official veggie gardener's thread

[HydroSqueegee]

my two super beefsteaks in pots are doing extremely well. One has finally set some fruit. Peas will be ready for eating in a couple weeks. Carrots are about 2" long under the dirt (i pulled 1 to find out). 2 of the 4 tomato plants in the garden died. Stems turned to mush and just fell over. Both were super sweet 100's. The Sweet Million is doing good. Still small, but healthy. The Mortgage lifter could go either way at this point. Its alive, has some new growth, but looks pretty rough. I transplanted a volunteer tomato plant i found growing with the carrots (located in last years tomato bed) and its doing very well. Dont know what kind it is since i grew 4 different kinds last year, so time will tell.
2 of 8 cucumber plants vanishes. the others didnt look good at first, but are making a come back. a couple are flowering really well. Spotted the first signs of life from the potatoes. Onions have doubled in height since planting. Herbs are exploding, the basil looks like a big afro at the moment. Green beans have perked up. only lost 6 sprouts of 24. So i'll have plenty of pole beans.

mmmmm...

 

[Anubis]

T Miller's in Cananadaigua NY,

This is just a random question but don't you live outside Alfred? that seems like an absurdly long way to go for plants. no place closer sells in bulk?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Cannot believe we already have 5 tomato FRUITS growing in at the beginning of JUNE! It might be a two harvest season!

 

[spidey07]

Cannot believe we already have 5 tomato FRUITS growing in at the beginning of JUNE! It might be a two harvest season!

Your tomatoes should keep producing up until the first frost which will kill them. They get a little hungry later in the season so don't forget fertilizer after their big growth.

 

[WannaFly]

(i think this link will work)
http://picasaweb.google.com/wannafly37/GardenJune2010#

My spaghetti squash are ridden with pickworms and squash bugs, and the corn is infested with some sort of armyworm/cutworm - but I'm slowly getting them under control. I'm trying to stay as organic as I can. I also started my seeds late, it's almost too hot here in florida to grow most things now.

I'll have a ton of tomatoes soon. Some of the corn is almost ready to harvest, and I've finally got one spaghetti squash almost ready.

 

[spidey07]

(i think this link will work)
http://picasaweb.google.com/wannafly37/GardenJune2010#

My spaghetti squash are ridden with pickworms and squash bugs, and the corn is infested with some sort of armyworm/cutworm - but I'm slowly getting them under control. I'm trying to stay as organic as I can. I also started my seeds late, it's almost too hot here in florida to grow most things now.

I'll have a ton of tomatoes soon. Some of the corn is almost ready to harvest, and I've finally got one spaghetti squash almost ready.

Look into BT, Bacillus thuringiensis. I use it for worms with very good results. Kills them dead in a day or two.

 

[WannaFly]

Look into BT, Bacillus thuringiensis. I use it for worms with very good results. Kills them dead in a day or two.

I do use BT, but the problem is that both on the corn and the squash they live and eat inside the plant, where BT cant really reach. It helps a little but hand picking seems much much more effective. I did spray BT with oil on the corn silks though, hoping that will help.

BT works great for tomato plants and others though, but for corn and squash not so good.

 

[meltdown75]

I've learned from my mistakes as a tomato master. You need to stake or cage them EARLY. So do it now, as in today or tomorrow. Once they take off they will grow at an incredible rate and you can't really train them or stake them without breaking the plant. Once they are even 1.5 feet tall they need to be staked and trained.

And don't forget your pruning. If you want fewer, but larger fruit try to keep just one main stalk and take suckers off every day or two. These are branches from the main stem at a leaf intersection. I will normally leave the sucker branches off the main one just below the first blossom cluster and keep it to those 3 stalks. Every sucker is then pinched off without mercy or hesitation.

I have 8 foot metal stakes at the plant and run smooth masonry string horizontally between them to support the plant every 8-12 inches or so. these stakes have 1x1 inch wood staves on top to keep the whole mess secure.

We had some pretty strong winds today and if they weren't as secure as they were I'd have a lot of severely damaged tomato plants. Do it now. Or just cage them. Caging works well and you can just let them go without worrying too much about pruning. You'll get tons of fruit, they just won't be as big. Really just depends on what you want. My paste tomatoes I cage because I want a large number of fruit and don't care about size.

Maters are about chest level right now and super happy.

yeah, thanks for that info... i was looking up different support methods yesterday and am going to try a Florida weave... i found with the cages last year, the plants got so long/tall that they just hung over the top of the cage and then grew back down to the ground. this was especially true with the sweet million variety of plant... i'm going to get out there today and see what i have for stakes.

