23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Cut a notch along the edge of the raised bed where the roots are getting in. Drop a piece of corrugated polycarbonate or metal roofing in, so it is separating the outside soil from the raised bed. You don't need to backfill. Roots will not be able to grow horizontally into the bed. But if the roots are growing below the level of the notch, they will go under the corrugated panel.
Or you can cut a notch every year without installing a panel. That will keep the roots from getting established in the raised bed. The roots that are cut will eventually rot. If you have a tree that develops stems from the roots, this won't work.
Sorry I haven't checked back into this thread sooner Erica.
About cardboard. I don't know how it performs under beds. I've used heavy duty cardboard, like the stuff appliances or heavy shipping comes in, as walkway between beds, and that's lasted in a single layer for several months- I just laid it last summer. I've laid lighter weight, like moving box weight, under some pavers to help kill off the spot where those pavers are going to finally go in, and that's lasted about a year so far. That's been sitting so long because I haven't finished making all the pavers yet.
All this cardboard has been corrugated cardboard, so it in itself is a couple "layers" thick between facing, backing, and the corrugated layer. But I still used the stuff double layer, by essentially just having the box flattened in half. I have no idea how well thin cardboard would work, like the cardboard cases of soda cans come in is thin cardboard.
For under my raised beds, I've used several layers of newspaper. I think around 7-10 sheets thick, and overlapping by a couple inches along with going up the sides of the box by a couple inches. I also pre-killed the area with plastic for several months prior to putting in the raised beds.
For my lasagne beds, those just got built right on the grass. I used a double layer of brown paper shopping bags, again overlapping by a couple inches and extending beyond the bed by a few inches. I've done the double layers in two ways- one bed was created by cutting the bags open and laying them out, the other was created by just leaving the bags whole in their folded state and laying them out. Leaving them whole uses up a more bags, but the layering is thicker so I think it works more effectively as a weed barrier.
With both these methods, I've started from scratch, and built up the bed on top. If I were to try it with an already existing bed, I would remove the contents of the raised bed, and start from scratch refilling the bed with fresh material on top of my paper barrier for best results. I don't know if that would be possible for you or not.
Almost all of your vining plants only suffer and end up getting stunted if you plant them indoors...read your seed packet or look them up..if the packet says you can direct sow outdoors, then you are better off doing that.
I know that as a new gardener you are anxious to get something green going! We all have made the same mistake..don't give up!
If you want to grow something in your aero garden...try broccoli seed and eat them as sprouts..they are delicious, and much more nutritious than full grown broccoli! You can grow just about any sprout in the aero garden and it will be fine, too.
Most seeds benefit from warmer soil temperatures. So even onions family, parsley, cilantro .. will germinate much faster when soil temps are 60F++. They have developed charts ( Temps vs. days to germinate), showing the effect of soil/air temperatures. There is an optimum temperature range for different seeds.
See chart below.
For example, ONIONS seeds eventually will germinate in soil temps higher than 35F but best range is 50 - 75F. So 65F room temperature is just fine.
Seysonn
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The table above is excellent because it gives a MINIMUM temp. I don't use heating pads at all and, in my experience, 65-70F house temps (for toms and eggplants) just makes germination take a little longer. Add a few days, maybe a week, onto what it would take with heating pads. I do cover my seedling trays with a plastic sheet, in order to ensure that the soil remains moist without having to apply water.
I have to assume that the minimum temperature is largely because below that, the seed will just rot before it sprouts.
I once tried a heating pad, and had a lot of trouble getting the temperature reasonably uniform across the tray (which was about 50% larger than the pad).
Is germination rate really the only reason to use heating pads? In my mind, germination time is a negotiable.
I am 100% with everything digdirt said. I suspect over fertilizing, over watering. The planting medium also looks suspect, though of course its hard to tell. But I hope you have something besides just wood mulch in that pot. I also fully concur with his suggestion about repotting and, even more importantly, burying that long, thin stem most of the way up. Its also too young for fruit....is it outside? Is it an ornamental or what variety. I think I pretty much just repeated degdirt's post but it was worth rementioning. good luck.
Do you have any favorit type of veggie? I think if you got more specific, it would help.
I guess it depends what climate you are used to, but Kaiserslautern is much warmer than places in Nordniedersachsen.
