Winding down spring, winding up fall

GoDawgs · August 31, 2019

It's been a long week. The Lady peas have been ripped out. I'm trying to decide if I should rip out the Knucklehulls or let them go to seed for collection. Right now they're producing a crop of leaffooteds but I need the seed. But I don't want the leaffooteds to mess with the Red Ripper peas when they begin to flower. Decisions, decisions.

I got two more beds broadforked and weeded so now I have the two beds for bush beans and one bed for peas ready to go. Planting those is scheduled for tomorrow. Whatever H. Dorian decides to do we'll probably get rain out of it which will be nice to water in the seeds.

The garden has looked the most frowsy it has looked in ages with weeds all up in the unused beds and the pathway grass growing long. Yesterday the garden got mowed and that helped a lot.

After the peas and beans go in, the plan is for putting in the brassicas mid month. That will require forking and prepping six more beds between now and then.

The brassica plants and onions are coming along nicely under the lights. They were seeded 20 days ago. Today I started a second 6-pack of broccoli and another 4-pack of that Amazing cauliflower so I don't get a flood of stuff ready all at once.

The exceptions are two of the four kinds of cabbage I started. The one on the left is Red Acre. Someone gave me an unopened pack of seed from last year and I sowed three seeds per cell but only one came up. I sowed three more in the empty three cells and of those only one came up. The Stonehead on the right is just being slower than the other two cabbage varieties. Only three of those were started and all came up.

I think this is spiny cucumber, grown from seeds given to me. I've never met one before. They took a long time to come up so by the time they did there was other strange stuff coming up too. That's been happening this year, probably coming from the bulk compost I bought. I waited until it was evident that the two plants were vines and then pulled the rest of the stuff. We'll see!

AlittleSalt · September 1, 2019

I like your plans a lot - sounds great.

For me, I had a beautiful garden that I shared countless pictures of and well over half of my 13,000 posts here about. Yes, there were/are soil diseases in the used-to-be garden I had, but the straw that broke the camels back was leaffooted bugs.

My personal advice is to get rid of those leaffooted bugs ASAP. The same advice goes with Harlequin bugs - although I only had those one year. Those bugs like everything in the garden. .

* My personal advice comes from my experience in the gardens I grew - It doesn't mean "That's how it is" for everyone.

GoDawgs · September 1, 2019

Thanks for the input, Salt. You've helped me decide to just rip the Knucklehulls out and not wait any longer. They were just an experiment anyway. I think I'll hit 'em with pyrethrin pre-yanking to kill as many leaffooteds as I can and then pull the vines the next day.

No harlequin bugs here, thank goodness!

AlittleSalt · September 4, 2019

GoDawgs, I'm not feeling well and this is day 8. It has been a few days since I've been here.

I am opinionated about those leaffooted bugs. I thought my opinion would be one of many and others would disagree for some reason. I think you did the right thing if you were to ask me.

August 31, 2019	#1
GoDawgs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b Posts: 1,685	Winding down spring, winding up fall It's been a long week. The Lady peas have been ripped out. I'm trying to decide if I should rip out the Knucklehulls or let them go to seed for collection. Right now they're producing a crop of leaffooteds but I need the seed. But I don't want the leaffooteds to mess with the Red Ripper peas when they begin to flower. Decisions, decisions. I got two more beds broadforked and weeded so now I have the two beds for bush beans and one bed for peas ready to go. Planting those is scheduled for tomorrow. Whatever H. Dorian decides to do we'll probably get rain out of it which will be nice to water in the seeds. The garden has looked the most frowsy it has looked in ages with weeds all up in the unused beds and the pathway grass growing long. Yesterday the garden got mowed and that helped a lot. After the peas and beans go in, the plan is for putting in the brassicas mid month. That will require forking and prepping six more beds between now and then. The brassica plants and onions are coming along nicely under the lights. They were seeded 20 days ago. Today I started a second 6-pack of broccoli and another 4-pack of that Amazing cauliflower so I don't get a flood of stuff ready all at once. The exceptions are two of the four kinds of cabbage I started. The one on the left is Red Acre. Someone gave me an unopened pack of seed from last year and I sowed three seeds per cell but only one came up. I sowed three more in the empty three cells and of those only one came up. The Stonehead on the right is just being slower than the other two cabbage varieties. Only three of those were started and all came up. I think this is spiny cucumber, grown from seeds given to me. I've never met one before. They took a long time to come up so by the time they did there was other strange stuff coming up too. That's been happening this year, probably coming from the bulk compost I bought. I waited until it was evident that the two plants were vines and then pulled the rest of the stuff. We'll see!

September 1, 2019	#3
GoDawgs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b Posts: 1,685	Thanks for the input, Salt. You've helped me decide to just rip the Knucklehulls out and not wait any longer. They were just an experiment anyway. I think I'll hit 'em with pyrethrin pre-yanking to kill as many leaffooteds as I can and then pull the vines the next day. No harlequin bugs here, thank goodness! Last edited by GoDawgs; September 1, 2019 at 02:09 PM.

September 1, 2019	#2
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	I like your plans a lot - sounds great. For me, I had a beautiful garden that I shared countless pictures of and well over half of my 13,000 posts here about. Yes, there were/are soil diseases in the used-to-be garden I had, but the straw that broke the camels back was leaffooted bugs. My personal advice is to get rid of those leaffooted bugs ASAP. The same advice goes with Harlequin bugs - although I only had those one year. Those bugs like everything in the garden. . * My personal advice comes from my experience in the gardens I grew - It doesn't mean "That's how it is" for everyone.

September 4, 2019	#4
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	GoDawgs, I'm not feeling well and this is day 8. It has been a few days since I've been here. I am opinionated about those leaffooted bugs. I thought my opinion would be one of many and others would disagree for some reason. I think you did the right thing if you were to ask me.