23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I could have sworn I commented on this a long time ago but apparently not. So here's a short, but long overdue update.

On April 3rd I began keeping the indoor started seedlings outside in a mini-greenhouse. I was bringing them back inside when the nighttime temp was forecast to be below 40*F.

The winter sown seeds that I planted on March 10th, sprouted on April 9th. These remained outside at all times. On April 20th, these nearly died because I accidentally left the cover on the container during a sunny day and forgot to water them but they eventually recovered.

I planted both the indoor started and winter sown plants on May 9th. The winter sown plants were about half as big as those started indoors. Both sets of plants should have been sufficiently vernalized.

The artichokes were growing well but they stalled out about a month ago. I've given them fertilizer but they're still the same size. The two winter sown cardoons I've got planted in the same bed are growing larger and the two rows of beets I planted down the middle of the bed in early June are growing well and nearing harvest. So at least I'll get something from that bed this year.

To be honest, I'm tempted to rip the artichokes out and replant something for Fall. But I also want to see if I can overwinter them successfully. So I'm not sure what to do. One thing I do know for certain is that this is the first and only time I'm planting artichokes. Major waste of space in a small garden like mine.

Rodney

P.S. Congrats to those of you who were successful!

My artichokes did not survive the winter in Northern VA, so I am going to try again this next spring. I intend to start my seeds in mid January in my basement, under lights, no heat pad. Anyone have advice?

When I sold luffa that I grew to a health food store I charged $2 and they sold them for $3.50. This was probably 15 years ago.
Cleaning the outer shell was my biggest task. I only grew them that one year or i'm sure I would have had to find an easier way to do it.

Thanks everyone for the info! I ate some about a month ago. They were very hard to peel and not very flavorful. From what I read you can scratch the skin off after it dries up. No shaking or beating for me. I also read you can put them in water and the skin will explode off. Maybe it had to be hot water? Mine are still green on the vine. I don't plan to bleach them. I'm trying not to make a major Walt Disney production out of this little project. I only have 4 or 5 gourds to sell.

Strawberry patches are good producers for a set period of time (from my experience 3-5 years) and then need to be renewed in some manner. One method is to keep your allium row free of strawberries buy removing invaders and plant your alliums in the same row each year, adding compost and manure as needed. After 3-5 years move the strawberry plants to the allium rows and the alliums to the strawberry rows.

Floral instead of scientific data to indicate "how" the allium/strawberry relation ship works, there is a mountain of experience based information that supports the improved production resulting from the relationship.

I just thought of it as an experiment - in my case, I have only 4 strawberry plants-not enough to plant a bed. They are everbearing, not producing many runners (I have only 2 runners from one variety).
Garlic bed is ready and wide/long enough to 'tuck-in' few other plants. I would plant strawberries along the edge, far enough not to interfere with garlic.
And final thought - maybe, just maybe the 'smell' of garlic may deter some critters???
As Galina pointed out, I vaguely remember my grandma doing something similar...
Rina

I have never done it but I am thinking reusing this water would not be any different than using the "compost tea" etc. Try it one time in small amount and see what happens.

That makes sense, about the water collected being about as hazardous as compost tea. But do be very careful about overdosing on soil chemical additives.

Competition from roots of felled trees? A halfway decent plow or a beefy tiller will cure that fast. I can't understand how well turned soil can host any competing roots. In fact, it's well known that reforesting a recently logged area doesn't even require serious tilling.

First, Thank eveyone for the feedback! and I apologize for the delay in response. I have not totally figured out how to navigate this forum and for some reason do not get email updates on replies.

I will try to answer all of the questions but let me know if I miss one.

