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Shifty Pony posted:Yeah but Florida tomatoes are absolutely awful reddish foam balls. It seems like whether you pick it when it's just starting to turn pink or after it's a soft bright red, tomatoes have almost the same fresh taste. Just set any that aren't ripe enough inside where it's moderately cool, they get indirect sunlight, and don't have airvents blowing right on top of them, and they'll taste just as good once they finish ripening on your countertop. Especially heirloom varieties. Lots of those turn fully ripe while still green. I'm convinced that the supermarket veggies don't taste as good because they're specific varieties that are grown to have harder/tougher skins for easier mass harvesting (plus picking before they even start to show any pink). I have been making so much salsa and pasta sauce lately, and there are still tomatoes going bad on the vine 
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Jul 3, 2013 15:32
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has to be eaten for dinner or it will go bad on the vine
is going to be fresher than one that could hang out for a day after picking, ride in the truck to the farmer's market or stand, and spend a day or two on the counter (because if it doesn't the customer will complain next time they see you at the market).
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zeroprime posted:I'm convinced that the supermarket veggies don't taste as good because they're specific varieties that are grown to have harder/tougher skins for easier mass harvesting (plus picking before they even start to show any pink). That's exactly it. "Bulletproof" varieties that can withstand often uncontrolled temperature transport, mechanical picking/handling, that are as uniform of a shape/size as possible (also to aid mechanical handling), and that look appealing after all of that. Taste is a distant criteria on the list. You simply can't buy some of the things that are fantastic to grow in your own graden, even if you have good farms stands nearby.
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Jul 3, 2013 20:51
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This is pretty scrub-level as I just got my first plant that wasn't already in the apartment. It's one of those potted chilies things, I don't have the exact name unfortunately. Since I'm pretty clueless, I need some help diagnosing some damage I already managed to cause:  It's now summer here so I put it out in the corner of the balcony, where there isn't much direct sunlight and little wind. Withing less than a week, these kinds of spots appeared on it, the largest ones a bit bigger than this one and sometimes with a hole in the center. I then put it inside and that seemed to prevent more holes from developing but it's not getting much better either, as far as I can tell. Some of the peppers feel a bit... flaccid, I guess? I water it daily and fertilized it twice in the last two weeks, but I'm just not sure if I should be doing something else or it will just take a while for it to recover. Thanks!
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Jul 3, 2013 21:06
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Alterian posted:It might keep the hawks out but it won't keep out the raccoon, weasels, cats, etc. Also if you're in an area that allows roosters, they'll keep watch for aerial predators quite well.
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Jul 3, 2013 21:15
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mobby_6kl posted:This is pretty scrub-level as I just got my first plant that wasn't already in the apartment. It's one of those potted chilies things, I don't have the exact name unfortunately. Since I'm pretty clueless, I need some help diagnosing some damage I already managed to cause: Well, two things. The holes/spots are pest damage. They are not getting better and the entire plant is stressed because you are watering it every day. Just back off. If it's still moist an inch below the soil line don't water it. Roots need to dry out and "harden up" between waterings to prevent rot and fungus. If it's in potting soil (has little white styrofoam looking balls in it) this will probably takes 3 or more days. Yes, you can love your plants to death! Also, back off the fertilizer. I don't know what or how much you used, but it's probably excessive unless you've very slightly dosed it each time. Motronic fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 21:24
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Fozzy The Bear posted:I am pretty horrible with spreadsheets, so if you could post one, that would be super awesome! If you have PMs hit me up in a week if I haven't done it yet because I might forget. Or just post here again.
