23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Good point, Dave. Good discussion and debate for thought...
I guess it all comes down to what works for you. I had a horrible aphid problem in my artichoke garden. That is why this post caught my eye. My pesticide guy told me that ants collect aphids and milk them on the plants. I did read up on this and there is a lot of information on the subject outside of what my Master Gardener friend and pest guy told me. But as a personal testimonial, instead of treating my artichoke plants for aphids and after my pest guy sprayed the path for ants, the problem was drastically reduced.
As for house plants, this is very unusual and is the first time I've heard about aphids colonizing on indoor plants. If pesticide does not nip it in the bud, I would wash the plants daily until the problems is under control.
Gail
With clear plastic, one has to keep a pretty close eye on things, IME. It heats things up a lot in the sun and it radiates a fair amount of heat away on cold nights and so a night-time fabric cover over or under the plastic may be needed, and you'll need to open it up on sunny days. I've cooked plants to the soil line when a plastic cover on a low tunnel got blown partly closed.
IME your best bet would be to use plastic to warm the soil before planting, but use hoops with spun-bond row cover (Agribon is one brand) over it to grow crops. You can leave the spun-bond row cover on all the time; it heats the air up less than plastic and also loses less heat at night. On nights that it might get cold, cover with old sheets over the spun-bond row cover. There are a variety of plants that don't mind coolish temperatures such as spinach and a variety of other greens, peas, and potatoes, and they would be better to start early than things like tomatoes and peppers which are damaged by low temperatures.
(Keep in mind that I am a fair amount north of you, so my experiences may be different than yours, but I have stated plants early with row cover fabric and harvested peppers and tomatoes into November this year, 2 or 3 weeks after we started getting frosts.)
You can find a great deal of info on Andean root vegetables here, this person is probably one of the most experienced on the U.S. Pacific coast:
wettingthebeds blog
Zeedman thanks for the link, it's going to be another interesting year, growing samples of Oca, Crosne and hopefully some Yacon. All in containers this year, moving them to the greenhouse in the fall to finish off. Nothing ventured, nothing gained is fast becoming a motto of mine :).
Annette
Well, you mean like a houseplant? Sure, they'll be green, they'll probably get leggy for lack of much sun, and they won't fruit, but there is no reason why they won't live. Not entirely clear what your goals are here. If you're practicing gardening skills, you might be better off doing different things than starting tomatoes in autumn. You don't say where you are (I have to assume southern hemisphere), but there are likely better things to plant outside at this time.
I live in the Deep South, where, theoretically, we should be able to raise and harvest tomatoes in the ground well into the fall. However, my experience says otherwise. When our high temps climb above 90 and stay there, the plants stop setting fruit. We have a lot of soil borne diseases that take a toll on the plants, as well. Once the temps fall in the late summer and early fall, the daylight is less and less. They don't like that. Then add the increased insect pressure of fall and I have had very little luck with tomatoes. On the other hand, I have had very good luck with growing hybrid cherry tomatoes in pots from spring all the way to late October or early November. I think it's because the soil is disease free and I give the plants daily inspections as I water. AND, I fertilize them in the pots at least once a month. For my main crop, I plant as many plants as I have room for, can them and pull the plants out by mid July. (but continue to nurture the 3 plants I put in pots.) I then plant something else in those spots that can take the heat: okra, cowpeas, etc. What will do for you depends on where you live.
Oh my! When artichoke plants are young, slugs and snails, and other creepy crawlers will munch it down to a nub! When they are large, the leaves get tough, throny, and taste bitter. So, the bugs tend to leave them alone when the plants grow large. However, you will have to watch for earwigs and ants getting into the grooves and crevices of the leaves and globes. You can use organic slug and snail pellets. Covering with a net will also help keep the buggers away. Also watch out for grubs and gophers under the ground which will devour an artichoke plant of any size. Gail www.sweetheartartichokes.com
Once you cut the central head ( regular not sprouting broccoli) you will get side shoots but they get smaller with each cutting. When the sprouts get too small and ragged for your use, its time to abandon the plant. They do tend to get a stronger flavor as the temps rise. Both the main head and the sideshoots are flower buds, the trick is to use them before the flowers open.
Wild Haired Maven: Agree with hokiehorticulture. I also did NOT use peat moss starter mix. I used a mix recommended by Johnny's for their soil blockers. (google: johnny's seeds soil block recipe pdf should be at top of list) It was left over from summer starting, but it was NOT under three feet of snow (New England...) So it was not sterile, and I am watching it carefully for damping off, but they are up and under lights as of 3 Mar. This mix takes and holds water much better that peat moss, in fact I have been very careful to water lightly.
Thanks rhizo_1! I read that thread and that was how I found Sakata and they pointed me to several sites that I could get broccolini seeds from. I was just wondering if there's a way to make sure they go to seed, otherwise I'll have keep rebuying seeds.
As Dave notes above, as they are a hybrid, if they go to seed you will likely not get broccolini so if you really love it, you should probably just plan on buying seeds. If you are averse to purchasing seeds, you can try other things in the family to see how they fare for you such as sprouting broccoli, Chinese broccoli, etc.
I should add, on further review, that ammonium nitrate, when combined with water, generally doesn't release nitrogen. It takes heat to make it do that, and then what you get is nitrous oxide (get a laugh out of that!) This is, of course, why ammonium nitrate works fine as a fertilizer, when dumped on moist soil. That is, your fertilizer gets plenty wet when you put it on the ground, and it still works. So to the extent that your fertilizer is ammonium nitrate (urea is very different) the chemistry is pretty much water-proof.
I do see snakes (lots of garter snakes, as well as some green snakes and milk snakes) in my garden, but never in the veggies. I think they prefer areas near the stone walls where they can hide if they feel threatened and where there are lots of voles and mice. In my veggie garden there are fewer areas to hide and it's more open, which I think is less comfortable for the snakes. I live in an area where there are no poisonous snakes and in general temperatures and soils are cooler than they might be in many other parts of the county. So I don't need to be scared of our snakes, and they tend to hang out in more open areas where they can warm up but I usually see them before I get close enough to scare them.
Holy crap, zeuspaul. I don't really have a phobia of snakes, but that would have freaked me out!