23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
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.
Gorgeous garden -- love how filled in and vibrant it all is.
In addition to the actual garden updates, I would love to hear about the team work that gets it all done and the sharing of the food that results. The fact that it is a shared garden is just as impressive as the photos.
Elisa_Z5 (And everyobody else),
It's been an interesting journey in these two short years with the teamwork.
Our first year, we had about 5-7 folks help out consistently (there are probably over 100 people in our complex). As with almost any group, the number was steady around 3 who showed up to help every time. That can be disheartening; though, perhaps I am not a great leader in this aspect because I am often okay with just getting things done myself, haha.
We have had some struggles repeated each year - the biggest is our ability to create/build structures. All of the contributors are lacking in the 'building things' department, and some of us don't have a lot of time to dedicate to finding affordable materials. We also live in an apartment complex, so power tools are few and far between.
That said, we have had some wonderful help in getting structures created. The first year, our landlord provided the raised bed and the wonderful soil/mushroom compost. Our soil was so healthy, and there are trees near the garden bed so leaves compost in it during the winter.
The second year, a new neighbor and one of our most involved gardeners had her father come over with his tiller, some tools and supplies to create the wood-lined beds around the raised bed. The soil was tough, but this 3rd year should be better as we've worked it now and added some nutrients with our plants.
All of us who are gardening have only been doing so since the garden began. I grew up helping my mother but I am sad to admit I was not invested in it. It was such a happy surprise to my parents when I started to care about such activities as gardening. Because of this, we have experienced these problems:
- Overcrowded gardens
- Ill-planned planting
- Planting too much (one person thought you put about 8 seeds per hole, so he had MANY tomato plants sprouting up)
- Poorly built or a lack of structures for vining
- Lack of consistent help and money
Surprisingly, though maybe not really, most of the people who live here do not pick and eat the food. This could be because they have not helped, but I also believe it's because they don't know how to cook the food. I would like to teach a cooking class, but honestly don't have lots of time and am not sure I could get anybody to come!
We have some hopes and dreams for the garden:
- Create a functional winter space. Because of our structure-building issue we have not managed to create something stable. In the past I have had small success with some sort of wooden sides and covered in painters tarp/heavy plastic. Though this is not ideal health-wise (plastic never is) it works well. Unfortunately, I just do not have the finesse to build one that could function, say, as a vining wall during the summer and sides for the winter garden during the cold season.
- I need to plan better. I really, really need to do that! The first year was great, but this year we had more people and more opinions...and I am not great at decision-making.
- I would like to create a bigger garden. I want to have a space where kids can grow their own stuff; a space for experimental plants; a space for vining plants
- I have thought about, if we end up with lots of extra produce, selling a bit of it on the bike trail (we live next to it) to raise money to purchase structures and supplies
- We DO save our own seeds, but it would be nice to have a place to store them besides my own home - I think not having a universal shed or storage location kind of makes it seem like everybody has to come to me with questions or to do anything in the garden. Is that a bad thing? Maybe not, because I suppose somebody does need to be 'in charge' - especially when you have a single plot that everybody works on, not individual spaces.
Overall, this experience has been wonderful and I hope to learn more, gain lots of skills and continue this wherever I go.
Any tips, suggestions, structure-building thoughts, anything is welcome. You have a pretty good idea of what our area looks like - so any thoughts on expansion and the like are great.
Thanks for paying attention to this thread, folks! It's been nice watching this develop over time.
When a potato freezes and then thawed it will be quite mushy. Because the starch in it is decomposed due to enzyme activity. That is the reason for blanching vegetable prior to freezing to prevent getting mushy after it is thawed. It is easy to tell. Sometimes half of a potato near the surface might freeze but lower half is ok. Just cut off and discard the frozen/mushy part.
Seysonn
The one time I had issues with holes in my sweet potato leaves, it was due to the golden tortoise beetle, Charidotella bicolor. It is a beautiful bug and looks like it's really made of metal (like the second photo in the link below, not the first) but I was heartless and squished it anyway.
Here is a link that might be useful: golden tortoise beetle
Yep --we eat kale flowers and arugula flowers, mustard too -- really any brassica flowers, stems, buds, seed pods are all very tasty raw in salad or cooked. Nice to know you haven't let the brassicas go to "waste" just because you couldn't get to them before they bolted.
Radishes are also a brassica -- and if you let them bolt (they can get huge) and develop seed pods, the seed pods are quite a delicacy in salads.
I have 2 question for chinese kale (gailan)specifically.
(1) it's november fall season I planted chinese kale, they are 4 inches tall and flowers are appearing. Did they BOLT(meaning the end of the growing season for the plant?) or are they part of it as they grow. Anybody please give me an advise.
(2) How do you harvest them properly in order to last until late spring.?
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...
I long ago gave up on bells because they never produced much. Corno di Toro peppers are not shaped like bells, but taste just like them. They are prolific and bear very early.