All recent comments/discussion

Showing 3721 - 3750 of 20203 comments

Asparagus 27 Jul, Anonymous (New Zealand - temperate climate): Depends how much water you have put on over the last 2-3 months. The plant goes into dormancy in winter and the ferns die back later autumn/winter. Wait until late August and give it some fertiliser, put 100mm of compost on top and start watering it. It should start sending up spears after that. If not it might be dead. Google about growing asparagus.
Reply
Cucumber 27 Jul, Shannon (USA - Zone 9b climate): Does anyone know why not to plant close to tomatos? My garden plan has tomatos, sunflowers, and cucumbers vined along my fence. Should I move the tomatoes to where my snap peas will grow and put snap peas where tomatos were going to be?
Reply
Cucumber 07 Aug, Liz (USA - Zone 9b climate): Check here https://thehomestead.guru/companion-planting-2/
Reply
Coriander (also Cilantro, Chinese parsley) 27 Jul, Anila (USA - Zone 10a climate): Can I grow cilantro indoors starting the end of July? Or, outdoors only?
Reply
Coriander (also Cilantro, Chinese parsley) 28 Jul, Sandra G. (USA - Zone 10b climate): You can plant cilantro all year; during cooler season you may start in tray/cups whatever method and plant out when it's about one inch tall. And if you have hot weather like us in California, you can direct sow the seeds anyplace in the garden, walk around and take a good look see, anyplace where there's shade, drop some seeds. I direct sow in my containers under the zucchini, around the tomatoes, under the marigolds (my marigolds are three feet tall), basically, anyplace in the shade, and remember, cilantro is cut and come again, pick often, because if you let it grow to coriander (to seed-can grow to five feet tall), then you can save the seeds after you let the plant dry out save the flowers because they become seeds. You can get hundreds of seeds from just one plant. Good luck!
Reply
Coriander (also Cilantro, Chinese parsley) 02 Nov, First Time Farmer (USA - Zone 10b climate): Fun tip - buy coriander seeds from your local Indian grocery store. It's much much cheaper than buying from seed stores or large grocery stores.
Reply
Pumpkin 26 Jul, Jaime (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Hi, I'm on the Central Coast of NSW. Is there any way of growing pumpkins so they're ready for Halloween?
Reply
Pumpkin 27 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): It says 15-20 weeks so you are outside of that timeframe. The seeds need warm weather to germinate. and grow. You could try, the pumpkin grows pretty quickly then takes about 3-4 weeks to mature to eat. Need full sun.
Reply
Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 25 Jul, Jack (Australia - temperate climate): My capsicums have been stripped bare just the stem left about 14 to 16 cm high mind you it hasn't happened to the bigger one's. any advice especially on pesticides?
Reply
Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 27 Jul, colleen (USA - Zone 10b climate): If this happened suddenly, it was probably hornworm caterpillars--they can strip a plant almost overnight. I placed a bird feeder near my peppers and tomatoes, and birds are kindly taking care of the problem for me...but in the short run you might want to dust with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). It's organic, considered highly safe, and will stop the caterpillars from feeding.
Reply
Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 27 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Probably some grub/caterpillar, look for killers of these at gardening centers or look up organic sprays on the internet.
Reply
Asparagus 25 Jul, Leanne (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Hi all! I have just received my asparagus crowns. I’m concerned now that the bed I’ve chosen won’t be right for them. It gets full afternoon sun in summer and can get quite hot with no shade? Advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Reply
Asparagus 27 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): My plants are in full sun most of the day 6am to 6pm in summer, Bundaberg Qld. We had a lot of hot weather the last summer, had no problems. Give them a good watering each week if no rain in summer.
