23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Elisa, I found the big pumpkins overwhelming so this year I went little, with pie pumpkins, and I miss the big ones. There is a "neck pumpkin" version of Dickinson Field that is on my gotta-grow list (Sandhill Preservation Center has seeds). It goes to 40 pounds.
The vines of these big moschatas do run! One ran 15 feet to a storage shed, went up the side and crossed the roof and came down the other side. I've had crop failures when some OP moschatas bloomed alone, so I always plant a few butternuts that bloom at the same time, which prevents pollination problems.
One of those facts I always find fascinating on archaelogical digs when they find sees that are thousands of years old that still germinate. Seems like there was a particular bean found here in the southwest that way. I find it somewhat less fascinating when I am dealing with puncture vine seeds though.
It is a piece of information that I keep in mind when evaluating the age of seeds. I have tomato seeds from 10 years ago that have done just fine. If I am being honest, most of the problems with germination and vigor of my seedlings are traceable to the gardener. :(
most of the problems with germination and vigor of my seedlings are traceable to the gardener.
Excellent point! We'd all like to be able to blame failures on the seeds or the variety or the seed vendor or the soil or the weather or ...etc when in fact 90% of the time the blame for failure lies on us, the gardeners.
Farmers and gardeners have been successfully growing crops from saved seed multiple-seasons old for centuries. And if the crop quality wasn't high then all the effort and $$ that goes into all the international seed banks, seed harvesting, and seed storage is wasted effort and we are all in trouble.
Once a seed germinates its subsequent "vigor" as a seedling and then a plant is the responsibility of the gardener and the growing conditions we provide, not the age of the seed. Any and all nutrients contained in even the perfect seed coating are quickly used up by the cotyledon stage.
As I said, it is your choice and I'm sure the seed companies would like all of us to share your belief. But the truth is that the primary reason most experienced gardeners spend any money on buying new seeds each year is just to try a few new varieties or to replace hybrid seeds that we have used up over the years.
Personally, like others who have posted, over the past 50 years of gardening I have used 5-10 year old seeds for many crops including tomatoes, melons, cole crops, peppers, corn, and leafy greens with no issues with crop vigor. Some are stored in the freezer but most are just stored in an old fridge in the basement.
Dave
I haven't had very good luck with overwintering peas personally Chaman.
I can plant pre-sprouted seeds in the spring and they outgrow the over wintered.
But peas are hard to grow here anyway. When it gets warm enough for them to grow it gets too hot, too quick.
I threaten to give up every year, but then I try again. If the weather cooperates so that I get plenty I'm so happy!
But that only happens about every 4 or 5 years!
gunny sack bean threshing -- I've used the "find a small child to jump on the sack" method, which is really fun and has the same result as wacking it with a stick.
Of course, when the kids grow up you have to wait for the next generation to become of jumping age.
wintergaarden- Could you explain your carrot method a little more as I'm a bit confused. Did you start them inside then transplant outside into the bag or did you start them in the bag and transplant them into the ground? If it was the former, what did you initially start them in and how tall were they when you transplanted them?
Rodney
Hi Rodney, I started the carrots indoors in a long skinny plastic tray leftover from my fig newtons. I only have 2 in my family so if you need more carrots you might use 2-4 fig newton trays or a larger take out tray. I just wet the soil, sprinkled seeds all over the top about 1/4 inch apart, put a tiny dusting of sifted soil on top of those and kept them moist w a spray bottle til they came up. I put them about 1/2 to 1 inch (CLOSE!) under my home depot plain ol flourescent shoplight til they grew 1 tiny true leaf.
At that point I transplanted the young seedlings out into an ikea bag filled with very loose a little sandy soil with a few knife holes poked into the bottom. (i recommend loose bagged potting soil w a little sand mixed in, not heavy clay soil from outside) It's better NOT to fertilize carrots, it just makes them grow more leaves and not get sweet.