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Jul 4, 2013 03:50
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Whelp, because of being inspired here, I DID thin my carrots and was pleasantly surprised. I pulled about 6 and only two were stumpy/weird looking, with the others being perfect, ~4in baby carrots. (I had the passing thought that if there were a few more, they would be exactly like the super overpriced bundle of organic baby carrots with tops that gets sold for $4.) I think they tasted good--at least Mr. Dinosaur to my left and his little brother deemed them to be delicious and after they were gone pestered me for "just one more garden carrot". Patience guys. My apple trees each have several definite inches of clean, rust free growth on all their branches, so I am relieved that the granules I'm using are working. Hopefully next year, I can give a few treatments in the early spring and back off the fungicide for the rest of the growing season--at least, I want to try and see what the minimum chemical intervention is to keep the disease in check. I don't use chemicals unless I have to, and then I want to use them as minimally as I can (while still being effective.) The potatoes are also overcoming their blight and the plants have renewed their growth with vigor and each have several inches of nice, clean purple-green leaves.  Fortunately, despite being literally 2 feet from the potatoes, the tomatoes have not gotten blight, knock on wood. They are just starting to blush, so we are about to be in tomatoes in a big way. The "blueberry blend" plants I randomly found and bought on a whim are not disappointing. The tomatoes are starting to blush an intense navy/purple color that is really striking--really surprised the hell out of me! Hopefully the taste matches the novel color and doesn't disappoint. I have Black Krim's the size of baseballs with no signs of blushing yet, so that's already bigger than I was expecting out of them.In a few weeks, with luck, I can have a picture of my rainbow of tomatoes!
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Jul 4, 2013 15:54
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Please help save my tomato plants! This happened last year to one of my plants but this year it just started absolutely destroying them. I have tried many things including pinching them off at the stem and fungicide - nothing seems to work. A leaf will go yellow with spots, then the entire branch, then the entire plant. I have no idea what to do, or what this crap is. I'm debating just pulling out all my plants and replanting new ones before it's too late.
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Jul 4, 2013 17:26
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MarshallX posted:Please help save my tomato plants! I just tore out half of mine.
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Jul 4, 2013 17:36
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Errant Gin Monks posted:I just tore out half of mine. I have a feeling it's Septoria - I'm in Ontario and it's been rainy, hot and humid for like 3 weeks now...damnit. I just pulled off every infected stem I could, pulled off any stem under 6" and sprayed like a maniac with Fungicide. If that doesn't work...it's pulling time.
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Jul 4, 2013 18:06
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MarshallX posted:I have a feeling it's Septoria I think you're right. Here's the Cornell ag extension fact sheet on it: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Tomato_Septoria.htm I had it two years ago and had decent results with mancozeb. It was a particularly wet year which really didn't help anything at all. MarshallX posted:This happened last year to one of my plants but this year it just started absolutely destroying them. Please pay attention to the parts of the fact sheet about getting rid of this. You need to clean those plants up carefully - last year's may have infected this years depending on how you cleaned up in the fall.
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Jul 4, 2013 18:22
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MarshallX posted:Please help save my tomato plants! My first instinct was Early Blight, since that is exactly what my potatoes look like (and this has hit my tomatoes in years past.) http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/wivegdis/images/vdu%20tomato%20sept%20eb.jpg I've been treating with Daconil (chlorothalonil) spray on the leaves every other weekend and having good success--with potatoes anyway. (The affected leaves are falling off and the new growth is clean and healthy looking.) http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/chlorothalonil-ext.html Good luck--seeing a good backyard crop ruined by some bullshit fungus makes me sad. And PS, any affected leaves need to get put in lawn bags out for the curb and taken far, far away. Never compost diseased stuff. 
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Jul 4, 2013 19:55
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In addition to what's already been recommended, I'd also recommend cutting off stems that are close to the ground even if they are healthy and some stems that are bunched up with other stems. With all this rain, you want to cut down on the soil splashing up onto the leaves and give the leaves a chance to dry out quicker if they're all bunched up. Also, pull some of these weeds and grasses that retain moisture and touch your plant's leaves higher. Those weeds may also rot and keep the fungus around.
