23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thanks, folks!

Yeah, i worried about that usage of the word 'hill' as soon as I hit 'post' :). Around here, it means a grouping, and not a raised area. But it dawned on me just two seconds too late that the thread title would be confusing to... pretty much anyone else.

I use hills/raised mounds with 3 plants to each hill. Warmer soil = faster germinating, easier to contain, better drainage, better cross pollination so timing of M/F blooms isn't an issue, easier to hand pollinate if needed, easier to feed, easier to bury stems if any borers do get in, and most importantly easier to cover with row cover/insect barriers to prevent SVB and squash bugs.

Dave

Thank you everyone for all the great advice and links to different forums. I thought I had done a fair amount of research before I got started but I'm definitely learning from some mistakes. I tossed most of the seedlings but did transplant a few to bigger pots just to see if they could make it. I have another question:
I would like to give it another whirl and plant some more seeds and I was thinking that this time I would give them more space to grow but given that where I live I should be able to direct sow in the next couple of weeks, should I just wait and put them in the ground? Also, if I started them in the seedling tray could I transplant them after just a couple of weeks? Thanks so much for all the help!

Whens your last frost date? If yours is around may 15 like me, I would start up a batch, that 6-7 weeks of growing indoors, is 6-7 weeks longer than it would be direct sowing.. If your last frost is in 2 weeks, I wouldn't bother.. It's just preference..

You asked "If a Start them in a seedlings tray could I transplant after just a couple of weeks"

Yes, I can't see why not.. Transplant them to what the garden, or to a bigger container indoors? By seedling tray, do you mean the 72 small flats you
germinate in, if so ibadvise you to use something bigger.. Use a container big enough where you wont have to pot them up to a bigger container,leave them sit in the pot that you sowed them in, until planting in the garden.. Once you see them germinating, you can take the cover off, but keep them
moist, but NOT saturated wet.. When they sprout, put a light as close to the seedling as possible without harm.. Also put on a fan directly blowing on the seedlings.. Keep the light and fan on 12-14 hours.. Keep the soil moistto
the touch but not wet, or your seedling are going to die.. Seedling are not that hard to grow as long as you keep the soil moist, sufficient light very close to seedlings, provide a fan blowing on them.. Most people kill plants by over care.. Remember your growing a plant, provide water and light and
it grows itself.. You don't need to baby your plants and overwater them.. They know how to survive just fine, given the rough growing parameters..

Best Of luck,
Joe

I would agree, pick enough for a great dinner or two and then let it all go.
Next year you will be glad you let it have the extra year.

Yep, this year pick it lightly when the spears are between 6-8 inches and definitely before the top begin to open. But it's still young so go lightly.

You can never have too much garden space so make it as big as you can afford to and have the room for or if spacing is tight, split it into more smaller beds. 3-4 feet wide means you never have to walk in it or waste any space on paths so I prefer long narrow beds over shorter wider beds.

Dave

Those plants would probably fit in a 4 x 6 raised bed. The squash can hang over the edges. You'll have room for basil, too. The space for tomatoes depends on whether you get determinate or indeterminate plants. An indeterminate small tomato like Sungold or Sweet 100's won't take up much ground space, but can have vines six feet long or more. Trellising will keep your tomatoes off the ground. The square foot gardening book will give you lots of information.

Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed garden

I try to stagger bush beans because the plants do give out at some point and I want a steady supply.

Also trying it with the cukes, which seem to be prolific producers early but as the vines age and get damaged from tugging the cukes off, rooting through for the hidden ones, etc., they tend to trail off. So I'm going to do one planting early then start some more seeds in another location a few weeks later.

If I grow squash it will be just one because two years ago I had one plant that gave me more than I could use, freeze or give away. And it just wouldn't quit. Probably should have looked for a food bank that wanted fresh produce.

In Pennsylvania, I don't think our summers are long enough for a second round of tomatoes. I've put some in in late June just to see and they never really produced -- probably not enough time before the nights got too cool.

If you grow leaf lettuce you can cut the leaves and the plant will produce more, but after the second or third cutting it gets bitter so it's either time for more plants or just go to a late summer planting for fall harvest since lettuce doesn't love the heat.

I grow backups, but I don't stagger.

Unless you count two planting a year (winter and summer) as staggering -- I do that sometimes with greens and roots. Or sometimes I just grow them in the winter. If I have a huge winter crop and am tired of them by spring then I don't plant for a summer rerun ;).

I agree that the terminology can get confusing but once you have a chance to see several brands of bags of potting stuff next to each other, the labels make the differences pretty clear.

Common usage for the terms is

soil=dirt, the stuff the ground in the garden is made of and has no use in containers

top soil= dirt, which may or may not be of better quality than garden dirt and has no role in containers.

potting soil=bags of other ingredients, usually some peat, vermiculite or perlite and some sand mixed with some dirt. Quality of most potting soils currently on the market are considered only poor to fair.

potting mix=soil-free mixture of peat, perlite or vermiculite or both, and sometimes some coco fiber. The quality far exceeds that of potting soil and is commonly referred to as a soil-less mix even in the US.

