23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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

Ok I bought both pole and bush kind today. Wish me luck lol :-)

Sorry i went off topic. Turned out it was Instinct not Orijen we went off of. I'll look at Pure vita. Yes green beans are in the future along with carrots and the like. Still looking for the forum that discusses food successes. Bye and thanks for the input.

I'm in Zone 5 and I consider my planting date to be Memorial weekend and the last 2 years I had a bad frost just days before. I was afraid to move everything out of the greenhouse and plant even then but I did and both times I was fine. April...NO WAY!

ekling211, that's what we are discussing about here. Last frost dates are not the same thing as hardiness zones. You may be in the same zone as some one else, but the last frost dates can be different.

I would recommend much bigger pots. Do you have an area in the yard you could plant into the ground instead?

Squash in particular needs a high nutrient soil. Peatmoss contains very little nutrients (it is used by commercial growers for its pH and ability to hold moisture), and why you would need a lot of ongoing chemical fertilizer applications (commercial growers apply 1-2 X weekly).

Chemical fertilizers work much better in peatmoss than Organic fertilizers (organic fertilizers require soil microbes to convert efficiently).

I would recommend a bag of "compost" derived soil amended into your natural soil.

Our zucchini grew about 4'-5' in diameter last year (each plant), and the summer squash was 3'-4' in diameter. The kids only watered once a week and we didn't need to add any fertilizer. They enjoyed picking and helping cook it in different ways a lot - plus they were much more willing to eat vegetables they grew than they would otherwise :)

I wouldn't use the "synthetic" soils sold at the store that are ground up mulch with chemical fertilizers. Some of them are produced using municipal waste composted with city lawn clippings and contain high heavy metal concentrations.

I had a crop of tomatoes that grew terribly one year using bad soil - because of high heavy metal caused toxicity that showed up after 2 months of growing. I used to work for a large tomato commercial grower - and was super ticked when I figured it out. Most newbies blame themselves for any growing issues and why a lot of companies can get away with selling bad product.

Plants are looking much better today after watering more.

Cool. I didn't think they were insect eggs, either, but I hadn't considered the possibility of fungal artillery.

Actually, I don't think it's a fungus or SVB. Yesterday I picked some nearby lettuce and accidentally picked a seed pod from some clover. Pretty sure the seeds from the clover are the same as I found on my tomato. I'm not sure how they got all the way to the top, but they look like the kinds of seed pods that burst open to throw the seeds everywhere. Or maybe a bird picked it and dropped it. I don't know - think that's what it is, though.

Glad my squash aren't threatened - they're just starting to pump out the flowers.

Is that just 1 plant?? I have turned a fan on low to help. I have an 8 inch pot to transplant them in if the out grow the 4 inch peat pot. I just transplanted them Friday lol. They r fast growers. My first time w peas, peppers & corn

They were planted in the bucket about 6 inches apart, they are very productive and I grow them for my small dog, they are easy for him to go in the bucket and eat them, that way he leave the other tall peas for me.:)

Silvia

OK, after a couple days of rain I went out today and pulled up the shredded leaves that were covering the beds since fall. Plenty of black beetles (I thought they were red for some reason!) burrowing around the cut off stalks! Too many to pick them out . All sizes too!
Can I spray them with something that is safe to eat them within a few days? I just picked the larger ones and the ones in the bed have a few to several days to go. Nancy

Here's a link to photos of the beetles and information about their life cycle. As you can see, there are red ones and black&white ones.

People differ in their tolerance of pesticides. You'll have to make that call yourself.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus beetles

Joe, I'm not throwing muffins at the neighbors! I'm leaving the zuks on the neighbors' porches! Nancy

Right I know.. But u mentioned that you put the zuchs on their porch and run like hell.. I was curious why do you run, to avoid neighbors? It was more less a joke.. Funny..

I used to use a juiced but it waste so much.. Not only th fiber but some nutrition.. The best juiced on the market is the Norwalk.. But it cost thousands of dollars.. I was thinking about making one.. I bought a vitamix and that puppy blends up anything in juice! Can't live without it! If you are going for health beets in particular will kick your but good! Also try ad forage for dandelion,plantain, and stinging nettle.. Try will donsone amazing things to clean you out.. If your interested in juice "vegetable juices by norman walker" is a great one.. If you are really interested in health get the book "detox miracle sourcebook by Robert morse".. The latter is my health bible.. Dr robert morse cured hundreds if thousands if people from everything from leukemia to MS to spinal cord injuries.. He has a free YouTube channel "robertmorsend".. Check him out.. Oh and i agree, just buy seeds they are cheap.. You could always let your plants go to seed and save the seeds..

Good luck,
Joe

I had better luck getting celery to root when I put in water for awhile first, then transplant to soil.

In addition to everything Dave said, it is unrealistic to expect a huge change in growth in less than a week from adding fertilizer even in adult plants. For seedlings, two cotyledons are supplying everything the plant needs through the growth of the second (I believe) set of leaves. In fact, if the soil you are starting them in has fertilizer already, you risk burning the small roots. Anyway, I think underwatering is better than overwatering, though when they are small both can be lethal. No one who underwaters ever got damping off or fungus gnats, though. :)

Thanks for the information. I've started moving everything out of the peat pots, out of concern over some mildew that's been popping up.