Toxic1979, Veg Garden 2016

[Toxic1979]

Broccoli on the left
Cabbage on the right
Onion in the middle
Rutabaga (transplanted, and seemingly doing very well) in the front left, and turnip through out the rest of the front.

[Toxic1979]

Strawberry

Bird netting is not finished yet. Plans for this weekend.

[Toxic1979]

I mix of greens, Lettuce, Spinach, Turnip greens, Rhubarb

and some turnip, beets and chard scattered throughout.

I expect in the next month this will look much different. It took a while for it to get started, but it seems to be doing well now.

Each week this is looking much better.

[Toxic1979]

Some inside the greenhouse.
I was trimming the flowers as they came up so the plants did not use up so much energy producing the fruit. I went out of town for a few days and the gypsy peppers, and the 100's and 1000's tomato managed to sneak in few flowers and fruit. So I let them grow to see what happens.

The peppers plants did not get very large this year. I'm not sure if this is about a normal size or not.

[Toxic1979]

Unfortunately I had to abandon my plans for corn this year. So my trials for corn will have to wait until next year... my wife is a primary school teacher and she "borrowed" all my corn seeds for her classroom. They grow them the schools with the kids each year. I was hoping to get a few of the corn plants to place in the garden this year (as transplants)... but all the kids took their plants home! I tried growing them as seedlings as well, but started really early, and they got out of control really quickly, and I had to throw them out.

Grow almost as fast as weeds in the garden.

LOL

[imafan26]

I wouldn't call you a beginner, since your garden looks like an expert built it. It is well planned and you did succession planting and since you got great results, you chose good cultivars for your climate.
I know I am late to this party but really WOW!
Corn grows fast. It can double every week so you cannot wait too long to plant them out.

A note about Finocchio Fennel: Fennel attracts beneficial insects but it is also an aphid trap. Aphids don't bother the fennel and provide food for the lady bug larvae. Fennel though does not like company so plant it by itself in a pot or in the ground about 10 ft away from everything else. It will provide habitat for lady bug larvae and when it blooms, it will provide nectar and pollen for other beneficial insects. It stays in bloom for a long time. It can protect plants up to 50 ft away. Plants that can be planted next to it are horseradish, gynuura, and ginger. They are either not bothered by most pests or have different kinds of aphids so the proximity of the fennel won't matter. Fennel will stunt most other plants once it blooms and since it attracts aphids, anything that has the same kind of aphids should not be planted next to it. Fennel should not be planted next to its relatives like dill and parsley.

However, if you are going to eat the fennel bulbs, they must be harvested before they open up or the plant blooms. Leaves and seeds are also used . The bulb can be sliced as a slaw with a vinegrette dressing, sautee'd in garlic and olive oil (you can add butter too), or it can be braised usually as savory side to a roast.

I plant fennel in the ground but it grows to be about 4 ft tall when it blooms and it has a thick root so I would use a pot that is 12-18 inches deep and at least 14 inches wide. It likes an evenly moist and moderately fertile soil.

It technically is a perennial but I replant it every year. I remove the seed head when they mature and save the seeds for cooking. Fennel will reseed, so removing the seed heads will control where it lands. I usually only need a couple of plants for pest control and I plant a few more (4-6) for the bulbs.

[applestar]

Everything looking beautiful! Keep them coming. I love seeing your garden.

Agree with imafan -- you got a great set up. Looks like you'll have great harvest too.

[Toxic1979]

Thanks for the positive feedback. Always nice to hear that things are looking somewhat good... especially when it comes from experienced folks!

I stated it in the past, and Id state it again... since starting all this over the past two years I have a brand new appreciation for the amount of work that goes into gardening and farming. Such a rewarding hobby though!

Two quick questions. I'm not sure if its normal, but this year when I was tilling my carrot and leek garden areas I noticed that I did not remove all the carrots and leeks from last year. I pulled as much as I could see. now that my broccoli and cabbage are in I'm seeing a few carrots growing randomly in the garden I pulled them when I was weeding and had quite a shock. One of the carrot was actually 3 inches long, and looked healthy. Is this normal? Anyone else ever experience this? When I was tilling I pulled quite a few of the carrots as they were really healthy still. Made a nice pot of curried carrot soup during the spring thaw.

The same thing happened to the leeks. And I actually tried removing it several times but it keeps growing back quite well. Its growing between my rutabagas. And it looks healthy. Its also from last year.

