23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I don't water daily after I put in ground. I create a pretty large whole with my hands, mix in some compost or bagged garden soil along with a couple handfuls of balanced organic ferts(cottonseed, bone, and alfalfa meals), plant seedlings, and give a good soak. I usually don't water again for another week or so. This is in conjunction to my tilling of copious amounts of compost a month or 2 beforehand and a broadcast of bonemeal(since bonemeal takes so long to break down).
Kevin
Well, I googled damping off of peppers, and it doesn't sound good.
Trying to decide whether to segregate those with wilts from those that don't, throw the ones with wilted leaves away, or try to dry them all out in the bathroom with the space heater and hope for the best.
It was a lot of work getting them to this point...I'm pretty bummed out...
I can't figure out where it came from. I used new cell packs, brand new seed starter mix, etc. All was fine until they got wet and the weather turned cool. :(
You want to keep the surface soil moist to make it easy for seedlings to break the surface; so keep misting at least twice a day.
Carrot, beets and radish need to develop tap roots long enough to find moisture for themselves several inches below growing surface. That means keep misting until they develop at least 1 set of true leaves. Peas also need continual moisture until true leaves. After that you can back off the misting and consider adding much--unless you're growing intensive spacing.
Yesterday I planted a 10 ft. line of NP seeds. It's rather early for our zone, but ground temps are good. The weather has been fantastic and is supposed to stay warm and sunny for another two weeks. It that happens, we should be in the clear regarding frost or near frost temps. If it doesn't, all I've lost is a line of seeds.
I prefer to direct sow cucumbers and I'll trellis this line.
I kept reading that they needed to be "certified seed potatoes" or something like that.
The difference is that certified seed potatoes are specifically grown in sterile soil to ensure they are as close to 100% disease free as possible.
I generally find that its a waste of money for anyone but major planters (actual farmers doing acres of plants) to bother with them. Potatoes you buy in the grocery store will be very unlikely to be diseased (and most of the diseases that matter you could see just by looking at the malformed tuber), and they will grow just fine.
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That said, yeah, plant now. A potato will only die if the tuber freezes pretty much solid. Assuming you're planting the normal 6-8 inches deep, it will basically never freeze that hard anywhere south of the arctic circle. While it may grow up and then have the top die back due to freezing, the tubers will be safe and will just sit there happily waiting on warmer weather.
The method of weed control you use will vary with the type of weed. Annual weeds that germinate from seed can be smothered by all sorts of mulches. Perennial weeds that keep coming from the root no matter how many times you sever or kill the tops are an entirely different story.
For the best results, identify your weeds first.
Couple of different possibilities. Start with the easiest - look at the underside of the leaves. Do the spots go all the way through? Look for aphids, squash bugs, spider mites.
If no pests than it's the most likely, especially given your weather - Downey Mildew. The spores can come from all sorts of sources - the mulch, pests, the soil, even the air. Treatment is fungicides sprays.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Common Cucurbit Problems
My Eggplants are growing faster than expected too. I always start them the same time as my peppers, and I dont remember them growing so much faster. They were started March 8th, a week earlier than last year. I had to pot some of them up to 20 oz cups. Lots of my pepper plants have blooms, but thats the usual for me and I always just leave those to grow.
Another thought. I assume you plant in a potting, or starter mix. I germinate my seeds in damp paper towels, then transfer to potting mix upon germination.
I have found that the deeper I plant the newly germinated sprouts, the more likely they are to emerge without the seed shell sticking the cotyledons together, or with both cotyledons still encased in the seeds. (Helmet heads.)
You might try planting seed slightly deeper, and packing down the potting mix a little firmer, which should encourage better scrubbing-off of the seed shell.
"Looks like I have finally received my last blizzard and freeze for this cycle."
We can only hope! I am planting my tomatoes this week one way or another. They won't live much longer in their little pots.
Ekgrows, have you tried asking your question on the hot pepper forum? They may have some more ideas for you.
Lynn
Ahh but these parasites, if they exist, will survive how long exposed to the elements? Plus this assumes that no parasites already exist normally with in soil. They do. tapeworms, whipworms, roundworm, hookworms, misc. protoza, to name just a few. Not to mention all the bacteria and fungi.
As mentioned "Gardens grow in dirt" and it will never be a sterile process, nor would it work if it was. Thus the "wash your hands and wash your food" guideline in gardening.
While pregnant women are advised to avoid dealing with litter boxes due to the possibility of toxoplasmosis they are also advised not to raise chickens or other fowl or be exposed to manures while pregnant due to histoplasmosis, not to work with garden chemicals, and many other things. But we aren't talking about pregnant women and the OP has already pointed out that they are not growing root vegetables or other low growing crops.
So scare warnings about unrelated issues serve no point.
Dave
I can't use row covers. All of my cucurbita are going to grow up trellises via ties. I don't have much land space so..
The brand is Garden Safe, and it is a tablespoon per gallon.
The reason I need to spray at night is because neem oil degrades in uv light. So if you spray at night it allows the neem oil to work longer. Plus, neem is also an anti-fungal, so I don't think it will be a problem to spray the plants at night.
We have alot of dew in the summer. I read where if you start your squashes from seeds they have a better resistance from the squash bugs. Plant your seeds in pots and then transplant them. I also read that planting petunias near your squashes deters the squash vine borers. I am going to try that this year. I hope it works! I lost some beautiful squashes to those nasty bugs last year.
Jonfrum:
I disagree 100%, carrot do sweeten in the winter. We have been growing winter carrots for the last 4 years and I look forward to them every year. More so than the first tomato!
We like Napoli. We have grown Nelson, Mokum and Yaya during the winter too. They just aren't quite as hardy as Napoli We plant them at the end of July to the First week of August. We Harvest them from mid October- March. We still have some growing now and while they aren't as good as the earlier ones, they taste better than the ones in the store. Our spring carrots will be ready in a few weeks. They were planted in January.
We grow ours in movable high tunnels. We plant the crop outside, then after the frost takes the tomatoes, mid November, we move the high tunnel over the carrots and it stays there until spring. We grow over 1000 square feet of carrots for winter sales. I will probably up this by 250-300 more square feet as we almost ran out this year. Each building has 5, 30 inch beds in it. Each bed has 4 rows planted in it. It is a whole lot of carrots.
Don't just take my word for it, google Eliot Coleman and Candy Carrots.
Jay
I pull all of my carrots in late fall because voles and other critters will damage them if left in the soil. I often miss a few and have noticed that the red-skinned carrots seem to survive winter in style. A few weeks ago I dug out some Dragons that were still edible.
Parsnips that sit through winter are really good.