23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Pnbrown, have you tried the white skinned / purple-fleshed Asian sweet potatoes? I share your preference for the white and yellow fleshed sweet potatoes, and the purple - while smaller - has similar qualities. They are long season (far too long for my climate) but should do very well in Florida. Chances are you could find stock in Asian markets; several markets near me are selling them now.

If you would like to try them & can't find them locally, send me an email. They dry out faster than commercial varieties, so you would want to start slips shortly after you acquire them.

Yeah, that's a good thought, Zeedman, Asian markets. I guess a trip to downtown Orlando will be in orderâ¦I have not tried the purple-fleshed ones, but have heard the flavor is rather different from what we are used to.

Looks like I found someone to send me some tubers of Hayman, which is exiting.

I wouldn't use fresh horse manure in spring. But if it possible, you can buy compost(probably by truckload, depending on the size of the garden it is much cheaper) and still do your garden next spring - just start as much early as you can, to let soil settle before you plant.

From what I've heard at two different farms in my area, but not from my own personal experience, is that adding the horse manure directly to the garden is too harsh for plants early the following season. Is there a spot you can let the manure compost before adding it to the garden?

Another method you can try, and this is what I do in my own garden, is leaf/kitchen composting. With enough turning and watering, it will turn to garden-ready soil in weeks, and should not be potent enough to burn your plants, at all.

glib and dan, thanks for discussing this and then narrowing it down to "do this in summer, this in winter" simplicity!

Somebody should write an article, no?

Yes, Elisa, there is a lot of pee-is-good and pee-is-bad, but not a lot of easily available wisdom about when and how. I mean, chemical fertilizer is good and bad, depending when and how you use it. I'm just beginning to get a clue. What I'm concluding is that for composting (whether in a separate pit or in-situ in an unplanted bed), it's good. Really good. As long as there is natural leaching to prevent salt buildup. That points to winter. As a fertilizer for active crops, some care is needed, as in a lot of dilution, but might be useful. That's for summer. But it's looking like you can use a lot more of it in the winter than you should in the summer. Let's all drink heartily in the winter.

I'd really like some soil biochemistry experts to weigh in here, though. We're talkin' biochemistry.

Fusion - the early plantings are all SH2 varieties so does it matter?

Oh, one other question. Will the reemay physically block pollen or is it small enough to pass through?

Looks like celery. Smell it?

Second Mugwort. Does it smell like a mum?

Thread revival.

There is a new product coming to market in February 2015. They are being called 'mulch mats', and are made from industrial hemp. They compete with petroleum-based weed block. They're an all-natural, biodegradable solution, combining the benefits of natural mulch with the convenience of mats.

There isn't much info on their website except for the product announcement. http://www.woven-earth.com

Full disclosure: I work for Woven Earth, the sellers of the mats. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woven Earth homepage

Thread bump

Any updates on how it went through the season with gardenmats? Yields, weed time, etc?

Flora, I imagine part of the issue for you is that you never get the hot summer weather that brings on super-fast growth. I'm in a cool spring climate as well, maybe not as cool as yours, but once the soil is good and warm the legumes grow at a whopping rate. Very often all kinds of direct-seeded crops catch up with or pass transplanted, IME.

So yes, totally different climates round north america and the UK.

If you have good soil, a nearby water source if needed, the free time so it doesn't become a "job" , I say go for it. What you learn this year , will guide you next year. A few years back I built 8 raised beds 5 feet wide by 50 feet long peaking at 3 feet in the center, with the help of a frontend loader. No borders , when mulched and everything growing I knew my time hadn't been wasted. Then the cicada killers moved in and dug hundreds of holes in the sides of each bed. Every time I watered , the paths between the beds would flood. I now have 1 raised bed , 1 foot tall, but a very big bed. Seems as though irregardless of best laid plans , life will find a way to test your will. I wish you the best of luck. Oh, and with those deer , I found that the fence should go up before they find that garden.

Agree. The odds are 9 to 1 that what you have is one of the hybrid varieties simply because they are far more common. Plus asparagus seeds have a very low germination rate and the greens will be the dominate gene so what you get, if anything, will most likely be green.

You will have much better results, faster production, and better quality if you just invest in some additional crowns and plant them instead.

Dave

Understood. I will start by checking my invoice to see what variety I paid for.

The seeds will still get planted because, well, it's fun. I will note germination rates as well as colour results.

Thank you for the responses.

I planted out my leeks on April 9 last year, April 5 the year before. Actually did the artichokes at about the same time, maybe a week later. Both did fine, no need to wait until last frost. Cheers!

If leeks get too much cold weather when they're young, they think they've been through a Mediterranean winter and they bolt.

Seen it several years when we have one of our spring freezes here in WV.

This is what pin rot looks like....The tissue becomes soft and gives off a very bad odor.

Here is a link that might be useful: SalinasValleyAgriculture

This post was edited by mrdoitall on Sat, Jan 10, 15 at 5:39

Thank you - I didn't see anything like this, so don't think that's my issue. Not sure what in the world, but hopefully won't have it again.