23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
I watched the part 2 and saw you had great stuff growing ! All those baby peppers were perfect, and the tomatoes were growing real nicely !
And also, very clean hands and nails for a gardener ;-)
Nice banana peel going into the compost bin !
I'm pretty sure that your next season will be even better, with or without mice, considering all the good organic matter you're adding !
Thanks Francoise! I was pleased with my production considering I did no soil improvement, or even tilling before I planted it. The peppers did excellent, and other than the splitting, so did the tomatoes. I'm looking forward to an even better 2015, unless the leaves mess it up. My compost bin gets one banana peel a day :). I'll have to work on getting the hands dirty :).
Try "sampleseeds dot com.
Most of their seede cost $1.00 to $1.50 per pack. And shipping for average l order is about $3.50. I have not yet ordered from them but probably will order some tomatot seeds from them. They also have fairly good selection of peppers and many garden veggies.
NO: I don't own any interest in the company. hehe
I also visited Burpee's site. I find their prices beyond my budget.. They throw in a "Free Shipping" gimmick" as a bait. Hahaha. I aint no fish.
Seysonn
I order about a third of my seeds online, always in situations where I want or need specific varieties that are worth the cost. Another one third comes from my saved seeds, and the rest I buy at retail racks in spring -- including box and Dollar stores. By far the best prices.
Garden Watchdog is great.
I hope it works for you, zeedman. The one we used was a loaner, and we staked it with a piece of rebar but they are worth their price. I decided against live traps because I would not check it every day and it is more human to just kill them quick than to let them starve to death.
My choices are Ace peppers, Hansel eggplant, and Pentagreen Okra. If it looks like it will be a hotter summer I will pick up some extra peppers and eggplant, maybe a black beauty, at a local nursery and grow them in pots.
I'm sure after all this planning it will be a hotter and longer than normal summer. :)
I can say I appreciate the information on the Mellenium variety. I have some of the Jersey varieties and will be preparing a new bed and was considering the Mellenium. The fact it is slightly later is a plus for me as my spears often get nipped by late frost.
Where do you get your transplants? Do you buy them or grow from seeds? I start mine inside in the beginning of Murch or even in end of February. They usually about 1.5-2.0 ' tall and flower by mid May when I transplant them. So they need about 2.5 month in ideal condition to start blooming(and this is for EARLY varsities, like 60-70 days ones). If you buy you plants couple inches tall, they may have not enough time, especially if they are not early ones...Also try to see if the light is sufficient. When light is low, they can grow tall, but not set blossoms...
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
I dug the soil closest to the stump, about 2' deep. Then I dug the trenches to plant the crowns. I'll leave the trench open for the winter and plant the crowns next spring.
I only found a couple of large roots, about 1/2" diameter. They grow at the top 1' of the soil.....
Could be what Jean mentioned and with the cold and low light, you likely won't get much the rest of the year. Even down here where the day temps are great, it's just too cold at night for much production. I've already started pulling some of my peppers because I know there's nothing left in them as it gets cooler.
But... the shriveling could be a sign that the compost is tainted with herbicide. You may want to test it with a link that Jean gave me once. And like she said, a pic speaks loudly.
Kevin
Here is a link that might be useful: WSU bioassay for herbicide in compost
Thank you thank you!! I will harden them first before transplanting, thanks for the suggestion. This is my first year planting, I'm very very new and need a lot of help! ;-)
I sowed a few broccolini and spinach seeds, not expecting much, and then all of a sudden, seedlings were emerging, just right before another freeze. I covered them up, and they continued to grow. Hope they will grow up.
I'll put some carrot seeds down after I till my raised bed. Thank you guys!!
Carrots will take a while to come up. It could take a month or more in cold soils. The spring planting date for Beaumont, Texas is Jan. 15 to Feb. 15. Your planting date would be about 2 weeks later I would think (Feb 1 to March1). If you plant earlier the seeds will probably just sit there. I have have planted in the fall and they came up but the plants did not produce until early spring.
You would want to plant spinach on 2 to 3 week intervals to give you a continuous supply. Spinach seeding dates are about 2 weeks earlier than carrots.
A good reference for Texas vegetable gardeners is The Vegetable Book by Dr. Sam Cotner. You can buy it new on the Texas Gardener website for $34 which includes postage and tax. Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening is also good. You can get it used for about $4 from Abebooks.com. Make sure it is the second edition. It covers all aspects of Texas gardening, not just vegetables.
woohooman - i had mites on my snap peas not snow peas. does that seem crazy? and also sweet peas. ? if that seems extremely atypical i wonder if it's because they were stressed plants - perhaps due to short days.
and thanks for suggestions about amendments and transplants. do you think direct sowing kale, spinach, etc is a bad idea? or are you saying i should wait til january to let the soil rest or just that you have better luck with seedlings? i did direct sow last year and they were slow to get going but successful.
dave - i will look into reflectors then. thanks for the tip!
Jane: All I've ever grown is snow, so I wouldn't know about the others. But yes, a stressed plant is much more likely to get hit than a healthy one.
Also, regarding transplants... for spinach(because you want to plant tons of plants to get good harvests, direct seeding is smarter. BUT... I've done it and had slugs just wipe out row after row in one night. So, I prefer to start them in a bunch of pony packs and give them a fighting chance once I transplant. Either way, lay down some slug bait every couple weeks or so.
For the brassicas, it's so much easier to do transplants. First, most home gardeners aren't going to need a ton of plants. Second, they're ready in just a few weeks so if we happen to get a Santa Ana come by, I can hold off for a week or so. Third, controlling temps is so much easier than having to worry about them outside. Fourth, a 6 or 9 pack only cost a few bucks, even cheaper at walmart after they get rid of all the holiday stuff(much cheaper if self done at home). However, with KALE or collards, I have no idea how I'd use all that they would produce. 2-3 plants is sufficient for my small family. Fifth, now, when sunlight is low and weak, I can give my transplants a good 16 hours of light a day with a shoplight.
The only things I'd put in that soil right NOW is the compost and meals. In a month or so, they'll be acclimated. The bone meal will take quite awhile to break down, but better now than later.
Kevin