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tehlump posted:TM-Now I'm panicking, I thought I read that pumpkins are planted mid-late summer for Halloween picking! I'm going to have to check the seed pack again. I promised Mason we'd plant pumpkins for halloween. Thanks for the compliments, I really have no idea what I'm doing, as proof I planted the green beans and cucumbers too close together, now I can't fit in between to harvest all the green beans! When is your first frost? I've think that you want them ready before first frost because you can store them somewhere dry for a few months, but frost makes them rot quicker. I think this is only a problem in northern zones, which judging by your progress you certainly are not. Depending on how far south you are now-early July should be fine. Think a week for the seed to germinate, a month to start vining and flowering, and 100 days for fruit to mature.
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Jun 3, 2009 15:43
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The uglier the vegetable the better it is, I am convinced. That's why those grocery store tomatoes taste like cardboard, because they are too even and round. That ugly squash will be a sophisticated soiree in your mouth. Highly scientific stuff. My slicers have set fruit. I was expecting a few blossom drops from my very late season varieties, but we haven't had a spring at all, winter went straight to summer. My lettuce is bolting, but oh well when there are tomatoes. 
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Jun 5, 2009 05:23
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If I haven't already convinced anyone that I am a total spaz yet--today I convinced myself that my tomatoes had early blight. I went about removing any 'affected' leaves, sterilized all my equipment, and was about to go out and get spray when I looked at the leaves again and remembered we had a hail storm. Ugh I need someone to slap me sometimes. Here, have a mutant tomato blossom:  I can't wait to see what horrible abomination this grows if it sets.
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Jun 11, 2009 05:54
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ChaoticSeven posted:Well, poo poo just got real in the garden. There are several squash and zucchini plants producing now, and probably that many again that will start to kick in soon. All the squash and zuch in the picture is from the course of 4 days. Yes, really. Going to need some squash and zucchini recipes it seems. Half the lettuce was ready today so I cut it's heads off. Thats 6 heads of cabbage you see, the one on top is a loving monstrosity of cole genetics. You can't tell well from the picture, but it's approaching 3/4's of a basketball size. Beautiful! A good way to get rid of a lot of zucchini is to slice it thin and use it like you would lasagna noodles. I don't know if that appeals to people who aren't on a diet and eat pasta, but it uses up like 6 zucchini for a small pan and is quite satisfying. We all warned you about them, one plant gives me more than I can use, and I use a lot. Re: Recycling plastic pots--something to watch out for when resusing thin nursery pots is if you live somewhere that gets hot the roots can get too hot in them. Wrapping them in white trash bags or strips of that refective insulation or even those space blankets is supposed to work really well.
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Jun 14, 2009 00:56
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Ladybugs will hang around longer if you give them flowers they like. I have a bit of a pickle. My cherry tomatoes are at the top of my 6 ft supports. I am kind of...surprised. I know it could be because of too much fertilizer or not enough sun, but my slicers are in identical conditions and a lot stouter, and all have lots of production and fruit set, so it must just be the variety. I am training to a single stem and staking, with my stakes set up in teepees for stability. My options are: A. Secure them going downwards on the opposite stake--it is a great enough angle that I can do this without breaking the stem. B. Top them off and let one of the lateral branches grow out and secure it upwards on the same stake, when that reaches the top repeat until I am ready to top for the season. Not sure what is better. B seems like it would work better, but there would be a gap in production while waiting for a lateral branch to develop. The pro would be that the stem would be closer to the roots (that's how it works, right?) Any ideas?
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Jun 15, 2009 15:37
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enki42 posted:I have a question on some zucchini plants I'm growing. All my plants are on a 14th floor balcony, and I don't have a whole ton of flowering stuff, so I'm not really counting on bees to drag their rear end up there to pollinate my flowers. I'm going the self-pollinating route, but so far I have a TON of male flowers starting to bloom but not a single flower. There's one that MIGHT be but it's just starting out. It's normal. The plant produces lots of males first so when the females come there is a greater chance that pollen will be available, they will just drop off--or if there are no females to attend to or if you have already pollinated stuff and fry 'em.
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Jun 15, 2009 17:05
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dwoloz posted:My cherry tomatoes went APE the last 3 days. Forced me to do some reading on pruning tomatoes and boy was I uneducated on the subject. Just making sure, you are aware that tomatoes don't 'climb' of their own accord? They will need to be somehow tied/attached to the wall. Tomatoes 'naturally' sprawl on the ground once fruit weighs the stems down, they don't have any mechanism to attach themselves upwards.
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Jun 19, 2009 15:59
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dwoloz posted:Haha yes, I am diligently tying it up as it grows Haha I didn't mean to sound so condescending about it--I had just explained it to like three of my friends--'why are your tomatoes so tall?'.
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Jun 19, 2009 23:51
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FuzzyDunlop posted:No more heirlooms?? I am weeping forever. I wouldn't event plant resistant varieties--resistant is not disease proof. AFAIK it mostly it means that the plant will likely survive longer with the disease, giving time for control. If you know for a fact that your soil harbors wilt diseases I wouldn't plant anything from that family there. With limited space, I'd say go the container route. Don't give up on heirlooms, just don't grow them in the ground.