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Jul 5, 2013 14:50
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my sweet 100s and mammoth dills  detroit dark red beets  bell peppers, cascabella pepper, basil and chinese broccoli  yard shot showing the smart pots  cilantro  papaya seeds for fun 
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Jul 7, 2013 20:35
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ChaoticSeven posted:Om nom wow nice harvest
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Jul 7, 2013 20:40
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My peppers and tomatoes were growing fast and well until I transplanted them outside in to my new beds. Since then they haven't really grown at all. They've set some fruit and they're slowly doing things but they are clearly not thriving. The nighbor's tomatoes in the same area but in the ground have grown like four times as much. New growth seems to be quite limited and the leaves are not as dark green as I would expect. They are yellower. I don't think it's a water issue, I think the soil I got for the beds is not great. I haven't had it tested but it's pretty heavy soil. I think it's local soil which is clay-rich cut with manure or something that was not quite fully done. It sat over the winter before I planted in the spring. Anyone have any ideas?
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Jul 7, 2013 20:54
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cowofwar posted:Anyone have any ideas? If you think it might be a soil nutrient issue try watering with some fish oil emulsion mixed in. That stuff is like plant crack. You should see results inside of two weeks if you water consistently and properly. Of course, if you're not all organic and stuff you can try other things, but really.....this is an organic gardening non-compromise product other than the fact that is stinks pretty bad. The stuff I get says it's deodorized, so I don't want to know what the non-deodorized stuff smells like. The smell is gone the next day after watering, FYI.
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Jul 7, 2013 21:07
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I remembered I had some granular 3-4-7 fertilizer downstairs so I put on the recommended amount for the bed. I'm sure it's a nutrient acquisition issue, whether it's because the nutrients aren't there in the soil or because we've had so much rain in the past while and the beds aren't on well draining soil, I'm not sure. I haven't watered the beds for like two weeks we keep getting a lot of rain. Last year I grew all my peppers and tomatoes in planters and they did really well so I was surprised when they've done so poorly in beds.
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Jul 7, 2013 21:12
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cowofwar posted:I haven't watered the beds for like two weeks we keep getting a lot of rain. So it could be an overwatering problem....by no fault of your own. After a couple days of no rain stick your finger down an inch or so and see how wet it still it. If it's soaked you've got a drainage problem that you just might be able to "fix" by making a small roof/tent kinda thing out of wooden stakes and sheet plastic when it's gonna rain for a few days (mini greenhouse).
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Jul 7, 2013 21:15
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cowofwar posted:My peppers and tomatoes were growing fast and well until I transplanted them outside in to my new beds. Since then they haven't really grown at all. They've set some fruit and they're slowly doing things but they are clearly not thriving. The nighbor's tomatoes in the same area but in the ground have grown like four times as much. it's probably transplant shock. just wait it out until the roots reestablish themselves in their new beds. motronics fish emulsion idea definitely wont hurt either.
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Jul 8, 2013 01:21
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Has there ever been a seed exchange in this thread? Is anyone interested in a seed exchange this winter? I have two "blueberry blend" tomato plants that I got randomly at a local shop. They are not ripe yet, but have started blushing a truly amazing purple color. A very blue-toned purple. I hope the taste doesn't disappoint. (I will submit pictures later, I promise.) http://www.rareseeds.com/blue-berry-blend-tomato/ I paid 50 cents a plant, and they are huge now, and heavy producers. I was planning on saving seed, and given the relative newness/uniqueness of the variety, I am happy to share/exchange. (I'm also happy to share seeds from any of our other varieties.) I really like heirloom tomatoes (Big Boys have no home in my garden), and am always interested in new/interesting varieties!
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Jul 8, 2013 04:59
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Some people have mailed seeds off to each other (I got some nice veggies and flowers out of it), but nothing official or well organized. A google docs excel sheet that everyone can add their own stuff to might help facilitate a seed exchange later in the year. Thirding/fourthing the fish emulsion. That stuff stinks to high heaven, but it's really hard to burn your plants with it and provides a ton of available nitrogen. Everything greens up like crazy when you use that stuff.
