23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


We love Clemson Spineless - out here in IL, we plant straight from seed, after last frost. The spacing seems right, we plant ~20 plants in two rows of 10. Last year we were trying to harvest weekly at our community garden plot, and we were having to toss quite a few as they were too small one weekend and overdone the next. Harvesting about once every 2-3 days would probably be best as donnabaskets suggests.




We put in an elevated raised bed for a salad garden last summer -- it's 2x8 and 30" tall, with a false floor 10" down from the top (cedar slats & landscape fabric on steel brackets). (The two boxes at the ends are 2x2 and 15" tall, no false bottom.) It looks good and it's easy for people with bad knees (i.e., me!).

I guess the only thing that I can realistically do is nothing. I already grow them on trellises and I've tried rotating them amongst my raised beds. Last year I even try grown some from seed mid-season in a fabric container with 5-1-1 mix. It started out great then went the same route as the cukes I had started earlier in the season.

Realistically you can plant an ALS resistant variety. Not foolproof , but usually gives you sufficient edge to harvest cukes. For slicers varieties include Speedway, Dasher II,Thunder, Talledega etc. Ther are sevral pickler varieties Arabian, Calypso, Carolina etc. Don't kow of any burpless types with ALS resistance but they are probably out there. Belay that, Sweet Slice has ALS resistance.


nancyjane, I got an e-mail recently. I did not click the button [if it had one] to confirm my GW account. Maybe I thought it could be spam like I have gotten...just wanting you to click their link. I finally made it here, but am still trying to figure out where everybody and everything is.



There are lots of cheap/free things you can put under the melons however there are cradles designed just for the occasion, I bought a couple sets just because I thought they looked nice. Gardener's Melon and Squash Cradle

Not sure if this is a house roof or apartment building or something else since I assume it has a flat top. If it is a house roof, the first thing I'd do, if it hasn't been done already, is have someone come out to make sure the roof is structurally sound and can handle the added weight of the pots and plants. Chances are it can but it's one of those things I'd be paranoid about.
Rodney
This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Sun, Feb 8, 15 at 14:30



Yall making me drool LOL Yum Yum delicious melons
First before I forget....
Oh met a nice Menonite guy at store..... He said he used "Dipel" he ran A LARGE garden and produce area.
Hubby was "meloned out"as well as "greenbeaned" out. not ME NOt me.... I love my own ORGANIC fab tasting melons. God blessed me last year with all my produce.....
I am so greatful.... I kept telling Hubby Wish I could put this some of these melons in suspended animation... LOL
But the DANG squash bugs drove me batty. constantly picking them off. I had fence aound whole garden. I think the 6 owls etc I moved around over the Tposts kept the blank blank birds away....
plus maybe Kitty too.....but the fence did not keep Kitty out..... he climbed the cattle panel fence covered with poultry wire etc on the sides.. Hubby installed 4 gates too.
all used Gates.... nor did the fence keep out a creepy skunk....but it did the rabbits.......
I even tried a vacuum cleaner on bugs. no go...
Got the wire to make "domes" etc but it takes so uch work yeah bags can cover and I did some of my melons. but protecting the vines from ..BUGSSSSSS is another thing.......
ah well
Happy gardening

we made 5 domes, stapled or screwed and washered wire into a frame. I use smaller opening wire on some of them. covered with plastic.
Have them for over a year now.
I wish now I could have attached tulle first cause so many problems with those DANG slugs, betles stink bugs etc.. absolutely despise white moths........
Wish I had covers on all 20 plus raised beds...
Even tried "hoops made of water tubing.. pain to take off and on covers...
Oh these is a setup a guy did in "Farm Show Magazine" I believe his cover slid off and on......



The front of my house faces east, and none of the plants that require full sun do very well in the front. Those that can stand partial shade do better.
My guess is that you would get some harvest, and that might make you happy, but if you have other options, might be better to invest the money for the raised bed somewhere that gets more sun.
One other point to note - the front beds take much longer to dry out after a rain - again, this might be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on what you plant, and your drainage.
The location of the sun sounds good to me. My garden sits in a similar position. I just wanted to add that raised beds need more water because the soil dries out faster in hot temperatures. Also, if the yard slopes away from the house, your water will presumably run off as well (I assume the landscaping is designed for this). So be sure to water with some frequency.