24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I live in the neighboring province and I agree with the others. Heat is definitely not the issue here. Of course there are some veggies that don't like heat, such as spinach, most herbs, kale, etc. My best guess is that the soil is compacted and does not drain well. Try raised beds, and focus on warmth-loving veggies.

try lasagna/no dig method. It will give you a raised, well drained and moist soil that will retain moisture at a low cost. Collect coffee grounds from shops and buy some straw, A bit of bagged soil. Then if it is still too hot go for the trellis idea if you are able. 3inches of straw, 1 inch of organic matter and cover with sufficient soil to seal over the organic smelly stuff, about 1-2 inches of soil. keep all layers moist as you build. Oh and start with wet cardboard, it will be good for earthworms. also If there are no earthworms import them to your plot. With all that paving the soil very well may be dead and compacted and without earthworms. That is why I suggest this no dig method. I built up 5 layers in each bed.

Do you know whether you have Common Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) or Greater Dodder (Cuscuta europaea)? AFAIK those are the 2 species you are likely to see in Italy. I have never experienced Dodder in my garden and it is actually quite scarce in the wild in the UK. But I do know it fairly well and I really don't think it poses much threat to your plants. I've never seen it in a cultivated setting and I've never seen it growing on annuals, only on low shrubs or coarse perennials. If it does pop up in your vegetables it should be easy to pull if you can get to it while it's still growing in the ground before it establishes parasitically. And if your own patch is well cultivated Dodder is unlikely to establish a foothold as the seedlings die if they don't reach a host in a few days.

I think it is Cuscuta europaea. I encountered it first in some contaminated seed compost. It was quite destructive on my small tomatoes, basil and aubergines. It puts out long tendrils a bit like ivy and is able to advance quickly.
I hope you are correct floral-uk.

Tomatoes and eggplant indoors many weeks early... I tend to pre-sprout my fresh eating beans, which is just a few days for that then plant in the sprouts. I then overplant my sprouts to help account for critter damage. If it's a very long season bean for drying beans, I tend to start the seeds a couple weeks before planting out to let them get a true set of leaves on before transplanting. For cukes and zukes, I start those out a couple weeks early to get a true set of leaves on too.
For root crops, those are always direct seeded.
I live in a colder zone that you though, so those couple extra weeks count for me in a way they may not for you.

Agree with the Tomatoes, Eggplant, Peppers all being started indoors a couple months prior to plant out. I also start all Brassicas indoors like Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage, and Brussels Sprouts about 4-5 weeks prior to plant out. Heading type lettuce gets started about 3 weeks prior to plant out. Alliums like leeks and onions get started indoors about 10-12 weeks prior to plant out since they take awhile to size up.



Veggies that don't store well at fridge temperatures, including in my experience, are eggplant, okra, green tomatoes, green peppers and sweet potatoes. For all of these except the sweet potatoes, a fridge set to its warmest setting will maintain 45 degrees which is warm enough.
Potatoes can be stored in the fridge provided you let them warm up for a couple of days before eating them, otherwise they do taste a little sweet.

I've had good luck with D'Avignon, which is a fast-growing French Breakfast type. For round, German Giant works for me (despite the name, don't let them grow to a giant size - harvest at golf ball size or less). Radishes are best grown in spring and fall. If you're south of the 40th parallel, it isn't too late for you to seed a fall crop of radishes now.

Know all the methods of weed control. I also have my own liquid weed killer....that works on weeds only. WEED MAN is dead to me. .... Will be using landscape paper and outdoor carpet in a small area, just to see how it goes. My dad has outdoor carpet on the deck for years, never became moldy...just became thin with wear and tear. I think landscape paper will change the degradation of the fibers. Carpet that has been left out for tooo many years, with a lot of moisture will rot. for sure. Called a carpet depot... Dark brown outdoor carpet is not cheap, custom order. This is an experiment at best. Hope it works.

