Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 06/18/2010 4:59:42 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners.
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Weekly Gardening Thread
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Morning. We ate our first tomato, zuchinni and onions this week. I made a stack of them with local goat cheese and basil from the herb garden. Yum.
Tomatillos are about to riot. Peppers looking good.
But, my squashes keep dropping blossoms. They are still fairly young, but I got one zuke. Is something wrong?
Are they male or female blossoms?
Roasting hot today, though...will have to get some plants out of the sun, as it heads toward 90. :-(
May need to pollinate by hand...very easy.
Male. I see very few females at the moment.
Headed over in a bit to take a closer look.
For the first time ever, I planted lima beans this year. Some of them have developed splotchy yellow on the leaves. (I cut those leaves off & threw them in the garbage.) Anyone know what? Why? Will it ultimately kill my plants?
I just did the pruning this week, so I don’t know if the infection (if that’s what it is) will spread.
I have 16 quarts of Dill pickles put up. Lots of yellow squash - I froze those.
I am not sure about my potatoes - never tried them before - the plants are starting to wilt so I thought I’d try digging with a pitch fork. Any tips on potatoes?
What can I plant now for a late summer crop? East TN zone 6.
I am a newbie at this - but when I get frustrated with politics I go out an garden. At least I can produce food for myself and family. Goats and chickens next!
2 weeks ago you guys assisted me in impregnating my Giant Pumpkin. For some reason, it just did not want to get pregnant. Anyway, I followed your instruction and bascially helped the plant have sex with itself (yes, I felt dirty afterwards) and am happy to report that I am now the expectant father of a baby Giant Pumpkin!
In ten days it has grown to the size of my fist, and I'm already planning to build a little hammock so as to keep it off the wet ground.
So yeah, thank you all for your help. I'd be barren without you!
But I have another question: The vine itself is now very long; about 20 feet. I have trained it to keep it inside my raised box, and it has come full circle, literally. I noticed that it tries, and mostly succeeds, at putting down roots at every node. The older part of the vine looks all dead and withered, and the leaves have all dropped off there. The newer growth is still healthy and robust, though. So, my query: May I cut out and discard the older part of the vine? It appears that the plant no longer gets sustenance from that part, and since there are roots everywhere else I figure it is recieving the nutrients it requires from those (which are WAY closer to the budding site).
It's not of uber-importance, but I am running out of room in the bed, and I want to plant some peppers I have in Solo party cups. Also, I got a wild hair and decided to try to propagate some Spaghetti Squash seeds I got out of a store-bought squash, and I was a little TOO successful: I have almost 20 seedlings that I'd like to plant, also in Solo party cups. They are growing like weeds and need a permanent home very soon.
If they are male don’t worry about it.
This is what I do to my pepper plants, it might work on zukes too:
I mix one teaspoon epsom salt to one quart of water in a spray bottle. When the plants start blooming I spray them to help retain the blossoms, therefore more fruit. I have doubled/tripled my yield this way.
Any room on the roof?
Talk around the garden forums is that East Tennessee will be the next 'boom area' for small farmers and related farmer's markets...
I wouldn't, but I can't give you a good reason - it sounds like you actually COULD. Can you tuck the other squash in around it and trellis them?
Can you tuck the other squash in around it and trellis them?Well, my Pumpkin is already trellising ITSELF: It has attacked and insinuated itself into my tomato ring; it puts out suckers that strangle any plant it can get ahold of, and I have been very proactive in disallowing that to happen. It is reminiscent of having to follow a toddler around and taking things out of their hand, over and over, constantly.
The baby pumpkin itself is in there, about a foot off the ground, hangin' out with his tomato neighbors. I figure I'd just let him be, as I do not want to do anything that puts my sainted pumpkin at risk.
As for trellising the Spaghetti Squash, I just don't have the room now. I am considering digging up and discarding my basil as it keeps trying to go to seed; I just cut down my sunflowers, and that has given me a little breathing room for a week or so.
But yeah, I'll investigate the trellising option.
I have been trying to get my wife to allow me to dig up more of our lawn and convert it to raised beds, and I just gotta keep harrassing her about it; I can tell I'm wearing her down!
I'm having to battle an invasion of leaf-footed bugs which is doing it's best to ruin our tomatoes.
The okra is producing well now - enough to fill a pot for myself every other evening.
Why are some of the leaves on my otherwise healthy tomato plants turning yellow and brown? The are in good soil, they get plenty of water, and the diseased leaves are all in one area and on only two of my five plants. Could it be that it is too hot for the plants? It has been 90+ here for the last week or so.
Appreciated the green house plans from last week, After much research, the crosses that are available for the not recommended schedule 40 pvc, are not very available for schedule 80 pvc. Found a few for 30+ dollars each on the net. So, I had to change the plans to eliminate the crosses and just build the straight support with the metal conduit inside so it can fit under the bows and tied to them. Haven’t built it yet but working on it.
Speaking of gardening, yesterday I had to move all the potted tomatoes, to a protected area so the wind didn’t rip them out by the roots. This is already a second planting, first wiped out by hail. I expect it will be at least two to three weeks before the first blooms appear. Meanwhile the pepper plants which did survive the hail are almost recovered to the point my newly planted tomatoes are at now.
If this was Christmas I’d be tempted to spout some Dickens. Grocery stores may not be as good as home grown, but at least they sell ripe tomatoes and peppers.
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