Fall Cukes and Squash

[GoDawgs]

Once again I forgot about starting more cukes and squash so that when the spring planting ran out the new ones would be starting to set. So belatedly on July 2, I started two each of cukes and straightneck squash in pots and transplanted them out July 24th.



I can't remember who it was (Worth? Bill?) but last year somebody here gave me a tip about transplanting these plants that sometimes don't like transplanting. The tip was to use the pot to form the hole in the soil so that when unpotted, the plant would slip right into a same sized hole and never miss a beat. By golly, it worked like a charm!

Thanks to whoever gave me that tip!

[b54red]

It wasn't me that gave you that tip. I'm not that careful with these so called hard to transplant crops and never seem to have a problem with them. I make sure that they are hardened off well and old enough to have a good root ball that won't fall apart when removing them from the cups. I do try to set them out this time of the year very late in the day so they can have the cool of at least one night to get used to the garden and it is even better to set them out when it is rainy but that isn't very often this time of the year.

I have got some cucumbers growing but they aren't ready to set out and I don't even have a place prepared for them yet. Every year my fall cucumbers have done pretty well but they don't make as nice looking fruit as in the spring. Frequently the long burpless cukes will tend to be shorter and somewhat fatter with tougher skin in the fall at least until it cools down more. I just pulled my spring squash plants on Monday and they were still making but we got a bit tired of them so I won't be setting any more of them out until next year.

Good luck with everything. Sometimes the whiteflies can be a real pain on fall crops so you might want to watch for them.

Bill

[Worth1]

Looks great.
I planted some really old squash seeds the other day.
We shall see if they come up.
The are the calabaza squash, light green striped looking things.

Yes it was me that gave that tip or at least have given that tip here..

[b54red]

I set my cucumbers out a week ago in temps bordering on 100 and had to water for a few days to keep them from totally wilting and then rain and cooler weather hit. They are now close to two feet up the fence and growing like crazy. It's amazing what a bit of rain can do.

Now since the drought seems to be breaking here I am going to start some seed for my fall crops and hope to have a normal fall season. Last years fall season was nearly a total bust since ti stayed hot and very dry right up into mid November so I had very limited success with everything except rutabagas until winter. I'm really hoping for a good greens season this fall along with some of the other normal fall crops.

Bill

[GoDawgs]

That photo was taken three weeks ago. Here's what they look like now:



I've already picked the first two squash (including the one on the nearest squash plant) and two cucumbers (National Pickling).

Last week, by the time I remembered Bill's use of Sevin around the squash stem base, a dastardly SVB had bored into one squash vine. Since it was newly made I injected up and down stem from the hole, covered it with soil and started regular dusting around the bases of both squash and cuke vines. The plant seems fine and no harm done.

That's a sweet potato vine on the trellis at the other end of the bed. I had one slip left over when I planted in May so I stuck it at the end of this bed where I could trellis the vine. The other day I saw one tater starting to bulge up in a crack in the soil so I covered it over again. I wonder how many more are under there? They'll be dug up in about three weeks.

[b54red]

I have found the secret to growing sweet potatoes in beds. Plant them under your pepper plants and then keep trimming them if they get too far out of the bed and if they get too aggressive climbing your peppers. It has amazed me how much better the two types of plants do when grown together. They must have a very symbiotic relationship.

I spent the morning starting a few seeds of everything I plant in the fall to test the viability of what I have so I can order some new ones if some of them are too old to germinate well. I have six different envelopes of mustard seed and have no idea how old most of them are so I planted 10 seed from each envelope and numbered the envelopes and the cups so I can see which ones are still good. I did basically the same thing with my other fall seeds and in a week will know what I need to buy for fall, winter and spring.

I sprayed my remaining tomatoes with the bleach spray this morning first thing and it is now raining again. Right now I am at six days in a row with rain so the diseases are really taking off and no fungicides will stay on so the bleach spray is the best I can do until the rain quits for a few days. After the hot dry weather this much rain is wrecking havoc on the tomatoes and I keep trying to pick them before they split too badly but some are starting to split when still green. The bell peppers are enjoying the break in the heat and I am not seeing as much sun scald as I was just a week ago. I'm sure this cooler weather won't last too long but it is a nice break if the rain doesn't keep on too long.

Bill

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by b54red

I have found the secret to growing sweet potatoes in beds. Plant them under your pepper plants and then keep trimming them if they get too far out of the bed and if they get too aggressive climbing your peppers. It has amazed me how much better the two types of plants do when grown together. They must have a very symbiotic relationship.
Bill

Now that's interesting! When do you usually pull your pepper plants?

Both my peppers and sweets are planted around the last week in April or first week in May, weather depending. I usually dig my sweet potatoes in September and the peppers usually get pulled out around mid October. But next spring I could plant a sweet under one of the pepper plants on an end of the row and see what happens. Thanks for the input!

[imp]

Great idea of the sweet potatoes and peppers together. Will have to try that next year.


Edit:


Like the trellis idea as well- make the sweet set potatoes in 1 spot even if a vining one and maybe shade another plant that could use the relief in my hot Texas sun

[GoDawgs]

The trellis is easy. Just two poles pounded into the ground with a fence post pounder and two pieces of field fence hanging on a couple of nails. Then I tie the fence pieces to the poles to make sure they don't slip off.



This one also has a "guy wire" (baling twine) on each side attached to the sideboards since the prevailing wind comes from the pasture.

[imp]

Smart!!