Growing food - The Garden Thread

[tschmidlin]

We haven't had much luck with pumpkins, but I'm not sure why.  Mostly they fail to set fruit, even when I pollinate by hand.  But we don't have a lot of them going at once, so there aren't as many male flowers so the timing sometimes isn't right.  We have some seeds to try again this year.

[kmccaf]

At the end of Summer/harvest, I'll post again.  Remind me then.  Maybe you could post a video of yourself eating one!

I'll change my avatar to a picture of me eating them if you do!

[kmccaf]

Anybody grow pumpkins?

I started some seedlings and will try again this year.  Last year I had a tough go with them, but when at first I don't succeed...try...try...again. 

I grow pumpkins and squash all the time. My tip would be to try and grow them vertically. Set up a couple of poles, and build a trellis of netting (kind of like a soccer goal). They will grow up the netting, and once they start to set fruit you can tie a bandana around the fruit to relieve the pressure on the plant. This will prevent the pumpkins from taking up so much room, and has the added benefit of preventing the fruit from scarring as it grows on the ground. I've also grown them up our chain link fence with no problems. I think the heaviest I've done where 8-9 lbs.

[bluesman]

Anybody grow pumpkins?

I started some seedlings and will try again this year.  Last year I had a tough go with them, but when at first I don't succeed...try...try...again. 

Give them a LOT of room. They will take over your whole garden if you let them. I was set to have a pretty nice crop of them last year, but I got hit with squash beetles (which in turn brought a fungal infection) real bad so they never made it past august where they were mostly bowling ball size.

I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to try for one giant pumpkin this year or several jack-o-lantern sized ones.

I also got hit with squash beetles the last two years in a row.  Do you know of a good way to rid of those little devils?

[erockrph]

I also got hit with squash beetles the last two years in a row.  Do you know of a good way to rid of those little devils?

I'm trying to keep things organic, so I gave Neem a try last year. It worked OK, but it doesn't last very long. I also planted my squash too close together, so I had a hard time reaching the undersides of all my leaves. The squash bugs were bad, but my plants would have made it if they didn't get hit with a fungal infection of top of the beetles.

[morticaixavier]

do some research on companion planting. there may be a plant that repels the beasties that you can plant with the squash or one that attracts the beasties that you can plant a little bit away from them. There are also probably some predators that you could either buy and release or encourage with the right companion planting.

[kmccaf]

Anybody grow pumpkins?



I also got hit with squash beetles the last two years in a row.  Do you know of a good way to rid of those little devils?

I would recommend a combination of what erockph and morticaixavier say. Use a good organic pesticide, spray the base of the plant, and hit the underside of the leaves. Also, interplant some radishes. Squash beetles are a lot of work if you get them. I look for the little colonies of red dots (their eggs) on the underside of the leaves, and scrape them off and crush them. For the adults, I lay out some out pieces of wood. They like to hide underneath them, so in the morning I go out and look under the wood, and crush them. Have I mentioned I hate squash beetles. I've had a lot of success doing this, but it is also a lot of work.

[bluesman]

I also got hit with squash beetles the last two years in a row.  Do you know of a good way to rid of those little devils?

I would recommend a combination of what erockph and morticaixavier say. Use a good organic pesticide, spray the base of the plant, and hit the underside of the leaves. Also, interplant some radishes. Squash beetles are a lot of work if you get them. I look for the little colonies of red dots (their eggs) on the underside of the leaves, and scrape them off and crush them. For the adults, I lay out some out pieces of wood. They like to hide underneath them, so in the morning I go out and look under the wood, and crush them. Have I mentioned I hate squash beetles. I've had a lot of success doing this, but it is also a lot of work.

Thanks for the tips.  I'll try the wood idea this year.  I had them really bad last year.  I'm expecting them back again this year so I'll be ready for them.

[bo]

I also got hit with squash beetles the last two years in a row.  Do you know of a good way to rid of those little devils?

I would recommend a combination of what erockph and morticaixavier say. Use a good organic pesticide, spray the base of the plant, and hit the underside of the leaves. Also, interplant some radishes. Squash beetles are a lot of work if you get them. I look for the little colonies of red dots (their eggs) on the underside of the leaves, and scrape them off and crush them. For the adults, I lay out some out pieces of wood. They like to hide underneath them, so in the morning I go out and look under the wood, and crush them. Have I mentioned I hate squash beetles. I've had a lot of success doing this, but it is also a lot of work.

Thanks for the tips.  I'll try the wood idea this year.  I had them really bad last year.  I'm expecting them back again this year so I'll be ready for them.

Good luck with all of those ideas. I tried them all.

[bluesman]

I also got hit with squash beetles the last two years in a row.  Do you know of a good way to rid of those little devils?

I would recommend a combination of what erockph and morticaixavier say. Use a good organic pesticide, spray the base of the plant, and hit the underside of the leaves. Also, interplant some radishes. Squash beetles are a lot of work if you get them. I look for the little colonies of red dots (their eggs) on the underside of the leaves, and scrape them off and crush them. For the adults, I lay out some out pieces of wood. They like to hide underneath them, so in the morning I go out and look under the wood, and crush them. Have I mentioned I hate squash beetles. I've had a lot of success doing this, but it is also a lot of work.

Thanks for the tips.  I'll try the wood idea this year.  I had them really bad last year.  I'm expecting them back again this year so I'll be ready for them.

Good luck with all of those ideas. I tried them all.

Did you have any luck with them?

[bo]

I wished I could say yes, but  I'd be lying. I ended up going to pesticides, lightly and carefully controlled.

It was that or no squash.

[bluesman]

I wished I could say yes, but  I'd be lying. I ended up going to pesticides, lightly and carefully controlled.

It was that or no squash.

I'm afraid that I may have to resort to that as well.  I know it will be a battle.

[bo]

I wished I could say yes, but  I'd be lying. I ended up going to pesticides, lightly and carefully controlled.

It was that or no squash.

I'm afraid that I may have to resort to that as well.  I know it will be a battle.

If you figure out another way, please let me know. I hate spraying. 

[bluesman]

I wished I could say yes, but  I'd be lying. I ended up going to pesticides, lightly and carefully controlled.

It was that or no squash.

I'm afraid that I may have to resort to that as well.  I know it will be a battle.

If you figure out another way, please let me know. I hate spraying.

Will do.

[redbeerman]

No zucchini?  Man, zucchini on the grill is one of my favorite things to eat.

Yeah, we love zukes.  Grilled is awesome, but I even like to grate it and mix it in with taco meat.

I like to mix 'em with egg, onion, bread crumbs, whatever and make zucchini cakes.

mmmmmmmmm

Going to be growing Zukes for the first time this year. Anyone have any tips? Do they grow like cucumbers or do they sprawl out further like winter squash? Do tomato cages work well for them? Don't know the exact variety of seeds I have, but it's one of the typical straight green varieties from Burpee.

Pick them young, the fruit grow fast!

The ones we grow are like other squash, sprawling all over.  I've never tried them with tomato cages, but I'm not sure it would work.  They grow on the ground, not up on a structure - which isn't to say they won't, but it doesn't seem to be their inclination.  Maybe someone else has tried it.

All this sounds wonderful, but the last time we grew zuchini, we had one plant, and it produced a minimum of two per day, yes that's 14 a week, at least, the plant was a monster.  Real easy to get burnt out, man.  We ran out of people to give them to.  Cucumbers are a different story, I make pickles so none go to waste.  Okra grow like madness too, but we roast 'em or pickle them too and they go fast.  We will be growing eggplant again this year.  I like them roasted on the grill or in the oven, fried, or in baba ghanouj.