24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

mpoland, click HERE for information about how to find your county Extension office.
You might want to post pictures of your Echinacea. The issues there will be different than for squash.

CMV can affect Enchinacea too, though I agree it seems odd and would like to see pictures. http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant-diseases/all-fact-sheets/echinacea-diseases

Its been fun playing detective - finding those impacts. It was great back in May when the wheat created a warm and nearly windless microclimate for the tomato / pepper / etc transplants. Now I see the typical tomato diseases starting to yellow the lower leaves. I don't think its any worse than usual for the heirloom varieties I grow. I'll have to check pics from last year to make sure.
As far as pests, the jury is still out. The cabbage butterflies have found the cole crops but seem confused by the wheat. It took them longer to find the crops and their impact seems significantly smaller. I see no cucumber beetles on the cucs yet - very unusual for me, but also the zucchini flowers don't seem to be getting pollinated yet either.
I hope I can use the wheat straw as a mulch as we enter the typically hot/dry time of year.

Thank you for the photos and sharing the idea! I'm inspired as I like the idea of growing my future wheat straw mulch right along my rows of vegetables!
"harvest the wheat tops with a battery powered hedge trimmer" Exactly how does that work for you? Don't the cut wheat heads fall into the still standing lower parts of the wheat plants making the heads hard to find and pick up by hand?
Possibly you could put a wide (snowplow-like) ">" on the front of your tractor, and run it down the center of your wheat rows. The wide ">" would push the wheat plants sideways so the tractor wheels would press down the crop laying it into the tomato plant rows. Then you could walk down the tomato rows (with the pressed down wheat straw) moving the straw to both sides of the tomato plants.
With pressed down wheat straw also coming in from the opposite row overlapping - it would make a wonderful thick mulch. No need to cut with your sickle bar and then move the straw around into the tomato plants.
If you have a source for your future winter wheat seed (without saving seed from your strips of wheat) just lay over and press down the rows of wheat plants before the wheat heads mature.
On second thought, if you lay over the green growing wheat it would produce fermenting odors. Mature (dead) wheat would not produce fermenting odors.
Lola

That really isn't necessary as there are already tons of excellent videos and pics of aphids on line you can look at for comparison.
Dave

As Dave and others have said, daily watering shouldn't be necessary. It is common for squash leaves to lose their turgidity and 'wilt' in hot weather.
Usually, by the next morning they pick themselves back up and look healthy. Insect damage will make this condition worse. The Squash Vine Borer is the worst culprit, and even squash bugs can exacerbate squash's natural tendency to wilt.
If they are still wilted in the very early morning, after they have absorbed the dew (assuming there's dew in such a hot climate,) then they may indeed be thirsty. However, try not to let them go that long. Try to follow the 1" of water (plus a half an inch for every 10 degrees over 80) per week rule. Because of the large surface area of their leaves, squash can usually handle a bit more, but give them that extra by regular deep waterings.
Daily waterings can encourage the squash roots to stay at the hottest part of the soil... the surface. Deep waterings encourage the roots down following the water. Weekly (or slightly more often in very hot, very dry or sandy places), deep waterings train the roots to find the cooler, moist soils below.

Donna R, last year's harvest of purple potatoes was extremely dismal but I think that's because of the containers I used. This year they are in a raised bed and I hope for better results. The plants are much more vigorous than last year, at least.
If I understand the concept of growing potatoes from seed correctly, then one of the challenges is that you never know what you're actually going to get. Potatoes from seed may be very close to the parent plant, especially if they were fertilized by the same variety, but may be very different. That is, I believe, at least one primary reason why growers choose to use tubers to grow plants, because they know exactly what to expect. In the blog you follow, that you linked to above, I read that sometimes the author gets plants that don't produce any tubers at all, and sometimes they are very small. I don't think that too many farmers/gardeners who are concerned with yield and feeding people would want to take the chance on what they might get. I can't remember the source, but I recall reading last year that people who experiment with true potato seed will take the small tubers from the first year's plants and use them as seed potatoes to get a bigger harvest the following year. But I think the reality is that it's new and we don't really know.

I think that is the case here, but in Europe, potato seeds, not tubers, the seeds are sold by variety..so here, our crops may be highly unstable, but in Europe they are stable enough to sell the seed by the varietal name.
This is why I am thinking that after a few generations, we, too, can get potatoes from seed that are true to type.


