Your Vegetable Garden

[Starfox]

We have the same beetle problem too, but they’re probably a different beetle- they’re Japanese beetles- and they will DESTROY a plant in a matter of hours if there’s enough of them.

I have never met someone who said killing crop pests makes you a murderer, I don’t need people like that in my life haha so that’s a good thing.

I think people are way too lenient with calling things carcinogens in general. But this may be left over hysteria from Agent Orange and the like, which my great grandfather was a victim of. I was just reading yesterday that aluminum antiperspirants are considered cancer causing by some people. I don’t know about that. But I avoid it not because I think it causes cancer but because I know it isn’t necessary. All natural products work just as good in most cases. Pretty certain it’s not cancer causing but it does force your body to work harder and it IS absorbed through your skin. I feel the same about pesticides. I doubt they’re carcinogenic BUT I still don’t want to be eating it. Whether it’s fast food grease or residual pesticides your organs have to work to filter them out and I believe it to be unnecessary to subject it to that when you have the option not to.

Don’t even get me started on GMO’s. I have a very strong opinion on that subject, I’ve written a few papers on them for various projects and in research Ive they need to be banned. Not for human health concerns, as science on that is beyond lacking to come to any reasonable conclusion, but for environment reasons.

I think these ones are a Clytra sp. no doubt they will move on and something different will take it's place.

You know I was just about to say the term murderer is maybe a bit harsh but looking at some arguments going on yesterday I think I'll stand by it. These people are nuts, lol. Bearing in mind the majority of these people are expat retirees with seemingly little else better to do than argue.

I agree, while there may be good science behind lists of carcinogens the numbers behind them are often very small but when someone says bacon causes cancer it is headline grabbing and people hold on to it without really understanding the science behind it. It's the same with most things and if you can cut them out or find workable alternatives then that is good.

OK I wont get you started.

 

[Starfox]

But Basil...Oregano...Mint, a couple years ago when I silled em in my baskets...they grew like mad! Small Highly draining.

Oregano and mint we have loads of trouble growing beyond 3 months. We are trying hanging baskets with them now and I think it seems to be better.

Plus we finally have tarragon that is going nuts, not sure if it is the mexican one though but hope it tastes the same.

 

[sorce]

tarragon

That did well for me...
But grown under HPS by a friend until....

Lignihardification.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Lignihardification

@sparklemotion malleable?

Sorce

 

[my nellie]

Basil goes fine with me
Celery hated me and loved the spider mites
Marjoram and I we both fit fine together, until Pseudococcus or something made his/her appearance and stole Marjoram's affection. Hence I got mad and butchered her

 

[my nellie]

... ... until....Lignihardification.

Sorce

You got influenced....

 

[Anthony]

A companion plant can protect or sacrifice itself as food
or both.
Lots of sensible books on the subject.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[AlainK]

I have thyme from the ground last year that is still alive, but small...last year I had parsley in the ground well...
But Basil...Oregano...Mint,

Yes!

And coriander! Fresh coriander leaves in salads or on lamb skewers on in curries (just when served).

Here, the climate is temperate enough to have laurel, I have one which is 4 metres tall and 2 metres wide, and plenty of seedlings.

I've also had "Satureja" (in French, "sarriette") in a pot for several years - the wild species, and marjory that self-sow each year. My hyssop is dead, except for a few small ones, I must sow some more: Hyssop is excellent as herb-tea when you have a cold.

Not to mention dill, "koper" in Polish, a must on boiled potatoes with some melted butter, or with cucumber and cream.

 

[sparklemotion]

@sparklemotion malleable?

If your tarragon is malleable, you should probably chiffonade a few sprigs and sprinkle it into a nice vinegarette.

I have a couple bay laurel, some rosemary, tarragon, lavender, parsley and helichrysum (curry-but-not-really plant) all waiting to go into a nice indoor/outdoor (hopefully permanent) herb planting, but of course I fell in love with the idea of kintsuging (it's a new verb, I declare it) a nice pot that broke over the winter and no other container I own will do, so no new edibles in the soil yet. Soon...

 

[JoeR]

Use it off the top. Don't let it form flowers, or if it does, pinch them off. That will keep it going longer.

This has worked well for me already, it was starting to bolt but since doing this it’s stopped!

My cilantro is still bolting though, I don’t understand why it looks so crappy. I can grow Bonsai but not cilantro?? (Embarrassing picture warning lol)

 

[JoeR]

So @Anthony , will these shoots eventually produce fruit too? This is a pineapple a bought from Ikea, which has already made its tiny fruit and is now dying (?), but is making three new shoots at the base. You mentioned that’s basically what they do, right? Do I separate the shoots?

 

[Carol 83]

This has worked well for me already, it was starting to bolt but since doing this it’s stopped!

My cilantro is still bolting though, I don’t understand why it looks so crappy. I can grow Bonsai but not cilantro?? (Embarrassing picture warning lol)

Never had much luck with cilantro either.

 

[JoeR]

Also over night my greenhouse tomatoes developed weird spots and yellowing on the old leaves. Cause for concern? What is it?

 

[JoeR]

Never had much luck with cilantro either.

Not sure why I try honestly, it’s only $0.99 in the store for a bundle haha

 

[Starfox]

Tonight baby carrots and garlic from the garden in a stir fry.

 

[sparklemotion]

Not sure why I try honestly, it’s only $0.99 in the store for a bundle haha

According to a UMN Master Gardener I spoke to, the trick with cilantro is to have a series of staggered plantings, 3-4 weeks apart (need to start from seed). After each crop bolts, compost it and replant.

I gave up on cilantro after learning that. Way more work/garden space than an herb that's so cheap to buy deserves.

 

[Anthony]

@JoeR ,

Pretty simple.
They do need lots of sun.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Todd-H]

Not sure why I try honestly, it’s only $0.99 in the store for a bundle haha

We planted cilantro quite a few years ago and it bolted and went to seed. Now it comes up everywhere and reseeds each year. It's only good for about 2-3 weeks for fresh but the seeds are great for cooking as well(coriander).

 

[JoeR]

Tomatoes in greenhouse are growing giant, this is an 8 foot tall greenhouse... and some are growing out the top window.. yet they aren’t setting much fruit? I’m not sure what the problem is. The bugs get around in there so I think the flowers are getting pollinated, it may just be too hot right now.

Any ideas what I can do to get more fruit?

 

[AlainK]

I've never grown tomatoes indoors, but yours seem to be wildly overgrown : outdoors, we pinch new shoots at the bottom of leaves for if you don't they will take all the energy and make more leaves instead of fruit.

The basic scheme is something like:



Where the yellow stars are the flowers and the light green shoots to be removed (red X)

The basics here, where anyone with 1 sq metre of soil grow tomatoes.

Tomatoes grown in greenhouses, most of the time in "rock wool" with chemical fertilizers and pesticides are tasteless and poor in all the nutrients that make a tomato a "good" tomato.

But the process to get fruit is the same: you must pinch the new shoots at the aisle of the leaves, any gardener in any place in the world will tell you the same. The only exception is "cherry tomatoes", that can devellop freely.