 

[BoomerD]

Bah...I noticed that some of my "cherry tomatos" were getting HELLA big...so I pulled the plant ID stake...and found that my wife bought regular tomatos...Sunsugar variety, so they SHOULD be good, just not cherry tomatos.

In her defense, they were in the cherry tomato section of the display...and said "Cherry Tomato" on the side of the 4-pack...just not on the little plastic ID stake.

"Well," she said, "I thought they were cherry tomatos."

We'll see how they turn out, but some of them are already more than 3" in diameter...

 

[DrPizza]

This is just a random question but don't you live outside Alfred? that seems like an absurdly long way to go for plants. no place closer sells in bulk?

It's only about 100 miles. My son's girlfriend lives in Canandaigua, so I send him on errands. And, about 30 miles beyond Alfred. The quality of the strawberry plants was far better than from the local place I found them.

 

[meltdown75]

Completed the first level of my Florida weave yesterday... lovin my garden

 

[Kitazawa]

My garden is being attacked by snails and slugs. I'm using Sluggo but new snails from the neighbors yards keep coming into mine. D:

 

[HydroSqueegee]

salt barriers... saucers of beer?

 

[BoomerD]

My garden is being attacked by snails and slugs. I'm using Sluggo but new snails from the neighbors yards keep coming into mine. D:

Snail bait and copper strips around the perimeter are your only real solutions to stop the invaders.

If you have pets, don't use Sluggo. It's toxic to dogs and cats. There are "pet safe" slug baits available...but they cost more.

 

[alfa147x]

I miss growing vegetables1 I used to grow tons of stuff back when I lived with my parents who had a yard.

Any one have any success growing stuff in a patio off of a 3 floor apartment?

 

[spidey07]

I miss growing vegetables1 I used to grow tons of stuff back when I lived with my parents who had a yard.

Any one have any success growing stuff in a patio off of a 3 floor apartment?

As long as you get decent sun you can do tomatoes, peppers. Herb gardens do really well as well.

 

[alfa147x]

As long as you get decent sun you can do tomatoes, peppers. Herb gardens do really well as well.

That's not too bad, that's all I use to grow at home. I'm thinking of buying 2 of those large rubbermade containers. Would that cause problems with water drainage?

 

[fatpat268]

That's not too bad, that's all I use to grow at home. I'm thinking of buying 2 of those large rubbermade containers. Would that cause problems with water drainage?

Drill or poke a bunch of holes on the bottom, and you should be fine.

You'd be better off buying large plastic pots instead. While rubbermaid containers seem durable, they tend to get weak once you put them out in the sun, put dirt in them, and then get them wet.

I used to plant peppers in a rubbermaid, and when I tried moving it once, the entire container broke on me spilling dirt EVERYWHERE. :\

 

[spidey07]

On the pots, add 2-3 inches of gravel in the bottom as well. Anything to help drainage.

Wife told me she thinks her salad had some extra protein in it today. Almost done with her salad from our lettuce, broccoli, etc she said it started moving. Damn cabbage worms, they're on the lettuces which I didn't spray. Apparently the worms survived two days in the fridge.

 

[alfa147x]

Thanks guys

How do you know when the next best time to plant?

 

[spidey07]

Thanks guys

How do you know when the next best time to plant?

Depends on the plant. Most all are best if planted after last frost date if you're doing seedlings. Frost or freezing temps will kill many things. You can look it up for your area.

 

[meltdown75]

my tomatoes are growing at a ridiculous rate... i will need to do the 2nd level of my Florida weave soon, probably Sunday or early next week... i didn't use any miracle gro or anything... they are just going nuts 0_0

 

[Modelworks]

Don't use salt to deter pests. Salt is one of the most dangerous things to put near plants that you want to live. Romans would salt the fields of enemies because once you do it nothing will grow there for years.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

found something interesting the other day. i was pulling a volunteer tomato that was comming up with the carrots. It was pretty big. Pulled on the stem and it snapped off, revealing a lovely hole burrowed vertically the entire length of the stem with bug included! what kind of bug burrows in the stock of a tomato?

i fear for the rest of my plants. i didnt see a single sign of bug infestation.

 

[eplebnista]

Got a few squash but now have been invaded by the squash vine borers. Don't really like to use pesticides, so I will just live with however many squash they make until the plants are too far gone. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are doing OK. Picked a jalapeno and it was perfect heatwise, hot enough to burn some but not enough to require milk. Got two medium-sized red tomatoes(the first two to set this year-one patio, one rutgers) and several more cucumbers too.