I would guess that it's not the walnut seedling as I would think the toxin produced by the walnut wouldn't affect things much beyond the footprint of the tree/seedling's root system. Potential causes may included weather variations, nutrient uptake (changes in fertilization method, concentration, formulation or application) as well as unintended pesticide contamination (spray drift?) Off the top of my head a couple of things that could "darken" plants would be nitrogen and magnesium (Epsom salts)
What's growing? The garden thread.
- Thread starter nocsious3
- Start date
After a week or ten days of closer to normal weather I've managed to get ahead of the weeds. I replanted the beets and carrots yesterday as I had very poor stands of both that I attributed to crusting over from the pounding rain combined with the ensuing winds. It was futile trying to keep the surface moist allowing the seedlings to emerge when the layer below was too wet and I imagine many seeds rotted in the ground.. Although I enjoy a few meals with asparagus each spring I made my last picking of the season a couple days ago and completed the meticulous task of weeding that patch (approx 8'x16'). I generally share more of the harvest than I consume myself. I've had a couple of meals which included chef's salads made with spinach but the weather was hard on that too and it's coming along slowly. Hope it gives me a lot more before it decides to bolt. The Yukon Gold's are about to bloom which tells me we should be a able to rob a few new potatoes around the 4th of July. The Kiwi's are blooming this year--something that has only happened a couple of times in the last 10 or 15 years that we've had them. The tomato plants are small compared to normal but are looking healthier than they did earlier. I only plant a later variety but should have an abundance about the time everybody else had their fill of them in the fall--man, those greenhouse tomatoes in the store are tasteless!
I’m growing some canola this year and while the plants are growing pretty well, something is eating the leaves. I live on the second floor of an apartment building so I think it’s bugs, but they aren’t eating any of my other plants (including corn, sunflowers, and green beans).
Anyone have any ideas on how I can stop this?
Anyone have any ideas on how I can stop this?
I am a retired farmer so it's in my blood to always try to grow something. At one time I was into Hosta hybridizing and grew Hosta seedlings (as a winter project) under lights in my basement. I've also started double-bloom petunias, a few other less available (more expensive) annual flowers, and still start my tomatoes under the lights. The only thing I have grown in pots is trees from nuts, and Mountain Ash trees from saved seed.
Since you mentioned you lived in a second floor apartment (without any other details) one would make the logical assumption that you are growing your "crops" indoors or have a "balcony" garden and are growing in pots. I have to think you must be doing this as a personnel satisfaction thing rather than a self-sufficiency approach to your gardening, as the effort needed with the crops you have chosen would have a very low return on investment. My view may be skewed by the way I've always approached food growing--to savor the fresh produce but to also preserve the excess for later use.
Back to your original question: I am not familiar with Canola as there is little grown in Iowa. My suggestion would be to post this same question on the North Dakota or Saskatchewan football forum and heed their responses
Red and white potatoes, onions, popcorn, green beans, zucchini, beets, carrots (didn't grow), radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, variety of peppers, and a lot of sweet corn.
The rhubarb and asparagus were transplanted last year so still waiting for them to mature.
I measured it out on an aerial mapping website and the garden is about 0.7 acres.
I want to try to grow garlic in a pot but lost track of time on that this year.
I think we will eventually plant pumpkins. Fun for the kids at Halloween.
We did sweet potatoes last year but didn't this year.
The rhubarb and asparagus were transplanted last year so still waiting for them to mature.
I measured it out on an aerial mapping website and the garden is about 0.7 acres.
I want to try to grow garlic in a pot but lost track of time on that this year.
I think we will eventually plant pumpkins. Fun for the kids at Halloween.
We did sweet potatoes last year but didn't this year.
Yeah, it is completely for my own satisfaction. The corn is kind of a bit because I’m from Iowa but no longer live there and the canola and sunflowers are because they look really pretty and smell good. Plus, the canola plant is edible and tastes pretty good in a salad.I am a retired farmer so it's in my blood to always try to grow something. At one time I was into Hosta hybridizing and grew Hosta seedlings (as a winter project) under lights in my basement. I've also started double-bloom petunias, a few other less available (more expensive) annual flowers, and still start my tomatoes under the lights. The only thing I have grown in pots is trees from nuts, and Mountain Ash trees from saved seed.
