[Food] Production – Gardening, General

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

Aren't most brassicas in that fall catagory? I'm more northern so we don't get the length of daily heat that others do, which is why my broccoli hasn't gone and bolted... I guess. My cauliflower sucks this year.

Heineken

I'm having good success with my "Ambrosia" canteloupe this year (so far; gotta keep my fingers crossed). The plant grows and looks something like cucumbers. I'm giving it plenty of worm-compost tea.

This morning I went into the garden and saw my first actual canteloupes, two of 'em, each about three inches in diameter. Joy!

The plant is getting very large and rambling and is starting to push beyond the space I allowed for it. I wonder if it would be OK to trim it back at this point by shortening the ends of the vines? Or would doing this provide any entry route for disease?
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

Ludi

I bet if you just pinch back the growing tips it wouldn't do any harm.

I have several softball-sized melons in the new (Kitchen) Garden! These are a mix of mediterranean and native american varieties, so I don't know how they'll be.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

frankthetank

I've had a horrible time the last two years with striped cucumber beetles. They love doing the nasty in the flowers of my cantaloupe...mine too is growing everywhere.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

Ludi

frank, try planting amaranth*, which seems to act as a lure for the beetles - they will stay on it and eat it down to the leaf ribs, and seem to let other things alone somewhat. This doesn't seem to kill the amaranth.

*aka "pigweed"
_________________
"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

Heineken

I am a total newbie to grapes, but I'm encouraged by the results I've had so far this year.

My two grape vines (one Interlaken, one Einset) are growing well. Maybe too well. (I was going to have three vines this year, but one was dead on arrival.)

They are protected within my special Japanese beetle-protection structures, and so I'm having no problems with bugs (included the dreaded leafhoppers, which spread grape diseases) as a result.

I'm using the two-wire Kniffen system, but the instructions for this system often suggest that the "goal" for the first year is just to get the vine up to the second wire. Maybe that's for northern growers. My vines are already there, and in fact each vine already has four arms I'm training outward along the wires (two per wire). A couple of the arms are already nearly to the ends of the wire (total wire length is ten feet). I'm pruning off a few wayward shoots here and there but am not sure if I should be doing this. I know I need to leave some buds to form arms for next year's growth.

Anyway, growth is so precocious I seem to be running about a year ahead of schedule. I'm a bit lost on what I should be doing at this point, since many weeks remain in the growing season. Prune off wayward shoots? Don't prune them? Keep training the four main arms per plant, but prune off the ends when they reach the ends of the wires?

Perhaps some grapes will try to form next year, and perhaps I should remove them (or the flowers) to avoid weakening the plants. You aren't supposed to harvest grapes until year 3.

Anybody with grape know-how, please advise!

Incidentally, plastic kitchen trash bags cut into thin long strips make great plant ties. No need to buy plant ties---make them yourself and save a few bucks.
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

frankthetank

Heineken...

I don't have a clue of how to train a grape, but i too had one growing out of control! Today i finally took action and pruned it back some and put up some wire and tied it up good. It had been growing along a piece of fencing i had up to protect it from the rabbits. This is the 2nd summer its been in the ground. Looks a lot better. I have no idea about where to go from here. I don't even know if i'm growing what i planted, because the rabbits chopped it back so far last year, i may be growing rootstock (its very hard to tell if its growing above the graft or not). Mine is a Reliance.

How high off the ground is your first wire? Mine is at most 3 feet.

Jap Beetles have disappeared for now...

Have yet to harvest a ripe tomato...unbelievable.

Kind of doubt i get any ripe cantaloupes, unless Sept stays warm.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

RedStateGreen

I thought you pruned grapevines in the winter. Shocked

Other than my sunflowers, nothing else is producing much. Sad

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What, so I'm in no end game
Move my piece right off the board

Heineken

Heineken

Heineken

Ludi

I don't pinch mine. Smile

_________________
"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

frankthetank

Its fun going out in the middle of the day (it was sunny, beautiful 80F day yesterday) and watching the bees go to the melons flowers. It was like a hive! Lots of different types of bees. All black ones, honey bees, bumble bees, little tiny bees... Neat stuff. I was out hunting cucumber beetles. I've killed lots of them by hand and i think i have them under control.

I really think i'm going to expand my one garden bed so i can put in a few more items.
_________________
"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07

Heineken

I have seen more honeybees this year than last. I look upon them as another precious endangered species now!

There are many other pollinators I see working the flowers, though. Tiny wasps, butterflies, bumblebees of several types, something that looks a bit like a miniature honeybee, etc. Perhaps without honeybees, country gardeners would still get crops. It might be a different story for the huge industrial farms and suburban gardens, which might have far smaller populations of naturally occurring alternative pollinators.

Don't mow most of your open areas in the summer; this provides pollinators a habitat and a chance!
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 648

I had some unruly grapes one time and had to use a CHAIR and a WHIP to train them.