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Jul 8, 2013 12:20
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My garden's doing pretty well, I went out this weekend and did some pruning on my tomatoes and tomatillos - I was a bit late to the party and one branch of my brandywine had already broken away from the main trunk halfway, so I performed an emergency amputation. I suppose next year I'll have to be even more diligent than I was this year, about nipping off the suckers daily..! My brandwine is enormous and my indigo is beginning to put on fruit, although I did a lot of pruning on the indigo - it's very dwarfed and bushy sompared to the brandywine, and there wasn't much airflow so I removed a lot of clumps from the center of the plant. My tomatillos are also doing amazing, they're beginning to put on fruit and I pruned them back a little however, I'm going to need to get some more support for them ASAP. My bush beans are HUGE compared to the ones I saw last year and had been anticipating size-wise, so I had to put some stakes in and tie them up so they weren't growing along the ground. My lemon cukes need fertilizer badly, I put in a trellis to train them up however, they're rather pale so I'm going to give them some fish emulsion or compost tea ASAP. The kale and brussel sprouts are looking fine although a tad pale, so they're going to get a feeding soon as well. The patty-pan squash is still sickly on the edges of some leaves however, it's putting on a good fight and responding by putting on 20"+ wide leaves, and tons of squash. I harvested a couple nice squash off this guy over the weekend. My fourth bed that had the ill-fated lettuce, now only has three late starts - a root-bound closeout golded tomato, an eggplant (I've never had luck with eggplants yet,) and another squash (yellow squash). I keep meanig to put some carrots in on the other half of that bed or something however, I don't expect those to be super ready to harvest until fall and winter, so it's not a huge priority and I may wait to give them a spot with better sun exposure over the winter.  The dirt here is torn up because this bed is overfilled, and I was moving some dirt around the other day to help deal with runoff from watering. The tomato at the back is especially puny but it was more of a sympathy purchase originally anyway, it was totally outgrowing its peat-pot and I figured it would be worth trying for 99 cents.  Another reason to deal with the basil soon - it's going to get overgrown by the squash and beans.   zeroprime posted:Some people have mailed seeds off to each other (I got some nice veggies and flowers out of it), but nothing official or well organized.
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Jul 8, 2013 18:00
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My backyard mostly container garden: The past 3 years I have only grown tomatoes in the ground, here they are again this year. I will be getting more tomato cages for next year. First planted.  Months later.  Just got 8 wine barrel halves, filled the bottom 3/4ths with mulch, and the top 1/4 with compost because I do not have enough compost to fill the whole containers. First planted wine barrel, cilantro, basil, and swiss chard.   Before I discovered wine barrels as planters I just used any random plastic pot, here is my ugly collection. I have tomatoes, strawberries, summer squash, thyme, taragon, beets, radishes, bell peppers. Many of these need larger containers, which I hope to solve next year by planting them in the wine barrels.   My huge problem My backyard is infested with extremely invasive grass. I just want to get rid of it all and can't think of any cheap solution that doesn't involve me slowly and back-breakingly digging my entire hard clay soil up. I think I might just solarize it. Any suggestions?   
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Jul 9, 2013 20:01
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Fozzy The Bear posted:My huge problem This is a tough one because there isn't a perfect solution. Solarizing only works if your summers are long enough and hot enough. Here in Western Washington it doesn't work. Sheet mulching might work depending on what species of grass it is. I feel like all grass is extremely invasive but there are a few like quack grass that spread by rhizomes underground which are worse. In my experience sheet mulching with cardboard (overlapped a minimum of 6 inches) and covered with an inch or two of compost will kill regular grass but still allow dandelions, ferns and blackberries to push up through it. Going at least 3-4 inches should stop the dandelions. Doubling up on cardboard should also work better against the worst grass. However, if the grass is growing in from anywhere else then it will find it's way back into your sheet mulch and go nuts in the best soil it's ever seen. The other downside to sheet mulching is you need to locate a lot of cardboard and usually end up buying a lot compost or other organic matter to pile on. Then it's still plenty of work to spread out the cardboard and mulch. Your best option might be glyphosate (aka RoundUp). It will kill all the grasses and breakdown within a few days. You may still want to sheet mulch afterwards just to help improve the soil for next year.
