What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

In summary, we put in a huge garden and had a green thumb from the get-go. We still have a garden, although it's a little smaller now. We mainly grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers. I've been a pretty avid gardener at times but not for eating, just for looking.
  • #2,766
Evo said:
There is nothing like home grown broccoli and caulifower. The first time I grew cauliflower and tasted it, it was like butter. I was amazed.

Someday, I hope to have a real garden again.
My neighbor started my cauliflower, broccoli, and purple cabbage for me in his greenhouse. They are heading out already, so I'm going to have to use clothespins to pin the leaves over the cauliflower heads to blanch them.
 
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  • #2,767
turbo-1 said:
They are heading out already, so I'm going to have to use clothespins to pin the leaves over the cauliflower heads...

I clothespined mine this year as usual. This year, it not only kept them nice and white (no sun burn), but I swear they got bigger than ever. So don't be too hasty to cut them. But check them often when you re-clothespin them; as the leaves move daily.
 
  • #2,768
How's my chicken doing?

Do you guys consider a jalapeno ripe when it gets those little white cracks?
 
  • #2,769
Evo said:
Do you guys consider a jalapeno ripe when it gets those little white cracks?
You can wait until the skin turns red. The cracks won't get much worse as they ripen. They are still tasty, if not as pretty.
 
  • #2,770
turbo-1 said:
You can wait until the skin turns red. The cracks won't get much worse as they ripen. They are still tasty, if not as pretty.
They type I have seem to get sweeter when they turn red. So I've been basing picking them green on when they start to crack, and I wondered if you knew if that was a good rule of thumb for green jalapenos.
 
  • #2,771
Evo said:
They type I have seem to get sweeter when they turn red. So I've been basing picking them green on when they start to crack, and I wondered if you knew if that was a good rule of thumb for green jalapenos.
I prefer letting them ripen and redden. They do get a sweeter flavor when they redden, IMO, but I don't think that the heat suffers.
 
  • #2,772
turbo-1 said:
I prefer letting them ripen and redden. They do get a sweeter flavor when they redden, IMO, but I don't think that the heat suffers.
Mine are the mild TAM jalapenos, when they turn red, they're like bell peppers. :( If I had real jalepenos, I'd let them get red.

Also, have you tried drying jalapenos? I have dried quite a few, but they don't smell like much. Perhaps TAMs aren't suited to drying.
 
  • #2,773
Evo said:
Also, have you tried drying jalapenos? I have dried quite a few, but they don't smell like much.
My neighbor gave us a couple of large (multi-level) dehydrators, but I still don't dry peppers. I prefer to process them and freeze them. Cut them up and arrange the slices on metal cookie-pans and put those in a chest-freezer. When the peppers have been frozen slide them into Zip-lock bags and store them. That way, you can retrieve chilies a few slices at a time if you want, or get a load of them for a big batch of chili.
 
  • #2,774
Brutal heat today, but tomato plants needed attention, so I toughed it out. I pruned my indeterminate tomatoes and tied them to the cattle-panel trellises with strips of old T-shirts. Had to do that in the morning - it's currently in the '90s in the shade with strong sun and hardly a whisper of a breeze. At least stuff like the pepper-plants are growing with all the heat, but I fear that if I have to resort to watering the garden, my dug well will go dry and I'll have to start pumping irrigation water out of the back-yard pond.

Very nasty weather for gardening. We get storms with damaging wind and brief heavy downpours, but not enough rain to replenish the groundwater, so the levels in my dug well and pond are dropping fast.
 
  • #2,775
My ghost pepper in it's jiffy 7 pellet.

ghostpepper716.jpg
 
  • #2,776
Evo said:
My ghost pepper in it's jiffy 7 pellet.

ghostpepper716.jpg

Beautiful if I do say so myself Evo, I hope the leaves get big enough to flower and produce peppers, mine are in a flower box and just about producing flowers now. Will post a pic or two tomorrow. BTW, I have given a pepper plant to a friend or two and everyone has killed them, argh... after all my hard work. One other thing if the leaves get aphids, fungus, etc, just yank them. Mine were pretty ratty about three weeks ago, now they are thriving, going to give them a shot of miracle grow tomorrow too, did it today on my butterfly bushes and boom I got flowers in one day, amazing...

