Gonna buy my pepper seeds here shortly. New house, so I need to set my seed starting station back up. We're gonna try a greenhouse this year to keep the critters out and extend the growing season a bit.
Trying some new mosaic-resistant cucumbers (Marketmore 77 and Wautoma) and pepper varieties (Anaheim and Calabrian if I can find seeds).
Also going to try cover crops for the first time - thinking of buckwheat after the spring roots (carrot, radish and beets) and an oat/pea blend over the winter.
"New" That one got me laughing. Marketmore 76 was introduced in 1979 by Henry Munger out of connell. Wautoma was introduced in 1984 from the USDA in cooperation with infamous Jack E. Staub. The author of many questionable scientific papers.
Both varietis only have CMV resistance. Other mosaic viruses include ZYMV, PRSV and WMV2. So don't be shocked if they come down with one of the other viruses. ZYMV and PRSV are especially prevalent.
Sorry for the second post, but I started doing some research into the other viruses you mentioned. Maybe this is worth a separate post, but you seem knowledgeable so I'll ask here.
I don't see signs of mosaic virus with my other crops (including zucchini, other squashes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants), just cucumbers; does that make it any more likely that my issue is one of the viruses in particular? From what I can tell, the name cucumber mosaic virus is historical, and doesn't necessarily mean cucumbers are particularly susceptible.
Or maybe there's another reason for my cucumber issues: infected seed (I purchase commercial seed), growing conditions that are stressing cucumber plants in particular, or another disease that I'm mistaking for a mosaic virus. Any recommendations other than plant and pray?
By "pulling them out" I hope you mean till them under. Legumes are net consumers of N from the soil unless the plants are tilled under and allowed to decompose.
If you remove the plants you remove all the N. Also if you did not add inoculant to seed, you won't get much N.
I'm in a community garden where I've watched other people grow favas - for nitrogen and also for beans. But this is my first year doing it for myself. I'll add compost to the soil in the spring too. It's easy but also exciting. One of the gardeners in the community had snails eat all their sprouts but I got lucky with a different variety.
Just set up a pineapple in a pot that I’m hoping to replant in the summer. They’re just so much fun to gift and the way they just kinda drop babies always gets me.
In the dead of winter I do research, planning, buy seeds and get tools ready for action. Pruning season is coming up in a couple of months. I will get scions then. Grafting has opened a whole new world for me.
I don't plow, till or weed much so gardening is fairly simple once the preparation and planting is done - try reading "The One Straw Revolution" by Masanobu Fukuoka.
I started planting last fall and will continue planting until until August.
PS: I am a very lazy gardener but you should see my beans.
I've been growing 3 varieties of lettuce and some basil under white LED grow lights by the window and they're doing great! With a smart plug, I determined that they're using less than 3 cents per month which is way better than I expected. This will hold me over until it's warm again and I can cultivate my balcony garden.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
We planted a bunch of edible natives around our house which we are looking forward for the bees and the rest of us to enjoy them. Hopefully they come up for dried flowers and teas but I am thinking we will need to wait another year for them to get large enough to flower and harvest.
We had a mixed season planting the Three Sisters in our garden. Our popcorn turned out okay with a few stalks giving a good harvest and a few with not much. The beans went okay until the pumpkins strangled them. The pumpkins grew like crazy but all got mold and didn't produce any fruit. So we are going to want to attempt the right timing on those next year and reduce the pumpkin plants to a single plant.
We have some garlic in the ground already that we are hoping comes up well in the spring. Besides that the classic tomatoes, snap peas and peppers from last year. Hopefully with our addition of mulch and attempting some low dig methods we can get some larger plants this year.
Growing "three sisters" requires a lot of experimentation. You need the right corn, right pole beans and the proper squash. For example, bantam corn, with bush beans and tiny squash isn't going to do well. Don't expect your favorite varieties to produce much.
Also, Native Americans didn't plow fields, they planted three sisters in various clearing.
Mostly winged it which caused the problems. After looking more online you plant the corn first and then the beans in a few weeks and then the squash. The corn and beans are 1:1 while you have a single squash. Not like I did which was everything at the same time at a 1:1:1 ratio