Can i start a vegetable and herb garden thread?

[Mr Doof]

"Good solid watering every other day, less if we get rain."

You are watering too often.

Your tomatoes will taste/feel gross with too much water.

I kinda agree with Driftcoast.

I have no idea how good your soil is, but tomatoes have extensive roots...too much water is gonna make for poor root health. Generally for tomatoes, fewer deep waterings is the way to go....same with most fruiting trees as well.

If you have yellowing of the leaves with your watering schedule, cut back on the watering schedule.

Lots of this can be trial and error for beginners, and what really helps saves things is good deep, well developed soil. And not obsessing.

 

[Mr Doof]

kale is one of my favorite things to grow. so easy and I never get tired of eating it

My kale got decimated as if it were basil. :bawling:

Aphid attack.

Not even the lady-bugs I saw feasting of the aphids were able to save them.

 

[Subway]

yes, much less watering is in order...already saw one or two lower leaves getting a little yellow

But I should water the basil, chives, and parsley pretty often right?

 

[Mr Doof]

yes, much less watering is in order...already saw one or two lower leaves getting a little yellow

But I should water the basil, chives, and parsley pretty often right?

Overwatering them is always bad. Yellowing of leaves is one sign of it (can also mean low in iron or wrong/poor ph).

You need good root growth for a healthy plant and too much water kills roots.

But you know how hot it is, how much direct light the plants get, your soil conditions, how much rain you get, blah blah blah....so as long as the plant is thriving, you're doing everything well enough.

Basic rule of thumb is: fewer deeper waterings is best once a plant is established.

 

[Q_Surf]

kale is one of my favorite things to grow. so easy and I never get tired of eating it

My kale got decimated as if it were basil. :bawling:

Aphid attack.

Not even the lady-bugs I saw feasting of the aphids were able to save them.

mix:
cheyenne, garlic, dish soap, cooking oil & water.

spray on infected area. no more aphids.

 

[Subway]

they're definitely thriving, overall...getting huge fast, and already showing a few small green tomatoes

 

[Aruka]

kale is one of my favorite things to grow. so easy and I never get tired of eating it

My kale got decimated as if it were basil. :bawling:

Aphid attack.

Not even the lady-bugs I saw feasting of the aphids were able to save them.

Aphids aren't too bad, at least they have soft bodies so if you can catch them in time most of the good organic sprays will knock them back. Keep an eye out for ants crawling around, up and down the stalks. Those little bastards herd aphids and feed off the honeydew that the aphids secrete. I was reading about it recently and apparently they will even tear off the aphids wings so they can't fly away and they'll just keep them clustered up to feed off of as needed.

I'm dealing with the flea beetles this year. They hammered my potatoes pretty bad but luckily I planted early enough that by the time they came on the potatoes were pretty much done anyways. So far nothing I've sprayed has seemed to faze them much.

I'll have to try Q's spray. I'm guessing just tiny amounts of each ingredient?

 

[Q_Surf]

kale is one of my favorite things to grow. so easy and I never get tired of eating it

My kale got decimated as if it were basil. :bawling:

Aphid attack.

Not even the lady-bugs I saw feasting of the aphids were able to save them.

Aphids aren't too bad, at least they have soft bodies so if you can catch them in time most of the good organic sprays will knock them back. Keep an eye out for ants crawling around, up and down the stalks. Those little bastards herd aphids and feed off the honeydew that the aphids secrete. I was reading about it recently and apparently they will even tear off the aphids wings so they can't fly away and they'll just keep them clustered up to feed off of as needed.

I'm dealing with the flea beetles this year. They hammered my potatoes pretty bad but luckily I planted early enough that by the time they came on the potatoes were pretty much done anyways. So far nothing I've sprayed has seemed to faze them much.

I'll have to try Q's spray. I'm guessing just tiny amounts of each ingredient?

yeah go sparingly. we blast off most of them off with a water spray just before applying the spray.

 

[bloomies]

For those who hate weeding put 6 sheets of newspaper down before you start your garden, you'll really take out half the grunt work through your growing period and it helps keep moisture in the beds. Aruka is killing it and it's just early days yet. :cookin:

 

[Mr Doof]

Aphids aren't too bad, at least they have soft bodies so if you can catch them in time most of the good organic sprays will knock them back. Keep an eye out for ants crawling around, up and down the stalks. Those little bastards herd aphids and feed off the honeydew that the aphids secrete. I was reading about it recently and apparently they will even tear off the aphids wings so they can't fly away and they'll just keep them clustered up to feed off of as needed.

One weekend, they were looking great.

