Veggie Garden Info

Apple Tree Canker

Original post from Bifurcated Carrots

Frank just sent me some pictures of canker on his apple trees.

Canker is a fungal infection that often infects apple trees and I think other fruit trees as well.  I did a post on this a few days ago.  What I understand is the infection tends to enter the tree through open wounds, as well as the scars left behind when leaves come off the tree in the fall.

First Frank gives three examples of canker at progressively worse stages on different trees:

The last picture is what Frank uses as an example here to show how he treats it, and he pointed out that this is not really that bad. The yellow-green stuff you will see in the picture is lichen and unrelated to the canker infection.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

 

 

Time to Chit This Year’s Potatoes

Original post from My Tiny Plot.

Yey! After a long, long wait it’s time to start chitting Potatoes. The garden centres and seed merchants are selling or delivering seed potatoes as from now so why not get stuck in and start yours off. I headed to the garden centre last weekend to buy mine. I went for Winston (First Earlies or New Potatoes to you and I) because the label said they had good blight resistance. 

I didn’t have any trouble with blight on my Potatoes last year but (as with everyone’s) my Tomatoes were ruined by blight and so I’m taking no chances this year. I’ll be opting for resistant varieties of everything capable of catching even the slightest bit of blight.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Tomato tribulations

Original post from Adekun's Japan Blog, May 01, 2008

 

I’ve been too hasty planting out the summer vegetables. It probably would have been okay if it wasn’t for the weather that soon followed. Since the cold and the rain it has been super hot; a bit too hot for digging. The leaves on the tomatoes promptly grew dark brown spots. I wondered if I might be in with a chance of winning a prize for the quickest onset of blight. After an anxious week they seem to be in the clear. There are even a few tomatoes forming.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Garden Journal: Peas, Potatoes, Lettuce, Tomatoes

Original post from Garden Desk, April 11, 2008

 

I can't believe it has taken me a whole week to post this. Last Saturday, when we got home from vacation I took inventory on the garden happenings and wrote it all in my paper journal like the old days. I really do like paper records better than digital ones, but journaling on the computer allows one to post photos much easier. So I think I will be journaling here at Garden Desk.

These posts will be a bit different than my others because it will just be a list of how things are going. It may be more for me than for my readers, but you are welcome to read along. Maybe you can help me by commenting on how I could fix my problems or improve things.So here goes, my first 2008 Garden Journal -

4/5/08: I already wrote about the new potatoes I bought last week. I have been pretty frustrated with my peas. The germination rate is listed as 7 to 14 days but after 18 days there was still nothing. Finally, they are emerging!

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Tomato Update: Soil Blocks, Damping Off, and Emily's Green Thumb

Original post from In The Garden Online, April 03, 2008

 One of the things I absolutely love at this time of year is seeing all those tiny tomato plants growing under my lights in the basement. And now that they’ve got their true leaves, when I rub my hand across them, I get a little whiff of that heavenly tomato plant scent.

The Soil Block Experiment

It was my first year growing tomatoes in soil blocks, and I will definitely do it this way from now on. The plants are only two weeks old, and the roots are already reaching to the bottom and sides of the soil block. One of the main advantages to growing in soil blocks was supposed to be hearty root growth, and so far in my experience, it’s absolutely true. The only thing I would change about the soil blocks themselves is that I might want to add a bit of compost next time around. I used a basic, peat-based seed starting mix, and added in a little perlite for drainage. I also added in some potting soil (about ¼ of the mix was soil) to help retain some moisture. It helped in the water retention department, but led to other problems, as you’ll see below. I definitely need to work on the recipe for next year.

Problems/Things to Do Differently Next Year:

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Now Serving Scrumptious Green Tomato Blight Soup?

Original post from Veggie Gardening Tips, August 5, 2007

For those of you who were brave enough to return after being treated to a heaping helping of corn smut, today’s special is fresh Green Tomato Blight Soup… courtesy of Jo from the UK.

Well maybe “blight” isn’t at the top of your list of soup ingredients, but Jo raised an interesting question regarding using produce that may be tainted with disease or isn’t in the best condition; and whether or not such produce is suitable for human consumption:

Waste Not, Want Not!

“Hi Kenny, good to receive your gardening newsletter. Thanks for the useful information about watering which I will save for another year! This year there is so much rain and moist conditions in the UK.”

“I have had to pick all the green tomatoes which had started to be affected by the awful blight. All is not lost, I have found a lovely recipe for green tomato soup so I have cut off the brown bits and put the rest into the soup - tastes OK!”

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Getting Rid of Smut; the Garden Variety

Original post from Veggie Gardening Tips, August 1, 2007

I received the following question this week from Richard inquiring into ways to control and eliminate smut on his sweet corn:

“About half of my sweet corn patch is heavily infected with smut. I have been reading about solarizing to kill weeds. Would it work against smut?”

Corn Smut: Very Common but Usually not a Problem

I don’t grow corn in my backyard garden but any gardeners that do are very likely to encounter at least an occasional deformed and mutant ear of corn with silvery grey growths that eventually erupt into black, powdery, spore masses. If you’ve never seen smut before here’s a g-rated link to a couple photos of corn smut.

The dust-like spores that are released spread far and wide on the wind and take up residence in the soil where they over winter and strike future corn plantings. Common smut can also form on the leaves, stalks, or even tassels of corn plants, and the spores can also be spread through infected plant waste that is left in the garden.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

My Cucumbers Hate Me: Cucumber Wilt & Cucumber Beetles

Original post from This Garden Is Illegal, July 21, 2007

Every year I plant cucumbers. I plant cucumbers because I want to eat cucumbers. In case you haven't noticed, cucumbers are damn expensive in the store. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I really, really want to grow and eventually eat cucumbers, I have a problem. Cucumber plants hate me.

And not in a nice way either. They can't just drop over dead like normal plants do. No, they have to torture me by looking healthy, producing two nice fruit and then slowly dieing, resisting every effort I make to save them. I think they do it out of spite. I mean that is a dedicated hate right there, when you are wiling to sacrifice your life for the sake of torturing someone.

But, putting my ego-centric paranoia aside, it seems that the rest of the gardening establishment feels that my cucumbers may in fact be suffering from cucumber wilt.

Cucumber wilt is characterized by the fact that the leaves on a cucumber plant start to yellow and turn crisp around the edges. Then, very suddenly, the leaves simply seem to collapse or wilt. Breaking the stem of the plant will cause a gooey, slime to ooze from the stem. This slime is what kills the plant because it blocks the water from getting through the plants vascular system.
 

Read the rest of this post HERE.