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Jun 22, 2009 21:10
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Question: Will an immature hot pepper faux ripen in a bag with an apple? I accidentally knocked 2 full grown Hungarian Wax off. Tried one, turns out these are no good at all green... My cucumbers seem to just appear. I check out my plants every morning, and I will see nothing, and then *poof* a full grown cucumber is there.
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Jun 23, 2009 13:45
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FuzzyDunlop posted:I did have good success with heirlooms in large rubbermaid containers last year; the problem was they got so big they eventually fell over when the wind was strong! Just the plants or the whole container? You could put them against a fence or the house as a windbreak, or maybe even some heavy stones or bricks in the bottom. I think it is worth it for tomatoes, but I am a tomato crazy. ChaoticSeven: I wouldn't care if that bug eats every bad bug in the universe, I would run around screaming and spraying pesticide like a spazz. Why do you have to have a good camera, that bug is making my skin crawl. Gardening might be the wrong hobby for me.
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Jun 25, 2009 00:33
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So I finally got around to installing a soaker hose today, but I'm not sure if my half-assing will be ok. First of all, I did install a backflow preventer, but I couldn't get the hose off the faucet so I put it at the end of the hose (the regular hose that stretches to the garden, that I attach the soaker to). Secondly, I didn't buy a pressure regulator, instead I have one of those turn off things and I turned it just until the dripping reached all the way to the end. Um, will that do?
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Jun 30, 2009 18:35
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Ominous Balls posted:It's too bad we can't average this whole weather thing out. It was 114 here in Folsom on Monday. With those temperatures it is probably uneven water, drying out and getting wet again--and Romas are really susceptible to BER. Have you mulched?
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Jul 2, 2009 02:09
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Spigs posted:So I made my first attempt at planting Serrano chilies last weekend. Tried seeds in one of those prefab seedling greenhouses with a light overhead. All the other herbs I planted, couple types of basil and catnip, spouted right away no problem, however nothing from any of the chili seeds. Am I just being impatient and they take a little longer to sprout or should I try again/do something different? Peppers can be slow to germinate as well as slow to develop. A heat mat or a plain old heat blanket on low with something wrapped to keep it from getting too hot speeds things up a lot. Do you live in an frost-free area? In most of the US it will be far too late to start pepper seeds for outdoors, although they can be finished indoors if kept in a pot and have adequate light. Unless you are way down south, then ignore me.
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Jul 9, 2009 22:57
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kid sinister posted:
So...what am I supposed to do with a peach tree? I just realized I have one (I thought it was just a 'generic spring flowering tree' until it started fruiting) and have no idea how to care for it. It looks sickly--several branches have no leaves, and the leaves have sucking damage. I keep catching squirrels with green peaches in their little jaws, so right now its only job is distracting them from my tomatoes. It is out front and COMPLETELY surrounded by weeds. The soil is covered in rocks. Can I glyphosphate the weeds or will it get down into the roots? I wouldn't mind having a few peaches, not enough to go squirrel shooting, but enough to buy some fertilizer and new parts for the soaker hose that the previous residents hooked up around it. How often does it need watered? It is next to the house and doesn't get as much rain because there is a small overhang. I know absolutely nothing about fruit trees!
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Jul 14, 2009 04:28
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kid sinister posted:Are you sure that it is a fruiting tree and not just an ornamental? How big is it? It's big--taller than the house, but the house isn't that tall (split level). Wow, that was descriptive--my camera is kuputz for the moment, which would be very helpful. I wasn't sure what it was so I took an immature fruit off and cut it open--looks and smells like a peach, just not ripe. plasticbugs: Next time, you can turn another cage over the top and secure with those plastic ties that you pull to shut, and put 3-4 stakes down to help keep it erect. then you also have more places to tie in heavy branches. I don't know why they even sell those stupid 3 ft. cages, they are only really suitable for determinates. I have several trusses with crimps in them, I try to tie them up for support but a few just hang and are developing just fine. If you want to let them crawl on the ground you can put some clean straw down to try and avoid rotting.
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Jul 14, 2009 19:06
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frumpus posted:Tie them to stakes as they grow. It works a lot better than cages. Unless you don't want to prune.
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Jul 16, 2009 23:06
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https://www.tomatogrowers.com has a good reputation for tomatoes. https://www.localharverst.org is a site to find suppliers locally. Less selection in general, but I was really pleased with the service--the place I bought from was able to tell me how the varieties they sold had performed in the area, which I imagine is even more useful in areas with problem weather.
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Jul 22, 2009 03:43
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MarshallX posted:Does anyone have any advice when to harvest peppers? Someone responded to that, not sure if you saw--many peppers turn blackish/purplish before they turn red, probably just that. Did you let those go to see? Alternatively, it could be sun scald, they will taste just fine. For anything I pick green (for me, Jalepenos--some like them red but I don't, Anaheims, and Poblanos) I wait until they have stopped getting bigger and squeeze them a bit--if they are really rock hard I let them be a bit longer. Also, they feel kind of looser from the stem than when they are immature. Some Jalepenos show corking (crack lines) when ready, some don't. If it came with a marker and you still have it you can look up the cultivar to see if it does or not. Bells are the easiest, if you want them green pick when they stop getting bigger, if you want them red/yellow/orange wait. 'Chili' is a pretty generic term so no advice there, depends on what 'Chili' it is.
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Aug 8, 2009 03:54
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