Vegetable Gardening

This forum is for the discussion of issues involved in the growing of vegetables--choosing varieties, methods of planting, maintaining plants, etc.

24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

Seeds sprout when the moisture and temperature is right. They don't wait until they're near the surface. If they 're buried deeply when the sprout, tough nuts. That being said, if the air is warm and the soil is cold, seeds could be induced to sprout by being closer to the surface. I suspect that won't end up being a big deal, though.

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

lizdh - weeding is a fact of life in gardening. Personally, I enjoy the all the activities associated with gardening, including weeding, within reason. It's just another way of getting close to the earth. But as you continue to hoe, mulch or whatever, the seed bank in the soil will deplete. If you never let a weed produce seed you will gradually have fewer to deal with.

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NHBabs(4b-5aNH)

I stored a tromboncino last year that I had set aside as an extra for seeds in case something happened to the first one. It lasted until sometime in June or July before getting soft in August. All I did was to wash off the surface dirt and put it on the counter in my coolish pantry.

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

OK, I'm hearing "just like butternut". Works for me!

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cyschad

The results of my soil test are in and...

i still can't get them bc the place I went won't email me the results! Haha (I'm pretty sure they just want me to come in so they can sell me some stuff). In the meantime I've started a little container garden (3 of those tarp fabric pots) and am enjoying it so thinking I may just go that direction.

Someday I'll have a day off work when the garden center is open and I'll get my test results and see what's going on :). The raised bed for now has turned into a convenient spot for a compost heap...

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

Wow, you pay for a test and they won't send you the result? They also sell amendments to fix soil problems? You might be careful about those results. I'd rather have an independent tester that isn't out to make money on problems that their test identifies.

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Peter1142(Zone 6b)

Is this squash any good? We planted Table Queen Bush Acorns this year and we got early, small, not sweet but a delicious nutty flavor that we really enjoyed. We wanted to plant the same thing next year but Johnny's doesn't have it. I do see they have this bush squash. Does it have a similar nutty flavor? PM resistance is good as PM eventually killed all my acorns.

They have two other "semi-bush" varieties.... not sure what "semi-bush" is but we need these to be bush to fit into the space allocated.

What about Table Princess they have at Pinetree... what's the difference to Table Queen?

I think I am going to need to order from Pinetree.... Johnnys has some awesome varieties but too expensive to buy everything there.

This post was edited by Peter1142 on Sat, Dec 6, 14 at 11:24

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Peter (6b SE NY)

I grew the Honey Bear, and we didn't like it. I mean it wasn't terrible by any stretch but completely inferior to Table Queen - no nutty flavor, sweet but bland, weak production, and contrary to as billed it was ravaged by PM. I will grow Table Queen again next year.

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

In principle, all tomatoes are perennial. If you can keep them protected from the frost, they will continue to grow the next year. They are, fundamentally, non-hardy perennials. So effectively they become annuals. Certainly determinate types probably won't produce, though, in the second year. As to self-seeding, it you take a ripe tomato and plant it, you'll probably get seedlings coming up the next spring.

I've not kept them going multiple years myself, and I've heard it said that in order to coax fruit out of it the second year, you can't let temps go below 60F. Seems unlikely that would happen in SC. This is a greenhouse proposition in most places.I think EPCOT center has a tomato tree that has been growing for many years, and is enormous and enormously productive every year. I understand you need to pull the tomatoes off promptly, as once they get very ripe, they signal the plant that fruiting is done.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Agree with Dan. Any indeterminate variety tomato - of which there are literally several thousands - is a perennial IF you can provide the right growing conditions/weather/protection as needed. But most find it to not be worth the effort when putting in new plants is so easy to do.

And all tomato plants will readily re-seed themselves even under less than ideal conditions.

< The fruits were medium sized, the plants large and the fruits on the sweeter side for a tomato. Does anyone have any idea of what type this might have been?>

So unfortunately there is no way to know what tomato variety it may have been. Assuming they were red then if you scout any of the common tomato databases you'll easily find well over 500 possible varieties that are "medium sized fruit, large plants, known for sweet taste".

If indeed they re-seeded themselves and bred true year after year then they must have been an open-pollinated variety, not a hybrid. But even that doesn't reduce the possibilities by much.

South Carolina Extension recommends the following varieties but only a few of them are open-pollinated.

  • Better Boy Hybrid, Better Bush Hybrid Improved, Big Beef Hybrid, Celebrity Hybrid, Early Girl Hybrid, Park's Whopper Hybrid, Rutgers, Bush Goliath Hybrid, Brandywine, Manalucie, Homestead
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zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin

Just FYI, as someone who spent years in the tropics, and who has also lived in the Southwest, I knew that ;-) I was addressing the OP in Florida, where a squash from somewhere like Thailand might feel right at home.

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

Right. We got diverted to "high temperatures", which, to a northerner, I guess Florida might seem to be.

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zzackey(8b GA)

I didn't realize you were container gardening. That would take alot more water.

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Petrofac

Its a 4 year thread but who cares. My advice is that if u can't do math to calculate fertilizer measurements than u can't be a grower.

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jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)

Last year was the first year I have mulched my garlic. I mulched in an effort to reduce weeds. It worked well, but then the wheat seed germinated and I had lots of weeding to do. With that said, I will mulch again this year.

