24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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jnjfarm_gw(5a)

dick Raymond's book "Joy of Gardening " is available from Amazon. I have used wide rows for years as a way to make best use of small space. now as a market farmer, I continue to use on most crops. The comment on weed control is totally backwards. wide rows and close planting take of the weeds a lot better than rows with lots of open area. thanks for the pics

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elisa_z5

How fun to "meet" other Dick Raymond enthusiasts! Hudson -- I have my parent's Troy Bilt Pony from the early 70's and it still works! I absolutely love his book, and love his writing style -- so much joy on each page. jnjfarm -- glad to hear the book is still available. I always wonder what happened to him. Anyone know?

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

True, when fully developed, fasciated blooms can produce a huge but grossly deformed fruit. You can see lots of them in the Ugly Fruit Contest pics on the Growing Tomatoes forum here. But this particular bloom is too distorted so never fully developed. They tend to be most common on some of the open-pollinated varieties.

Mr. Stripey has a rather iffy genetic history all its own with so called "bull" plants (sterile plants), deformed branches, and fused fruit common with it.

Dave

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Jim's(6 East end of Long Island)

Thanks so much for the input here. I have a similar problem with a Mr. Stripey plant, dozens of flowers and a total of one solitary tomato so far. I have an even worse problem with my white tomato plant. I have had maybe 25 flowers open and not a single tomato has started to develop. Great to read all this info, thank you.

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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

Flowergirl, that sounds more like the behavior of the Marmorated Stink Bug .

I'm just interested....but are you sure that they were squash bugs?

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flowergirl70ks

I am positive, believe me I've seen plenty of them in my 82 years.

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

FWIW, like Dave suggests, as long as the plants don't lose more than 1/3 of total foliage, they'll likely be ok. That damage looks healed over already & I don't see any holes in the new growth.

That said, it may be cutworm or another similar caterpillar - they hide during the day. Cutworms burrow into loose soil/mulch around the base of plants & 'sleep' during the day. Bt can be used against caterpillars, but handpicking is often enough to control them in my garden.

You can use iron phosphate bait for slugs & snails - it's pretty safe & degrades into fertilizer. I sprinkle the pellets around my tender new seedlings & transplants.

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Bobbie Jay

I've had great success with a phosphate product called 'Sluggo.' As you say, the package says its safe of pets and does add P to the soil.

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

That may be a flower bud - don't be surprised if it falls off - those plants look too small to fruit successfully yet....

Google Image is your friend - try searching 'okra flower bud' & 'roselle flower bud'

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RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)

This is my first year of growing them. I'll be happy to collect some seeds for next year.

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tete_a_tete

I have the feeling that you probably didn't water enough initially, as the others have said. It's easy to be fooled by what appears, on the surface, to be wet soil, especially when distracted by half-naked people.

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

A drill is the shallow impression/dent/trench in the soil that you sow into.

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

The term "bush" just refers to the size of the plant itself - small and compact - not the size of the cukes/pickles. Plus the production from bush types is much lower than from regular vining varieties.

One issue that frequently comes up on the Harvest Forum here - the food preservation forum - is how to get enough cukes ready to pickle all at one time since they don't keep for long at all. The answer to that question is that you have to plant many plants so that many of them are ready to pickle all at the same time. If you only grow 1 or 2 plants you end up having to store the cukes for days waiting for more. That results in soft mushy pickles.

So if you want to make lots of gherkins then ideally you will need to plant some of the Cornichon varieties like Parisian Pickling and plant several plants all at the same time. If you use other pickle varieties like national or Boston then be sure to pick them while still quite small.

Dave

edited to add - be sure to check out the pickling info available on the Harvest Forum here as it will help you avoid many of the common mistakes made when first making pickles.

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donna_in_sask(2b)

Also read up on good growing practices for your cucumbers so they don't become bitter. I don't know if pickles would taste any different but I find bitter cucumbers inedible.

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donna_in_sask(2b)

I have my kale growing in an enclosure this year...I hated battling those cabbage worms. It's a wood framed cage covered with tulle fabric (which is actually a curtain from IKEA, $5 for two panels).

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tommyr_gw

Yeah I have to do that too soon. I have the tulie just have to get some over my 3 dino kale plants.

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hokiehorticulture(z7 RIC/VA)

Haven't seen an update in awhile aftermidnight....how is the trial coming along? Any more pictures?