A quick reminder to everyone that my area experiencing heavy frosts, that penetrate to a depth of about3- 4 feet in areas without any activity on the ground. Plus we have heavy amounts of snow from Nov- mid Apr. This past winter we had a very rapid frost. Ground was frozen 6-12 inches in about a week. I'm thinking it may have preserved the carrots. I've had potatoes do the same thing. Till the garden and find perfectly good potatoes.

[Toxic1979]

Imafan, thanks for the fennel info. We used to eat it a lot when we travelled to Italy. Baked with olive oil and parm cheese.... mmmm! I also love the smell of fennel.

Unfortunately I ended having to abandon the fennel. I read that it does not like being planted with anything! And it was not doing too well. It did well at first, but it was under the grow lights for a long time, and the leaves started dying off before I could transplant it. It took a long time for the leaves to even start growing back. But I did enjoy splitting the leaves and the black liquorice aroma from the stems!

I think next year Ill try larger grow pots for it. Mine were only 3.5 inches, and I planted it the same time I planted my tomatos under the grow lights.

[Toxic1979]

Does anyone know what may cause these two issues with my tomato plants? One plant has the lower leaves curling upwards, and another has just one branch n the leaves turning yellow, very slowly.

[Toxic1979]

Also... Both of these Zucchinis are "Sure Thing" variety. As you can see the larger one has a dry white film on the leaves. Its been there pretty much since it started growing in the pot. I have 4 growing, and the other three do not have this issue. All are in the greenhouse, and close to each other. But the one with the dry white film on the leaves is doing the best of all them It large, and it looks like its trying to produce flower, and the stem is getting very thick. Not leggy at all like last years first attempt at them.

Any suggestions?

[Toxic1979]

Also... do cabbage and broccoli plants give off a smell when growing?

[rainbowgardener]

Does anyone know what may cause these two issues with my tomato plants? One plant has the lower leaves curling upwards, and another has just one branch n the leaves turning yellow, very slowly.

The bottom picture with the leaves curled upwards is called physiological leaf roll. Tomato (and probably some other) plants do it in hot weather, especially hot and dry. Its a way to minimize water loss from transpiration from the leaves. Mine are looking like that too, although I did notice that if I go out and look at them late at night when it is cooler, they have unrolled some. As part of this process, the leaves get more leathery also.

The top picture looks like the start of some fungal disease, possibly septoria. Remove all the affected leavs.

[applestar]

Zucchini -- it's possible there was some kind of seed mix up (not necessarily yours) and they are not same variety. The white sheen is normal coloring when the leaves have some kind of a pattern.

These are redundant since Rainbowgardener explained, but looks like we're on the same page
(Tomato -- Leaf curl is nothing to worry about -- sometimes it's water issue, some varieties are more prone.
Yellowing leaf looks like some kind of infection and should be clipped off.)

Carrots and leeks are biennials and will try to bolt/flower 2nd year. I harvest most of the leeks in spring, keeping only a couple to make seeds to harvest. I'm growing more this year to try making sprouts and micro-greens with them in winter -- I need fresh seeds with good germination.

Maybe the heavy snow over and NOT thawing all winter helps them despite what must be colder temp than mine. plus maybe all the soil pests get frozen. Most of my overwintered carrots were spongy from freeze/thaw cycles or split, and even though they recovered and are now blooming, they were not good eating. Carrot blossoms attract a lot of beneficial insects. One in particular I want to attract are two species of Japanese beetle predatory wasps.

[Toxic1979]

Garden Update as of today:

Cabbage, Potato, Carrots

Broccoli, Cabbage, Onion, Ruttabagas, Turnip

Potato (Yukon & Norland)

Cabbage, Cauliflower, Carrot, Lettuce, Beets, Onion, Chard

Strawberries (and a few controlled runners)

Strawberries (controlled runners as well)

Tomato, grown under hoop houses in North Eastern Canada

More Tomato, grown under hoop houses in North Eastern Canada

One of the tomato plants here isn't doing so well, but is putting off new growth and tomatoes are growing.

[Toxic1979]

More update:

New Strawberry Bed this year. Not all the plants made it, as they were placed in the ground to late from dormant roots.

Grow bags on the rock walk path for better drainage.

Onions (Grown from seed, and then transplanted)

Broccoli, Cabbage and Rutabaga

Broccoli, Cabbage

Experimental Hoop House with Peppers, Tomatoes

Experimental Hoop House with Zucchini, Peppers, Tomatoes

Experimental Hoop House with Beets, Green Beans, and Eggplant. Gr. Beans and Eggplant a bit to late I think.

