let's see your veggie garden {pics}

[ChinaVoodoo]

My cukes are narrow, but about 1 foot long. I've been pickling in 1/4 wedges in quart jars. It's exciting when they start to bubble.

Bob

Bob,
I thought your pickle recipe had vinegar in it. Also, I thought pickles wouldn't ferment if there was too much vinegar. Or is this another recipe you got up your sleeve?

 

[deluxestogie]

The quantity of vinegar I use in my salt brine is inadequate to complete much pickling. It's just there to maintain an initial acidity. If the brine is not hot enough to cook the vegetable, then in two or three days the vegetable's own lactate build-up (from its tissue metabolism) begins the process of lactic acid pickling--and bubbles appear. When the bubbling stops, they go into the fridge.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

The quantity of vinegar I use in my salt brine is inadequate to complete much pickling. It's just there to maintain an initial acidity. If the brine is not hot enough to cook the vegetable, then in two or three days the vegetable's own lactate build-up (from its tissue metabolism) begins the process of lactic acid pickling--and bubbles appear. When the bubbling stops, they go into the fridge.

Bob

That sounds like a process you need experience with to get right.

 

[Brown Thumb]

This yrs. Garden/ Baccy patch.
The sweet corn is doing good. I have the plots spaced 2 weeks apart. If you look close you can see another plot coming up in the center of the garden.
The peppers are dieing off? The tomato plants look like hell.
All My butternut Squash Died, Onions are falling over dead before maturing.
My Baccy is getting eaten by hornworms and can't stand up on its own.
My Baccy has been falling over and its not the roots.
The stalk cannot support itself, a little rain one wind and down they go. The stalk is like a rubber band. They kinda come up somewhat.
I guess I will cook up some stuffed zucchini.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Rough stuff, Brown Thumb. I hope things turn out better than they're currently lookin'.

 

[deluxestogie]

Look for a pinhole in the base of the stalk of wilted plants. With so many, go ahead and yank up a floppy one to look at the roots, and to cross-section the stalk for inspection.

Bob

 

[Hasse SWE]

This yrs. Garden/ Baccy patch.The sweet corn is doing good. I have the plots spaced 2 weeks apart. If you look close you can see another plot coming up in the center of the garden. The peppers are dieing off? The tomato plants look like hell.All My butternut Squash Died, Onions are falling over dead before maturing.My Baccy is getting eaten by hornworms and can't stand up on its own.My Baccy has been falling over and its not the roots. The stalk cannot support itself, a little rain one wind and down they go. The stalk is like a rubber band. They kinda come up somewhat. I guess I will cook up some stuffed zucchini. View attachment 21276View attachment 21277

Brown Thumb: One of my tobacco variants looking exactly like your, my BMC-24 just getting tired yesterday and today I took a closer look at it and its look like it have growing that way from the start but I know that all happen yesterday.. Every other variant stand strong and nice. This have not been my best growing year but I will have alot of tomatoes and herbs to take care of.

 

[Brown Thumb]

I tried googling BMC-24 and found nothing.
I have never seen anything like it and it is a lot of plants.
If it wasent you someone else mentioned it in there grow log.
I thought his were falling over untill I saw mine.

 

[deluxestogie]

Promising Girl Goes Bad

You try to bring them up right, but then they get mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Promising Girl Goes Bad

You try to bring them up right, but then they get mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Bob

I think they're born that way.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

It looks more like early boy.

I have yet to have any turn red yet, I'm envious.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I started onion from seed for the first time. They are doing much better than onions I've started from sets in the past. I highly recommend it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Last fall, I purchased onion sets for Georgia Sweet Candy Onion (a giant Vidalia type), and planted them in early November, with 12" of pine needle mulch on top. I was expecting some massive onions by this summer. Only 2 out of 25 or 30 survived the winter. Both of those survivors immediately bolted in late spring. I allowed them to blossom (while topping any other onions that bolted), and open pollinate each other. Yesterday I saved the maturing seed heads. Needless to say, my (expensive) big onion sets were a big disappointment.

So I will be hopefully starting seeds for these for 2018. When do you start onion seed indoors? And when do you put them out in the garden?

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Last fall, I purchased onion sets for Georgia Sweet Candy Onion (a giant Vidalia type), and planted them in early November, with 12" of pine needle mulch on top. I was expecting some massive onions by this summer. Only 2 out of 25 or 30 survived the winter. Both of those survivors immediately bolted in late spring. I allowed them to blossom (while topping any other onions that bolted), and open pollinate each other. Yesterday I saved the maturing seed heads. Needless to say, my (expensive) big onion sets were a big disappointment.

So I will be hopefully starting seeds for these for 2018. When do you start onion seed indoors? And when do you put them out in the garden?

Bob

This was the first year I did it. I did not keep good notes on them, but I'll try the best I can to explain what I remember. I tried three different methods, and I must confess that I'm not sure which was best. The worst was the ones I planted indoors on March 6, and grew in the front window for the first month. They might do well with grow lights, but you know, they're just onions, so they were all floppy and weak and never really recovered. Now the good ones: There was also a tray which I started the same day, but put outside. It froze solid at minus 20 C, but still germinated sometime in mid April. At that time they were in a makeshift cold frame. There were also trays of onions which I started March 26 in the cold frame. They germinated probably a week earlier than the ones which were always outdoors. Those quickly caught up though. I think I transplanted them to the garden in the first or second week of May. I lost 40% of them to hares. As it was the only thing out there.

I think you could plant them outside in domed trays in February in VA. I'll do domed trays again next year too. Not much point of planting earlier than March for me though. I found it nerve racking waiting for germination, because if they don't come up mid April, it's kinda too late. I'll probably plan to put them out when it's minus 5 and move them to the garage if it gets colder.

 

[deluxestogie]

-20ºC...froze solid...got it. You must have a blue thumb.

I think the key is to have no tricky warm spells in the middle of the winter, since that would germinate, then kill the seedlings.

An interesting aspect of onion seed vs. onion sets is the fact that onions are biennial. They grow a bulb the first year, then bolt and flower the second. An onion set has already spent its first year.

I did some searching, after reading your -20ºC post, and found an article that seems to describe your best method: http://savvygardening.com/why-planting-onion-seeds-is-better-than-planting-sets/

Thanks for the ideas. I think I'll go with that early December, tough love approach.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thank you for the link. I'll delve into it for sure.
These are the instructions from the place I got my seeds from:

Timing: Transplanting is preferred for home gardeners: Sow 3 seeds in each cell of a 72-cell tray and transplant as a clump, spacing each 15cm (6”) apart. Seeds will emerge in 6-12 days, depending on soil temperature. Start sweet onions first, indoors in February for transplanting after April 21st. Storage onions can be treated the same way or direct sown in early April. Plan to direct sow overwintering onions in the first two weeks of August. Direct sow scallions every two weeks from April 1st to the end of September, as they are a year-round crop. They will grow all winter long beneath cloche protection.

https://www.westcoastseeds.com/garden-resources/articles-instructions/about-onions/

 

[Brown Thumb]

I found another use for these big lots greenhouse plant tray system.
Im drying my little onion and garlic bulbs on them under the farmers porch.

 

[deluxestogie]

Perfect.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Oh, my aching pear branches!

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Oh, my aching pear branches!

Bob

my wife has a big pair of limb loppers, she would wack that branch off with and run it over with the mower and make mulch out of it.
she chases the ground hogs with the mower too