I followed Jon Hughes' instructions on his youtube video: Transplanting Carrots 3-3-2010 except mine plantings weren't nearly as neat as his. My carrots came out perfecto! straight as an arrow and sooo yummy. Mine were the skinny long carrots (finished size about 1/2 inch thick by 8 inches long.) I didn't do any thinning at all.
john hughes' youtube tranplanting carrots method here good luck, lemme know if you have any more questions.
p.s. i plan on starting my parsnips indoors on a paper towel inside a zip bag that's wrung-out-damp. Then once the first root comes out, sprinkling them outside in my 18" x 1 x 6ft open bottom trough filled with loose friable potting soil (i use cedar grove veggie mix it's half topsoil half compost.)
Last year I started parsnip outdoors and got NOTHING, zip, zero, ziltch, so I started starting seeds indoors so as to not waste my life lol
This post was edited by wintergaarden on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 21:41
Very young winter squash (still light green) can be peeled & eaten much like summer squash, with varying degrees of acceptability... some good, some not so much. Those that have begun to change color can be ripened indoors, but may be more watery & less flavorful that those ripened on the vine.
Squashes which are near full size but not yet changing color are a crap shoot... in my experience, they will generally be inferior quality no matter how they are handled. I would still eat them for sustenance - and eat them first - but not if squashes of better quality were available.
I agree with Digdirt, leave the squashes on the vine as long as possible, even after the first light frost. Most of the leaves may be singed, but ripening will continue as long as the vine itself is still alive. I have observed that the vine may pull nutrients from some of the less mature squashes at this time. If further frosts are expected (low 30's) after the foliage has been nipped, the now unprotected squashes might sustain cold injury, so use best judgement, and cover or harvest if necessary. The squashes should always be harvested when a hard freeze (below freezing) is forecast.
Most winter squashes will begin to sweeten in storage, as starches are converted to sugars. This process starts as soon as the squashes are cut from the vine. Along with the sweetening, the squash may become more watery over time, and fibers in the flesh may become more pronounced. Seeds within the squash also continue to fatten up in storage, so if you are saving seeds, or intend to eat them, then do so 3-4 weeks after harvest.
Personally, I like winter squashes best in the first week or two after harvest, when they are firmer & their starch content is higher. Toward the end of winter, the squash may still technically be "edible", but I often find them to be unpalatable to my taste.
I myself don't really care about GM food. Much to do about nothing. As far as the crows, just shoot a couple put them on poles around your corn and I'm pretty sure the rest will stay away.
I have seen squirrels take one bit out of a peach and toss it to the ground. Then do the same to about 50 peaches. I have no sympathy for pests. I saw two raccoons fighting. One was a mother. She lost, the other bit her baby on the back of the neck. I tried to help, but it's neck was broken, it died. Seems we may have ethics, but animals do not. Often lions kill other types of cats in their territory like Cheetahs as they compete for the same food, so the lions just murder the cougars and cheetahs and leave the carcass to rot. The cruelty, violence, and viciousness of the animal kingdom makes us look tame.
Deer often kill young trees like crazy, very sad, no concern at all for the tree. Most animals are extremely selfish creatures, and I have no love for such things. Hard for me to feel sorry for them in anyway. They have no concern about anything but themselves. Now if we could share the food, no such luck.
"Understand your concerns on the GMs. But you can't avoid them completely."
No, it is impossible to avoid them completely, because GM ingredients - due to heavy lobbying - are not labeled. I can, and do, avoid them when given a choice. If others choose not to, that is their prerogative... but we all should have the right to make an informed choice.
"...Corn oil... Soybean oil..."
I use canola... which is also nearly all processed from GM plants. Personally, I am not as concerned with refined products, as when the whole plant or whole seed is consumed... a chemically pure substance is the same, regardless of the source. Others are not as accepting of GM, even in refined products, and I respect their right to choose based upon their own convictions.
"And all the food item you eat at restaurant, you buy at stores, the crackers, soup, more and more.