[Toxic1979]

More Update:

Grow Bags full of last years uneaten potatoes. Was worried they would not do well....

Rhubarb, Turnip, Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Chard, Turnip Greens

Inside the greenhouse (one side)

The other side of the greenhouse

Some of the larger tomato plants are doing well... starting to produce flowers. This is a tomato-berry.

100's & 1000's tomato plant- great producer so far.

The whole garden is really starting to come together nicely!

[Toxic1979]

A few closer pics of the broccoli and cabbage:

This is my first attempt at growing them from seed under grow lights and then transplanting them outside. Last year my neighbour gave a cabbage and broccoli he had left over for transplant so I just threw them in the ground and paid no attention to them, and I had good results. So I decided to try it myself this year.

My broccoli patch.. 14 planted (Everest and Green Magic).

The opposite angle of the same Broccoli patch.

The Small Cabbage Patch with 10 Cabbage (Farao, Charmant)

Upper view of the smaller patch. They seem to be doing well.

My Larger Cabbage Patch- 14 plants (Charmant, Farao, Mozart F1, Danish Ballhead) The smaller ones are the Danish Ballheads.

Upper View of a Mozart F1 Cabbage. Again seems to be doing well.

[Toxic1979]

I read that Rutabaga does not like to be transplanted... so in maintaining my tradition of not listening well, and trying to complicate as much as possible... I decided to grow rutabaga under the grow and try to transplant them. LOL

Truth be told, I had to up-pot them prior to planting them in the garden.

My first time trying to grow them. I'm a little uncertain of there requirements, and exactly how well they should be doing by now, and wether or not I should expect anything from them. I've attached a few pics of them so far. Also a few dates. They are the Laurentian variety.

Date of planting under grow lights: April 19, 2016

Date of up-pot (placed in greenhouse during day, and in dark, warm shed overnight due to frost potential): May 09, 2016

Date of garden Transplant: June 01, 2016

The rutabaga patch on July 17, 2016

Close up near under the leaves

another one under the leaves

Just wondering if they are doing well so far based on the pics and the dates. Ive got another good 8 weeks of growing remaining, prior to getting about 3-4 weeks of 0-10 celsius in the evenings. Once October drives we usually start getting near 0 celsius weather.

To me it looks like they are starting to form. But again I never grew them before.

Thanks again!

[Toxic1979]

They are planted about 8-10 inches from each other.

[applestar]

Everything looks great so far, and the rutabagas look fine to me. Though I am by no means an expert -- I had one good year with them, then the bed they were planted in 2nd time got club foot. Soooo disappointing! I sowed the last of the seeds this spring, just to get rid of them and I have one nice one growing in a raised bed, and a handful of tattered looking ones in another bed.

Do you not get the typical crucifer/brassica pests? Cabbage whites even? They love rutabagas and turnips as well as the usual cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, etc. etc. Here, now that it's gotten hot, the cross-backs are all over the remaining broccoli and kale, and even a harlequin bug has made an appearance (a bit early, if you ask me) ugh and double ugh! -- basically time to pull the plug on most of them and make way for something else.

[Toxic1979]

I honestly had to google all of them just now. I have ben told by a few gardeners (in my area) that we do get a blue butterfly or moth that lays eggs in the cabbage, and that caterpillars can be an issue, but more the blue butterfly/ moth. I do have a cloth cover purchased to spread over the cabbage beds.

I have never seen any of the rest. I do have a few small signs of something munching on cabbage leaves and broccoli leaves, but I don't see anything in the beds or on the cabbages, aside from some small black flies and house flies. I was assuming it may be them.

[Toxic1979]

Also, a few of my turnips must have had two seeds on the planting hole, and did not get thinned out after they grew. Should I thin them out now, or should I leave them in hopes that two turnips will grow? I'm leaning towards thin them in order to get a turnip root to grow, instead of just turnip greens.... which I have growing in another bed.

[Toxic1979]

I'm sure our winters help determine which bugs will usually establish in our area. Our winters are usually 6 months long, with average ambient temperature (without windchill) of -25 to -30 Celsius (~ -13 to -22 Fahrenheit). Spring and Fall are ~ 1month each, and summer is typically 20/25 Celsius on average. But it can fluctuate quite a bit between days. Yesterday was 26 celsius, today was 12 celsius. We also get plenty of rain.

