23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

As mentioned all fungicides are preventative, not cures so when to start spraying depends on the disease you are preventing and the plant in question.

If talking about tomatoes then spraying from the day of plant out is the standard recommendation because of the correlation between spring's cool, damp weather and some of the common diseases.

Disinfecting cages is your choice. Few do it AFAIK because I can't think of anything off-hand that can over-winter on them.

Dave

Few years ago I also used a home made formula, that I got here at GW. I don't remember exact prportions but it is made withmilk, water and baking powder. I used it on cukes, gourds, squash, as preventive. It worked fine.

I have also used neem (?) oil. Again, I used it regularly to preven fungus desease on cucorbitacea family only.

Mine took a long time to emerge this year, over a month, it's been so cold. But I could dig into the straw and see that they were alive and sprouting, so I didn't worry.

Same question from a couple of weeks ago with replies.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: How long for potatoes to sprout?

Perhaps I should put cabbage in the community garden probably people who steal do not eat it!!

Ack, thieves. I've got big fat squirrels galore who have so much to eat in the woods around here that they never bother with my fruits and vegetables.

The raccoons are another matter entirely. I've grown melons for three years, and have yet to try one. The minute they ripen the raccoons steal them. Way before they even blossom the raccoons rummage around the plants, leaving evidence they've been there. They know what melon leaves look like, and that one day there will be sweet fruits for them. This year I'm building a cage for my melons once fruits start forming. I'm fortunate that they are in terraced wooden boxes that a cage can be secured to. Otherwise I really don't know how you would thwart a determined thief.

I wouldn't plant anything tempting where people have easy access. One year a guy parked his truck near my blackberries, which were obviously on private property, not to mention next to my driveway, in which my car was clearly parked. He and his wife and kids got out and spent hours harvesting my blackberries for themselves. I said nothing because I'm a shrinking, sniveling weenie who's afraid of confrontation and who, by the way, only picks the berries around the edges, but leaves the dangerous, thorny, inner ones alone, so it wasn't as if I were going to eat most of the berries. I was just amazed by the sheer brazen affrontery and lack of shame.

So, to keep people away, keep the veggies out of sight. To keep animals away, create a barrier. Or count on luck, which some just have, and some don't.

You're fine then, at some point you're going to thin. 2-3 to a pot is because seeds don't have a 100% germination rate. 2-3 gives you a really great chance at getting at least 1 sprout (but doesn't guarantee it).

You can pinch off the top of one if you don't want to pull it and risk disturbing the other one's roots.

Oh yikes! Well, thanks for the info! I guess I will either make more space for it or plant something else there. :/ The raised bed I was going to put it in is only 3x4 (I only have two 3x4 beds, so no larger option). Right now I have radishes, beets, lettuce and spinach growing in the same bed I was planning to put the zuke. I think the beets are the longest to maturity (currently growing in 2 squares).

I bought the seeds last year and never planted it. Last year was my first year gardening and I bought the seeds before I had a plan. Ahh, what to do. I really wanted to plant zucchini this year but I guess I don't have the space even for a "regular" zuke plant. :(

I often grow my zucchini of a trellis to save space.

Shelling peas ;-) I disagree slightly. I planted my peas thick, 1" apart, 2 years ago, and they grew great, but didn't produce that great, and died fairly quickly. Last year I gave them a little more room and they were able to do their thing 100%. They grew to maturity and produced properly. I haven't found any vegetable that 'likes' to be crowded.

I would suggest thinning also. Too much in small space caused my crops to produce smaller and slower yield. And the whole group seem to suffer.

Thanks for the response. We had some really cool nights earlier this week, so hopefully that is that is the problem.

Was it possibly lying on the ground? I usually prune the first foot up from the soil level so leaves aren't touching the soil/ground. In any case, I wouldn't fret. Maybe clip the affected part for now.

Kevin

When I first started, I took a kill first, ask questions later approach, but time and again I'd end up killing a good bug or at least something neutral.. I've found that actual pests are far outnumbered by neutral/good.

If you want to take a no risk approach, I suggest keeping a jar or something handy so you can catch whatever bug you find on your plants, then hold it captive while IDing it. Then if it's a good one, you can let it go.

That's a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks, Dave and Len. That info helped me a lot. I'm not going to do the Sq. Foot Gardening. I appreciate that you took the time to answer. I'm going to check out that link.

It gets so hot where I'm at that I make my raised beds with a heavier soil. Do what's good for you. You'll see with the sq foot method that mostly it's just a guideline. You will change all types of things based on what and where you're growing.

That looks like two problems: herbicide damage and (squint) bacterial speck, probably. While it is possible to get that scrunched-veins effect with CMV, it's much more common with something like 2,4-D (aka weed'n'feed). CMV tends to make the leaves much thinner, almost like strings.

