Hows your garden doing?

[Petee]

Two DAYS AGO i had about 50 big tomato plants potted up to share with those who lost their crop.  Today they all have the blight.  I'm guessing that tomatoes will sell at an unheard of price this fall.  Treasure them if you got 'em!

[Guest marbek]

Marbek, you may want to sidedress your corn with a good dose of 10-10-10 wherever it is still small.  Also, try some Epsom Salts on your peppers at about 1 tsp per plant.  With all this rain rhe fertilizer gets washed out and you need to feed more often.

Maybe I'll have to check into the 10-10-10 and epsom salts. Do I just put the epsom salts right on the plants or mix with water? I had never needed to add anything with previous gardens, but with that great soil being taken out for the pool last and replaced with the garbage rock with some soil it may be absolutely needed.

 

I hope my tomates are okay. I looked at the plants today and they look fine to me, but I don't know what blight is so I have no idea. Usually I have great tomatoes, so I hope they are ok and good. There are tons of green ones, but none ready yet. Hubby just counted them and I have like 21 tomatoe plants. I have always had extra tomatoes and usually just mow them over after awhile when they get too many and out of hand at the end of season. If I do get many and good ones again this year I'll definitely be sharing.

 

Now if you've read this and made it all through that, I have a question now. Is it normal to not have any heads forming for cauliflower yet and the bottom leaves to be turning a purple color?

 

Thank you  

[ForHim]

Now if you've read this and made it all through that, I have a question now. Is it normal to not have any heads forming for cauliflower yet and the bottom leaves to be turning a purple color?

 

 

I don't have any heads on mine yet but my neighbor does. Yes, my bottom leaves are usually a shade of purple

[Petee]

 

Maybe I'll have to check into the 10-10-10 and epsom salts. Do I just put the epsom salts right on the plants or mix with water? I had never needed to add anything with previous gardens, but with that great soil being taken out for the pool last and replaced with the garbage rock with some soil it may be absolutely needed.

 

I hope my tomates are okay. I looked at the plants today and they look fine to me, but I don't know what blight is so I have no idea. Usually I have great tomatoes, so I hope they are ok and good. There are tons of green ones, but none ready yet. Hubby just counted them and I have like 21 tomatoe plants. I have always had extra tomatoes and usually just mow them over after awhile when they get too many and out of hand at the end of season. If I do get many and good ones again this year I'll definitely be sharing.

 

Now if you've read this and made it all through that, I have a question now. Is it normal to not have any heads forming for cauliflower yet and the bottom leaves to be turning a purple color?

 

Thank you  

Plants almost "eat"the nutrients out of the soil so you want to giveyour garden at least one treatment of 10-10-10 every year, then feed each type of plant according to the individual needs of the plant.  Tomatoes like a higher middle number just like most flowers. Corn is more balanced and likes 10-10-10 while root crops like something with a higher last number.  

 

Think leaves, fruit or flowers, and roots.  Each fertilizer has a ratio on it somewhere so you can use the correct one for the best growth.  Miracle Grow is marketed as an all round for general use but even they have some special formulas like for evergreens or flowers or tomatoes.

 

I'm not certain but I think the purple is caused by a nutrient deficiency, maybe Magnesium?  Alias.....Epsom Salts!  In most cases you need one teaspoon per plant applied directly to the soil around the base of the plant, once a month.  And I would suggest that you get a soil test done next year before planting.  Agway has the Penn State test kits, about $8 and you get amazing results if you follow their directions to amend your soil.

[Guest marbek]

 

Plants almost "eat"the nutrients out of the soil so you want to giveyour garden at least one treatment of 10-10-10 every year, then feed each type of plant according to the individual needs of the plant.  Tomatoes like a higher middle number just like most flowers. Corn is more balanced and likes 10-10-10 while root crops like something with a higher last number.  

 

Think leaves, fruit or flowers, and roots.  Each fertilizer has a ratio on it somewhere so you can use the correct one for the best growth.  Miracle Grow is marketed as an all round for general use but even they have some special formulas like for evergreens or flowers or tomatoes.

 

I'm not certain but I think the purple is caused by a nutrient deficiency, maybe Magnesium?  Alias.....Epsom Salts!  In most cases you need one teaspoon per plant applied directly to the soil around the base of the plant, once a month.  And I would suggest that you get a soil test done next year before planting.  Agway has the Penn State test kits, about $8 and you get amazing results if you follow their directions to amend your soil.

I've got the epsom salts ready to do tomorrow and will get the 10-10-10 when I go to Punxsy or DuBois next, probably towards the end of the week. Where could I find it cheapest that will be best?

[Petee]

I would check Agway or DuBois Feed and get a big bag.  It's not that expensive and can be used everywhere as a basic fertilizer.  Toss some in your compost too.

[Guest marbek]

I would check Agway or DuBois Feed and get a big bag.  It's not that expensive and can be used everywhere as a basic fertilizer.  Toss some in your compost too.

I've never composted or understood it. I guess I'm afraid of the rotting smell lol. Now that I have chickens I plan on doing the deep litter method. I want to learn to compost that for gardening, but not sure about that smell yet either.

[wildflowerpa]

I had purple leves on my cauliflower last year. Fouond out I got the wrong kind and instead of white  colored I got the kind you need to tie up and it turned purplr. Tasted the same though

[Harvey Mungaknuts]

Marbek  composting is not that hard.   there is usually a couple seminars in the fall you could attend and they always give composters away.  Hardest part is just trying to keep the right mix in it.  I have been working one for not quite a year now and have no bad smell yet.  it is all about the proper mix

[Smokefree]

My mother just tosses eggshells, coffee grounds, and vegetable peelings into a spot in the yard and she gets great soil there and it is full of worms. I never noticed a smell. It decomposes pretty fast once the worms have at it.

 

I have read that some people even dig a hole in the garden, toss scrap food in, and when it fills they do it in another spot. I have two composters that I got free by attending 2 workshops and they work pretty well.

 

In the fall I just rake the leaves to the bottom of my yard and they turn into soil.

[lavender]

Cauliflower is heading up right now, so is broccoli. Purple tinged heads and leaves are not uncommon on cauliflower. There seems to be a tendency for some of the varieties to have a purple cast to them. There is an all purple variety which is just beautiful. I usually grow it for salads but the seeds came too late this year to get them in. Unless you are not getting good growth I wouldn't worry about nutritional deficiencies. As someone said you need to tie up certain looser leaved cauliflowers to keep them white. The sun though won't turn them purple it makes them more of a greeny yellow. If you get purple cauliflower you did indeed buy purple cauliflower or at least a variety with that gene in it. Try Snow Crown Hybrid. It is my favorite.

There are also early and late cauliflowers which might account for different times in heading. It is a tricky veggie to grow.

[lavender]

My mother just tosses eggshells, coffee grounds, and vegetable peelings into a spot in the yard and she gets great soil there and it is full of worms. I never noticed a smell. It decomposes pretty fast once the worms have at it.

 

I have read that some people even dig a hole in the garden, toss scrap food in, and when it fills they do it in another spot. I have two composters that I got free by attending 2 workshops and they work pretty well.

 

In the fall I just rake the leaves to the bottom of my yard and they turn into soil.

Composting isn't hard if you use Smokefree's mom's method. Nature just takes its course. Those free composters are a bit trickier as you need to get proportions of "green" and "brown" right.  I don't care for them. Mix all of your dry leaves with grass clippings or some manure. Toss in all of your vegetable kitchen scraps and in a year or so you will have fine compost. There is no odor when it is done this way. We made a bunch right by the library last year and it is just beautiful right now. We didn't even turn it.