23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Thank you galinas because that is what I do best with is the plants. The plants were phenomenal. No offense jnifarm, but I don't want to go the seed route, and my question is solely about the plants, not seeds. It's worth the extra money which isn't all that much considering the harvest was truly great with the plants.

just curious... 4 inch pots....??? one plant per pot???? only time I ever bought green bean plants was this year... A guy at the Flea Mkt. had "Roma2" suposedly a bush variety.. He had four per cell pack $2 each 4 pk. He sold them to me 4 packages for $5.00. Since it was close to noon. Time most flea mkt. vendors haver packed up and gone....

I felt dumb buying them cause I have hundred of bean seeds... Mostly bush varities unfortunately... Just year before last bought several packs of Ky wondwr and some Ky white and Blue Lakes....I have only opened the KY wonders.. They do so well for me... A true blessing...

I prefer pole beans I hate bending over and they are so easy to break the stems off the plants. In my experiences.... since I have been growing green beans since 2011....

But something.. is muching on the little bean seddlins.. I know its slugs... Plus have picked off quite a few green caterpillars on my cole crops

Just my opinion.... Happy gardening ..yall

Holes form in leaves for all sorts of reasons and 9.5 times out of 10 they are nothing to be concerned about and are just ignored.

The first pic looks like something has been munching - sails, slugs, some sort of caterpillar, - hard to say what. You just have to keep you eyes peeled and finger squish as needed.

The second and third pic is just a leaf with a small hole in it that could be from any of 100 things, even some sort of environmental damage or a bite from a beneficial bug. But it poses no problems for the plants so no need to worry about it. :)

Dave

Thank you Dave, Ill keep an eye out, makes my mind at ease.

I do plan on planting in an asparagus bed next year, or maybe the year after depending on how other yard and garden projects go.

I just wanted to encourage the wild asparagus that's growing already if I can do so.

The fern feeds the roots so don't cut it back until it dies in the Autumn.

Thank you Dave.

Should leaf lettuce be watered more regularly than most crops, about the same, or less than most?

I have the best luck growing lettuce throughout the summer in full sun (no shade) and with lots of daily water.

Just a thought, but did you dig down into the clay and back fill with good soil? Or dig a little and then build a raised bed? The problem with digging out a bed in clay is that you create a bathtub. It rains and fills the area with water that does not drain out. Evaporation may seem fast on the top of the soil, but water from a heavy rain sits in the basin for several days starving roots of oxygen. You may have rotting roots deep within your bed if proper drainage is not provided.

Usually on impermeable clay it is best to do a raised bed. I made this mistake my first bed on a new property and everything died a slow rotting death. I converted it to a raised bed above the "bathtub". I raised the bed 10" the following year, and increased another 10" year three. Go out right after a thunderstorm or long period of rain and check the moisture level. Step on the bed with some weight. It is spewing water like a sopping wet sponge? Is the bed completely filled with water and soil like quicksand? After a rain the bed should drain water through the soil. It stays moist but drains to allow oxygen to continue to penetrate the soil. I bring this up because you said "nothing but clay which I removed down about 18 inches".

Betsy - how old where the crowns you planted and how deep in that trench did you plant them? Was compost the only possible source of nutrients you added to the soil before planting? It is a good soil amendment but it only provides nutrients to the plant if there is an active soil microherd to provide them. That doesn't exist in a new bed.

Yeah it is ok to fertilize them now but compost isn't going to cut it. Use it to top dress the bed and bury the crowns deeper but you need an actual fertilizer of some type, preferably one of the many liquids so it will be fast acting and readily absorbed. Organic or synthetic is your choice but I agree with barrie that it needs to be high in P (the middle number).

And as linux said, you may very well have created a pond below the bed and will have a chronic drainage problem.

For best longterm results I'd dig up the crowns, redo the bed correctly to fix the lack of nutrients and the drainage problems, and then replant them. No harvest after than for a couple of years.

Dave

Everybody's right, and I think it has to do with how long the warmth lasts. When I was in Zone 7 things kept growing through Sept, but farther north growth stops except for greens around mid month. If the big brassicas don't get plenty of heat in Aug and Sept, they just don't do well.

In this forum there was a discussion on B sprouts varieties, with the bottom line being this is a situation where only the strongest hybrids will do. Check.

I plant in May here but I'm in zone 5A and have had frost the beginning of September. A good early cabbage that I like is Early Winnigstadt Cabbage. It's an Heirloom variety.

Did you direct seed? Try starting in those cup sized six pack planters in case something is eating them before they surface... Then put them in the ground when the leaves are about an inch.. This way if your other ones sprout, you can put the new ones in another spot...

Nancyjane, you've read my mind. I am the type of person who transplants the second (or third) "weaker" seedling in order to give it away because I can't bear to kill anything I've grown. I was hoping for a Murphy's Law kind of outcome because I really want the cowpeas. Happily, I can give away the extra squash seedlings to my sister, if, hopefully, there are any.

Mav72: I did direct seed again since the weather will be in the 80s here in NYS, I replanted the cowpeas in the same spot and could not find any of the seeds I originally planted. I will start some plants in a 6-pack too as I can never have too many cowpeas. Thanks much.

Not sure how big your pots are, but pots don't necessarily offer a lot of root volume to plants, so small fruit and leaves may be just what you should expect. I think it depends a lot on how big your pots are, and what amendments you're supplying. 60s, 70s, 80s? Geez, that's zucchini heaven.

As to squash that rot right on the plant, are we perhaps talking about unfertilized female flowers? As to overwatering, it's easy to avoid with squash. Just DON'T WATER until you see some leaves just begin to droop. Then water. They're telling you they need it.

I have a zucchini in a pot as well, this is my first time planting zucchini. I also have a few in a raised bed. The soil I used was leftover soil from a tomato plant last year, I didn't add any fertilizer. The difference between my potted zucchini which has BIG leaves and have 2 fruits now (just started) and my raised bed zucchini with tiny leaves no fruits is 1) the pot doesn't get constant rain like the raised bed, I only water it when the leaves droop, like the PP said 2) the pot gets less wind since it's on the patio compared to my raised bed; 3) less sun at where the pot is compared to full sun in the raised bed. But I think they like full sun. I think it may be the rain and the wind or maybe the soil too.