Vegetable Gardening

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Spoke- that sounds like good soup. I especially like the parmesan part.
I like to quickly stir fry my swiss chard, like I also do with my bok choy I am getting now too from the garden.
Everything in the new garden is of course still only 2-3 inches tall, and hopefully I will start getting the first lettuces, spinach, & radishes to eat from it in a few more weeks.
Meanwhile, the small old garden is putting out some nice things to eat.
At the end of autumn when the plants there have become exhausted, I might hoe it all up, fertilize it again, and plant some lettuce and spinach there for late autumn/early winter growing, since with the existing little mesh fence I could easily throw some clear plastic up and create a mini greenhouse of sorts as an experiment. In the Spring that whole little garden will be dug up and planted over to raspberries- it's a great spot for it!

[Selkie]

GLC - Would you mind sharing your zucchini bread and zucchini cookie recipes, please? I saw those pictures of your crop! WOW. By the way, I still love that pumpkin bread of yours (you posted the recipe last fall, I believe).

No zucchini in our small garden but our tomato plants are going gangbusters. I planted heirloom varieties, which I got a a "hoity toity" mail order place. Worth the money. One plant is producing purple ones, that are just now ripening. On my way in the house after work, I stop by, grab some ripe tomatoes and have a treat before I head off to the pool for a swim.

Our pepper plants got big but no peppers. Odd. Maybe due to lack of pollination?

[OakLeaf]

Peppers are self-pollinating.

I'd guess soil nutrients, with weather a close second. Did you have blossoms? Did they turn into tiny peppers and then fall off, or wither before they even started to look like peppers?

[spokewench]

No cannelinis from my garden; dried (cooked) is what will go in the soup!

I haven't even got any regular green beans from my garden yet. I think in about 2 weeks.

MMMM raspberries - i tried growing blackberries here; but they don't like my yard. They do grow in some places in town, however.

[anakiwa]

Sorry to join in late and miss all the fun.

Does anyone have an effective way of getting the green worms off the broccoli? (Someone told me soak it in salt water, but it doesn't seem to work very well.)

[OakLeaf]

Hand picking is best. They're well camouflaged, but finding them is part of the Zen of gardening. (Although I don't suppose it's very Zen to squish them after you find them. )

In a pinch, Bt (Bacillus thuringensis, brand name Thuricide) is considered organic - it's a bacterium that specifically targets Lepidoptera larvae. Right now I'm using an old syringe to inject Bt into squash vine borer holes.

[badger]

I've not read a single page of this thread so pardon me if this question's been posed:

I have a mystery squash (from my compost, either banana squash or acorn), and while it's growing like a weed and producing a lot of blooms, not many end in fruit. And what's worse, the fruit that it does bear, soon turns yellow and dies. Any ideas?

ok, another squash question:

My zucchini's doing similar things. Tons of flowers, but I've only gotten one zucchini so far. Do you know why some are just flowers and others actually turn into a squash?

p.s. they're in terra cotta pots.

[anakiwa]

Hand picking is best. They're well camouflaged, but finding them is part of the Zen of gardening. (Although I don't suppose it's very Zen to squish them after you find them. )

In a pinch, Bt (Bacillus thuringensis, brand name Thuricide) is considered organic - it's a bacterium that specifically targets Lepidoptera larvae. Right now I'm using an old syringe to inject Bt into squash vine borer holes.

I'm winding up hand picking (as I'm processing)- I'm just afraid I'll miss one and serve up broccoli with worms (spraying makes me a little nervous- organic or not I think some of the organic stuff is sometimes still toxic).

Here's another question- how do you tell when your garlic is finished drying (it's been on the balcony for a week)?

[badger]

I'm pretty sure I read in this thread somewhere about treating mould on the plants? I had forgotten that this happened last year and never got to harvest more than one zucchini. Never clued in that it might be some sort of mould - all white-ish on the leaves and withering the more affected ones. It's now widely affecting my zucchini, snap pea, beans, and some tomatoes.

Could someone who posted a natural remedy for mould post it again, please? I think it's too late for me now, but it would be good to know how to deal with it. thanks!!

[Photoflygirl]

We have located a yellow jacket nest underneath one of our organic raised beds. Does anyone know of a natural remedy to kill them? Or, should I use the pesticide and not plant there for a few years? Or, does it not matter because the roots don't go deep enough to matter? I lined the bottom of each bed with chicken wire so chipmunks couldn't burrow into the beds and eat stuff. any suggestions would be appreciated.

[smilingcat]

Its called powdery mildew.

Seriously affected leaves must be cut off and thrown away carefully so that the dust does not go flying around.

If you live in an area where it rains a lot and the soil can tolerate sodium, then you can mix some sodium bicarb out of your kitchen in water then mist the affected area. Better solution is potassium carbonate, (potash).

You can also use sulphur powder on the leaves. Don't buy the sulphur pellets for acidifying the soil. Powdered sulphur will be referred as organic fungacide. Any half way self-respecting gardener would know what it is.

Another thing you need to do is feed the soil with high potassium fertilizer. You could also feed some potash.

Last item, when watering the plants, try avoid getting the leaves wet or watering late in the evening.

hope this helps.

[badger]

thanks, smilingcat. Two of the things I often do/did was to water at night and get the leaves wet...

I'll try the baking soda route, though I do believe it's too late for my plants. Even with no mildew I think it's getting too cool now. I shall remember for next year and fertilize it properly. They all started out so beautifully, it's such a shame to see them go downhill like that.