Great Job, Gary. The sqaush look great and your little garden looks nice to. Try growing them with beans next year, the two plants benefit one another.
And once your squash are done for the year, just cut up the vines and leave them in the soil, if you have any leaves; put them in the soil as well. (best to mulch larger leaves with your lawn mower first). Also, place a layer of grass clippings over the leaves followed by another layer of leaves. You can top the whole thing off with a layer of manure or coffee grounds (try your local cofee shop, they have buckets of them!)
You really can do as many layers as I described as you want, and vary the greens (grass clippings, squash leftovers, manure, coffee ground) followed by a layer of leaves.
Anyway, next year you will have the nicest, richest soil on your block and your plants will not only grow that much better, they will be more resistant to pests and disease
Also try to plant some flowers in and around the same area, they will attract beneficial insects that will pollinate your plants and eat insects that like to eat your squash plants.
Another thing you could do is acqure some leftover 2X4 pieces and drill holes in them, placing a piece of plastic on the top of the piece of wood and hang them around your yard. Mason bees will lay their eggs inside the holes. They are excellant pollinators, especially for apple trees if you have one.
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
All of that advice is much appreciated. Thanks, I have some questions though?opabinia51 wrote:Great Job, Gary. The sqaush look great and your little garden looks nice to. Try growing them with beans next year, the two plants benefit one another.
And once your squash are done for the year, just cut up the vines and leave them in the soil, if you have any leaves; put them in the soil as well. (best to mulch larger leaves with your lawn mower first). Also, place a layer of grass clippings over the leaves followed by another layer of leaves. You can top the whole thing off with a layer of manure or coffee grounds (try your local cofee shop, they have buckets of them!)
You really can do as many layers as I described as you want, and vary the greens (grass clippings, squash leftovers, manure, coffee ground) followed by a layer of leaves.
Anyway, next year you will have the nicest, richest soil on your block and your plants will not only grow that much better, they will be more resistant to pests and disease
Also try to plant some flowers in and around the same area, they will attract beneficial insects that will pollinate your plants and eat insects that like to eat your squash plants.
Another thing you could do is acqure some leftover 2X4 pieces and drill holes in them, placing a piece of plastic on the top of the piece of wood and hang them around your yard. Mason bees will lay their eggs inside the holes. They are excellant pollinators, especially for apple trees if you have one.
When I'm done with the squash for the year, I'm planning on moving my boxes around a bit as to better utilize the space in my veggie garden, will this create any problems when I come to layering the items that you mentioned? Also, I've been told that I should be alternating where I grow certain veggies as to deter pests, is this correct?
I have already started growing some foxglove around the back of the garden to attract insects for pollination and so far so good. I'll read up a bit on the Mason bees, this sounds very interesting.
These were picked last night.
[img]https://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m29/flatfourfan/my%20honda/2010.jpg[/img]
Inside.
[img]https://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m29/flatfourfan/my%20honda/2011.jpg[/img]
This lot was cooked quicker than last time and tasted great.
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
Hmmmm, looks more like a summer squash. Along the lines of a zucchini. Interesting.
Your questions:
1) Moving your boxes around won't cause any problems with soil building (the advice given above). One thing that you will notice, is that the lawn around the areas that you do the sheet composting that I have outlined above will be greener, grow more vigorously and be that much healthier.
2) Yes, you should plant the same plant in different areas each year. What happens is that insects that eat say.... squash lay their eggs in the soil where you had them this year and when the larvae hatch next year, if they have the same food source they will grow and redeposit their eggs, increasing the population.
If you alternated where you plant various crops, then the larvae that hatch will have a different food source, with different predators, different fungal and bacterial fauna, basically an entirely different ecoystem to deal with and will not reproduce as easily.
However, don't use herbicides or pesticides if you have an insect problem. If things get really bad try Neem Oil at most 3 times a week.
3) Mason bees are great, their sting is somewhat akin to being pinched. So, it really doesn't hurt. They are by far the best pollinators out there.
Also, check out the beneficial insect sticky in the what doesn't fit elsewhere forum.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=335
Baby Blue Eyes, Cosmos, Pansies, Primroses, Daylilies are good good flowers to plant to attract beneficial insect. Funflowers attract birds that will eat insects.
It's funny, each spring when I turn in my Rye(etc), I turn up all these grubs that the robins just gorge on. Probably beetle grubs. Beetles are a good thing to have in your garden as well. And encourage ladybugs, the gorge themselves on aphids, the pupal stage of ladybugs looks like an alligator so, leave these guys alone. They actually consume more aphids than their parents.
Your questions:
1) Moving your boxes around won't cause any problems with soil building (the advice given above). One thing that you will notice, is that the lawn around the areas that you do the sheet composting that I have outlined above will be greener, grow more vigorously and be that much healthier.
2) Yes, you should plant the same plant in different areas each year. What happens is that insects that eat say.... squash lay their eggs in the soil where you had them this year and when the larvae hatch next year, if they have the same food source they will grow and redeposit their eggs, increasing the population.
If you alternated where you plant various crops, then the larvae that hatch will have a different food source, with different predators, different fungal and bacterial fauna, basically an entirely different ecoystem to deal with and will not reproduce as easily.