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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada

Hokie, so far so good. The skirret is still in pots, about half of the sea kale is planted out and the rest still in pots, they will be planted out in the fall when I have more space, same with the skirret. I grow a lot of heirloom beans and this year most of my gardening space is taken up with them.
The sea kale seems to have finished growing for the year both in ground and in the pots, no sign of flowering but to be honest I haven't looked that close. We are in the in the midst of a heat wave here, something like I have never seen before and I've been around for a looooong time. Water restrictions never seen before are in place and it might get worse before the end of summer.
I've also have yacon, oka and crosne in tubs, all of these are new to me so it's a wait and see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained :).
The sea kale at this stage is kind of floppy plant and the skirret needs to be potted up a size or two, I should do the same with the sea kale still in pots. I haven't any new photos but if I get around to taking any I'll post them on this thread.
Annette

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NHBabs(4b-5aNH)

Another vote of agreement with floral.

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elisa_z5

Or you can leave the mullein. Makes a beautiful long stalk that gives yellow flowers. I always leave it when it grows in my garden.

And yes, agree w/Lone Jack, cut the scapes now. Looks like the section closest to the plant will be woody, but the rest of it should be good to eat -- add to anything you'd put onions or garlic in (cooked or even raw if you like it strong). I normally see where it will break, and that lets me know where the woodiness stops.

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bmiracle57

two years ago I decided to grow my own potatoes. I live in Cyprus so what could go wrong. first of all I dug the ground over and over then I planted the six potatoes I had with roots on into the mound I had made. then covered them slightly. after a couple of weeks I noticed the shoots, then the flowers. i started to worry a bit when they reached about four feet high. I then put canes in to stop them from falling over, the flowers kept on blooming. after growing another two feet I decided to bag them up. would you believe it, nothing but the six spuds I originally planted. help what did I do wrong

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Tobey Green

You can rob potatoes, I "steal" potatoes early in the season; poke around and see if there are anything under them. Even with the ran I was surprised that potatoes did pretty good this year, I just harvested several bushels and planted another 100lbs today.

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rgreen48(7a)

Some of the melon farmers around here toss a bit of straw under the fruit.

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

Well, I've started to harvest melons, and I want to thank everyone for the advice about getting them off the ground. I have not lost a single melon since then, and things are looking pretty sweet. In fact, I was getting antsy about the fact that I had melons that were looking quite ripe, but didn't seem to want to come off the vine. I went out there today and found two huge ones just sitting pretty, completely disconnected from the vine! They popped off in the last day or two, evidently.

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jnjfarm_gw(5a)

I think you need to rethink as discover why you are having sour milk. I can store milk up to 2 weeks in my fridge without any problems. Are you buying too much milk at a time? Is you temperature off in fridge? Milk is pretty pricey to waste so that you can apply to garden. And how much milk is going sour? a quart, a half gallon? I would avoid using it as it will attract unwanted critters and smell bad. this thread keeps referring to baking soda doing the trick by itself.

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

FWIW, the spray recipe I recall for powdery mildew has skim milk in it, not sour. Thinking sour milk might just clog things up.

& I buy cheap evaporated & powdered milk & dilute it as a fertilizer for tomatoes & peppers, etc.

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heather38(6a E,Coast)

Curt, you are Nutso as me :) thankyou :)

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livelydirt(Zn 4, Lively, ON)

I too have been losing carrot seedlings, as fast as they come up. I was keeping the carrot bed free of debris to give the seedlings every chance to grow well. I have ruled out animals, slugs, cutworms, earwigs etc. I now believe it is the dew worms eating them. They consume HUGE amounts of vegetation every night. The two photos give evidence. I find these food stashes in worm holes all over my gardens and grounds. The worms come out at night, need to eat, no debris, so they grab the carrot seedlings. These worms are quite strong, which you will know if you've ever gone picking them to use as bait. They can really hang on.

The green leaf is a birch leaf which had fallen to the ground. They grab the vegetation and twist it into the ground. The lower photo is of a pile of debris gathered into a hole, including the stick, which is about 1/8" in dia. These worms can stretch out to about 10" long.

I have been having some success saving my seedlings buy spreading a thin layer of grass clippings on the carrot bed. It only takes a few days and the clippings are almost totally consumed.

Notice how the earth around the hole is almost devoid of debris... it's all in the hole.

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nancyjane_gardener(Zone 8ish North of San Francisco in the "real" wine country)

I actually have a garden knife. An old one that I don't care if it gets lost.(I also don't lose the good kitchen knives by setting them down and forgetting them! Same with scissors, have a dollar store pair for the garden) Sometimes the twist and pull breaks them off . Nancy

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elisa_z5

cutting can damage the plant, twisting can damage the zucchino -- I sometimes use scissors which can be more precise.

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