Very next weekend, aphids so thick, the plants looked like someone slopped gray paint on their stalks. New leaves were 100% aphid covered. About three ladybugs per plant too, but only on the edges of the leaves that had not yet bent over on to the ground. The big lovely leaves the week before were now laying on the ground, wilted and rotting.

I could do nothing to save them...well, honestly, I saw what was happening and tore them out.

Then I shut off the drip irrigation lines to that area, weeded, mulched in some old rotting leaves the compost bin, placed some rolled up newspaper at the edges, gave it a water, and in two weeks, will plant some pole beans (Kentucky Wonder).

If only i had checked the kale midweek...could have blasted the aphids off with some water and Neem before they really got settled.

 

[ghostshaper]

Anyone use soapy water for aphids?

 

[Aruka]

I've heard of people using dish soap for insecticide but I've not really used it much my self other than a couple drops of Dr. Bronners peppermint soap mixed with different sprays as a wetting agent. Just don't use anti-bacterial soap- you don't want to kill the beneficial microbes that live on the plant surface.

With any spray whether it's a foliar food, insecticide, fungicide or whatever I always er' on the side of caution until I'm familiar with how the plants react to it. I have burned plants before following the instructions on the bottle- not all plants react the same to different sprays. Half recommended strength is a good starting point and work your way up from there. Same goes for liquid foods that you water into the soil.

Subway you asked about organic fertilizers in your original post. I don't use bottled stuff often but if something looks like it needs a boost I will water in fish hydrolysate and/or liquid kelp. The fish hydrolysate is different from and superior to fish emulsion although they both smell AMAZING. As far as mulch goes I've just been using straw this year. It's not my favorite but it's cheap and readily available here.

Tayberries

They're a cross between blackberry x raspberry. I think loganberries are also that same cross but the tayberries are much sweeter and larger. I guess they are not commercially viable so you don't really see them in stores even though I think the cross has been around since the 70's. A friend gave me a single vine a few years ago and every autumn I take the runners and bury them each in their own pot of soil below the plant. By spring the runners have rooted in the pots and you can cut them from the main plant and put them wherever you want. I have about twenty established vines now and I've given away and sold some as well.

 

[FecalFace]

Do it. Growing food is fun.

My avocados are doing good..... this was back in April.

:wave2:

 

[Aruka]

Jealous of a climate that allows avo's and citrus. I had bartender limes for about five years in large pots in my greenhouse but this winter we had one of the hardest freezes in ages while I was out of town and they almost died. Not sure if it's worth trying to bring them back or find new ones. My gin tonics just aren't the same anymore!

 

[FecalFace]

Your veggie harvest looks amazing. I don't get anything near that amount yet, except for the tomatoes, kale, sweet lime/ bearss lime and lemon which are growing in abundance.
The avo trees are still young but already producing a healthy amount of fruit.

 

[scooch]

Just curious whats your preferred method of watering ie, drip system, soaker hose, watering each individual plant, etc? I have 3 8ft.X4ft raised beds. Soon to add 3 more. Takes me a while to go around and hit each plant.

 

[grapedrink]

Just curious whats your preferred method of watering ie, drip system, soaker hose, watering each individual plant, etc? I have 3 8ft.X4ft raised beds. Soon to add 3 more. Takes me a while to go around and hit each plant.

The simplest way is to use different rate emitters based on the watering needs. Use 1/2 gallon per hour for the plants that need the least water, 1 GPH for the moderately thirsty plants, and 2 GPH for thirstiest stuff. Group plants per bed based on watering needs and put a solanoid valve at each bed for more control.

Keep it simple

 

[Mike_Jones]

I mix my own pesticide for aphids. I mix equal parts of 10% Sevin dust and diatomaceous earth (DE). It works great. As a dust, it rinses off of veggies. In fact, rain and watering destroy the active ingredient in Sevin, and make DE useless. To insects, walking on dry diatomaceous earth is like walking on tiny glass shards.

I'm the guy who introduced diatomaceous earth to surfboard builders as a resin filler. It's lots cheaper than the competition fillers. You can buy it at pool supply stores.

I grow veggies in hydroponic NFT channels. I have to choose small-plant varieties to keep from filling up the channels.
..

 

[PartyBoy]

Here's my strictly pesticide and herbicide free garden. I have a little bit of everything here and all was started from seed or cuttings/divisions this year.

[img:center]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh202/insanecutback/IMAG1026_zpsbykxovm0.jpg[/img]

 

[afoaf]

I had a salty old neighbor who swore by letting his tomato
plants get starved for water before drenching them again.

just throwing it out there.

I really miss having a yard...right now we've hijacked one
of the raised beds at the school on behalf of my son's class
(kinder). I leave what I harvest out and then take home what
the other parents don't. we got some good kale and cabbage
this year...grew onions for the first time...long season!