Summer days are very long (5am/ 6am until about 9pm/10 pm). Between mid June and mid September.

Winter daylight is depressing at times (8am to 4 pm). Also I have no way of having a winter garden... unless growing snow counts! Typically the raised beds have about 8-10 feet of snow on them by the time spring arrives.

The biggest insect problem here are the mosquitos and the small black flies. Which are an extremely big problem in the evenings while tending to the garden.

My growing season is realistically 12 weeks long, but can vary onwards of 14/ 15 weeks depending on the temperatures in the late spring and early fall.

When my wife asks where we are going to retire, I always tell her I'm packing our Snow Blower in the back of our truck, and driving south until the first persons asks me what that thing in the back of my truck is. That's where I'll stay! lol

[Toxic1979]

A few more pics this week.

I examined the cabbage and underneath the cabbage leaves and could not find any insects, aside from small black flies. They are a nuisance all over our town. I took some advice and decided to cover the cabbage with the row cover fabric. I purchased a heavy duty type. Installed it on hoop houses and clamped to heavy lengths of wood to ensure it does not blow off the hoop houses. Pics are below.

Broccoli is started to head on just about all 22 plants. Small, but its started.

[Toxic1979]

Any idea what is wrong with this tomato? I just noticed it the other day.

Its a marmande tomato.

These are gypsy peppers. I noticed the small brown spot on just one of them near the bottom. Its small, but I was wondering if its BER? I added lots of Calcium to soil prior to transplanting. I used gypsum. The others are not showing similar brown spots. Just wondering.

Also... the little tiny plant growing in the same pot as the gypsy pepper.... it that chick weed? I literally have tons of it in every raised bed, and pot and everywhere practically. Ive been spending about 30 minutes every evening picking it out of my gardens. Its seems to be working. Some come back, but I expect its because the roots were not completely removed. Some of the plants got pretty big... 6 inches or so. A few other pics:

[applestar]

The last weed -- it's kind of powdery underneath right? I'm pretty sure these are lambsquarters but could also be another species if narrow leaved. Both are edible weeds. Let some grow when distanced enough from main crops to not bother them while they are both small.

[applestar]

Subject: What are you harvesting -Summer 2014

Someone sent me seeds for what she called Aztec Broccoli and included a link for more info (https://seedsrootsleavesfruits.blogspot. ... ccoli.html). I realized I have a wild cousin and tried harvesting the tiny floral buds. They were yummy as garnish in a chicken soup.


She's also sending me Spinach Tree seeds. I have wild cousin to that as well, which we all know as lambs quarters (also pictured above). Hers is gorgeous frosty dark blue-green though, with magenta new leaves... and of course HUGE. I've seen them called "Magenta Spreen".

Here they are! Spinach Tree are growing


...I guess we need a new thread for this year...

[rainbowgardener]

I agree. I think your weed is lamb's quarters (aka wild spinach and many other common names). It is one of the best edible weeds, very similar to spinach and very nutritious.

I guess you have to do what you can do with only a 12 week growing season!! (I did retire and move south and now my frost free growing season is about April 1 to Nov 3, about 28 weeks!)

But it looks odd to have tomatoes producing and broccoli just setting heads at the same time. But 12 C (54 F) is more like broccoli weather than tomato weather. and 26 C (79 F) is more like tomato weather, so I guess it averages out.

[Toxic1979]

Okay... Lambs Quarter. Not Chick Weed. The pics look exactly like what Ive ben pulling out of my raised beds. Two days ago I literally pulled about 50 4-6 inch plants of go the garden. Yes 50. And the week before probably abut the same amount. And yes applestar they are powdery underneath, with a slight tinge of red in the middle of the flower.... it was a little confusing at first when I was pulling weeds near my beets...

So its wild spinach? Well that works for me... I love spinach. I always pile it into my lasagna and some soups... Ill try some and see his I like it. Its very resilient! Almost stubborn! lol... an way too much if I let it grow. It seems very invasive. And grows so quickly.

rainbowgardner..... I never did see it that way regarding the broccoli and the tomato... I just hope for everything to be harvestable at the same time, or at least before the end of September! Our weather fluctuates so much from day to night. I'm a little jealous of your 28 week grow season! April 1, I'm still cross country skiing, and its considered our best snowmobile weather!

