23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I'd definitely add more potting mix to them so that the plants at least have the full 5" of depth to work with. Most roots, even shallow rooted plant, need at least that much. I'm assuming these have the drain holes in the bottom? Some models do and some don't. If not you'll have to make them.

Dave

Oh, I thought you were going to use them for sprouting transplants, which would involve carrying them around. But if these are just to be used as planter pots for growing, I guess the rigidity is less of an issue because they can stay in one place. But they are kind of small. Not sure where you are, but thin black plastic in small pots can be asking for trouble in high sun and heat.

It can be done.

Tip: pick the right year when there's no heat wave.

Summertime is a great head lettuce variety. I grow it treated just like you would cabbage or broccoli if you have grown those. Pinetree Seeds in Maine carry this variety. I grow it as a spring and fall crop in my zone 7 (NC).

Surround, the kaolin clay applied as a spray has solved the problem for me. I spray the bottom portion of the vines every week or so until the borer season is over.

I hate those buggers. I am trying some butternut this year uncovered, but all my summer squash stays covered from here on out.

I use a large shears- looks like a scissors on streriods. They are available at Walmart and various garden centers. The shears gives more accuracy in making a cut among the long leaves. I've used a knife, a corn chopper, and even a machete. The shears are my weapon of choice for just about every crop I need to cut, from bunched herbs, lettuce, onion (tops & roots), flowers and all those Cole crops.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

Peter, I use regular meat thermometer to check the soil temp - works just fine

I won't do this again; my garden soil is 10x better than the bagged junk, and it didn't seem to help.

I don't know how, but I stumbled onto this thread:

Root Aphids

It claims that ants were coming in after the aphids that were infesting the roots of her pepper plants, and I believe it. It makes me wonder if I had the same issue. I did not see any aphids but I could have missed them. If what I read was true, then the ants not only protect the aphids but actively move them from one host plant to another, spreading the problem. On the plus side though, the ants would also be a visible signal to the problem.

Going forward, I will keep this on my radar. Now, where did I put that magnifying glass?

<It seems that ants have such a halo of innocence that scarcely anyone could believe that they could do any harm. >

I can understand your frustration and heaven knows they aren't saints. But they aren't the evil denizens that the many "help! ants are destroying my plants so how do I kill them?" posts we often get here.

And in this case it's just that the odds so heavily favor the far more common causes and that the ants are just a side-effect of one of those other causes.

Sure ants can get out of control in some situations and in those instances you have to intervene. You do what you have to do. But the majority of the time ants are beneficial to the garden in so many other ways that in general they should be tolerated, even accommodated, whenever it's possible.

Dave

Thanks Dan. Should I put down those dried leaves (after the mower) now, or wait until there is germination? Should I wet those leaves after I put them down to keep them in place and protect from wind or is there no need for that?

You can put them down anytime, but if you're waiting for seedlings, keep the layer thin. You don't want those seedlings to pop up under inches of mulch. Yes, wetting the mulch lightly would indeed protect it from wind, if you have a lot of wind, though the flakes will settle down into a more or less resilient but soft mat.

My husband said at dinner that they were really good and he doesn't at all miss the large heads and would like them to be there next year. I'd love to give it a better shot this fall though!

What do I recommend? Well as I said above, I use compost, manured compost tea, and fish emulsion supplements. I grow organically as much as possible.

I never recommend Miracle Grow fertilizers for many reasons but many folks use them - lots of discussions here about the pros and cons of various fertilizers - so the choice of fertilizer is always yours. What are you using to feed all the other vegetables? The same thing would probably work for rabe.

But "high" in nitrogen is seldom necessary. Any well balanced fertilizer works fine whether it is organic or synthetic as long at it is used properly.

Dave

thanks, will keep an eye and see how they do, might add rope to trellis as well. these half inch cukes on the tiny female flowers scared me at first. not sure qtip will fit either to pollinate when males will start forming. might need small tool.

I usually use male flower itself - just rip off all the petals, or just fold them back - and use until it holds up.

Wait. Don't start with the kiling agents. If the aphids prefer the dandilion roots, DON'T pull the dandilions, and espcially don't try to treat them with some kind of toxic herbicide or aphid killer. If the aphids are on the roots of the dandilions, that does NOT mean they are on the roots of your other plants. It is possible that keeping the dandelions, the roots of which would be the aphids favorite food, is helping to keep the aphids from looking for plants that they don't like as much. If there are aphids on your other plants, the best thing you can do it let the dandelions thrive, so the aphids don't have to move to less-preferred food sources. Watch this video - and pay attention specifically right after 4:00 minutes - and keep watching. He will talk about DANDELIONS!! Listen to the experience. https://vimeo.com/98940910

of course your crisis was 2 years ago, but maybe you will be able to apply this knowledge going forward.

I think it gets to the uppermost roots. I don't think it necessarily gets to the taproot. Weeds with taproots are what we're talking about here. By the time the uppermost roots are dead, there is no circulatory system that's going to get it to the taproot. In fact, weeds that aren't actively growing are pretty tolerant of glyphosate.

To answer the question of the OP, Roundup degrades naturally in soil on time scales of weeks to months. I don't think I'd want to put it on my soil two weeks before planting seeds as I'd guess that after that time, there would still be some left. No, I believe that's incorrect that it is gone in a "matter of a day". Ain't so. So whether you're worried about the health effects of it, or the effects on your plants, I don't think it would be smart to put it on your soil for vegetable gardening.