Lizzah, I think the difference between carpet on soil and carpet on a deck is air circulation. Decks have narrow openings between the boards that allow water to drain and sir to reach the underside of the carpet, whereas dirt maintains a moist surface against the underside of the carpet, at least here in NH where we get something over 40" of precip annually.


vamtngranny,
Heavy Hitter is a Clemson Spineless variety of heavily branching, high production okra. It starts producing tender pods within 60 days after germination, so it's popular with market growers, being one of the first varieties to be ready for sale at the Farmers' Market.
The pods are the same as Clemson Spineless in quality. They are tender up to 4 days old. Tenderness has more to do with pod age than with pod size. With lots of rain, a 6" inch pod will be tender at 4 days of age... With little rain, a 2" inch pod might be tough at 4 days old.
I pick the majority of my pods at 4" inches. Any longer, and no one at the Farmers Market will buy them, tender or otherwise, folks just don't trust long pods.
With okra, a lot depends on weather conditions, but if you are familiar with Clemson Spineless pods, then you already know Heavy Hitter. Just picture a much higher production rate, due to several fruiting 
branches.

Thanks. It seems clear from everyone that TP works, but I'm a little surprised because, in fact, TP doesn't start to disintegrate when it touches water. I can take a piece of single-ply TP, wet it, and pick it up with a penny on top. The penny won't fall through. It may be that after a few days it degrades some, and it may be that a seedling is just more knife-like as it sprouts than a penny. Kind of fascinating, really.
I really can't imagine it working well with paper towel, however.
I'll be trying this in a few weeks with some carrots. I found it VERY irritating trying to plant beets uniformly after the seeds had been soaked. They stick to your fingers, and to each other.

We use the cheap brown napkins that you get from a lot of the fast food restaurants (and they usually give you wayyyy too many). The trick is you want to use the cheap TP, or cheap paper towels, 1 ply, and not the heavy duty super 2-ply stuff. If you can dampen a corner and it almost falls off, your seedlings won't have problems breaking through.
I use the seed mat/tape method so much I even made myself a huge cardboard template with the spacing marked off in marker for different plants. Just lay my napkins over the right spacing and dot away with my glue/seeds. Works like a charm.

I've tried them a few times since that post, and have been very pleased every time. I am not saying that they are as good or better than a good, summertime vine ripened cantaloupe. But what had and has me so excited about them is that they are a great WINTERTIME melon!! To be clear, I know where they are grown and am not saying they are grown in cold (ie winter). But almost all the cantaloupes I get in the grocery store in winter time are just awful. I'm sure its because they have to be grown so far (south) away at that time of year, and the long journey necessitates them being picked very green and perhaps most wintertime melons are bred more for shipping stability than taste. All that may also be true for melorange,, but they are still very, very good melons in spite of all this. Best melons I've bought this time of year.
BTW...Thanks, daninthedirt, for the heads up on the seeds! I'm not at al surprised to hear they are hybrids, but at least now I know saving seeds is futile in all probability. Thanx

I made some pepper jelly with my bonanza of jalapenos. The recipe calls for bell peppers and jalapenos, but I just used jalapenos. Super yummy! It is the recipe in the Pomona pectin box.
I also smoked a bunch of the ripe (red) ones; then they are chipotles. I was going to make chipotles in adobo sauce at first, but now I think I will just grind them up as use as chipotle chile powder. My jalapenos never get very hot though. I thought is was because we just don't get that hot here on the coast, but it's been plenty hot this summer.


zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin, you can set your profile to accept all messages at the bottom under edit profile and then advanced settings. It still just sends you a message that you have a message, but then it's easy to give that individual your email if you want.


There were some light, misty clouds here when the eclipse started which made for good viewing. But when the moon was about half eclipsed the cloud cover became heavier. Fortunately, when the moon was fully eclipsed there were breaks in the clouds and I could see the moon perfectly. Beautiful.
Rodney



Growing season is just starting up--picked a bunch of key limes and the first eggplant and pepper of the season. Calliope eggplant and padron pepper.
Almost getting to a close here - got some nice fall radishes and few okra stragglers.
http://edenpatch.com/harvests?uid=1&sdt=2015-09-30&edt=2015-10-01