24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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J M (zone 5a)

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J M (zone 5a)

Here are some pictures of the garden. JerseyBoy and BrandyBoy are sure growing!

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charlieboring

Zucchini have both male and female flowers and are polinated by many different kinds of bee and some wasps. Don't worry about pollination if you are in a normal area where there are flying insects; the bees will find the flowers. In the absence of honey bees, you should encourage solitary bees by building a solitary be house in the very early spring. It is easy and need not be fancy like you dind on the internet. Just use a non-treated 6X6 block of wood and drill 3/8th inch holes to a depth of 3-5 inches about an inch between them. Hang the block at least 3 feet high. Birds may eat the bees so it is best to cover the face of the block with hail wire about an inch in front of the holes. Did you know you can eat the male flowers? They are a delicacy. I usually leave one male flower for polination and harvest the rest. Look on the internet for recipes.

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rgreen48(7a)

I'm using row covers to keep my heirlooms separated and to defeat the borer. Pollinating all by hand, there's nothing to it. So far, so good. Call me Mr. Bee.

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

We get a lot of mosquitoes here - even if I'm super diligent about eliminating standing water in our yard, we can't control nearby neighbors'; rain gutters, plant saucers, etc. can harbor the little buggers & our yards are rather close together here.

I've had good results w/ this product - it kills on contact & repels:

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(NJ, Zone 7A)

Cancelled successfully, no pressure to keep it. I ordered a jug of garlic/lemon oil granules to sprinkle around the yard instead. Thanks for the help!

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jimmy56_gw (zone 6 PA)

I'm just now cutting some of mine, Planted around 2nd week of April and they were about 5 inches tall.

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LoneJack Zn 6a, KC

2" are rather small for transplanting so you might need to add 10 days or so to the 57 DTM, mine are usually planted out at around 6" (5 weeks from seeding) with 5 or 6 leaves. My concern at this point would be the weather turning hot before they head up because you probably have another 3 weeks or so. When they do start heading keep a close eye on them for bolting because they can go south fast when it is hot. You also might try to shade them if possible. I have grown Green magic and like it and still grow it in the fall, but in the spring I always grow Early Dividend because it is only 48 DTM so I can get the harvest before hot weather sets in around here.

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Nickie(Zone 9)

Thank you, we have pulled all plants, tilled up the soil and replanted today....it spread fast let me tell you that much!!

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jbclem(z9b Topanga, Ca)

If you don't want to saturate your plants with chemicals, you can make a powdery mildew spray from milk and water, or from baking soda and water. There are many versions of this on the internet so it's easy to google and get the proportions. You have to make sure you also spray the undersides of the leaves, and do it fairly often until the problem is under control.

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Ruth Ellen Witty

I "cured" a wilt disease by placing black plastic over a garden bed for approx three months, heat will kill germs, then took it off and planted new stuff all OK for now.

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daninthedirt(Cent TX; HZ10, Sunset z30, USDA z8a)

I did describe it to a smart fellow who runs a reputable nursery, and got the same advice I got here. He thanked me for NOT bringing it onto his property.

Interesting idea of heat treating with black plastic.

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Ruth Ellen Witty

looks exactly like my mustard greens good chopped and put in stir fries, the spininess reduces in cooking

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)
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gumby_ct(CT it says Z5)

You don't say how old (mature) these plants are. Plants feed from the roots tips not from the dry surface.

IMO watering pots from the top washes any nutrients out the bottom with each watering. Me thinks when possible pots should be watered from the bottom.

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Joe M

Dave, thanks so much for your information. I do poke my fingers really deep into the soil to test. I'm going to twist the liners out with some pliers because the holes are plenty big enough to get most of it out. I'll just let it ride and see what happens this year for these buckets.

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

My broccoli looked like that & it turned out to possums - apparently, they like broccoli as much as I do...

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Ruth Ellen Witty

i keep bunnies away by posting my dog outside as a security guard at eve times when they are active, if you have a dog this is a good idea

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grubby_AZ Tucson Z9

The clear bet is the sideways pics are from cell phones; some phones have wonky which-way-is-up info. If you are posting one of these, and you run it through pretty much any image application on your computer, that info will get rectified. If you are trying to look at someone else's sideways pic, try right clicking on the pic and choose the option that's something like "open image" or "view image in a new tab/window", whichever way your browser words it.

You could rotate your monitor...

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balloonflower(5b Denver CO)

I haven't figured it out yet either. If I take the pic (ipad) while writing, it stays upright. If I try to use previously taken pics, they turn sideways.

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karmyk15

Thanks! I suppose it's worth a shot since they're pretty much free lol Our last frost is mid may, and first frost is mid-end of sept so well see I guess.

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rgreen48(7a)

From what I've heard (I haven't grown them yet), the leaves of sweet potatoes are edible. I say plant, find out for sure about the leaves, and have a it!

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galinas(5B)

I plant turnips and cabbages under tulle cover - it helps, if planted NOT in the same spot where you had any brassica planted last year.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Beneficial nematodes applied to the soil eliminates them too.

dave

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

DE kills ants indoors, but it is ineffective outdoors. You could try the stick & soapy water instead...

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

> but after a few years of failed crops for various reasons I am trying to be extra vigilant this year.>

Vigilance is good but at some point we all have to accept that sometimes garden crops fail. It happens for lots of reasons and many of them are beyond our control. That's regardless of the size of the garden or how many years experience one may have. It is the very nature of gardening.

The perfect garden with a perfect harvest is an impossible dream. And focusing on that goal can quickly turn any of us into an obsessive-compulsive gardener inclined to panic and over-react. That not only takes all the fun out of gardening and defeats one of its primary purposes - relaxation and a sense of accomplishment - but it usually leads to actions that create more problems for us and for the garden.

Relax and enjoy your garden. Nature will take its course no matter how much you fight it.

Dave

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gerardooviedo78

Hahaha! My wife and I just had a good laugh. We thought we were doing good since they grew so big! Lol! Alright so we'll harvest those and use them for bread and now we'll harvest the baby ones sooner. Thank you again!

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

Well, you can save the bok choy seeds for next season & the flowers attract beneficial insects. & I like to eat the flower buds - they're very tasty...

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carolb_w_fl(zone 9/10)

Hi - the 'eggs' & ants are aphids plus ants could be feeding on the aphids' excrement (a.k.a. honeydew) - or on the plant's nectar. Okra has nectaries, I've learned, which are sort of pores on the plants that produce nectar. You can wash aphids & ants off w/ a hose. The aphids can do harm, since their feeding can damage/distort leaves & tissues, but ants by themselves won't harm okra by feeding on the nectar, in fact they may help as pollinators. I do not see ants in your photo, so they may be after the nectar & not the aphids' honeydew.

The holes in the okra leaves are definitely done by something else, but they look healed over to me, meaning the damage is old & pests are likely long gone. It could've been perpetrated by caterpillars, grasshoppers or slugs/snails, I think. The 'rule of thumb', BTW, is that plants can lose up to 1/3 of their foliage & still be OK.

It is hard to determine if that is upper or lower foliage on the tomatoes. I don't worry too much about damage on lower leaves, since they tend to get scraggly w/ age, but if it's on new growth @ the top, I think that may be cause for concern. I remove dead leaves regularly from my tomato plants.

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