1) I am certain that these are all Oaks and are broad leaf oaks, appear to be white oaks but I verify when I get home today. I do have some Maple and Black Walnut but they are not close to the area in question.
2) The garden is facing south with the Trees directly behind to the North and the closest trees are about 6-8ft behind the garden. They are 40-50ft tall and about 30-50yrs old.
3)The area gets approx 6-9hrs of sunlight depending of side of the garden.
4) I have not gotten a soil test to this point but plan too very soon before I shread and compost the leaves this winter. The soil is primarily orange clayey silt with fine/medium course granuals throughout
5) This past year I added in 10cuft of compost/manure and 6cuft of peat moss to the 10x20 and didnt hit any roots from the trees down to 20inches of tilling.

My cats are ALL outdoor cats. They're "barn cats" that were feral kittens we took to the animal control, who fixed and vaccinated for free, then returned them to be our barn cats. They take care of the vermin and give my dog something to bark at! Nancy

I think this fits. If you want outdoor cats, then you'd better put up with your garden being a cat litter box. It is, after all, used as a litter box by all the other outdoor creatures there. Yes, Toxoplasmosis is often carried by feral cats, but it's also carried by the majority of farm animals, and lots of rodents and birds. How much squirrel poop do you have in your garden?

Cook your meat, and wash your hands and your veggies. Just because your cats aren't using your garden as a litter box doesn't mean that your garden is sterile.

Your questions are not unusual for first time gardeners.
During the winter months use the time for learning. The dea about covering your garden is an excellent idea.
Things to look into
1. What Zone are you in. This can be done on this site but verify it on the USDA site.
2. Once you know your zone you can determine what grows best in your area. An excellent sourse is the ''Farmer's Almanac'' There you can put in your zone and it will filter the results, Each result ie tomatoes will tell you when to plant, sowing vs transplanting, ph requirements etc,
3. one you have determined what you want to plant, you can also find instructional videos online. All are free,
4. any equipment you are thinking you may need the winter months are the time to buy them. The only suggestion I can give you on that is if you plan on buying a tillar make sure it has reverse, You will appreciate it later.
5. Go to your local feed store and ask them what grows well in the area. They will also have plenty of seeds, but do line 2 first.
6, when fighting pest you need to decide if you want to go organic or non organic. Assuming you want to go orgainic for example. There are a number of way to fight the critters attacking your squash, Wrapping the stem with old panty hose for instance will keep away the squash bores. 1 tablespoon of REGULAR Dawn soap ( notice the word Regular) mixed with 1 qt water in a spray bottle will kill the squash Beatles and the eggs they lay. Early detection is important. you have to spray the Beatles and the eggs. You dont want to transplant the Beatles to another location because they will come back. They make excellent fish bait by the way.
7. Have fun and don't get discouraged.

some great info already posted. I second Fedco Seeds as a great source. I also like Johnny's and Baker Creek. Keep your eyes and ears open for a group that is placing a group order to Fedco which offers group discounts. I went to a local lecture on gardening and joined their group order. One of my mistakes is trying to grow too many different things and not giving all of them enough attention so winter squash gets planted late and tomatoes don't get mulched. One of the things I enjoy about gardening is the fun of having an early crop. We like parsnips so they stay in the ground all winter until the ground thaws. Spinach can winter over here in NH so it starts growing very early (old leaves will die over winter but the plants aren't dead). There's garlic scapes in late June from hard neck garlic I plant in late October/early November.

Also check Craigslist for some local plant sellers. I get a great choice of locally grown veggie plants from a seller who lets people buy one each of different varieties so I can get 12 different tomato plants.

You might find a local gardening group on meetup dot com that holds plant and/or seed swaps.

I start some plants indoors so my husband made an indoor plant stand with fluorescent lights hanging on adjustable chains. I still make lots of mistakes. Go easy on yourself.

It's really nice to find some favorite vegetables you can't buy at the supermarket although maybe you can find at a local farmers market. Just bought an unusual squash at a VT farmers market and will order seed if we like the flavor.

50-60 days is to harvest, not to grow to full size. They grow pretty fast, not as fast as summer squash though. If they haven't grown at all in a week, something isn't right if you ask me.

