Posted on 11/15/2013 12:14:17 PM PST by greeneyes
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Eggplant......I'm envious. I've tried to grow eggplant, but they come out long and slim, like a skinny cucumber.
I like to grow the long, slender ones (Ichiban) as I get more out of them, they just keep producing. The big plump ones (Black Beauty) it seems I get a lot of plant and a few big fruits and that’s it.
The three different pea seeds are on the way and I’ll read the info. on the envelopes, but regardless of what the envelopes say, I’ll choose one kind and plant some of them now to see what happens. I have a really small greenhouse on my deck and I’ll put the seeds in seed starter mix in paper cups and see if they will sprout in the greenhouse. I don’t want to put up the grow light and stand until the first of January, I think.
When all the seeds get here, I’ll check them to see if any seeds can be started before Jan. 1. I’m not yet sure when to start seeds as I haven’t done that for spring/summer food plants.
Rightly, you could help me with this since you live not far from me. Which seeds are you going to use and how do you start seeds and when do you start various seeds? It would help me to know what you do since I haven’t done this before for spring/summer.
The bitter melon is in the cucurbit family, like cucumber, squash and melon, so I guess it technically is some type of melon.
Maybe you unknowingly planted an Asian type of eggplant? Those are usually long and thin. The kind I planted is Black Beauty. I got lots of fruit from the three plants I put in. They love the monsoon season here in Phoenix.
This is the first time I planted garlic. They were cloves from garlic bulbs I got at a produce market. I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
Do you have a link to a site that has a list of seeds recommended for Missouri? I have a friend who is just getting started veggie gardening. She lives in the St. Joseph area.
I can see why your organization of seeds sort of got away from you. It’s boring, but I’ve listed all the ones I now have on my computer and am now going back to put the number of days to maturity on them. Once I get the other seeds through the mail, I’ll get them on here with their maturity dates and then print the list and put that in my new folder.
The calendar pages I printed have enough space on each day so I can write what I did or the plants did on those days. Hopefully, I will not have to write what the squirrels/birds did since I think I have fixed that problem.
I’m not directing you to the article at the link but to the chart about 2/3rds down the page (click to enlarge it). It’s the Who’s Who in the US government who has ties to Monsanto. I’ve read elsewhere that MANY top EPA officials came over from Monsanto. Remember back in the summer that Monsanto was going to sue Vermont over nutritional labeling.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/28/neotame-more-toxic-than-aspartame.aspx
I can’t find specific seed companies but here’s a list of the Seminis (Monsanto) vegetable varieties -
http://www.seminis.com/global/us/products/Pages/default.aspx
I’ve planted grocery store garlic and it’s done fine. The grocery store ginger I potted up in the middle of summer is nearly 3 ft tall. It’s the only thing I’ve brought in for the winter.
My leg is still red but not as inflamed as it was so I might live. No heat coming off it today which is good. Alcohol, neosporin stuff and a vibrator to get the blood flowing around it twice a day. It was the teeniest little spider to cause such a reaction! Hubby had a brown recluse bite him a years ago which took forever to heal and the scar is still there.
Same here and can't offer much advice. I had giant healthy plants that pulled the stakes out of the ground but zip, nada, nothing for production from most. I planted 7 heirloom tomato varieties and about the same in peppers. The bell peppers didn't do anything, the bananas only gave me about a dozen or so, and the hot ones gave me a few but one wasn't what the package said they were (I've had that problem this year with Burpee (which I don't like to begin with) and some other company with a lettuce mix). My old reliable, but not that tasty, yellow pear tomato gave me a few but nowhere near what it normally does. The new varieties (Amish Paste, Black Cherry, Brandywine Pink, Cherokee Chocolate, Improved Porter) were all disappointing. The Porter, that I got because of it's heat tolerance, only gave me a dozen just this month and the Amish Paste (I'd said upthread Cherokee) gave me one this week but the wasp bug got it. The new black cherry has probably given me about a dozen. The others, nothing, not even a husky cherry that I've grown in the past. Out of about 18 tomato plants, I've maybe frozen half a dozen pint bags so I've had to supplement with store bought for the table.
I don't fertilize them because we have good soil and the water comes from a well so it's not chemically treated. There's not really a need to spray although there was a waspy bug that I'd never seen before that was stinging the tomatoes this year and four years ago we had spider mites. There were bees that got happy with the corn (which never makes) but I didn't see any lady bugs. There weren't as many lizards because there have been a bunch of feral cats. The deer, armadillos, raccons and other four legged creatures don't bother them.
All I can think that caused there to be almost no production was the 100+ temps. They get dappled shade from the trees and house which helps with the heat. They proved they needed a little shade when the neighbor cut down a bush because the two tomatoes near it freaked and never recovered so don't know that I should plant any other there next year.
Garden chores are winding down here except for one bed I still have to plant with Vetch and a couple of spots to reseed. Lady Bender has about 20 more Dahlia plants to cut back and compost plus we have 50 flower pots to empty on the deck. About 75% of the Garlic crop is up and looking good and that makes me Happy Happy Happy but Time will tell if the Garlic Rust returns this year.
Sounds like it. I had a friend that moved from here to Atlanta. She said people just abandoned their cars in the middle of the highways and it was less than 2”. LOL
The worst winter we had was when we got about 21” overnight in January. I couldn’t even get out of the driveway, and had only been working in St. Louis for about 6 months. I couldn’t get any answers from my supervisor or her boss.
So I wound up calling the main number and just letting it ring and ring. Finally Security answered and said the company was closed for the day, so not necessary to come in.
A few days later we got another 8” and so forth and so one for all of January and February. School was out of session for 2 months. The back roads could never get clear enough for the buses to run.
Practice makes perfect. I got lots of practice driving on snow and ice that winter especially.LOL
Sounds like a plan.
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G6201
This will give you a bunch of info for each veggie that you want to investigate.
Somewhere they have a planting calendar too, that gives the optimum time for planting in each of Missouri’s regions.
I like to put a lot of stuff on my desk calendar, because it doesn’t get lost. Other stuff gets borrowed and kinda disappers for a while.LOL
Thanks for the links.
I hope that your garlic stays healthy this year. I have a few pots of soil to dump too.
I made good headway today on planting vetch and rye. My garlic is about 8” tall. I made a much smaller patch of garlic and winter garden this year. Just a few carrots, lettuce, apinach, and garlic in a 3x4 foot space.
Everything else is vetch, and rye or winter wheat. Hope to get that all finished tomorrow.
The high temps have been the bane of my tomato plants every year. I can't grow them in the greenhouse, in buckets, or in pots because they get too hot and go dormant. They'll grow, but won't produce.
I have 30% shadecloth over my hoop-house, and that, along with adequate watering seems sufficient. They grow and produce well in there.
We planted the big purple ones and had the same issues. They would grow, but there was very little, if any production. It may just be the type then. I thought the high summer temps were the culprit.
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