24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Rhubarb plants resent transplanting and will show sluggish growth for as long as two years. You may have noticed the large fleshy roots. You need to allow this plant to recover and allow it to establish deep roots. Then you will see lots of lush foliage follow afterwards.


I also thought all moles are carnivores. This is NOT true! The Townsend's mole will eat your entire root ball killing the plants! http://www.sibr.com/mammals/M016.html


Potatoes are pretty hard to store, many times they will rot, and they can even be toxic if they rot so I wouldn't suggest this. Maybe grow them indoors from the potatoes, following a guide like this: http://vegetableparadise.com/2015/06/17/how-to-grow-a-potato-plant-in-water/ maybe?

For me diatomaceous earth works very well on flea beetles on eggplant. I'm an organic gardener and live in the Deep South where insects are always a problem. But you must apply the dia. earth quite often, and early in the day, always reapply after rain or heavy dew. Wear a protective covering of mouth and nose. You Do Not want to get the dust in your lungs!

The females die if not pollinated so hand pollinate them. There is a FAQ here all about how to do it. One male can be used to pollinate several females.
But do keep in mind that while a plant can 'look' healthy it can still be stressed and when stressed it will fail to open blooms (they only open briefly very early in the morning anyway) and abort the fruit/blooms.
There are a couple of earlier discussions about this issue running right now so you may want to check them out too.
Dave

Hi Dave, I think you misunderstood me. The female blossoms are drying and falling off when they are tiny and immature, long before they could be ready to bloom. They do not even get to bloom so I cannot pollinate them. I saw some of those other posts and I don't think its same issue. I am wondering if its a nitrogen (too much) issue, but can't imagine that...
What could it be?
Thank you,
K.

I saw this thread had resumed, and I just wanted to report that I had two seasons with great results from the mouse melons. They sprouted as volunteers last summer but unfortunately not this year and I have not replanted. My cucumbers always get wilt from cucumber beetles, but the mms did fine and are just as tasty in salad.


Sounds like you have Ichiban or one of the many similar varieties. No way to know for sure without seeing it. As said above, you can pick at just about any size - smaller is better as it is less bitter. But the shine on the skin is the key. Once the skin goes dull they are past ideal picking. If it is Ichiban (Google pics of the variety for comparison) then 8" is a good size for picking.
Dave

I googled groundhog repellent and found enthusiastic recommendation of human urine. My father has mobility issues so uses a urinal jug to do his business. I thought I'd empty these into a garden sprayer and give it a try. That was yesterday morning. Today, my one tomatillo is gone and I can't be sure more of my melons haven't been eaten as well. Two days ago, I had let my garden hose run for an hour or so in the two burrow entrances my house could reach. I don't like killing things just to have them dead but it's looking like that's the next step.

Certainly you can try the ideas found for getting rid of groundhogs - I know I did - you will find most don't work. I was in the "get it too move" camp also.
Until I found out I was feeding the whole fam damily. Not only were they not interested in moving they were hungry too.
Did I mention that smoke bombs worked for me?
You won't have to touch the woodchucks, just be sure to fill in the hole so you can tell when a new one arrives next year ;-)

I've grown arugula for years here in the desert. I think getting the plants some shade, especially during the hottest part of the day, would solve both soil and air temps better than the temporary effect of ice cubes. When I grow my summer batch, I drag over my lawn furniture and place the slatted chair/lounge over the box so that it gets striped sun/shade.
Slow growing, withering, yellow leaves could be a sun thing, but sounds more like a symptom of water (too much or inconsistent).

Ice water won't keep anything cold for more than a few minutes. To the extent the local humidity is very low (like in the desert) keeping the plants misted (a BIG job!) would do that cooling fairly well. I believe there are varieties of arugula that are more heat tolerant. You might want to try those.


Have not grown Calliope, but have grown the larger but similar Nubia. Some eggplants are more attractive to insects than others . Trial and error is probably the best way to determine which varieties are best for your area. Nubia performed ok for me, but the Asian eggplants are much better eating.

I think I'll just be sticking with East Asian eggplants from now on. They can handle the heat and we actually eat them.
This morning there were more mealy bugs on the calliope! Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!! Where do the ants find them--there is literally no where in my yard that has them. Hopefully it keeps under 100 for the next few days so maybe some fruit can form so I can see if it is worth the trouble. The trouble is, eggplant is perennial in my yard so at some point I have to be merciless and kill this plant if I just dont like it. How sad!






I also have cut. that's not where the new growth comes from. you are fine to continue cutting directly behind the green bean. when i dont cut, sometimes that part rips off anyway. that's not the part to worry about.
If you hold the bean in one hand and the stem of the bean directly above the pod itself you can pick beans fast and without damage. Cutting seems very labour intensive for something which hands do excellently.