Rhody... :-p
 
  • #2,777
Evo,

Here's mine. I confess I took these after dark because they need to be perked up, with a little water, miracle grow, less than two hours later, voila, back to normal.
They are hard to see but I have lots of little flower pods on them. I may go and just plant red habanaro's next season, some are 800,000 scovil, still plenty hot and my friend who grows them says they taste like apples. They growing time is much shorter and he says they are easier to grown as well. It is frustrating to lose ghost plants when you put time and effort into them.

17vlf4.jpg


206mpvo.jpg


Rhody... :cool:
 
  • #2,778
Oh, you've got lots of little buds!
 
  • #2,779
I have assumed the white leaves on my jalapeno was from too much water, but thought I would finally post a picture and see what you guys with more pepper experience thought? There is absolutely no sign that it is pest damage, the leaves just appear white on that one "age" of leaf. The new leaf growth is green. While SOME of the white does look like a munching trail, there is absolutely no evidence of bugs or munching having happened on either side of the leaf.

397748310.jpg


Also, this picture is actually very old. Those flower buds are now quite dead and gross looking, there are a few marble sized peppers, and new flower buds forming!

So what do you guys think? Too much water from our cold wet spring?
 
  • #2,780
Ms Music, look up sun-scald. Pepper plants need to be acclimated to their new location when transplanting them or moving the pots.
 
  • #2,781
Except we didn't have any sun for the first 3 weeks of June, which was when the leaves started growing out misshapen and discolored. The pot shouldn't have even been outside as it was constantly soggy wet soil and cool temperatures. Sun scald may have brightened the spots to white, but can't be the only cause... The sun has been hiding from Seattle this year.

This isn't very polite of me to do since it is so hot where you are, but this sums it up well. http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/125742443.html
 
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  • #2,782
Ms Music said:
Except we didn't have any sun for the first 3 weeks of June, which was when the leaves started growing out misshapen and discolored. The pot shouldn't have even been outside as it was constantly soggy wet soil and cool temperatures. Sun scald may have brightened the spots to white, but can't be the only cause... The sun has been hiding from Seattle this year.
Could the plant have acclimated to cool and wet, only to get exposed to full sun for a day or two?

The reason that I ask is that sun-scald seems to fit the symptoms. There may be some blight that I am unfamiliar with, but I've never seen dead-white leaves on pepper plants before, and I grow 'em all from bells all the way up through the chilies to Caribbean Red habaneros.
 
  • #2,783
My wife and I braved 90+ degree heat this afternoon to pick sweet peas. We had our first big "feed" of peas tonight with seared dry-rubbed flank steak and garden salad. Heaven. Peas are a lot of work for little return, but it's hard to give them up when planning a garden. I picked another nice cucumber this afternoon, and we have probably another 6-8 that must be picked tomorrow. Soon, they may be coming in fast enough that I can start making pickles again for the season. I have too many empty canning jars!
 
  • #2,784
Yeah, the white could be sun scald. We all burn a little here when the sun decides to show itself... :)

What happens to your peppers when it is cold, dark, and very wet for a long time? Or do you not get that there? This weather is unusual even for Seattle.
 
  • #2,785
Ms Music said:
Yeah, the white could be sun scald. We all burn a little here when the sun decides to show itself... :)

What happens to your peppers when it is cold, dark, and very wet for a long time? Or do you not get that there? This weather is unusual even for Seattle.
What happens is that the peppers are dark green, but stunted, and don't set blossoms well. If I can't get some warm sunny weather, the peppers will fail to produce properly and I will have to settle for a crappy output of chilies for relishes and salsas. That has happened a couple of years in a row, now, so I need a good season to let me get back on track. Making salsas and chili relishes and canning them is a lot of work, but you just can't buy this stuff anywhere, so I'll put in the effort if I can get the produce.
 
  • #2,786
turbo-1 said:
If I can't get some warm sunny weather, the peppers will fail to produce properly and I will have to settle for a crappy output of chilies for relishes and salsas. That has happened a couple of years in a row, now, so I need a good season to let me get back on track

Plenty of sun her... if you can brave the heat and humidity. :biggrin:

My tomatoes don't seem to care about the heat though. It's a great year for them. I've had several pickings and the season is just beginning.
 
  • #2,787
I checked the garden today, and when my wife gets home from work, we're going to have to pick peas again, plus string beans and cukes. This heat is no fun, but it's got to be done.

We're at 87 in the shade today (so far) but at least there is a bit of a breeze. The sticky hot weather that is plaguing the midwest is expected to slide in here for Friday-Saturday, so I'll have to hide inside much of the time.
 
