24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


I'm not sure what potting soil it was. I'm a pretty haphazard gardener so I can tell you it was whatever I could find at the store. Probably something generic like the Miracle Grow Organic mix. I grow the celery in fairly small pots. Maybe 3 plants in a ten inch pot. Here's a picture of my front porch. The celery is in the white pot near the bottom right of the picture. I can take a close-up of it when I get home from work if that will help.


Unfortunately, we don't have a wide variety of potting soil in the market here in the Philippines. I guess I'd go with something nonspecific when buying one and use that. Your garden's huuuge!
So 3 plants in a ten inch pot? I see... I have two plants in my 10 inch pot. But that's good to know that it will thrive. I guess I'll have to move it to a shadier area as I can see that yours is in a shaded area and see what happens. Thank you! BTW, do you blanch your celery? I read somewhere online that blanching helps with the taste.


I am using a 5 gal styrofoam cooler purchased from walmart and a homemade string trellis. I am using a special blend of dirts and stuff that I cannot share the recipe for. I water when my water meter says its kinda dry. I only give it 2 quarts of water when I do and I check twice a day but so far it only requires water once every two days.
A cucumber is ripe when it has outgrown its bumps and is the size approximately shown on package of seeds. for me its hit or miss, the first one was slightly under ripe and the rest have been fantastic, 5 so far. It grows in full sun and you have to watch out for leaf mold! neem oil seems to control it best however I have some luck with copper stuff sprayed on leaves once a week before the mold appears.

cucumber is a sprawling vine that will grow like crazy!!! Similar to squashes in what it likes, give it nitrogen and water!

After more research, I found this overwhelming amount of data that indicates the different requirements between initial growth, and formation of fruit - true it is primarily for hydroponics, but it clearly indicates potassium is crucial for fruit formation. It's likely I haven't adequately amended for potassium, so as a stop-gap measure, I added some liquid macro & micro to its water supply so some potassium and other goodies are immediately available, so we'll see what happens.


All cukes will vine somewhat and all will sprout some tendrils like in your pic but the compact "bush" varieties like this one just have much shorter vines that when proper plant spacing is used do not need trellising. Salad Slicer planting instructions call for 3 sq. feet so if you didn't allow for that much then a short trellis might help. You'd have to tie it up to begin with now though and that risks doing damage so I'd just let it go as is. It won't hurt the beans. Next time give it more space of its own.
Dave

If you have room (minimum 4'x4' area) elsewhere in the garden you can sow some more Zuc now for harvest in August. I don't grow Zuc but I do yellow straight neck squash and usually sow a couple about once a month from early may until early August so I can harvest into October. Having multiple plants at different locations and stages helps thwart the SVB and my nemesis the squash bugs. Not more than 1-2 plants at a time though...don't want to get overrun with summer squash.

No don't dig down, you bring soil from another location if necessary to do it or you buy a bag of potting soil. One reason why squash is usually planted in "hills". If you plant next time in what is called a squash hill or a mound then you will always have soil to cover the base with for whatever reason - borers, broken stems, damage, etc.
Most summer squash varieties need 3 foot sq. minimum or best results.
Dave








I don't know if this helps, but my first year with a veggie garden I decided to let one of the indeterminate tomatoes (variety long-forgotten) go where it would. It went up the 8-foot stake, and down the 8-foot stake, then crept along the garden fence until it met the rhododendron, which it proceeded to meander through. It was interesting, by late summer, to see tomatoes in a rhodie.
When desperate, I've "topped" vines and found they root very quickly.
On the more conservative side, is there a way to direct the vines laterally on a trellis or fencing of some sort?
I have a buddy who grows Marzano's and does it all totally and completely wrong. He gets phenomenal yields. He set some PT posts two feet deep and 7 feet above ground. Two feet above groud he put galvanized chain link fencing across. He plants the Marzano's on both sides, after they've grown enough to reach the fencing, he prunes all branches to that point. As the Marzano's grow, he ties them to the fence, directing the vines where he wants them. He's been doing this in the same place for over ten years. forget rotating crops, etc. It works for him.
Marzano's are my all time favorite for sauce, but they are a challenge. Wonder how they do it in Italy?