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Jul 9, 2013 22:41
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Your best option might be glyphosate (aka RoundUp). It will kill all the grasses and breakdown within a few days. You may still want to sheet mulch afterwards just to help improve the soil for next year. I have fruit trees, how much of a radius should I give the tree when I put the glyphosate down? Any recommendation on which product to use? http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=glyphosate e: and how much should I buy for about 2500-3000 square feet?
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Jul 9, 2013 23:31
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Fozzy The Bear posted:I have fruit trees, how much of a radius should I give the tree when I put the glyphosate down? I've never personally used it myself. For some reason I like to do things the hard way. If it was my yard I would be sheet mulching a snakker part of the yard every year until it was all gone to make it more manageable. For fruit trees you don't want to get any on young or damaged tree trunks and especially not on the leaves. It is a good idea to remove grass around the base of a fruit tree since it will compete for nutrients. I've been working on that lately in my rehab orchard with a pick mattock. You're going to have to look at some of the products to read their instructions and application rates to figure out how much is needed. However I would personally avoid any product from Monsanto just on principle.
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Jul 10, 2013 00:38
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Fozzy The Bear posted:I have fruit trees, how much of a radius should I give the tree when I put the glyphosate down? I've used the Roundup product here many times over the last 10 years. I have a 2000 sq ft garden that I have used it on when I wanted to expand, and also as general weed control around the house and driveway. This concentrate bottle will last you for years. It may be better to get a smaller one for your project, perhaps even pre-mixed instead of concentrate. If you go too light on the application, you can always do it again. You'll be able to tell where you missed within a day or two. As far as your fruit trees, Roundup will generally kill (almost) anything it gets on in sufficient quantity. I've sprayed right up to tree trunks to control weeds, including trees as small as recently planted bare roots and as large as 80 feet tall. The important thing to remember is just to use it in moderation within a few feet of the smaller trees and for God's sake, don't get it on the leaves. With all this being said, it IS a man-made chemical and something to be careful with. Many people have steered away from using it the last few years for this reason (among others). Whatever you decide to do, READ THE LABEL FIRST.
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Jul 10, 2013 01:02
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I'm wrestling with the roundup thing myself. I rescued my garden in coastal BC from blackberries when we moved in two years ago, and the drat things keep popping up. My husband has been injecting the thicker stalks with roundup, but I still keep seeing new sprouts and pulling them where I can. There's a big thicket on the neighbouring property that keeps menacing my strawberries, peas and spinach. The neighbour is a renter and doesn't give a gently caress whether the blackberries live or die except that he can't be arsed doing anything about them himself. My concern is that the thicket faces onto a back alley that is used frequently by a nearby apartment block to get to the convenience store, and I'm worried that the blackberries might fruit after injection, and that kids might eat them. I've decided we are not buying another bottle, because I don't want to give Monsanto my money if we can help it, but we still have most of this one and the blackberries are a massive pain in the arse. If I cut them back enough times will they give up? (Wishful thinking probably).
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Jul 10, 2013 01:12
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Shithouse Dave posted:
In my experience, no. You will likely have to dig them out.
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Jul 10, 2013 01:21
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Quack grass is evil and resists even roundup. Roundup will kill what's on the surface but the quack grass always comes back from the deeper rhizomes within a couple months. I've sheet mulched with double layers of cardboard covered in ~4 inches of grass clippings and the quack grass is the only thing that will survive it. What I've started doing now is kill off everything else in the area, and when only the quack grass is left I go in and tediously dig up all the rhizomes by hand. Luckily once everything else had died during the sheet mulching process it becomes really easy to find and pull the rhizomes. Even still this only lasts for a couple years at most before it comes back due to the birds making GBS threads the seeds everywhere. 