I think the OP was asking about how long it too to ripen, which is how long to harvest. But that's a good point that they grow to full size well before that. I too am a little surprised that in a week they haven't seemed to grow at all, but in my experience it could take a week for the transition from fertilized ova to growing squash to be very conspicuous. I mean, it takes a couple of days for the flower to fall off.

I do keep a small piece of flesh attached. It acts as a moisture reservoir/wick for the shoot during the first day or two before roots develop, especially if you plant the slip into soil that is not quite warm enough (75+). As an intermediate step, I pot up my slips in 3" pots until the pot is colonized, and then I transplant out like I would any other vegetable transplant.

Before the spread of endemic SP diseases they were commonly planted in the spring in the same way as Irish potatoes, cut seed put directly in the ground. There is a fascinating photo in the LOC online collections taken just pre-war in coastal SC showing the people cutting the piles of tubers on the edge of the field and getting ready to plant them out.

I will second the pea suggestion, in my case edible podded peas. I plant twice a couple of weeks apart and end up eating them for about two months. Most of them I eat raw out of hand, but they are great steamed, sautéed, and in salads. I plant in a band about three inches wide with the individual seeds about an inch apart and get as many peas as we can eat in perhaps 10 feet of row space. You could plant along a north edge of a bed that also has something like tomatoes or peppers that need more space as they grow since peas are an early crop that are finishing up as the peppers and tomatoes start to get more size.

In general I find cherry sized indeterminate tomatoes are great use of space since they produce prolifically and use vertical space well.

I grow regular broccoli, but leave it after cutting the first head and continue to cut the smaller succeeding crops. I am still eating broccoli from the plants I planted in early summer. I agree that the plants aren't small, however.

I choose plants based on flavor and types of veggies we like, but space isn't currently an issue for me. I imagine that some of the root crops which tend to be shorter, such as carrots, onions, shallots, garlic or radishes, could be planted along the south edge of beds with larger plants as long as water and fertility is sufficient.

Like Sunnibel, I choose plants based on flavor and types of veggies we like, but space isn't currently an issue for me.

prairiemoon2, yes, I have a "big" garden) (LOL) Whole my property including house, lawn with 6 fruit trees, shed, huge compost pile and and some berry bushes is just 6000 sq feet). All together 700 sg feet for veggies. But not as a single lot, to make things more interesting, I have a hill at my property, steep one. And I have 4 planting levels all together on terraces.

Yacon doesn't sprout from the tubers but from the rhizomes at the base of the plant which are easily contained. Unlike sunchokes, they rarely (likely never) become invasive even here in the mild PNW.

Again, I highly recommend them as they're easy to grow, taste delicious and are rarely found at the store or markets.

I've just changed the layout of my garden, a section for tall plants and one section for short plants. This solved my problem. Thx all.

When I left for camp this summer my pole beans were tiny and not ripe at all, but when I came back they were over ripe. I decided to let them ripen all the way and pick then when they were all dried up and ripe, but I don't know how to cook them. Suggestions?

I'd say shell and cook before they dry out. Shelly beans are yummy. If they are already dry, shell them and cook like you would any dry bean.

The tomatoes and peppers are summer veges.
Try starting them about 6- 8 weeks before your last chance of frost. So probably Feb or Mar Nancy

I plan on growing all indoors, so it doesnt matter the time of the year. The tomatoes were a random grab, I had all ready been considering tossing them and reusing the pot. Im keeping my peppers though, thats what I want to be my main yield. I plan on letting them get a bit bigger, then taking and transplanting to bigger pots.

Im growing parsley and cilantro, they look similar to young celery in the pic. Now I know it was just crab grass I took it out, that frees up one more pot for something else. It is quite a fine specimen of crab grass lol.

Thanks again for answering my questions, I will come back here if I have anymore.

This post was edited by Sparksman on Sat, Oct 25, 14 at 4:37