Vegetable Garden Quiz

True or False?

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Plant tomato seeds indoors 5 to 7 weeks before last frost date.

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Determinate tomatoes produce fruit in a batch and indeterminate tomatoes produce fruit continuously until frost.
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Leggy tomato stems can be planted in a trench leaving the top of the plant above ground and they will grow roots along the stem.

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Potatoes are actually underground stems.

Cucurbits include cucumbers, muskmelons, watermelons, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash, and gourds.

Beans are nitrogen fixing plants.

Blossom end rot on tomatoes is a calcium deficiency caused by anything that interferes with the supply of water during fruit development such as drought or long periods of heavy rain..

As you know, all of the above are true.

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If you are planning your 2012 vegetable garden and want a refresher from Penn State College of Agriculture, check out the “Vegetable Gardening – Recommendations for home gardeners in Pennsylvania” here.

Let’s Talk Vegetables

Bean flower (pole beans Burpee 'Kentucky Wonder')

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Every year, with spring enthusiasm, I eagerly place seeds and plants in pots and in the ground. I dream of fresh green beans steaming on the dinner table; solid cucumber slices in a tangy dressing and juicy tomatoes eaten right off the plant.

With spring enthusiasm, I forget that vegetable gardening takes work and time. Not to mention battling the mosquitoes and gnats that hide under the leaves. In spring I forget how hot 93 degrees with high humidity really is. I forget that vegetables will need watering.

Every year, in July, reality sets in as I pull weeds, wash lettuce, pick cucumbers and clean beans. Years ago I had a large garden with rows of vegetables. Freezing and canning went on all summer. Now as empty nesters, we have only a few vegetables among the flowers.

I’m happy with a few vegetables every year. I wouldn’t want to be without them. The taste of my favorite varieties makes the effort worthwhile. I’m sure I’ll be overcome with spring enthusiasm next year.
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My vegetables this year:

Potted cherry tomatoes - Burpee ‘Sweet 100’.

In the window boxes on the patio - Agway parsley ‘Forest Green’ and lettuce ‘Black Seeded Simpson’. The lettuce is ready for its third cutting.

Happy cucumbers - Burpee ‘Straight Eight’ - crawl up the hydrangea and holly and over the daylilies and mums. Picking cucumbers will be quite a challenge.

Pole beans - Burpee 'Kentucky Wonder’. I’ve had the seeds since 2007 and planted a few seeds every year. This year I planted a few extra thinking they may not all be viable but it looks like they all germinated. I should have pulled a few when they came up. They are one of the best tasting beans I have ever planted.
Green tomatoes on Burpee ‘Early Pick’

Precision Drip Spikes

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Last May 30 I posted that I was going to try Precision Drip Spikes to help keep my potted pole beans and bush cucumbers watered during the summer.

I ordered a pack of four spikes for $16.95 from Gardener’s Supply. Each “Spike” consisted of a 7" spike to fit in the water bottle, a tiny hose and a small “dripper” spike. The water bottle is not included.

A numbered dial on the "dripper" spike sets the amount of water to be released.

According to the instructions, “When you plant the (dripper) spike the water outlet must not come in contact with the soil.”

The first thing that happened with the Precision Drip Spikes: The 2 liter bottle spike sunk in the soil and it was difficult to put the drip end in the soil without getting it too deep. I tried to prop the bottle on some flat stones and lean it against the pot. There was still an S-shaped curve in the hose. A smaller bottle didn’t work much better.

I fiddled around with it for weeks. If I got everything right, it worked well. Some times it created a vacuum and no water came out at all. I finally took them out. I think it takes someone with more patience than I have to get the Precision Drip Spikes working correctly.

I’ve read that some people cut the bottom off the water bottle which makes it easier to refill and eliminates the vacuum problem. I may try that next year.

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Watering Container Plants

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Drip-it Pro Waterer (see May 11, 2008 post) was designed for house plants. I tried it with my vegetable container plants this summer. I have one in a pot of pole beans and one in a pot of cucumbers.

I filled the water containers about once a week. The 8” water bottle holds about 4 cups of water. It is simple to fill and use. The T-shaped “wick” sometimes fell out as I put the pronged cap on. But, they were easy to put back in place.

I still had to water once or twice a day in the summer heat. The water bottle may have helped keep the pots from completely drying out.

I think they will work for my large house plants while I’m on a 2-week vacation this winter.

