Hi everyone, I am new to Helpful Gardener. I am also new to gardening. About a month ago, I planted some turnip seeds, and they never grew. A couple of weeks ago, I planted green beans, sunflowers, and mint. The green beans and sunflowers have sprouted. The mint did not (booo, I was really looking forward to mint tea!!!). The beans and sunflowers were planted in full sun. I didn't treat the soil much before planting, just raked a bit. The mint was planted in a pot and kept in the shade. I didn't water any of it much since planting, but have been good the last few days. The plants seem to be responding to the water.
I have noticed a bit of pest damage to a couple of my green bean sprouts. I will try to take a photo and see if anyone can help me identify what it might be. I was thinking of sprinkling some cayenne pepper around my garden to see if it will keep the pests away. We do have some slugs, moles/voles, deer, etc. I have a feeling my sunflowers won't last long once they get bigger -- deer love them, I have read.
Anyway, just wanted to say hi since I am new to vegetable gardening, and hope that I can learn a lot from these boards. If anyone has advice for me, I'd love it!!!
Depending on the climate in which you live, late April may have been an inadvisable time of year to plant turnips. They prefer cool weather for growing, and will bolt (or perhaps not sprout at all) in hot weather.
Several parts of the country (U.S., that is; this is a fairly international forum) also experienced record-breaking rainfall in May. Perhaps the seeds drowned?
There are many current threads on slugs, snails, moles, deer, etc. Please use the Search function on the top left-hand side of each page for these key words *or* click on the name of a particular forum and read the titles of threads for your topics of interest.
Re. the pests: it all depends on what the pest (insect?) is, whether or not cayenne is recommended.
The more info you give us (where do you live? what has the weather been like recently? do you know what kind of soil you have? what is your sun exposure?, etc.), the better info we can give you.
Welcome to gardening, and welcome to The Helpful Gardener.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Several parts of the country (U.S., that is; this is a fairly international forum) also experienced record-breaking rainfall in May. Perhaps the seeds drowned?
There are many current threads on slugs, snails, moles, deer, etc. Please use the Search function on the top left-hand side of each page for these key words *or* click on the name of a particular forum and read the titles of threads for your topics of interest.
Re. the pests: it all depends on what the pest (insect?) is, whether or not cayenne is recommended.
The more info you give us (where do you live? what has the weather been like recently? do you know what kind of soil you have? what is your sun exposure?, etc.), the better info we can give you.
Welcome to gardening, and welcome to The Helpful Gardener.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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chefshelle
- Full Member
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:34 am
- Location: Jefferson City, Missouri
Welcome to the forum! I always plant marigolds around my garden. Pests don't care for the smell and it helps keep them away. Last year, I did not have any problems with critters. If you dead head them through out the year, they will come back! You can either sprinkle the seeds right back in or save them to plant next year.