23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Seyson-how do you make tomato PASTE????? I can only get to a medium thick sauce. Do you have a recipe you can share? Nancy

Nancy, if you freeze your tomatoes first then drain all the excess liquid before you start, it will cut your cooking down time by hours. Much easier to get to paste form that way. This is what my sauce looks like before cooking down.

Very nice!

Your picture that you posted above, of the red bug with black spots is, er, a "black and red squash bug", otherwise known as a cinnamon bug. As noted above, that's Corizus hyoscyami. Yep, that's it. Not sure you want to know this, but it's a bug that is allegedly edible and delicious. They attack leaves, especially cucurbits.

FYI, some of us skip the soaking step.

"heck Hubby talked to a guy we know about green beans.. he said he did not blanched just washed and dried and sealed packages....and Froze

did dehydrate other veggies back in 2011 but no greenbeans...

I bought some spanish sounding or french ..while back from a salvage store ..It looked to be like the name had "green" In it like "verde" I think verde means "green " from high school days...

But yall know I tried planting some of my own saved "cherokee" beans before and nothing happened... they would have been organic ,too.

I even gave away some Chinese long bean pods.. I wish that person would have gotten back to me and let me know what happened..

I grew Chinese long beans in my front yard back in 2011 they did fantastic...even canned some

Here in this old money pit acreage,have not tried them yet. Did so good with the Ky wonder and some bush varities.... Hubby got "greenbeaned out".. not me. ate them steamed every nite.now if I could do better on the onions....

Boy I so miss my own Organically grown green beans. Hope God Blesses Us again this year...

better get off and check my chickens and Hubby out in this blankey blank snow.....

Happy Gardening yall

Paulak4, I'm not sure that this is the same as your problem. But, I am growing a Red Robin in a aerogarden. It grew higher than the lights so I pulled them to the side and put an old florescent light above that part. The leaves got bumpy on the part of the plant that was under the old light. I got a clip on light fixture and a CFL to replace the old light and the bumps went away. So maybe it is your lighting? Just a guess!

Can't help but wonder if the OP is getting any of these replies? I assume not given no response but it would be nice to know. My first thought was just leaf edema form over-watering and inconsistent watering but an aphid infestation can have the same appearance.

Dave

I was wondering when the forum participants from the southern hemisphere were going to start complaining about their days growing shorter. Didn't we used to have a Gardening Australia forum in GW?

Looking outside today it looks like a beautiful sunny spring day.

Then you walk outside....

I'm staying, I moaned and complained in the beginning, I'm a grumpy old man that hates change! But I've gotten used to it. It's the people here that make this site great! From what I have read we need to be grateful that Houzz saved the site!

I like that it doesn't jump around as ads are loading. I hope a lot of the same helpful people keep posting.

I use Fert-a-lome. It is available near me. It is a combination starting and potting mix.

My first seed starting attempts were with Jiffy Mix and later, with peat pots. I never had good results AT ALL. (the peat pots dry out in no time and before you know it your seedlings are dead) For a long time I used just a high quality potting mix, and it worked pretty well. But a couple of years ago I decided to experiment with Gardeners Supply Seed Starting mix. I like it very much and I do believe I have a higher rate of germination with it. I also keep a bag of vermiculite on hand for dusting over fine seeds. It holds in the moisture and the seedlings can come up through it very easily.

I really think that for most beginners, it's more about technique than it is about the medium. It certainly was for me. Read the seed packet carefully. If it says the seeds need light, be sure they have it This may mean you just press the seeds into the soil and don't cover. If it says dark, put the pots in the dark, keeping close watch so you move them into light as soon as they begin to come up. Also, pay attention to the germination temperatures that are stated. They are very important. It's always a good idea to google the plant you are growing and learn all you can before you begin. And finally, moisture control is crucial. Moisten your medium well before you put it in pots. Sow seeds and give just enough water to settle them. Let them drain a few minutes and then put them in an airtight location. I use Rubbermaid clear storage crates for a whole flat. If you are only starting a pot or two, you can put them in a ziplock bag. This will keep the atmosphere moist and help the plants come up more quickly and more uniformly.

I have it marked on my calendar for March 14th (zone 6b NY), to be transplanted out about a week or two before last frost towards the end of April. I also don't want them to get rootbound. This is my first time with them though so I can't say yet how it will go.

In Zone 6, as well. I tried starting my early spring crops this early last year and they ended up pretty leggy. I had them in my window sill (facing west). I suppose now would be a good time if you have a grow light set-up. Otherwise, I'm targeting March 1.

I agree with glib that there's probably a good chance they won't make it through the winter.

Rodney

I'm in eastern PA too and did the same as mfran. The beet (tops) I didn't harvest really looked shot after the first hard freeze. From the top, they looked very dead. So it's possible they'll regrow new tops?

I like turnips so I always mix a few in with other cover crops. It's a good day to think of these things just came back in from filling the bird feeders Brrrrrrr!!! windy and 12 above probably colder where you are.

Found the Ambrosia Bicolor in my last Jung seed catalog I'm putting it on my order list it will be my 2nd crop . I have three generations (wife kids and grandkids ) who always make sure I'm ordering that Kandy Korn. can't wait to try it , I won't tell them it's something different see if they notice.

jnjfarm_gw the garden for all series predates the joy gardening by several years.

I have some of the pamplets listed . Most of the info is in his books including JOY OF GARDENING.

It was suggested to me that anti sprouting chemical could be washed off of super market SPs in order grow slips. Has anyone here done this? I'm tempted to give it a try but wonder if the store would be able to identify the variety on hand.

It can't be washes off its soaked through the tuber. That being said a small percentage of tubers resist over time ( maybe the agent wears out???) and sprout anyway. Jean yes its early but I have a grow closet with lights and wanted to get slips growing indoors so that come warm weather I can start a succession planting.

sorry for delay in reply. phone konked out.

thank you for the advice. now got the garlic onion and shallot sets all in modual trays to get the going while i finish digging.

now i am aware it is far to late for digging, now cause i cant use the frost to brake up the soil, hoiw can i get it to a fine till (i think the word is) i have a basic soil rake and a leaf rake a metal one. i will be double digging and adding in around 200ltrs of manure as that what i can afford at the moment,. i have bags of odd compost (wont be using the ericatous)that i'll be adding into the soil too.

i have poles from an old broken green house that i;ll be using to build a netting cage. an old child door gaurd that i will be using top grow peas or something else on, old fan covers to use as protection. (about 15" round)

anything else you can advise?

thak you

It is not at all too late to dig, mushibu. Winter digging is traditional but you can do it any time the soil is not frozen and not too wet to work. If you rough dig now there will almost certainly be a couple more days with a frost to help it along. The word you want is 'tilth' and you get it by digging over with a fork, raking lightly with a metal tined rake, not a leaf rake, and by not standing on the soil. After a few years of adding as much compost, etc. as you can get, all it will need is light forking or just stirring up a bit. You'll only need to double dig once. BTW I would never spend money on compost to add to the garden. You do have a compost heap going don't you?

I dug some of my patch over in the mild weather around Christmas but since then I've left it alone. I'll do the rest as I need the ground. Planting some broad beans tomorrow.

Those look plantable to me.

Thanks for the feedback. I went ahead and stuck 'em in the ground. I'll report back if they successfully sprout for me.

Thanks for posting this. I'm quite intrigued by this growing method and have bookmarked your page as I already know I'm going to have to try this some day. It actually appears to be rather easy to do with minimal effort.

Must start saving coffee containers immediately.

Nitsua, look up "mhpgardener " on youtube. He has lots of ideas and his own research on kratkey method.