Can i start a vegetable and herb garden thread?

Subway

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So ive got 6 different tomato varieties seeming to thrive, and already showing some early fruit budding. 12 jalapeno plants, basil, parsley, and chives. Already seeing a couple of micro jalapenos budding too. Any special tips for their care and abundant production? Ive seen some holes in the pepper leaves.slugs? Caterpillars? Will they do enough damage to limit my yield?

ALl the plants get solid sun for severl hours in the first anid mid part of the day. Good solid watering every other day, less if we get rain. Theyre in normal potting soil mixed with the local turf in the backyard. The parsley seemed to get shocked upon transplanting, but now a flood of young shoots are growing up to replace the yellowing older leaves. Should i have trimmed and used the older leaves right away, and left room for the young vigorous shoots to do their thing? And how about the basil? Seems to be exploding on their own, but do i need to trim their flowering buds as they appear?

Any pro tips? Maybe a special organic mulch or fertilizer
?

My garden club thanks you



 

ElOgro

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It may take you a couple of seasons to see what works best as far as what to plant. If basil is going well think about cilantro. For blight/pests plenty of info on the internets. Basil is known as a good natural pest control.

You have the makings for some good salsa. Also, get some cashews for basil/cilantro/jalapeno pesto.

Eunice recommends human remains for organic mulching, you may have to go back to your old hood in Brooklyn for availability.

 
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Subway

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I only enjoy cilantro in small doses, and mrs subway cant stand it for some reason . basil and parsley for shellfish meunière sauces. Tomatoes and jalapeños por todo
 

manbearpig

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Take pics of the peppers. Could be a number of things. Some good quality compost will get them the nutrients they need or you can spray them with various types of liquid sprays, pesticides and hort oils to protect from disease insecg or apply nutrients. Just dont spray over 80f as they will burn, all have good effective organic options. I wouldnt spray anyyhing non organic on something you plan on eating anyway. There are good fish emulsion and products containing kelp and other high nitrient ingredients. Coast of Maine has some great options as well as Compost Werks. Be careful about where you get your mulch and compost. I am not crazy about mulching unless you have a good reliable source. DONT get mulch from that local Long Island company, i forgot the name. We tested their stuff and traced the sources of it and ttheir stuff would probably do more harm then good to your garden
 

r32

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Fresh garden of spices are the best! Love the smell and really rewarding cooking food using your own grown stuff. :facelick:
 

grapedrink

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And how about the basil? Seems to be exploding on their own, but do i need to trim their flowering buds as they appear?
Yes- you want to pop the flowers when you see them.

For a small scale garden I wouldn't bother with compost- too much bulk and slow to release. Just get a good liquid NPK, dilute it with water and dump it in the soil. You will need very little of it at that scale, a gallon jug should last you the summer if not longer.

Sounds like you have chosen good plants- herbs and fruiting vegetables require very little time, good output per unit of space, and save you a lot of money at the grocery store :beer: :cheers:
 

scooch

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r32 said:
Kelp makes a lovely fertilizer. Do you have any kelp in your area?
Have been thinking about adding kelp to my compost this year. Should I just add it to the beds or throw it in with the compost and let it break down a bit before adding to the beds? Planted early this year and am already harvesting stuff. Made a contious effort to pay close attention to the amount of watering Im doing and feeding the plants every few weeks. Made a big difference.
 

r32

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You should apply the seaweed within 36hrs of gathering since it dries quickly. Just spread it over any exposed soil about 4-6" thick. After you get the area covered, clear out little areas around each plant stem. You can reapply in about a week with another 4-6" layer.

You can also mix it in with mulch. If you can gather a lot of it, put in a barrel and burn it. Then mix the ashes with water and spread over your garden to give it some nourishment.
 
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surfer57

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See if you can get some eelgrass. It hasn't gotten thick enough down here yet but I always mulch with it before it gets scorching hot. Really helps to keep the soil from drying out.

If you have slugs, like I do really bad right now, a can cup/can with a bit of beer in it will usually draw them in.

 

ghostshaper

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Do you guys have any tips about keeping rats out? They devastated our corn this spring. Too smart for snap traps, and only one fell into my spinning can-water death trap. Heyre also going after the chicken feed bc the chickens are so messy when they eat. Looking at rescuing a cat BC I've heard that's the only thing that will keep them away. Poison is out if the question with dog, kids, and I can't have them dying under my shaping shed. I need to make sure I seal off underneath my shed this summer.
 

bigsurfer67

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I have a 10 by 20 foot garden plot at the local community center where I grow organic veggies. Unfortunately, I have not mixed in compost mix in the soil in a long time. Still get plenty of tomatoes and zucchini squash though. Main thing is to give plants full sun and don't overwater. Best proven direct coastal tomato varieties for me are Early Girl and Better Boy. Roma's are producing well too although they are determinate (stop producing once they fruit and die back). To get rid of rats, use snap traps with peanut butter or the commercial rat bait boxes with the block poison that you put on a metal wire inside. Supposedly the dead rats are not toxic to dogs (depending on type of poison)...they would have to eat a lot of them to show any adverse effects.
 

grapedrink

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Poison is out if the question with dog, kids, and I can't have them dying under my shaping shed. I need to make sure I seal off underneath my shed this summer.
Vertebrate pests are the worst. If poison is out of the question, exclusion and predation are your best options. Traps can help. Sealing it off as best as you can will help, however that will only go so far. Get a cat to take care of the rest :beer:
 

Subway

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Pop them like just pinch them so they kind of explode in place, or just pop them off entirely?
 

grapedrink

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subway said:
Pop them like just pinch them so they kind of explode in place, or just pop them off entirely?
I just pop them off entirely :shrug: Usually you will see a group of tiny leaves before they turn into a flower. Not what you want for herb farming. Pluck them off and be done with it :beer:

On that note- you may want to have a more Nitrogen based fertilizer for the herbs you do not want to flower, then a more complete fertilizer for your fruiting vegetables, if you want to get super heady about it :smokin:
 

Ifallalot

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ghostshaper said:
Do you guys have any tips about keeping rats out? They devastated our corn this spring. Too smart for snap traps, and only one fell into my spinning can-water death trap. Heyre also going after the chicken feed bc the chickens are so messy when they eat. Looking at rescuing a cat BC I've heard that's the only thing that will keep them away. Poison is out if the question with dog, kids, and I can't have them dying under my shaping shed. I need to make sure I seal off underneath my shed this summer.
Get one, maybe two of these.



Neutered males