Edibles - '08

Speaking of groung coverings, NOT worth it in my book.
Weed barrier here for eons, couldn't get good plants to grow thru holes dug for them, finally took it ALL out 75x12 foot long bed. Now we have decent plants that have a chance.
My sister had no luck keeping weeds from the area where she had a pool taken out and filled in. Didn't want to grow grass as she was going to start a Perennial garden. Weeds came anyway, she ripped it all out and sold it on Craigs list.
Don't know about tomatomulch,sorry.

I agree - the people we purchased our home from had black plastic all over the yard - enough to cover a football field. what a mess it was to dig up and bring to the dump. our house was known as the black placitc house by half the town we learned afterwards.

First report on red plastic mulch was that it increased tomato yields by around 20%, But that was on commercial (large) fields where the plants received a lot of reflected red light off the plastic. Then I read more studies showed an increase in yield of only about 10%. My guess is for the home grower there isn't much advantage to red mulch at all.

I had 2 rows done with it this year. I will never use it again - period. It appeared that the tomatoe plants were turning yellow so I yanked it off and they came back to green. I have 2 rows done with black weed mat. I wish I had done more of the black, water goes down in, the weeds don't come up.

I've used the red plastic a few years. No difference noted, except fewer weeds early on - before the tomatoes got big and shaded out any weeds.

Don't use mulch in the vegatable garden. or in the dahlia and strawflower rows. Have double dug beds. There there are few very weeds except purslane. The purslane doesn't crowd out tomatoes, beans peppers , squash or the flowers. Won't grow in shade so when the plants are larger, there is no purslane under them (but lots on the sides of the beds) Purslane is easy to pull up too. I leave it on the pavement to dry out for a few days, then rake it into the dirt as the soil here is a little short on organic material.

thanks! Guess I'll save my $ for more seeds and plants.

Yes, it's not worth the cost, Jen.

Speaking of not saving money by spending it on seeds:

T&M is having a 99c sale.

Do they last reliably for next year??

I keep them in a jar in the refrigerator. Most germinate the next year.

http://www.tmseeds.com/ilist/sale.html/?NC=N3146;OC=N3146



This message was edited Jul 7, 2008 1:55 PM

Who's T & M?

thompson-morgan. English seed supplier. base in New Jersey for U.S.

Thanks!

For those who have missed it, "Value Seeds" is the Thompson & Morgan discount outlet. Nothing over 99 cents. $1.99 shipping on any order. Some things seems to be always on sale, others come and go. Growing their "Meek 'n' Mild" salad/stir fry cut-and-come-again greens now (: Mizuna, Komatsuna, Tatsoi, Mustard Red Giant, Red Russian Kale). Tasty and only 49 cents for 500 seeds:

http://www.valueseeds.com/?page=2

most of what I bought on T&M were salad greens that I can grow into the winter here. Also some hollyhock seeds that I can "wintersow".

value seeds may have the same seeds. It would be a big saving on shipping.

Just placed my order for the veggie garden I'll be starting next year(with some flowers thrown in for good measure)
1 pole bean, 2 types of peas, romaine lettuce, zucchini, mint, tomato, sweet pepper. They also had a couple feebies. So with shipping and sales tax $14.54 , not too bad.

Tomato Supersweet 100 F1 Hybrid
8 - seeds for 99 cents. I don't think so.

Other seeds look good like the hollyhocks, canterbury bells. I am still looking.

I will never plant cauliflower again. It dont like heat. Other then radish's I finally got something.

Those cauliflowers look HUGE!

5" is not that big right? My friend said he never had luck with them. Said he would do everything and they would rot. Last Saturday I tied the leaves up around them so the sun would not hit them and the water could not get to the head.

I'm not sure. I usually see the little flowerets that the stores sell, ya know? So they look huge to me. :)

cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, broccoli raab are all fall crops here.

What about spinich... This week what I had all seeded *POOF*

Never had home grown cauliflower. Looks wonderful. Is it sown also as a fall crop? Never cared for it one way or the other until someone gave me a bowl of cauliflower soup.Great stuff.

Fall crops for Texas. Panhandle region probably approximates some areas in the NE. With cover, most of this could probably be fall planted.

http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/fallgarden/falldirect.html

Spinach will certainly bolt in this heat. It's really for cooler weather.

Fall gardening in the NE.

Eliot Coleman, Barbara Damrosch.

http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/main/about/about_eliot.html

Spinach is like Swiss Chard, you need to keep cutting it so it doesn't flower.
Califlower look great Sherrie and you did exactly right by covering the heads.

Here's my brocc.

Need some salad greens anyone? I can't eat this fast enough.

First zucchini!

Lots of blueberries - yum.

I am up to about 8 cucs so far

Aren't they delish, Victor?
I had a lot from my little bush this year.
I munch on them while I'm watering the garden.
They are shared with Mom & a catbird.
:o)

Nnacy

Yes, I love them, Nancy. Can't wait for the blackberries. I don't get too many raspberries yet.

Already had zuccini, summer squash, swiss chard, lettuce, radishes, cukes and broccoli. I'm waiting for these to ripen.

Show-off!! Hee hee - I started very late with the veggies this year. Didn't plant until mid-June.

Mid-to late may here. It will be awhile on the watermelons and cantalope.

I want to try melons next year. Which watermelons did you plant? Are there smaller ones that don't need as much room?

Yes, I usually do 'Sugar Baby' and 'crimson sweet'. I've tried others but haven't had much luck.
For Cataloupe I like 'Honey Rock' and 'Ambrosia'