So when you use the term soil we aren't always clear on exactly what you mean and thus the warnings to not use soil (dirt) in containers, only use a soil-less mix, a potting mix.

If you wish to buy in bulk rather than in the big bags and fill your own containers then some nurseries will make up a soil-less mix for you and sell it by the cubic foot.

If you want to buy bags for your plants most brands are sold in 1 cubic foot or 2 cubic foot bags. A 1 cubic foot bag is equal to approx. a 6.5-7 gallon container and a 2 cubic foot bag is equal to approx. 12-14 gallon container.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Every response has been great and much appreciated, this really helps out tremendously. I will keep this post updated as I move along (plus with any other questions : ). I am about 2-3 weeks away from hardining off the plants.

Thank you everyone again.

-Mr. Beno

I assumed the OP meant as in the next row over or whatever. Not right next to them.

Dave

I had a idea about putting potatoes in about two or three bales of straw, has anyone tried this before?

Than when you dig the potatoes out of the straw you can compost the straw.

What I am putting in my garden is tomatoes , papers, Ground Cherries, melons, cucumbers, winter squash, maybe beets, lettuce if I can find some type of container to put it on so the rabbits don't get it before me. I will be putting more onions out as soon as they can be put out ( I am talking about the ones that look like grass). Can anyone tell me how to grow these since every year they die on me?

I always side dress with sodium nitrate when it is about knee high and have good results.

The classic regimen for corn as I learned it was 13-13-13 tilled in the furrow prior to planting and sidedress ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) at knee high with a hilling at that time and again at waist high.
The second could be skipped if the leaves don't show a need for it. Corn will show a need for nitrogen in it's leaf color, should be a nice medium tending to dark green of an even color.

This happened quite by accident but I got rid of 4 very pesky gophers...who ate everything I planted....I had trouble gardening because of them and was on the verge of giving up gardening....not encouraging you to do it ...just relaying a story....so picture me completely frustrated and hubby building a new ham radio tower...he digs a huge hole for the base...like 4 or 6 feet deep cant remember but deep....covers it with plywood for safety because it is raining and he can't work....evidently it intersected some of the tunnels because we uncovered the pit to finish the work and there were 4 little dead gophers in a pit with about 3 feet of water in it.. no more gophers in my yard..

Just wanted to let everyone know that I caught my gopher. Bought the Victor Black Box trap smeared some peanut butter behind the trigger and had him the same night. Hooray! I will be carefully watching my yard for signs that a new gopher has moved in though.
CHEERS!!

Hi, I'm really new at gardening. I am going to try to trellis my cucumbers. Do I have to thin them (see picture) almost all seeds I planted sprouted! Thanks

Marcia you really need to start a new thread rather than tying an unrelated topic onto this one.

The simple answer to your question is yes you do.

Dave

Soil temperature is what determines ideal planting times in the garden so you also need to do some research into proper planting times based on soil temps in your area. Many charts are available for this so one of them plus a cheap thermometer that can be stuck into the soil is all you need.

The U of Maine Cooperative Extension is your local ag extension service and provides all sorts of gardening info specific to your state and even your county, including proper planting times, on their website. Explore it (linked below).

All 3 you list - corn, tomatoes, melons - are summer crops. So as others have said unless you are prepared to baby and keep transplanting the tomatoes for another couple of months I'd start over at the proper time. Corn and melons are normally direct seeded anyway so I don't see how those transplants would make it till proper planting time.

Rack it up to an important lesson learned. We have all been there at one time of another. :)

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: U Maine Co-op Ext.

Most seed packets tell you on the package when and how to plant. Next time, I suggest you read the package. Also, for a first time gardener, it's best to buy young plants to plant in the garden instead of trying to start from seed indoors. Now would be a good time to work on preparing your garden outdoors and not fussing with indoor plants. Talk to people who have experience growing things in your area.

but not sure which one. Home Depot sells a bunch.

What is sold in the 20-40 lb. bags is primarily composted steer manure from stock and feed yards that has been mixed with other composted materials (humus). It may be in different brand bags but it is basically all the same.

So since it is already composted it is, in theory, ok to use as is. The real issue is how much of it to use and that opens up a whole bunch of other questions as ristau said - your soil, your pH, your nutrient levels, what other feeding/fertilizers you use, which plants, etc.

And note I said in theory. That is because much of it is not stored correctly and has turned anaerobic. Look for dry, not wet bags, that are relatively lightweight with a loose feel to the contents and that have a good earth/dirt smell not an ammonia smell.

Dave

Start thinking about next year now, and think about a compost bin/pile/heap. Then you won't have to fuss much about what manure to add to your garden. You can add it to your pile as you find it!
Just a thought for next year! Nancy