bread and cake ). I had corn in among the squash and on the other side and in the cinder blocks I had sunflowers, peas, tons of lettuce & spinach & carrots, a huge tomato plant and a new artichoke. All except the corn grew well. It's amazing what can grow in such a little area. BTW sunflowers have huge roots and will take all the dirt out of a cinder block, but they make a great trellis for peas.

Here's a calculator that I like for help with indoor sowing and direct seeding outdoors. Start by filling in YOUR last frost date near the top and then have it calculate things for you. Most veggies and flowers you might want to grow are on the chart.

Looks like TODAY is good for starting tomatoes, as is the next few weeks. Peas could be direct seeded outdoors now. Lot of great info on the chart once you enter your frost date.

We are having very cold, rainy, sleety weather by us. I see that you probably have longer yet to wait for warm weather than we do. In some strange way that makes our poor weather seem a bit more bearable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed starting calculator

I am in WI and have a similar length growing season to you (though our summers get hotter and our winters get colder) You started tomatoes a little early, but not by much. they should be fine if you have decent lights. If they get overly tall, you can plant them extra deep when you put them outside - tomatoes will just grow more roots along the buried part of the stems.

It is actually a bit late to start peppers and egg plants. I started mine a few weeks ago. They are slow growers.

I dont think its to late to start cole crops. Mine are started but are still tiny. Last year I had them outside by now, but this year the snow hasn't melted yet!

Dont start carrots or radishes inside - they need to be direct seeded.

If you search online you can probably find a recommended planting time for vegetables in your area - work from there. Most things-sow the seed indoors 3-5 weeks before you plant them out. Peppers & Eggplant 10 weeks, Tomatoes 6 weeks.

You ever buy flats where they only have a 2 inch spacing, with a pinch of soil for a foot tall tomato? It's almost insane how commercial growers can pack them in!

They aren't grown in those containers - the six packs. The plants are just transplanted into those for transport and sales. And they aren't a foot tall either. Depending on supplier any taller than 10" go into 6" pots or larger for individual pot sale.

To mass produce seedlings in a limited space and to avoid all the plant stress caused by starting a single seed in a large pot, most all commercially sold plants are transplanted at least once to stimulate feeder root development and most are transplanted 2x prior to sale.

Allie - Better Bush doesn't get all that big or grow that fast so IF you transplanted it deeply into the 4" pot they will probably be fine for another month although they will be rootbound so need careful monitoring for water. It sounds as if you started them a little too early.

However if you shallow planted it into the top of 4" pot then yes, some sort of additional top support will likely be needed.

Dave

Thanks everyone for your responses.
I did plant deeply I guess as I only filled the pots half way with soil. I just topped off the soil and will see how they do for the next month.
Here is a pic.

Please inform your son that each corn plant only produces two or three ears....at the best. The above suggestion is a great one.

Can be done:

Raybo

The best small patio tomato I have grown is the sweet and neat cherry tomato. Awsome tomatos, fairly prolific for a plant that size-but mostly the tomatos just tasted really good.
The plant will grow in a one gallon bucket and never gets more then 2 feet tall.

I have used the planter for different herbs as well as annuals, and both times it looked very pretty and was useful with the herbs. The one time I tried an actual tomato plant in it, it just limped along. Whatever you plant in the top, make sure it likes alot of water!

Any container has to have drain holes of some kind. Are these supposed to be self watering or what?

Dave

They have 8 dime size drilled holes in the bottom

Joe, various species of brassica look similar to lettuces, in your experience? For anyone gardening more than a season the difference is obvious.

Yan, the pot in full view has a mix of mostly some asian green in the mustard/brassica clan, maybe a tatsoi, the reddish ones with deeply indented leaves are as noted the so-called red russian kale - brassica napus, which in my opinion is the most useful cooking green for the sustainable gardener because of it's wide tolerance to conditions and most of all because it does not cross with other brassicas or mustards (including weeds that may be flowering) so it is super-easy to save seed. It's even easier because if one simply allows plants to over-winter then they eventually naturalize.

In cool wet climates such as the PNW lettuce will easily naturalize as well.

This is a duplicate post and the other post of this same question also has several replies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Duplicate post

Fire ants exist in connected colonies and you have apparently built your beds in an established territory. In addition to getting them out of there with a spinosad-based fire ant bait, you will need to push them back further and further, spatially speaking. When you see a new colony anywhere in your yard, hit it with boiling water. Persistence is key. Good luck!

Robyn, Amdro is a very effective fire ant bait and has been used for many years. However, it MUST not be used in your raised beds.....but you sure can apply it outside those areas. The ants will find it.

Mound treatments are very successful....as long as you apply it carefully and do not disturb the mound. The ants will find the granules and quickly take them to the nesting chambers where the active ingredient will be fed to larvae and queens.

If you use the Amdro, please read, understand, and follow the directions.

You can use the Spinosad containing baits in the garden....just make sure that you are using the bait (granulated bait) and not a liquid.!

Leaving plastic on the ground for long periods of time is a bad practice as it starves the ground of moisture and stops the decay process, reduces soil life greatly in the top layer where it is most important.

You should of stated that in this post.. Just to help
People understand.. I would hate to have one detered of this method because of misunderstandings.. Anyways, you are correct about leaving it on for long periods of time(what is considered long periods?) but I would specifiy that it is fine to smother and kill grass/weeds.. it's just not fine to leave it all year long.. It is one of the main methods for no till gardeners..

Thanks,
Joe

Since you are in MA, I suggest you visit a used book store for a copy of Crockett's Victory Garden. This was a companion to a wonderful garden show that used to be on tv, filmed in the Boston area. It gives you month by month instructions of what to do in the garden, when to plant, when to transplant.
I am unclear if you mean "in winter" to be the winter of 2013/2014. If you have time to start working on the beds this summer, you could have them ready for a late planting of spinach and lettuce. The year we moved and renovated, I spent some time building a couple of lasagna beds so in the spring all I did was top with composted manure. If you are able to be around to water daily during the summer, you could have a couple of tomato plants in large containers this summer.