The meat you eat." (emphasis mine)
That statement really is an over-generalization, and gives a false overview of our food supply. There is (presently) no GM wheat, so most crackers and breads have no GM ingredients. The same can be said for most soup, I am more concerned about the container (and what it is lined with) than I am about the ingredients. GM meat is not common in our food supply - yet. So to say that "all of our food" is GM, is to exaggerate the prevalence of GM in our food supply.
"Everything is a compromise.
With respect to life in general, that is true... but it really does not apply in this case. There is a difference between compromise (where all parties agree to give a little) and submission, where one party is forced against their will to accept the decision of another. Consumers were not represented at the table when GM was approved for consumption, or when informative labeling was struck down. If there was a bin labeled "GM corn", and one next to it labeled "non-GM", which one do you think would be empty first? We should have a right, as a society, to answer that question.
Hudson, my kids always do the "yajust" clickety clickety! I do need someone to come show me step by step, write it down do it 5x from the checklist, THEN and only then will it sit in my brain pan!
I think I'll start heading to the 1 hour classes every Monday at Best Buy!
I went to a ukulele festival today and one of the workshops was using the I-pad to collect, save and make folders of your music. About half of us old farts were getting wind burn from the info flying over our heads! (And I'm one of the younger ones at 58!) Nancy
It's natural latex. It probably just needs a little abrasive. Salt. Lava soap. Kitchen cleanser. Even dampened cornmeal. Or really smudge flour into it real hard. The flour will take bind with the latex, then you should be able to wash it all off.
Calabaza means pumpkins in spanish. That name has been attributed to many varieties. A picture would be helpful in identifying. That being said the pumpkins I have seen at hispanic markets are typically some variety of Cucubita moschata. Which collectively are my favorite varieties for eating. Most pumpkin puree is made out of C. moschata pumpkins as well, not the typical orange pumpkins that people use to make jack-o-lanterns.
Below is an image of 'La Estrella' ('star' in spanish) this could be similar to what you have seen in your market.
Unfortunately "Casco" (helmet in English) most likely is not a variety name but a made-up label to indicate either the shape or the grower (Casco Farms in WI is one of the biggest nationwide pumpkin grower/suppliers).
So the only way to know what it truly is would be to compare it to pics of the many different pumpkin varieties in the family C. Moschata.
Assuming it was grown where it didn't get cross-pollinated by other members of the family then the seeds should breed true but cross-poll. is quite common so they may not.
Dave
I just harvested most of my purple sweet potatoes a week ago and I am doing the same but with some vine cuttings. It seemed such a shame to throw out all those beautiful healthy vines. I heard you can eat the leaves so I tried that too, it was ok, but I am not much of a greens person anyway. I am going to keep a few vines going indoors to put out early next year. Sweet potatoes are so easy and pest free I am sure I won't have much issue.
Maryland's weather is too cold to start sweet potato slips in March.
We start rooting slips by end of May which will be ready by second week of June giving a shorter season to grow for taters before first warning of frost.
By saving few vines indoor during winter we can have slips in time for planting.
Yeah it's his personal thing. Not all wood rots when it gets wet. Redwood, cedar, cypress to name just a few come to mind.
Personally I would much rather have wood in contact with my food crops than many of the composite materials with their additives leaching into the soil.
But many have posted pics here of very attractive raised beds made from cement blocks. I'd consider those before going with any of the other composites.
If all else fails, nothing says raised beds have to be framed in with anything. Very attractive and neat raised beds can be built just by creating slightly elevated soil mounds with a slightly trenched edge or using landscaping edging..
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Raised beds pics
Since you don't want the beds very high, I'd look at some of the kits that use hollow plastic boards. They are lightweight and affordable, and people love them.
Twenty years ago I made some beds with decking planks, and one of them is still with me (others left behind in a move). The planks weather a bit, but they do not rot. You can get corner connectors at Home Depot, etc.