23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

"longer" implies the days currently have some kind of length to them ;)

I have sent in 1 seed order and have a couple more to do.

May I ask about the size of the chips?

I'm not sure there are great descriptive standards out there. Most of the nurseries/yard centers around here have samples out.

I used to buy shredded hardwood mulch for my front beds. It was ground pretty fine. A couple of inches of that broke down each year. I now have a free source of similar material from the township and plan (hope) to cover my vegetable garden.

I have a pickup, a big shovel and lots of time so I will be hard at work...until my back goes.

I have read about Back to Eden method etc. But I think that planting in anything that is green and waiting to compost is not the right thing to do. Also goes for mulching vegetables garden with wood chips.

Those stuff aldo bound Nitrogen. A lot of people often complain that despite of regular fertilizing , their plants are not doing well. Come to find out that the soil has too much unfinished/raw compost. Anothe problem with with wood chips is that they make a heaven for a lot of bugs and insects, termite, ants, pill bugs, earwigs,

However, I do mix in and mulch with conifur bark (not shredded wood chips). Pine , fur , hemlock bark make good soil amendments and mulch.

So clearly there are pro and cons on using wood chips in/on vegetables garden. JMO

Seysonn

My knowledge of hybreds go back to my high school vo-ag classes of how hybred seed corn is bred. a simple explanation is take 2 parents each excel at some features. Crossing the 2 parents produce a seed that carries the features of the parents at a superior level of the two individual parents.
Developing hybreds is a complex science. I grew hybred plants for there features. I also grow a few heirlooms for customers who think they are better.

You are right Steve, it definately not that simple and not all genes are Mendelian.

However, there is a reason that Mendel and the punnet square are tought as basic principles so that those who are unfamiliar with genetics have some sort of baseline of how heredity works. :)

I'm wondering a few things about this squash now!

What do they taste like? Similar to butternut or something else?

Diseases?

I would say they taste similar to Acorn. It's different from the true winter squashes like Butternut or Hubbards. Smoother, sweeter and moister. Of course add butter to taste.
I don't have any disease issues with them, except that powdery mildew hits them hard in September. But they still reliably deliver a solid crop.
Here's this year's Delicata Squash patch on October 8th. It looks like a mess but there's gold in there. If I had only one crop to grow, this would be it.

Can't resist the answer: slow as Christmas! In my experience, the open pollinated varieties are especially slow to put out that first true leaf. With beets, I think one of the diffs between the ops and hybrids is more vigorous early growth in the hybrids.

Here is a link that might be useful: graphic of beet roots

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The seedlings haven't gotten a ton of direct sunlight because it's been a little dark lately with all the rain but they aren't really in the shade either. I guess I'll have to do some soil testing for acidity.

Yesterday I finally noticed some baby leaves forming on a couple of them so I'll give them awhile longer until I write them off completely.

Thanks farmerdill and nugrndnut (sp)

My soil is loose and can handle any long carrots... For both Spinach and carrots I am more concerned about the weather being winter.

This post was edited by shayneca25 on Sun, Dec 21, 14 at 21:26

Spinach is one of the most cold hearty plants you could grow. I don't imagine your winters are an issue but I really dont know your climate.

Carrots supposedly tolerate light frost only, but the ones I grew were extremely hardy no problem to the teens.

If you want a more reliable thing for cold temps it is spinach. But you really don't get a lot... it vanishes when cooked. But it is also faster maturing generally.

Stuff, you are probably chuckling at our paltry rain amounts, but we're hoping for a wetter winter! Nancy

I wish I only had 40-50" of rain a year. :)

If you have room for a herb garden that is also highly recommended... I love my herb garden, especially considering some of it is perennial. It is attractive all year and rewarding. It does not take a lot of space.

If you plant asparagus, plant it on the north side as it is a shady plant. I think you need to move the cantaloupes to the new location as they can be very disease prone if planting again and again in the same spot.

Spinach is all around not easy to grow. It bolts very easily and is finicky about soils, as per previous posters. The yield is also not really worthwhile unless you are eating it raw. I prefer to grow beets and chard they are a bit more flexible.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will do a little more research on soil conditions and attempt to make a nice container planting in the spring. Thanks once again for the replies.

i do the same JCT, why piss it down the drain when I can feed my plants with it :)

Too bad those bastards Mc Veigh and Nicols did what they did or we'd still have NH4NO3 to use, an excellent, flexible N source fertilizer when used properly.

I use urea on veggies and berries always keeping in mind 2 things - 1) it takes time for the urea to get converted to No3 in the soil and 2) that NO3 can leach so, I spoon feed it, so to speak. It has a higher salt index than ammonium nitrate but oh well, can't get that anymore.

Speaking of leaching N, it all comes down to responsible, informed use of whatever source you use. Manure can be abused, I saw it first hand in FL at a community organic garden where some folks used it at upwards of 800,000 lb/A and they poured 5 gal buckets of piss on top of that all to grow greens. Geeze, that was nuts, especially in a sandy soil.

Improve soils by amending with organic matter, absolutely! Some benefits may include improved tilth, aeration, micronutrient availability and soil structure. Heavy clay soils will have improved water penetration.

All "chemical " fertilizers are salts, NOT salt, sodium chloride.

Hey PN I know what you mean about the FL sand. I did about 8 years of vegetable crop nutrition research for the U of FL many years ago. We did research from coast to coast. I always snicker at the idea of FL having soil except for the muck lands down south, talk about organic, MAN! And then there's the Marl way down south, that's just hydroponic growing.

Really, with drip fertigation on the sand lands, those are hydroponic systems too.

I prefer mineral soils with sand, silt, clay and about 5% OM.

"green leaf vegetables"

Well, That just screw up my whole gardening train of thought! I was looking forward to my Kale spitting out gold nuggets!

Good thing my money tree and ticket oak aren't green leafy veggies.

Kevin

Natty, be sure you soak your veges in salt water for awhile to kill all those extra protein guys!
I don't tell my daughter how many "friends" I find in the salt water bath! LOL
Then a good rinse with plain water is in order!
Buck up, girl! If you're going to eat veges from your garden, you're going to encounter some little visitors! Nancy

Slugs are just a natural part of gardening. I'd be more worried about the slug eating your plants before you than how gross it may be. :)

Had some with pasta today, but undercooked them.

good for cooking soups too

Ok,

I am buying a long-day onion sampler from Dixondale

12 Slips of Beauregard from Steele (though I doubt I will be able to plant all of them)

and 2lbs of Kennebec, I haven't decided from where yet, probably from Fedco.

I've also picked out my peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes, among other things, that I will be ordering from Johnny's and Burpee.

Now if only it were March :)

If by chance you haven't ordered your potatoes yet, check out potato garden. They have a large variety to choose from and if I remember right average price is probably around $5-7/lb.