So the good news is that the plants might be okay if you can find out how they got dosed, and make sure they don't get any more. :)

--Alison

Agree w/ the herbicide suggestion. Likely culprits (active ingredients) include these:
1. 2,4-D
2. manures or other organic matter contaminated with clopyralid or one of its close relatives.

see this http://puyallup.wsu.edu/soilmgmt/Clopyralid.html
-- if you think this may be the problem, look for the how-to info for doing a bio-assay to confirm or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: clopyralid herbicide contaminated soil

It sounds like you're off to a good start with the raised bed, but how many tomatoes and peppers are you trying to grow? A 4'x4' bed isn't very big. With lots of organic material dug in (compost, manure, etc.), you could fit 4 tomatoes OR 9-10 peppers in that amount of space. With a row of scallions, a row of carrots, and 3 strawberry plants already there, my guess is you could add 1 tomato and 2-3 peppers in the remaining space.

The issue with the strawberries is that they will send out "runners" all summer, each of which will want to root and form a baby plant 6-12" away from the mother. While this is a great way to expand your harvest in future years, it means the strawberries need room to spread out. If all you want to do is get a few berries this summer and snip all the runners, then they can stay where they are until you build them their own bed. But if you don't keep up with them, those three plants can easily turn into 12, 15, 18+ plants by fall if you allow all the runners to root.

As for your clay soil, you want to be adding compost throughout the year; the more, the better. If you don't have your own homemade compost, I would suggest digging in a few bags of purchased compost (mushroom soil, composted manure & humus, etc.) at the beginning of the growing season, then top dressing with more compost once or twice through the summer. In the fall, mulch with shredded leaves raked from your lawn (rake them into a pile and run the mower through them several times to chop them up into little pieces). Over the course of the winter, earthworms should start breaking down the leaves, which you can then incorporate into the soil in the spring, along with more compost, and start the whole cycle over again. Each year, your soil will improve, little by little. :)

(1) When I replant the tomatoes, how deep should I plant? Since I didn't prep the underlying clay, should I dig that out and add something to it (compost, e.g.,) before replanting the tomatoes?

Plant them so most all of any exposed stem is buried. Either deep holes or trench them in. More digging sure can't hurt but it would be easier to just add more compost and mix it in to the top so you are working with a good 8-10" of new. Let the worms do the work of turning it in.

(2) I've got a 2' fence flush against the bed but something is getting in and eating the strawberries. There's no obvious tracks in the soil, could it just be bugs?

As mention - slugs snails and many other possibilities. Move them to a container for the good of all issues.

(3) Do I need to move the strawberries? There's 3 plants, I'm told the yield will be low the first year, I'm considering moving them to a trough this year and then to their own bed next year.

3 plants won't give you much yield. Not even a small handful of berries. Honestly not worth planting so few plants. Put them in a pot and plan to plant many more next year in a larger container.

(4) The row of scallions and row of carrots have sprouted, I planted densely planning to thin - when should I thin and by how much at first? Growing up we didn't thin until we could at least discern which plants were doing better. I'm nowhere near that point but since I planted so densely I'd want to make sure I thin on time

Since this is such a small bed and sounds like it is heavily over-planted already if you want any carrots at all you will have to thin aggressively. Begin thinning as soon as the seedlings are large enough to ID individual plants - usually 3/4-1" tall. Do a follow up thinning when they are 2-3" tall and again until they are approx. 3" apart.

(5) I'm pretty sure this soil mix is only good for about 60-90 days and I'm not sure what I need to do then. Dig it out and replace it? Add something to it?

Not at all, you just keep mixing in more compost and nutrient supplements. You will not be able to count on this new soil for sufficient nutrients without you adding supplements. There is no active soil micro-herd yet to convert the compost to nutrient forms.

(6) Assuming our garden is successful (so far, so good, I've maintained it minimally) we plan to expand next year. What should I do with the soil this summer/fall, if anything? Raised beds again is what we'd prefer.

Just build more of the same or my personal preference is 3' wide and long as you have room for. It's a more efficient use of space and provides easier access. 2x a year additions of lots of fresh quality compost. If you can get some well-aged manure for adding in the fall - great. otherwise buy several bags of composted manure now while the garden centers have them and add them in the fall.

Good luck with your garden.

Dave

Agree. Get a professional soil test done by your local county ag extension office. Costs $10-12 dollars in most places. That's the only way you'll know exactly what it needs.

In the mean time scout for a local source of bulk compost and a 25-50lb. bag of cottonseed meal or alfalfa meal to bulk up the N levels to cope with all the bark and wood chips. Just don't apply until you get the soil test back. Normally has a 1 week turn around time.

Dave

As several folks have mentioned in your other thread on the sickly tomatoes, the questions about sufficient sun exposure and planting methods are also problems for you that need to be resolved. Even with ideal soil mix if there isn't sufficient sun exposure you are going to have difficulty.

Dave