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elisa_z5

All very interesting stuff. Garlic is one of my favorite crops and I've really enjoyed learning more about it.

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LoneJack Zn 6a, KC

Now your talking!! Might as well make it 2 or 3 if you already have to haul in the medium to fill the bed.

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Peter (6b SE NY)

I forgot to mention that this spring (before everything started growing for them to eat) deer harvested my garlic shoots for me, and I can't say it affected the bulb size.

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elisa_z5

I grow purple for summer, and Gigante for winter. Gigante gets huge (needs one and a half foot spacing) and still does not get woody. Purple I direct seed, Gigante I seed in flats and transplant. Will be interesting to find out if in your area you can grow these all winter.

Our favorite way to eat it is peel, slice thin, and dip in Annie's Goddess dressing :)

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Chicknpiza(Zone 10A/B)

Planted the giant variety in mid feb, morning sun till almost noon, harvested for 4th of july. Still delicious and not woody at all.

TIP: don't plant spinach near it, maybe that is why it took so long to grow as i thought it was spinach and kept harvesting the leaves for 6-8 weeks before noticing a little bulb at the base.

New raised bed, but used less organic matter to see if there would be a difference. I learned my lesson, don't pinch on incorporating the organic

This kohlrabi recipe got great reviews at a dinner party. I also used purple zebra carrots and made the harissa too.

http://food52.com/recipes/14545-kohlrabi-and-carrot-salad-with-harissa

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jagdjh

I've put some out the last two years. Midwest gardening, with the kids helping out. Might have to filter out a few videos of the kids though :). Just search Handyl710

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buckeyefaninfl(Z9 Wesley Chapel, FL)

I will put in my vote for Growing Your Greens. The guy's name is John Kohler and has inspired me to plant as much as possible.

Thanks for the other suggestions guys, I wil have to check them out.

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Help identifying an unknown vegetableCan you help me with identifying this vegetable?
Posted by green_go (Canada, Ontario, z 5a)(5A)
2 Comments
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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

It's chayote.

Rodney

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green_go (Canada, Ontario, z 5a)(5A)

Thanks!

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

I thought pepper blossoms were self-pollinating, so crossing isn't a big problem unless you're growing different varieties near each other? I've saved seed from a number of open-pollinated varieties of peppers (mostly chiles) over the years & they all came true. Chile peppers are often open pollinated, & the pics look a lot like piquin/pequin peppers, tho there's a chance it may be a hybrid. You'll definitely get a pepper plant from the seeds & it could be a fun experiment...

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

Agree that they could also be pequin. And while pepper blossoms are self pollinating they are also prone to crossing by insects. Some pepper seeds I got in a trade last year ended up being crossed.

If you have other peppers growing nearby then all you have to do to get pure seed is to bag some blossoms until the peppers start to form. At which point you can take the bags off and mark the peppers with yarn so you know what peppers to save seeds from. Little organza bags you can get at craft stores work well to prevent cross pollination. This is assuming the plant is open pollinated to begin with and isn't a hybrid.

Rodney

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A J(9A)

All of that information is freely available at your local county extension office. The layout is nice but information is tedious to input and your weather integration will likely be off. I don't think you add $15/year in value which is what you intend to charge people. Sounds harsh but if you're going to tell people to try out your beta version you should hear it now.

All that information could easily be inputted into a simple, offline spreadsheet that is free. Calculations, type of vegetables, crop rotations, weather days, etc could be already inputted and linked as well. Google spreadsheets will even email when a certain date occurs i.e. harvest, spray, check, frost day approaching, etc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IbCbxutPxqE9vIJV5jXNghPXQzu7rCtXY05oAH9nnA0/edit?pli=1

I'd scale back to just your region, integrate more with smartphone app, and get that right first. You would also know your own weather better as well.

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illiveggies

Thanks A J - appreciate your time to look and your feedback. The pricing was an old model, which I don't think will work out, as you rightly point out. My current interest in the tool is more as a means to capture the great information that people have in their spreadsheets and help draw intelligence from that for others (I am not looking to make some $). My sense is that the experienced gardeners have extensive knowledge about what to do, both instinctively and based on data over the years. Some of that is apparent in forums like this one, but the data that they have is less obvious.

The weather integration is an open question, and that is what I wanted to check with a broader data set. From the research that I have done, there are crop maturity models for grains based on degree-days, but not so much for vegetables. The local extensions do provide great information, and I have talked to master gardeners from my local extension and they have been great sources of advice, specially where pests are concerned.

Once again - thanks for you input!

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

Thanks for the replies. I've got a garden weasel but since this tool has such small tines and unique look I figured it had to have some very specific job. It doesn't work in grass nor does it work on hard or even semi-hard ground (not that I really expected it too).

And I did find some more markings under the tool when I brushed away some dirt and rust. AT-200 C 5 -8 (or maybe it's 8- ). With the C, 5, and -8 off on their own. These haven't helped me either.

Rodney

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theforgottenone1013(MI zone 5b/6a)

Gardevator! That's what it's called. It was damn near impossible to find much information about it but it was made by Ansan Tool and Manufacturing Company in Chicago, IL.

Earlier today I got some space cleared out in my garden for me to finally try using this tool on some freshly turned soil and it's awesome. Effortless to use and makes a smooth, uniformly textured seed bed in just mere moments. If anyone happens to come across one I highly recommend you get it.

Rodney

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