Any vegetable gardeners here?

[Spearo]

Hello,
Was looking for a good website for vegetable gardeners like TF is to fisherman. Any info. is appeciaded!

My lettuce and punkings are doing just fine what about yours?;-)

[LarryC]

Spearo,a vegetable gardener web site would be nice.I didn't do punks or lettuce but my turnips,kale and spinach are looking good.I guess these cool nights help.I'm gonna pick some stringbeans that i planted late this weekend.

[Spearo]

LarryC that sounds great. I gave stringbeans a breake this year and went for peas...way too many bugs to deal with in my area, now looking for Japbug soup recep. here in TF :<)

The punks are done and the lettuce this time of the year get all the attention before the first frost gets here. What is going on with the radishes this year, all top and nothing, nada on the bottom!

[LarryC]

Spearo,I have the same problem with radishes tops and no bottoms.I get a few turnip bulbs and all the tops that we can eat.I think it is in the soil,to much or not enough of something.Do you plant things in different spots each year,this may help a little.:thumbup:

[Spearo]

My 25'x45' spot is fenced in or the deer will eat todo, everything, so moving things around in a small space is hard to do. I never had this problem in the past and been using the same seed dealer too. As you said, it may be soil been too rich/high on something.

[AIK68J]

I garden in small spots as well having a little yard I built 2 boxes 8 ft by 4 1 ft high filled them and plant in them. I try to rotate each season. Sounds like you had the same problem my peppers, Tomatoes etc.. were not growing fully and rotting at the ends. I ended up adding some Epsom Salt (Mg) and Lime (calcium) and it seems to help. So this year before I planted I retilled let it set turn in a bunch of manure etc... got good harvest this year. I know some State Co-op's will do free or cheap will do the soil testing. I haven't yet sent mine in
Tips | You Bet Your Garden | WHYY (http://www.dccc.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/soiltests2.html)

[kapoc]

here is the one that my wife used

The Garden Helper: Gardening, flower and Plant Care Guides (http://www.thegardenhelper.com)

[Spearo]

here is the one that my wife used

The Garden Helper: Gardening, flower and Plant Care Guides

Guys,

Thank you very much!

[Jim C]

Hello Spearo and hope you and family had a great Christmas...I would suggest you do as I once did GOOGLE gardening and you will have the opportunity to browse through all the great web sites related to that topic.
We live in the middle of a small town 30,000 and have had probelms with deer eating everything in our area, most likely because of the apple and pear trees in our yard and the close proximity of the hills behind us.
15 years ago I put up fences 6ft and they probably laughed at it and jumped over..I did not like the looks so 2 years ago I changed my small garden to 4 sections of raised beds 4ft wide X 10ft longX 1ft hi...I was able to keep the weeds under control, good mulching, lots of watering when needed etc...for a fence I went to our local power company and picked up old cross post's 8-10 ft long, these are the cross pieces you see carrying the power lines... I cemented them in 8ft apart and went inot the wood and cut some nice2 and 3 inch trees for cross pieces, then 7ft pieces for uprights...Heck I can hardly get into my own garden now; however, it does keep the deer out..
Sorry for the long story, I tend to get carried away when I talk about fishing, computers, gardening, etc anyway I did get lots if info from what I googled..also in the newsgroups gardening and rec gardening will lead you to still again another source on info..
Good luck

[HJS]

Jim C - I too made a few small raised gardens, 5'x12'x 1', and filled them with high quality processed soil. I never walk in them, just work them from the sides. I've been using them for 15 years. I raise just enough stuff to eat fresh. Weeding and watering has always been an unpleasant chore that I didn't always keep up with as I should. This year for the first time I laid down a plastic covering on top of the soil called Weed Guard. Its sold in a roll that's 3' wide and maybe 50' long, available at any gardening and landscaping store. This plastic is black and has a bazillion tiny holes punched thru it. Rain goes right on thru but it stops weeds and minimizes water evaporation. Once its laid down you'll need to cover it with a thin layer of mulch like straw or wood chippings so the sun doesn't hit the plastic. This was my best garden ever by far. I'll use it every year from now on. BTW, I put the plastic down shortly after I planted the tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and other plants. For seed crops like squash and parsnips and other seed crops I waited until a few weeks after sprouting before carefully laying down the plastic and snugging them up to the rows. The plastic also keeps soil from splashing up onto the eatable parts of the plants... I hate grit in my food.

[LarryC]

jimc,another way to keep deer from eating everthing is stake the garden and put fishing line up about every 12 inches for about 3 Ft.I was told about this and i said yea yea.I did it 2 years ago and have never had a deer in my garden.They can't see it and when they walk into it and i guess it spooks them.

[Jim C]

Hi HJS isnt raised bed gardening fun? last year was my first attempt and I loved it, as you stated never need to walk in it and pack dirt down, easy to cultivate, although I had no weeds..Not using the plastic as you did I put down about 3-4 inches of ceder mulch and hardley a weed came up. I believe I will try that material you are referring to in my cucumber beds this coming season..My cuke's go bad because of the cucumber beetles, the striped beetles winter over and come up as the soil warms..maybe with using the weed guard that will keep the beetle grubs down, worth a shot many thanks for that idea, oh by the way I did pick up a small electric roto tiller and works terrific, easy to handle and store, dont need that monster tiller I once had, gave it to my son..
Jim

[Jim C]

Larry C I used 80# clear Stren to try to keep the deer out of my wife's flower bed, 1 foot horizontal spacing and they walk through it, able to see tracks when it has snowed..some day I hope to conquer them as I have with the squirrels