Since you mentioned you lived in a second floor apartment (without any other details) one would make the logical assumption that you are growing your "crops" indoors or have a "balcony" garden and are growing in pots. I have to think you must be doing this as a personnel satisfaction thing rather than a self-sufficiency approach to your gardening, as the effort needed with the crops you have chosen would have a very low return on investment. My view may be skewed by the way I've always approached food growing--to savor the fresh produce but to also preserve the excess for later use.
Back to your original question: I am not familiar with Canola as there is little grown in Iowa. My suggestion would be to post this same question on the North Dakota or Saskatchewan football forum and heed their responses
And I actually found caterpillars on the canola plants today so I now know what is eating the leaves. I contacted the extension service to see if they have any guidance.
Black walnut? Check out this resource from ISU horticulture extension.https://yardandgarden.extension.ias...-are-sensitive-juglone-produced-black-walnuts
In my area the city composts yard waste and offers it free to the residents. If I had clay soil I would take this opportunity to obtain some and incorporate in to the top 4 to 6 inches of your garden (rototiller). Doing the math, a 5 gallon bucket of compost will cover around 4 square feet 2 inches deep. If I had a heavy clay soil, I wouldn't be afraid to add up to 4 inches of compost in the top six inches. I have black soil in my garden and add compost regularly--you can't believe how much this improves the tilth of the soil. Since it is properly composted it is free of weed seeds. For the last few years, I have made rows of compost on top of my soil about 14-16 inches wide and 7-8 inches high and planted my potatoes directly into the compost. When harvest comes, you don't dig the spuds, simply run your fingers through the compost (or brush it to the side). No more spade damaged tatos. they come out almost clean enough for storage (compost doesn't stick to them as soil does, and the compost is then tilled into the soil for rotating to a different crop the following year. In case anyone is wondering, you can get 50 five gallon buckets of compost in a shortbox pickup when stacked two high
.The garden has been under water to often and for to long. Got walleyes in there now.
Mine is so wet the frogs are sitting on top of the fence posts. Furthermore, my wife yelled:
"Give it to me! Give it to me!"
"I'm so wet, give it to me now!”
She could scream all she wanted, but I was keeping the umbrella.
The wife has had 2 or 3 pickings of radishes along with rhubarb and asparagus.
Some garden updates:
I actually prefer spinach to lettuce in chef's salads and it is going great guns for a while now but the upcoming heat will probably cause it to bolt earlier than I'd wish. Some cubed ham, onion, and a sliced hard boiled egg smothered in ranch over the top of spinach is my preference. A couple of "CYDNOTES": If you get a chance to try strawberry spinach, I'd refrain. My experience is that although it tastes similar it is not actually spinach and the red seed clusters that provide esthetics to the dish are quite invasive and unless every one is harvested will come up in the garden for years to come. Fall planted spinach provides an extra crop and if left undisturbed at the end of the growing season will come back in the spring and provide a crop well in advance of spring planted spinach giving you two crops from one package of seed. Buy your fall crop seed now as it may be difficult to find later.
My county mows the road shoulders and I use the cuttings to heavily mulch around the tomatoes and potatoes. This practice helps with weed suppression and helps maintain uniform soil moisture, reducing blossom end rot in tomatoes and those black spots in the potatoes if you have ever incurred those issues. Also benefits the soil when tilled in at seasons end.
Happy gardening!
I actually prefer spinach to lettuce in chef's salads and it is going great guns for a while now but the upcoming heat will probably cause it to bolt earlier than I'd wish. Some cubed ham, onion, and a sliced hard boiled egg smothered in ranch over the top of spinach is my preference. A couple of "CYDNOTES": If you get a chance to try strawberry spinach, I'd refrain. My experience is that although it tastes similar it is not actually spinach and the red seed clusters that provide esthetics to the dish are quite invasive and unless every one is harvested will come up in the garden for years to come. Fall planted spinach provides an extra crop and if left undisturbed at the end of the growing season will come back in the spring and provide a crop well in advance of spring planted spinach giving you two crops from one package of seed. Buy your fall crop seed now as it may be difficult to find later.
My county mows the road shoulders and I use the cuttings to heavily mulch around the tomatoes and potatoes. This practice helps with weed suppression and helps maintain uniform soil moisture, reducing blossom end rot in tomatoes and those black spots in the potatoes if you have ever incurred those issues. Also benefits the soil when tilled in at seasons end.
Happy gardening!
