24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Well, this just me, but my zucchini did this although it was a little larger than your squash. It is in a raised bed but it's been so hot here I've had to water a lot, which washes the nutrients out of the soil. I gave my zukes a shot of epsom salts(1 tablespoon to a gallon of water) and the next time I watered I did the same amount of Miracle Gro in a gallon of water and I alternated these feedings until the zukes greened up. It took about a week or so before I saw improvement, then I went back to just watering.
If I were you, I'd keep using the Dynagrow formula when ever I watered until the plant shows improvement. Eventually you'll want to switch to a fert that is higher in Phosphorus(the P in N-P-K)to promote flowering/fruiting. HTH

Thanks. I had a ton of those ornamental gourds last fall in a display on the porch and many of them were chewed up by the squirrels, or dragged away and I found them all over the yard. Makes sense now. I will let it do its thing and maybe have freebies for another ornamental gourd display this fall : )

Daniel......to answer your questions about my swing set trellis.........I start the cucumbers from seed in the ground along the one long side all at once. I tend to over-plant the seed.....maybe 1 seed every 1-2". The 2 ends of the swing set I use for snow peas early in the season. The one open end of the cucumber side is so I can easily get under the swing set without having to go around it. I don't plant anything on a trellis on the other side of the swing set, but rather plant things under it. The swing set has to placed so that the cucumbers don't shade whatever I've planted under it. This year I have a raised stock tank under the swing set, filled with peppers and cherry tomatoes. Using the swing set has worked great for growing lots of things! Although this year, it has flooded numerous times and isn't doing so well. :(

Nitsua… LOL !
Sey wrote: > HOW DO you CRAWL UNDER THAT THING TO PICK ?
Sey, I already explained, but I will explain again:
The trapeze is 3 ft. / 5 ft. x 15 ft.
Please see the picture above with the frame in the driveway.
So, 5 ft. divided by 2 = 2.5 ft.
My arm is about 2 ft. So only the cukes in the worst location might be difficult to pick up from the long sides. But those can be easily picked up from the… (5 ft.) SIDE.
Also: three quarters of the cukes "sit" on the frame.
Three quarters of those that "hang", can be pulled through the net.
Doing the math... there are very few who have to be picked up from under the frame.
And anyway, always, any cuke that "hang" can "sit" if I want to.
I had no problems whatsoever.
Catherinet wrote: > I tend to over-plant the seed.....maybe 1 seed every 1-2".
I like that over-seeding. Cucumber roots are not very big.
Also, interesting setup you have there.


Sounds like septoria leaf spot. It's pretty common (especially in tomatoes) when there is a wet/cool spring, or a very wet summer. I've found that putting a fair amount of straw under each tomato plant has really helped. But this year it's all pretty bad because of the constant rain.

Had to mow most of my rural garden last year. The rain never stopped until early July; almost everything I planted by seed rotted in the ground, and since it was too muddy to weed, the weeds quickly overran everything. Parts of the garden were so wet, for so long, that the main weeds there were cattails & willow seedlings! All I could do when the surface finally began to dry was mow everything, to stop further seed production.
A little drier this year, until this past week. Got almost everything in, but lost some of my planted seed again because of a 2-day rain spell just after planting. I'm still fighting a ferocious battle with all of the weeds that came up in the area that was mowed last year, but at least I was able to till enough last Fall to kill off most of the perennial weeds.

I feel your pain. I live in central Indiana, and it's rained more than ever before. Here, in mid July, it's grown hardly anything. I do have some green tomatoes, but if the flooded ground didn't kill the plants, it's caused leaf spot so bad, I'll probably lose all the leaves before the tomatoes mature. The pole beans are a bust, as are the winter squash and zucchini. I went out a couple weeks ago (on that 1 nice day we had) and used my weed-eater on the weeds. I didn't want to pull them, 'cause I needed some of them to absorb all the rain! I think I will probably put it all to bed very early this year. Fortunately, I have several raised stock tank veggie containers too, and they've done much better, since they can drain. But now the tomatoes in those have the leaf spot too. Ever since May, my garden soil has never been dry enough to even cultivate.
This is my first time living here (33 years) where my garden was a bust. It's depressing. I hope this isn't the new normal. Good luck to you. Maybe we should turn our gardens into rice paddies??? Cranberry bogs???


You have a beautiful, healthy watermelon! I have raised Sugar Baby Watermelons in the past. There are 3 indicators I look for to confirm ripeness. First, look at the small curly tendril on the vine, nearest to the point where the watermelon is attached to the vine. If the tendril is green, leave it to ripen. If the tendril is brown & dried, check underneath the watermelon. The underside of a ripe watermelon will be yellow as shown in farmerdill's photo. Sometimes the yellow underside might not be as bright...more of a creamy pale yellow. And last, the outside of the watermelon will lose it's glossiness. If the tendril is brown and the underside is yellow, the melon is as ripe as it will get. Some people thump watermelons to check ripeness. A deep hollow-sounding thud, instead of high-pitched, indicates ripeness. I have never used that method successfully. For me, judging the sound of the thump would require having a known unripe melon nearby to compare the sounds.

My plants do the same thing and seem to bounce back within a day or two. After laying over, they still continue to produce a very robust amount of beans.
I do not know if I should have done something, but mother nature seems to have taken care of it for me.

For future reference all container grown plants need regular feedings of some sort because the nutrients leach out every time you water the plants. Many recommended feedings every 10-14 days depending on which fertilizer you choose to use.
As for the downey mildew, like Rodney said - fungicide spray of your choice but it doesn't cure it just slows it down. But honestly, if these haven't been fed since planting their odds aren't good. You could replant and probably get better results as there is still time.
Dave



daninthedirt said: it is a drought tolerant succulent and loves sun
My garden is certainly proving this point: I've got a 12' by 25' section being solarized, which has had clear plastic over it for nearly two months. No water has gotten under there and everything else is dead, including (sound of angels singing) the quack grass. HOWEVER, the purslane is growing happily and big. Guess I better get under the plastic and pull it up before it goes to seed under there.
defrost, for a future "living mulch" or underseeding idea, I find that lettuce works great. It is shallow rooted, and in the warmer months it enjoys the shade of the bigger plants. I like it best among the broccoli and collards and between the tomatoes -- don't think I'd like to try to harvest lettuce from under those prickly squash leaves!
Update: pulled up the purslane from under the plastic, got it ready to take down the hill for neighbor's chickens. Tried some as a salad. Tried some sauteed with zucchini and garlic. Wow! Thanks for this post -- I've discovered new food :)
Purslane: it's what's for dinner.

They tasted awesome too! I love fresh garden carrots, they taste so much better.


There's no need to destroy your plants! Nurse them through the heat so when it is cooler you'll have a mature plant ready to churn out the fruit for you. I don't know of any variety that goes wild in the heat. Instead, just accept that summer is no longer for buckets of tomatoes--that's now what fall is for.
Gumby is still in CT unfortunately.
Sandhill grows their own seeds and have plenty to choose from. I like the Green or Black Zebras but they have plenty of heirlooms to explore. They still use the 'ol fashioned business model - sounds like a family run business too.
You can easily go overboard so be careful - you will run out of room to plant then the seeds can go bad.