WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 41. OCTOBER 12, 2012

Free Republic | October 12, 2012 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

[greeneyes]

Greetings from Missouri. Sorry to be so late - lost track of time - cleaning kitchen and listening to 2016. It is on Dish Network pay for view.

Any way we have had cool temps here this week. Everything is either under plastic tents or row covers. Still harvesting lettuce, and eating tomatoes as they ripen indoors or under row cover.

Ordered and received some heirloom seeds from Baker Creek - have to support Missouri companies when I can. LOL.

Hope every one is doing well. Have a great weekend. God Bless.

[greeneyes]

Pinging the list.

[Just mythoughts]

Thank you for the ping. It is cloudy and ‘chilly’ here today, mainly because of the wind. I am making applesauce to can. We still need rain, the ground is hard as cement making it near impossible to dig the sweet potatoes. I pulled off the vines before our first freeze and piled them over the potatoes as protection. We may get some rain overnight and tomorrow... time will tell.

[illiac]

North Idaho - been freezing for several nights now.

Got the tomatoes, beets, fennel, etc. in.

Canned tomatoes and beets.

Our first rain in about 50 days is due in tonight.

Can snow be far behind?

[Elvina]

I have three heirloom tomato plants in pots on the deck here in Michigan. I covered them with sheets one night when there was a frost warning. They all have a bunch flowers on them and are just beginning to make fruit. My 6-year-old son planted them from seed, so I really would like to protect them long enough to make fruit. Do you think it will work to start bringing them in at night when it starts freezing? Should I already be bringing them in at night? Do you think they will get enough sun to make fruit? I have brought in green tomatoes before, but I have never tried to make a flowering tomato keep making fruit past the frost. If anyone has any experience with this, I would appreciate some advice.

[wideminded]

I posted this picture last week of an unusual type of small green squash:

All the other fruits on the same plant and surrounding squash plants looked like on of these:

Over the weekend I saw a very similar fruit to the small green one above, growing in someone else's garden, also on a squash plant where other fruits were yellow. I originally thought that this might be a squash-cucumber cross, but the other gardener did not seem to have any cucumber plants nearby.

Since it was so easy to find another example, I'm thinking that this might be a well known squash phenomenon.

[greeneyes]

You are welcome. Can you leave potatoes in the ground for winter storage, like carrots, or do they have to be harvested?

[greeneyes]

Have you had snow yet? If not, I would be suprised.

[greeneyes]

Yes, I think you can. I can not remember the exact temperatures, but I think it is somewhere in the 40’s that tomatoes will not really produce.

I would say that you should bring in your tomatoes day or night if temps are less than 50 degrees. One year I brought in tomatoes that had flowers as well as fruit. I flipped the flowers with my finger several times a day, and some of the flowers set fruit.

I put them in front of a south west patio door, which warmed up quite a lot on sunny days, and was probably around 70-75 degrees at night. As soon as a tomato had a little blush, I would pick it, wash it with warm water, let it dry, and wrap in newspaper or a paper towel to let it ripen on a kitchen shelf.

I also used a high intensity grow light to extend the daylight from dusk to around 8pm to simulate the length of summer days.

Good luck with your experiment. Hope it pays off - growth will be slower than outdoors.

[illiac]

No snow yet....not even on the mountains. With rain coming tonight, who knows what the mountains will see....

[miss marmelstein]

I have a tiny little baby fig tree and it’s supposed to go down to the 30s this evening. Should I cover it? The information I was given was that it could survive much lower temperatures...but it’s so young.

[greeneyes]

It is very interesting, but I have not a clue really - Where did you get the seed?

If you purchase a hybid tomato at the supermarket, and then plant the seeds from that tomato, you might get a tomatoes that could be like the parent plants used for the cross, I think.

I have no idea what happens to GMO tomato seeds in this type of scenario. Maybe some one who understands genetics could let us know what they think about the possibility.

[greeneyes]

I think the odds are in favor of snow.

[Elvina]

Thanks for your advice. We don’t get a lot of sun in the house, but maybe I could look into getting some grow lights. The tomato plants look so beautiful now! I hope I can keep them alive. My boys were really excited about the planting we did in the spring, but we didn’t get a big harvest on anything—just a few cucumbers here and there, a bunch of tomatoes, some peppers, a few other things. I haven’t checked the sweet potatoes yet, although they spread out a lot above ground.

It was a good start, as I have been discouraged in the past to try vegetables at all on this shady property. I gathered some good information about what will grow where, so next year I know things will go better.

[greeneyes]

Well, I don’t know the answer to that. RD might know though. I think I would be tempted to at least cover it with a row cover, if it is small enough, which should make it OK to 28 degrees, but I am very new to all this stuff.

[painter]

but I have never tried to make a flowering tomato keep making fruit past the frost. If anyone has any experience with this, I would appreciate some advice.

I did last year. I have a sliding glass door facing the south and I brought in a hybrinized tomato plant in it's double 5 gallon planter. I had fresh tomatoes all winter.

The plant didn't do as well as during the summer. I was told by a person who owns a nursery that the winter sun was not out long enough to get the full value.

I have a 4ft grow light to supplement for the lack of sun this winter.

[Just mythoughts]

You are welcome. Can you leave potatoes in the ground for winter storage, like carrots, or do they have to be harvested?

No. Sweet potatoes are a 'hot' weather crop all the way around. But they do need water. The lightest frost will kill the leaves. I was told it turns the plant bitter and can send that bitterness back to the sweet potato. So I always pull the vines at the slightest hint of even a light frost. Sweet potatoes bruise and sun burn easily so they have to be dug carefully and moved to the shade almost as quickly as dug.

I do not wash mine after I dig them, and lay them spread out flat until they dry out a bit. Then I can store them in room temp area, works out for me that place is in the laundry room where the furnace and hot water heater are. They need air movement but not direct light. After drying out I put the small ones in a large paper bag to save for next year's sweet potato slips. (sorry for the delayed answer I got interrupted.)

[bgill]

What should be the punishment for husbands who continue to mow through the garden? He’s done it for years. Cement curbs don’t slow him down. I walked out to water the side garden and saw he’d done AGAIN. Picked the mower up over the cement curb and mowed down the beets and sunflowers. His excuse was it looked like weeds. If it’s not a 40 foot tree, it’s a weed to him. He once mowed through lilac bushes I’d just planted.

Oh, and there’s been an invasion of some sort of hairy caterpillars. They’re everywhere.

[miss marmelstein]

Following a recent article on fig trees in the New York Times (I know, I know), I simply dropped a bucket over it and put a brick on top to hold it in place. It’s a little windy out there.

[Sarajevo]

MM - Yes, cover it, especially if it’s in a pot. The older, more hardened figs can handle the cold stress, but new ones cannot.