However, don't use herbicides or pesticides if you have an insect problem. If things get really bad try Neem Oil at most 3 times a week.
3) Mason bees are great, their sting is somewhat akin to being pinched. So, it really doesn't hurt. They are by far the best pollinators out there.
Also, check out the beneficial insect sticky in the what doesn't fit elsewhere forum.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=335
Baby Blue Eyes, Cosmos, Pansies, Primroses, Daylilies are good good flowers to plant to attract beneficial insect. Funflowers attract birds that will eat insects.
It's funny, each spring when I turn in my Rye(etc), I turn up all these grubs that the robins just gorge on. Probably beetle grubs. Beetles are a good thing to have in your garden as well. And encourage ladybugs, the gorge themselves on aphids, the pupal stage of ladybugs looks like an alligator so, leave these guys alone. They actually consume more aphids than their parents.
Hi all! I'm new here.
From Namibia, now living in London, I love gem squash and now growing it in my backyard. The gem squash was all going well, till this happend!!!! White stuff started to appear on the leaves!!! No idea what it is. but its slowly killing the leave andtuning it yellow and then it dies! Please help!!!
[img]https://www.vegetable-gardens.co.uk/forum/attachments/pests-diseases/54d1220112954-white-fluff-veg-001.jpg[/img]
From Namibia, now living in London, I love gem squash and now growing it in my backyard. The gem squash was all going well, till this happend!!!! White stuff started to appear on the leaves!!! No idea what it is. but its slowly killing the leave andtuning it yellow and then it dies! Please help!!!
[img]https://www.vegetable-gardens.co.uk/forum/attachments/pests-diseases/54d1220112954-white-fluff-veg-001.jpg[/img]
Ah. Now I think I know what "gem" squash is. Some people in the States call it "Eight Ball" squash. Very zucchini-like except for the shape.
Wednesday, It looks to me like you're dealing with powdery mildew. Some gardeners have experienced success by spraying affected leaves with a mixture of 1 part skim or low-fat milk to 9 parts water (a 10% solution of milk, in other words). Others say that 1 tsp. (approx. 5 mL) of baking powder (sodium bicarbonate) dissolved in 1 quart (just under a liter) and sprayed on the leaves will knock it back.
I tried both on my zucchini and yellow squash. The sprays, tried about four days apart, slowed the powdery mildew down, but didn't kill it. My plants seemed to be heartened by my attempts on their behalf, in any case, and put forth new leaves. I also cut off the really destroyed leaves (which had begun to go brown) to encourage better air circulation and sunlight to lower parts of the plants.
Good luck.
Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17
Wednesday, It looks to me like you're dealing with powdery mildew. Some gardeners have experienced success by spraying affected leaves with a mixture of 1 part skim or low-fat milk to 9 parts water (a 10% solution of milk, in other words). Others say that 1 tsp. (approx. 5 mL) of baking powder (sodium bicarbonate) dissolved in 1 quart (just under a liter) and sprayed on the leaves will knock it back.
I tried both on my zucchini and yellow squash. The sprays, tried about four days apart, slowed the powdery mildew down, but didn't kill it. My plants seemed to be heartened by my attempts on their behalf, in any case, and put forth new leaves. I also cut off the really destroyed leaves (which had begun to go brown) to encourage better air circulation and sunlight to lower parts of the plants.
Good luck.
Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17
I had the same issue with my plants towards the end of the growing season and it slowly, but surely killed off the plant. But then again, I don't know how long they should last anyway.Wednesday wrote:[img]https://www.elftown.com/img/photo/70499_1220119897.jpg[/img]
lets try again. wont show my image
I was sent this from a gem squash farmer in MP in South Africa who swears by this after he saw my pictures on a local website.
1 part milk to 3 parts water. I tried this on my last plant and it pretty much cleared the worst of the worst, the key thing is to get the mildew as soon as it's visible.
He also suggested the baking soda, washing up liquid and vegetable oil mixed to water on non veggies.
I'm about to plant my second batch in my garden as spring is here, I've planned it out a bit better this time and I've found that they will grow almost anywhere.
Planning only 4 plants this year instead of 6 as from the 6 last time, I got over 200 gems.
I have grown gems for close to 15 years in Wisconsin, but this year the vines are as wide and thick as my hand, solid, not hollow and heavy. I don't fertilize or water and only have one vine this year, but it is close to 50 feet long by 20 feet wide. The gem seed was two years old, but it came from a Kirchhoff seed packet that a friend born in South Africa had sent me. The gems are normal size, no pests or disease. We had a lot of rain about a month ago, but not much since. The vine looks like it is on steroids, just montrous. Any clue as to what is happening, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Mary
Zone 5, US
Mary
Zone 5, US
I thought that I'd update the old thread as everything is growing from strength to strength. It's now 3 years and a bit since I started this and I've been growing gems with great results all year round. The worst season that I had only produced 100 gems, but the new puppy that got in the veggie garden was to blame for that.
I've had to expand the veggy garden and create new growing spots as I wanted to get as much in a small space as possible, everything is now fenced, so there is no chance of the dog getting in again.
Will post some pictures tomorrow.
I've had to expand the veggy garden and create new growing spots as I wanted to get as much in a small space as possible, everything is now fenced, so there is no chance of the dog getting in again.
Will post some pictures tomorrow.