  • #2,788
My onions are going moldy in the ground from all the rain we've had. I'll be lucky to get half what I planted at this point.
 
  • #2,789
NeoDevin said:
My onions are going moldy in the ground from all the rain we've had. I'll be lucky to get half what I planted at this point.

Maybe you need a bunch of little umbrellas. Like the kind used in foo foo drinks.
 
  • #2,790
Oh, rhody, please remember to crop all photos to no larger than 640 x 480, anything larger skews the page.
 
  • #2,791
NeoDevin said:
My onions are going moldy in the ground from all the rain we've had. I'll be lucky to get half what I planted at this point.
I have managed to avoid rot/mold even when we're getting monsoon weather. The trick is to add light amendments like peat and composted manure so that the soil won't compact, and add enough sand to that the soil drains easily. Then, make sure to hill up the rows so that water won't settle around the plants' roots. This is especially important for root crops, IMO. I can't afford to lose my garlic crop because I use so much of it for making pickles, salsas, chili relishes, etc, and need to have enough extra to replant this coming winter.
 
  • #2,792
turbo-1 said:
I have managed to avoid rot/mold even when we're getting monsoon weather. The trick is to add light amendments like peat and composted manure so that the soil won't compact, and add enough sand to that the soil drains easily. Then, make sure to hill up the rows so that water won't settle around the plants' roots. This is especially important for root crops, IMO. I can't afford to lose my garlic crop because I use so much of it for making pickles, salsas, chili relishes, etc, and need to have enough extra to replant this coming winter.
Yeah, raised beds with sandy soil for wet conditions, but then if you have a drought, you're going to be watering night and day.
 
  • #2,793
Evo said:
Yeah, raised beds with sandy soil for wet conditions, but then if you have a drought, you're going to be watering night and day.
I have a fairly large pond in my backyard. It's the most conservative approach I could think of. I can put water into the soil, but there is no way to take it out of there is too much, thus the raised beds and drainage.
 
  • #2,794
Turbo, how's your garden holding out in this heat? I guess the same question goes to astronuc.

DL, I hope you've installed A/C for Roger.
 
  • #2,795
Evo said:
Turbo, how's your garden holding out in this heat? I guess the same question goes to astronuc.

DL, I hope you've installed A/C for Roger.
Our garden is suffering. We watered some yesterday, and today we're water some more.

The blackberries are most affected since they aren't so dense - so I am watering them now. The raspberries are dense so the ground stays moist, and they are doing fine. The blueberries are now mostly ripe. They are by the northeast corner of the house to they get some shade. I'll be watering them later this evening.

We have lots of coriander seed.

Basically the season went from wet and cool to hot and dry in about two weeks, and now we are in the second week of hot and no rain. We did have rain drops this morning, and some place a few miles east got a pretty good downpour.

We're supposed to get thundershowers this afternoon or evening - but then it's only about 20% chance.
 
  • #2,796
Astronuc said:
Our garden is suffering. We watered some yesterday, and today we're water some more.

The blackberries are most affected since they aren't so dense - so I am watering them now. The raspberries are dense so the ground stays moist, and they are doing fine. The blueberries are now mostly ripe. They are by the northeast corner of the house to they get some shade. I'll be watering them later this evening.

We have lots of coriander seed.

Basically the season went from wet and cool to hot and dry in about two weeks, and now we are in the second week of hot and no rain. We did have rain drops this morning, and some place a few miles east got a pretty good downpour.

We're supposed to get thundershowers this afternoon or evening - but then it's only about 20% chance.
Did you see the 8 inches of rain Chicago got last night?
 
  • #2,797
The garden is actually doing well. I'm watering periodically. My wife and I spent over an hour shelling peas this morning, and the string beans and cukes are starting to come in steadily. My buttercup squash plants are a bit scrawny, though.
 
  • #2,798
Raspberries are going well. Blackberries have a lot of fruit, BUT the unseasonably dry and hot weather is holding them back, so the berries are not filling out properly.
 
  • #2,799
Wish I could send some of our rain your way, Astro. We've gotten nothing but rain this year.
 
  • #2,800
Evo said:
Did you see the 8 inches of rain Chicago got last night?
Wow - I'd love to take an inch or two, but over a day, not in one or two hours.

Maybe we'll get some rain tonight. :rolleyes:
 

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