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Gardener’s Supply “2-Week Plant Sitters” http://www.gardeners.com/Drip-It%20Waterer/17519,default,pd.html
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Garden Homecoming

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I was on vacation last week – a very relaxing time away from home. The garden is looking only a little neglected. Fortunately, my friend Cindie watered the pots for me. Without her, they would have been toast!

The hydrangea (Hydrangea ‘Venice’) is blooming. The color this year goes from pink through lilac to purple. I never know what color it will be. Last year it was a bright pink. (see July 25, 2007 post) It is full of blooms. I mean FULL of blooms. The leaves are barely visible.

The Lace Cap is also blooming profusely. They are both happy in their spot – shaded from the hot afternoon sun.

The potted zinnias (Burpee Giant Flowering Mix and Magic Carpet Mix) look good on the patio. It’s too early for mildew.

The ('BrandyBoy') tomatoes are getting round and plump. I picked beans. The cucumbers are growing from their pot. I made cucumber salad. The 2 "Drip-Pro Waterer"s that I bought from Gardener's Supply seem to keep the potted vegetables from completely drying out.

Not everything looks as good. Japanese beetles are feasting on canna leaves, roses and pole beans. Dead looking, lace-leaved cannas are not a pretty sight. I haven’t found a way to get rid of those armored chewers. I never seem to have time to knock them in a bucket of soapy water. Karen Bernhard, Entomologist, Lehigh Co. Cooperative Extension, published Japanese Beetle information in “Penn State Master Gardeners” blog in the Morning Call July 10. http://blogs.mcall.com/master_gardeners/

Weeds that were tiny when I left are now large enough to have seed heads. Crabgrass, ever the opportunist, has sprouted in every unplanted inch of ground. I pulled one clump as big as a head of cabbage. The lilies are finished blooming and seed heads need to be cut off. Same with the hostas. The sweet alyssum needs a trim. Garden paths are overgrown. There’s compost tea to make. Annuals need to be fertilized.

Lots of work to do to catch up but it’s good to be back in the garden.

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2007 Garden

As I looked through the garden photos from 2007, I found some winners and some losers and a few that were a little of both.

Losers

The pot of Double Flowering Tuberose (Polianthea tuberosa) did not bloom (again). I promised myself if there were no blooms in 2007, they would be compost. But, I've the pot away for the winter (again). (see December 29, 2006 post). We’ll see. I get plenty of green leaves and lots of new bulbs each year, but no blooms. I don't know if I'm ready to give up the challenge.

Lobelia 'Crystal Palace' started with a few pretty, bright blue flowers in a pot with zinnias. They never developed into much. I’m not sure if it was the competition from the zinnias or the shade from the zinnias or the hot, dry summer. I've tried nasturtiums and petunias in the bottom of this patio pot. Neither one worked very well. I’ll be looking for a different cascading plant this spring. I may try some of the bright sweet potato vines.

In the middle

Container Vegetables. The cucumber (Bush Champion) plants produced a normal amount of cukes before they were overcome with mildew. I may try a mildew resistant variety this year. The beans (Kentucky Wonder) were a success producing beans into fall. But, keeping the containers watered was a problem in the hot, dry summer. I will be researching watering methods and gadgets this winter.

Making aerobic compost tea was easy enough to do. (see July 7, 2007 and August 8, 2007 posts) I think I got some good results on the roses. I’m not sure how valuable it is as a soil amendment. I’ll be trying it on a portion of the lawn next spring. At the very least, I got to stretch my valuable compost a little further.

Sweet Pea (Sweet Dreams & Streamers Mix) took a long time to germinate. Half of them turned brown and withered. The other half produced a fair amount of flowers. The flowers were almost exclusively lilac colored with few exceptions. There was no noticeable fragrance.

I’ll get to the winners next time.

Container Vegetables

This year I am trying container vegetables for the first time. I have two large pots on the deck.

I ordered cucumber Bush Champion and pole bean Kentucky Wonder from Burpee and planted the seeds on May 7. The seeds germinated by May 12. I watered frequently (sometimes in the heat, 3 times a day) and fed with an Algoflash solution, fish emulsion (1X) and compost tea (2X).

I picked the first cumbers on July 1. There are a lot of flowers and small beans on the vine. So far I'm happy with the progress. We'll see how in goes through the heat of July and August.