You can start some lettuce in March/April, sowing directly into the bed, beans around May, June
The best results with tomatoes I got when growing them in a container in a soilles potting mix on a south facing balcony, I have given up on Freilandtomaten, the ones planted in a bed without cover against the rain.
It is not that bad to veggie garden in your area, rather a matter of skill and TLC ( but isn't that always the case...),
so let us know what you went for, bye, Lin
I consider basil to be a high value crop because I freeze tons of pesto so I can have it all winter. It's all relative. If you like peppers better, then I definitely agree that you should fill the box with them and put the basil in pots. Sweet pepper yields, at least in my zone, are typically not great unless you're planting the non-bell types like Jimmy Nardello. The more pepper plants, the better.
As for weeds, buy some straw mulch. It's great for moisture retention and weed reduction.
Most of WV is Z6, and WV Extension's famously wonderful garden calendar is now online as a downloadable PDF. Or, you can check the month that interests you online, and review the task list. In my experience the Calendar's planting dates are spot on.
Here is a link that might be useful: WV Garden Calendar
I start broccoli and any cabbage on March 16. I start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant on March 28. I start some early watermelons on April 17 and the rest of the melons April 28. Onions are set out on March 31. Sweetpotatoes on May 17. White potatoes April 14
In general, low plants should be on the south side, and tall plants on the north, if you're trying to maximize absorption of sunlight. Afternoon sun is just as important to plants (from the point of view of photosynthesis) as morning sun. If your plants do tend to get highly stressed from afternoon sun, then I suppose it makes sense to bias the shading to then. But if not, then don't worry about it.
In many places one tends to get sun preferentially in the morning or afternoon. Might want to give that some thought as well.
What I mean, if you use trellis for cucumbers, but not on melons(as melons better grow flat, that up) then cucumbers will be higher and melons will be lower. If you use trellis for melons as well, and height will be the same for cucumbers and melons , then plant the way you have easier access to cucumbers - you will access cucumbers much more often then melons.
I have about 6,500 square feet of vegetables, and I've been spending about $60/year on seeds. I can cut that down a lot just by saving seeds from my mostly heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and summer and winter squash. For me it's not about saving 40 bucks; It's just another aspect to enjoy. This year I am saving seeds from everything, and proving them out the following year, and then I am good to go.
One of my big goals this year is to save seeds from my edamame; last year birds ate all of what I was letting mature for seed. I had netting over them all season to keep the deer out. Wasn't anticipating birds getting involved.
Getting critical mass where you no longer have to buy seeds is such a cool feeling. In one season I am about already there with garlic. I planted 31 cloves last year. Last fall I was able to plant 60 cloves from my harvest, and I have enough to last me through until harvest. Absent a catastrophic year, I am never buying garlic again.
I have mostly used starts from a local organic farm/nursery.
Now that I'm retired, I'm hoping to get the seeds going.
We have a seed exchange monthly with free seed from locally grown produce, so it's a good bet that it will grow fine in our area.
I'm hoping I'll spend 0$, but I'm sure I'll end up buying something! Nancy
I never had any problem with late shipments from Territorial. But I don't use them anymore because they've lost their focus on regional varieties and are simply trying to sell everything they possibly can. Their catalog now offers a vast warehouse of useless nonsense. They'll sell whatever they think they can sell, and that's fine. But they are of no particular value anymore.
The small order I placed a few weeks ago just now showed up. I received an email saying the order would be delayed as they were preparing for their 2015 shipments. I was ordering some extra cabbage seeds and raishes, so I kind of wish they would have shown up back in December... but I'm not too upset by it. If I had missed a planting date however, that would have been annoying. I told them they should have a prompt prior to purchasing.
I save my seed..so I pretty much have my varieties whittled down to what grows well and tastes good here...so I just jab a broken stick into the ground at the start and stop of every row..when it comes up I know what it is. I also have a garden journal to remind me where I planted what so I can rotate my crops, I just make a simple map with the varietal name listed..then notes on how each thing did..amount of harvest, etc..
I am in the same camp as Peter1142, I use paint stirrers from the big box stores as they will let you have 5 or so per trip. I stock up through the winter! Sharpee lasts a full season for me and they weather very nicely as you can see in the picture.