I harvested some garlic yesterday. Not huge heads, but looks and smells good, so all is hanging in my garden shed now.
I planted potatoes again this year, but nothing happened. Nothing. No sprouts or anything. Three weeks ago I dug them all up and all were there not rotted. Each had a nice eye and roots, so I replanted and still nothing. I've not had that happen before. I called my mom since she grew potatoes for years and she too said that never happened to her. I am now looking for something to replace my potato patch. Any suggestions?
My onions all grew nice and tall, some blew over so I pulled those, but the onion itself was pretty small. I am unsure what happened there. I did plan a new variety this year so maybe that variety just sucks.
I planted potatoes again this year, but nothing happened. Nothing. No sprouts or anything. Three weeks ago I dug them all up and all were there not rotted. Each had a nice eye and roots, so I replanted and still nothing. I've not had that happen before. I called my mom since she grew potatoes for years and she too said that never happened to her. I am now looking for something to replace my potato patch. Any suggestions?
My onions all grew nice and tall, some blew over so I pulled those, but the onion itself was pretty small. I am unsure what happened there. I did plan a new variety this year so maybe that variety just sucks.
I just planted my bush beans if you want those instead of potatoes
I put out some beer and red painted rocks in our strawberries this year and they do seem to be making it to ripening without getting eaten a bit better?
Planted my second round of lettuce and carrots after taking out the spring radishes/spinach/arugula. Tomatoes, cukes, zucchinis, and peppers all have blooms if not small baby plants. Haven't had to water anything which is good but will keep an eye on it this week with the heat. We also put in a 15 by 5 area of sunflowers and other cut flowers - last year we did it fenceless and they did not survive rodents and rabbits. This year with a fence they are going like gangbusters. That newly dug up prairie soil is wild. I planted some of the same plants in beds closer to the house and the plants are fine and blooming. This new strip though? My cosmos look like queen anne's lace in terms of stalk thickness and height already. It's nuts!
Also added a trellis for cukes and nasturtiums this year and was thinking they'd climb it like clematis without any help but finding I need to train them a bit more. I'm looking forward to it creating a nice green arch later this summer.
My last thought, I've entertained this thought I need to act on. There's a few other gardeners in the neighborhood and I see kids doing lemonade/bake sales over the summer. I always have extra garden goodies and I kinda want to see if kids want to sell some extra/make little bouquets to sell as well. But I also like taking my extra produce to the food pantry. IDK, something I need to noodle on a bit more.
Planted my second round of lettuce and carrots after taking out the spring radishes/spinach/arugula. Tomatoes, cukes, zucchinis, and peppers all have blooms if not small baby plants. Haven't had to water anything which is good but will keep an eye on it this week with the heat. We also put in a 15 by 5 area of sunflowers and other cut flowers - last year we did it fenceless and they did not survive rodents and rabbits. This year with a fence they are going like gangbusters. That newly dug up prairie soil is wild. I planted some of the same plants in beds closer to the house and the plants are fine and blooming. This new strip though? My cosmos look like queen anne's lace in terms of stalk thickness and height already. It's nuts!
Also added a trellis for cukes and nasturtiums this year and was thinking they'd climb it like clematis without any help but finding I need to train them a bit more. I'm looking forward to it creating a nice green arch later this summer.
My last thought, I've entertained this thought I need to act on. There's a few other gardeners in the neighborhood and I see kids doing lemonade/bake sales over the summer. I always have extra garden goodies and I kinda want to see if kids want to sell some extra/make little bouquets to sell as well. But I also like taking my extra produce to the food pantry. IDK, something I need to noodle on a bit more.
Haven't grown it in a while but that fresh garlic is on another level of taste.
If the potatoes haven't rotted in the ground, I would opt for leaving them alone. They will be later but may still produce a nice crop Where did you source your seed? (I say seed but you don't actually plant potatoes from seed unless you are hybridizing) Store bought potatoes unless designated as "seed potatoes" have been treated to deter the formation of eyes. Too late to plant a lot of cool season varieties, but a lot of options available if you decide to go with something else--they won't be harvestable as early as originally planned but (weather dependent) will still produce. Several cool season crops can be planted in the fall when we get past the heat of summer if you opt for leaving the potatoes go and they don't make it.
I bought seed potatoes from Earl May. Same as I’ve done in the past. Always had good luck but nothing this year.