As long it's only a light frost the winter squash are usually fine as long as they are mature. We usually get frost in September here the vines and immature fruit will die but mature ones are usually ok. We almost never have a field full of dried vines here. Our last place we typically had a middle of Oct frost date and did often see drying before the frost would hit. It will depend on your variety but just for reference my Spaghetti Squash is 70-115 days and my nutterbutter is 90 days total. The vast majority of the time is in the maturing of the fruit.

Yes it is normal and no they do not need to be pinched off. They will fall off all on their own. However if no females blooms appear in a relatively short time it is a sign that the plant is stressed for some reason - water, nutrients, light, pests, etc.
Bitterness in cukes is a watering issue - either too little or inconsistent.
Dave

OK, well several online sources kept saying to remove the males to prevent bitterness. I actually did a first weak fertilizing tonight. They haven't been short of water and the greenhouse gets plenty of light. No visible pest issues. The plants otherwise look healthy other than the lower 1-2 leaves starting to yellow a bit. Hope the female flowers show soon!

Sandy soils are famous for losing nutrients quickly, and your corn does look distressed. Often, distressed plants will attempt to flower and fruit early (aka why your corn is trying to produce an ear and a tassel) so that they can make seeds and reproduce before they inevitably meet an early doom. If I were you, I would add as much organic material to that soil as I could manage to get and hope for better next year.

Is that what that is - sandy soil? I thought at first it was snow. I'd be amazed if that soil could grow much of anything but yeah, that corn is definitely not normal. It is severely nutrient deprived and very likely will not produce anything. Is it all like this or only this one plant? Where are you located geekella?
Dave


Mine is massive as it is every year. But it is at least 50+ yrs old...was in the old cow pasture when i bought the farm 25 yrs ago....the farm had not been active for years before that. I've divided it almost every year early spring. When just early nubs. I've started another row of 20 or so the past few yrs.
I always cut the seed stalks before they seed. Another big patch fruitier out the pasture i rarely touch or snip...always looks just like the one i tend.
I pulled about 20 lbs last weekend and gave to neighbors that can't seem to grow it. I leave behind the large leaves and tuck under the plants for a mulch.
Some years the heat gets it in mid July and the stalks get hollow and soft. Other years i've had it all season through fall. One recent year i had another growth and full fall crop after dying back in August...
Some varieties are a bit more red but the taste is the same. Why most use a few strawberries in their pies. I've used grated beets for color. It is my favorite ingredient in my BBQ sauce. Lots of vinegar and maple syrup and hot peppers and dry rub spices. Nice tart wet dipping sauce for ribs and a good mop while smoking chicken and pork. Added to spicy black beans last weekend. Just a great all around free garden gem to make thick sauces from.

Last year, I sowed snap peas over the July 4th weekend, for Fall harvest. They did great... in fact, the germination was better than when Spring sown. You would probably want to use a short DTM variety, though, such as Sugar Lace. It is a short semi-leafless variety, so it doesn't need to waste time growing tall vines.

It is worth trying a fall crop if you can spare the room. Last fall we had a very late first fall frost...warm through mid October. Not every year. The pea shoots before producing are great in salads and spring rolls so not all is lost if cold temps hit early.
I start some late July in my zone 5a. If you look around you will find some lists for your area when it is recommended to plant for fall crops.


No, no, no no. Butternut is not immune to SVBs. It's "resistant". As in, it isn't hurt AS MUCH as everything else. I routinely have SVBs in my Butternuts. It is a common garden myth that Butternuts, and Moschata's in general, are left untouched by SVBs. But maybe my Texas SVBs are just bigger than everyone elses?


@laceyvail: I planted Wando peas because they are supposedly heat-tolerant and I read several sites that they could be planted mid-summer or July 1 for a fall crop. (Packet says "Best in hot weather! ... produce reliably even in hot or cold temperatures where other peas fail.")
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-peas-planted-july-66553.html
Not sure if you didn't notice or aren't familiar with the varietal or if you disagree with what I read? I'm happy to hear your advice/a different view.
To update, today I see several zucchini and lemon cucumber seedlings, and one straight neck and wando pea. So perhaps I did okay with the direct sowing/watering. We'll see!




Thank you so much digdirt2. Nice to know I have good company when I visit my garden. <3
Dave, I don't think that there are any leaf footed bugs that are predators. They're plant pests.
Unlike assassin bugs, who stab into little creatures and suck the insides out, leaf footed bugs stab into plants (leaves, fruit, seeds, etc.) in order to feed.