23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


I can say I appreciate the information on the Mellenium variety. I have some of the Jersey varieties and will be preparing a new bed and was considering the Mellenium. The fact it is slightly later is a plus for me as my spears often get nipped by late frost.



Where do you get your transplants? Do you buy them or grow from seeds? I start mine inside in the beginning of Murch or even in end of February. They usually about 1.5-2.0 ' tall and flower by mid May when I transplant them. So they need about 2.5 month in ideal condition to start blooming(and this is for EARLY varsities, like 60-70 days ones). If you buy you plants couple inches tall, they may have not enough time, especially if they are not early ones...Also try to see if the light is sufficient. When light is low, they can grow tall, but not set blossoms...


Is this squash any good? We planted Table Queen Bush Acorns this year and we got early, small, not sweet but a delicious nutty flavor that we really enjoyed. We wanted to plant the same thing next year but Johnny's doesn't have it. I do see they have this bush squash. Does it have a similar nutty flavor? PM resistance is good as PM eventually killed all my acorns.
They have two other "semi-bush" varieties.... not sure what "semi-bush" is but we need these to be bush to fit into the space allocated.
What about Table Princess they have at Pinetree... what's the difference to Table Queen?
I think I am going to need to order from Pinetree.... Johnnys has some awesome varieties but too expensive to buy everything there.
This post was edited by Peter1142 on Sat, Dec 6, 14 at 11:24


I dug the soil closest to the stump, about 2' deep. Then I dug the trenches to plant the crowns. I'll leave the trench open for the winter and plant the crowns next spring.
I only found a couple of large roots, about 1/2" diameter. They grow at the top 1' of the soil.....


Could be what Jean mentioned and with the cold and low light, you likely won't get much the rest of the year. Even down here where the day temps are great, it's just too cold at night for much production. I've already started pulling some of my peppers because I know there's nothing left in them as it gets cooler.
But... the shriveling could be a sign that the compost is tainted with herbicide. You may want to test it with a link that Jean gave me once. And like she said, a pic speaks loudly.
Kevin
Here is a link that might be useful: WSU bioassay for herbicide in compost

Thank you thank you!! I will harden them first before transplanting, thanks for the suggestion. This is my first year planting, I'm very very new and need a lot of help! ;-)
I sowed a few broccolini and spinach seeds, not expecting much, and then all of a sudden, seedlings were emerging, just right before another freeze. I covered them up, and they continued to grow. Hope they will grow up.
I'll put some carrot seeds down after I till my raised bed. Thank you guys!!

Carrots will take a while to come up. It could take a month or more in cold soils. The spring planting date for Beaumont, Texas is Jan. 15 to Feb. 15. Your planting date would be about 2 weeks later I would think (Feb 1 to March1). If you plant earlier the seeds will probably just sit there. I have have planted in the fall and they came up but the plants did not produce until early spring.
You would want to plant spinach on 2 to 3 week intervals to give you a continuous supply. Spinach seeding dates are about 2 weeks earlier than carrots.
A good reference for Texas vegetable gardeners is The Vegetable Book by Dr. Sam Cotner. You can buy it new on the Texas Gardener website for $34 which includes postage and tax. Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening is also good. You can get it used for about $4 from Abebooks.com. Make sure it is the second edition. It covers all aspects of Texas gardening, not just vegetables.



When a potato freezes and then thawed it will be quite mushy. Because the starch in it is decomposed due to enzyme activity. That is the reason for blanching vegetable prior to freezing to prevent getting mushy after it is thawed. It is easy to tell. Sometimes half of a potato near the surface might freeze but lower half is ok. Just cut off and discard the frozen/mushy part.
Seysonn



The one time I had issues with holes in my sweet potato leaves, it was due to the golden tortoise beetle, Charidotella bicolor. It is a beautiful bug and looks like it's really made of metal (like the second photo in the link below, not the first) but I was heartless and squished it anyway.
Here is a link that might be useful: golden tortoise beetle



Posted a link to all the how-to info over on your post of this question on the Harvest Forum here.
Dave