[Toxic1979]

SO I covered my cabbage on Sunday as some addd protection... just in case. I checked on them today... now I have slugs on the cabbage. I picked 5 off one cabbage. I was frustrated, and decided t ask for a solution before I went out to pick them all off. They are very tiny and starting to do some damage to the leaves.

HELP! What do I do to destroy these evil pests that are devouring my cabbage? Is picking them off the fastest method? I didn't have this issue until I covered them... maybe just a coincidence. But I also have a lot robins and swallows (More swallows as they seem to drive the robins away) kicking around my area...maybe covering them took away the food source for the birds?

[Toxic1979]

A quick update from this week....

These are my two lazy helpers.... they wait for the birds to show up, just so they can chase them!

[Toxic1979]

Pics of my cabbage since the slug attack earlier this week.
What I've done so far....
- Cursed on slugs quite a bit!
- Applied some iron phosphate pellets around the plants and in between the rows
- Installed 14 beer traps in total.
- Placed a piece of 1x6 board between each row (In an attempt to provide them shade from the daylight.... and of course me checking the board in the daylight).
- Removed any leaves sitting on the ground that have yellowed.
- placed 1x2 boards on both side of the plants in an attempt to get the leaves off the ground.
- Manual evening slug removals... the first two nights there were quite a few... about 40.... since then they have reduced to about 1 a day.
-... and cursed a lot!

This what the two heavy damaged plants look like. I'm not sure what I should do with them... trim the leaves... or just leave it?

These are good ones. Most look like these. I might have about 2 heavy damaged ones, and 3-4 with one leave damaged. I have about 15 good ones.

Any advice much appreciated!

[rainbowgardener]

Everything is looking great!

[applestar]

I think you've done all the things I might have done for slug control. I wouldn't remove those leaves.

...I'm envious you don't have to deal with all the other issues -- with the summer serious heat it's the moths as well as the butterflies -- moths lay egg clusters and they all hatch at once, butterflies are egg dumping and lay dozen or more eggs per leaf... and now the harlequin stinkbugs are laying egg clusters on all cabbage family plants I have left in my garden.... AND here I am trying to GROW fall stuff.... With the all the thunderstorms, slugs seems to have resumed. High pest pressure.

[Toxic1979]

Do thunderstorms bring out more slugs? First I heard of it. Yesterday we had our first severe thunder storm with rain of the year. Last night I was using pliers to pinch slugs off the potato leaves. About 15 in each grow bag the I could see.

Last night we literally noticed the slugs have migrated to other areas of the garden. killed at lest 100 this morning after they ventured to their hiding spots. They are starting to take over my garden.... Now I'm just hammering them with rocks as I see them on the beds. I am seriously to my wits end with the slugs. Where do they come from, and how the heck to I kill them all.... I mean all of them. So sick of spending my time in the garden, squishing slugs.

GGGRRRR! I have Sluggo on the way. Hopefully it helps.

Also... underneath the cabbage plants I'm noticing the soil growing a white matted substance. I'm guessing a soil mould due to the heavy rain this past week. I scrapped it off and threw it out, but read that sprinkling cinnamon over the affected area could help.... any truth to that?

[rainbowgardener]

RE: underneath the cabbage plants I'm noticing the soil growing a white matted substance. I'm guessing a soil mould due to the heavy rain this past week. I scraped it off and threw it out, but read that sprinkling cinnamon over the affected area could help.... any truth to that?

Does your soil have wood chips or other woody stuff in it? That sounds like the kind of fungus that likes to grow on wood, part of the process of breaking it down. It is harmless. Cinnamon is a natural anti-fungal for some purposes, but I'm not sure it would do anything to these macro- scale fungal strands, unless you maybe buried them in cinnamon.

[applestar]

You must have missed some really big ones and they laid eggs, then conditions were ideal for them to hatch. If using things like grow bags, they were likely hiding underneath. Yes Sluggo will help.

...They are becoming a problem in my sweet potato SIP.

[Toxic1979]

Scraped off as much of the mould as possible. Then used lots of cheap Walmart cinnamon. Thanks Walmart.

Tortured a number of remaining slugs underneath the grow bags with the help of some vinegar and salt in a pail.

Theres something very satisfying about the manner in which they are eradicated!


Has anyone ever tried the peppermint leaves boiled with garlic and small amounts of cayenne pepper? Spray it on the ground? Leaves? raised bed wood? I'm open to trying everything to ensure the complete decimation of the slug species!

[Toxic1979]

Some may think that I'm growing some new variety of cinnamon cabbage!