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Jul 10, 2013 01:36
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Fozzy The Bear posted:Before I discovered wine barrels as planters I just used any random plastic pot, here is my ugly collection. I have tomatoes, strawberries, summer squash, thyme, taragon, beets, radishes, bell peppers. Many of these need larger containers, which I hope to solve next year by planting them in the wine barrels. You should check out smart pots if you run out of wine barrels. I've had great success with mine.
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Jul 10, 2013 01:43
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Over the long weekend I was out of town and something demolished my eggplants and carrots.  Maybe rabbits? Any thoughts on what I can do about it? I'd like to avoid putting up a fence if I can, so should I just start peeing on it, leaving human hair etc. around? Anything I could buy that would help? On the positive side, came back to lots of green tomatoes, and one Sun Gold cherry that ripened up and fell off the plant, was just sitting prettily in the soil.  
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Jul 10, 2013 03:08
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What pests eat Onions? I've lost almost everything I've planted to what I assume to be slugs (beans, lettuce, caliuflowers, beets), but I'm also losing onions which are just starting to develop a bulb in the soil, which doesn't seem like a slug thing. Is it mice? Or are slugs and snails just that dedicated to destroying everything I plant?
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Jul 10, 2013 12:10
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Fatkraken posted:What pests eat Onions? How shady and cool is the space around your garden? Do you have grass and weeds growing near your plants or beds? Clearing out their daytime hiding spots is pretty effective at dissuading slugs, especially combined with traps or copper flashing.
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Jul 10, 2013 15:08
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coyo7e posted:How shady and cool is the space around your garden? Do you have grass and weeds growing near your plants or beds? Clearing out their daytime hiding spots is pretty effective at dissuading slugs, especially combined with traps or copper flashing. I believe that's the issue, yes, it's an allotment that I only got this year after at least a couple of seasons of total neglect, and over half the site is still waist high weeds. I was loathe to remove them this year because there are a ton of wildflowers in there and the bees are mad for them, but come the winter die off I'm gonna bite the bullet and just clear the whole thing, and mitigate the effect on the bees by saving some wildflower seed and planting a few dedicated (but controlled) wildflower beds. Also gonna try and get the paths, hedges and edges at least a bit under control.
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Jul 10, 2013 15:12
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On a whim I threw some corn kernels I got form a bulk store into a ziplock bag wrapped in some moist kitchen paper. Yadda yadda yadda, checked today and they're fully sprouted. Are these viable? That is to say, if they sprouted are they likely to produce corn?
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Jul 10, 2013 20:37
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Martytoof posted:On a whim I threw some corn kernels I got form a bulk store into a ziplock bag wrapped in some moist kitchen paper. Yadda yadda yadda, checked today and they're fully sprouted. Are these viable? That is to say, if they sprouted are they likely to produce corn? Well, they'll probably grow into a plant that looks like corn. Whether they will produce anything resembling the seeds is the question. It's entirely possible they are F1 hybrids, so you would be growing an F2 hybrid which is typically not as consistant in the traits that have been selectively bred. I'm pretty sure that most corn grown in the US is still an F1 hybrid. I know it used to be virtually all of it. But don't let that stop you from planting them. You'll probably get something out of it.
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Jul 10, 2013 22:08
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I have no idea what most of that means, but they're safe in the ground right now and hopefully they'll at least look interesting a month form now Meanwhile, my zucchini have exploded all over the place and I'm going to have at least a dozen, which isn't terrible for my first planting ever. And the corn that I broke in half? Those bad boys just picked right back up and started growing once they were in the ground. Seem to be a little slower growing than my non-traumatized corn, but hey -- at least I didn't completely massacre them 
some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Jul 10, 2013 |
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Jul 10, 2013 22:26
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| # ? May 28, 2024 21:18 |
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I am actually hoping for freebie squash from others' overload this year on top of what I produce, I am planning on doing a bunch of zucchini relish.
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Jul 10, 2013 23:10
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