Reply
Burdock (also Gobo (Japanese Burdock)) 24 Jul, Elaine lopez (Australia - tropical climate): Hi Were can i buy fresh gobo burdock root
Reply
Burdock (also Gobo (Japanese Burdock)) 27 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Try a Google search
Reply
Asparagus 24 Jul, SueEllen LePage (Australia - temperate climate): I am currently growing white asparagus and the plants are in their 3rd year. It is winter and the asparagus is giving me some large spears that I have harvested and eaten. I am leaving the smaller spears. Now that the smaller spears are growing into ferns, should I continue to cut the larger spears or should I leave them all to grow? Also I always thought asparagus was a spring crop, why am I getting such a crop?
Reply
Asparagus 27 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Why a crop this time of year, probably because you have kept watering them. I did that establishing my asparagus the first two years. I'm sub-tropical and I stop watering mine the end of April, just the odd watering, not heavy, we have had very little rain since mid March. I actually cut my ferns yesterday, will not fertilise, compost and water until the end of August. I only eat my asparagus for about 5 weeks last year in the spring. But I cut my ferns off in Jan and had about 3-4 weeks of spears before letting them fern again. If the crown is biggish 9-12
Reply
Asparagus 06 Aug, Diane (Australia - tropical climate): Hi i have just moved to Gladstone and i have always tried to grow Asparagus however i am never in a place long enough to eat any of it. i was told to wait until the ferns have gone yellow before you cut them down is this a fact or fiction. thanks
Reply
Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge) 23 Jul, Dan (USA - Zone 5a climate): How much sun do they need
Reply
Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge) 07 Aug, Liz (USA - Zone 8a climate): An internet search might help, try 'loofah' as an alternative to 'luffa'
Reply
Zucchini (also Courgette/Marrow, Summer squash) 23 Jul, Paul Bao (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): to pollinate it by hands
Reply
Zucchini (also Courgette/Marrow, Summer squash) 24 Jul, Anon (New Zealand - temperate climate): Look up on the internet how to hand pollinate zucchini.
Reply
Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 22 Jul, Christal van der Byl (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): I live in the Eastern Cape and my mom makes and sells chilli paste. I am thinking of growing the chillies ourselves because it can get difficult to find chillies. What advice do you have to make sure that we always have chillies growing? I will be making wooden creates / boxes to grow the chillies in, because the soil on our land is not very fertile if I grow but it will be outside and in the boxes I can move them around for different times of the year where the sun will be catching best.
Reply
Chilli peppers (also Hot peppers) 23 Jul, Anonymous (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): I feel you would have more chance of a good crop if you planted in the ground than in boxes or crates. They need to be in sunlight all/most of the day. They are a spring through autumn crop I think, I have never grown them. You need to improve your soil by adding compost and manures regularly, yearly. Soil is only the medium that plants grow in. All soils need to have nutrients added to them, compost, manures, mulch that breaks down, fertilisers etc. Do some internet research on how to grow them.
Reply
Beetroot (also Beets) 21 Jul, Andrew (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Subtropical QLD - I germinated beetroot seeds in June and planted out in July. One seedling has flowers on it already. We have had cold weather and I also thought beetroot were biennial. Is this normal for flowers to get on plants so quickly?
Reply
Beetroot (also Beets) 22 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): It is a biennial but is treated as an annual. I have grown beetroot for 40 years and have never had any flower. I'm sub- tropical and have beetroot about 10 weeks old in the garden now. I pickle mine. I would say it is just some weird seed. A plant will go to seed early when the soil nutrient is running out and lack of water. I currently have ice berg lettuce and red cabbage where 7 plants each look fine with a nice head and one other plant is a big leafy plant with no head, 2-3 times the size of the others.
Reply
Beetroot (also Beets) 24 Jul, Andrew (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I found out why my beetroot got flowers: because they aren't beetroot, they are Hon Tsai Tai. Whoops!
Reply
Beetroot (also Beets) 27 Jul, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): I have grown Hon Tsai Tai for the last 3 years. I have 3 plants that are just about finished flowering. Lots of seed pods on them. Love watching the bees in the morning on the flowers.
Reply
Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge) 20 Jul, Martin Dale (Canada - Zone 8a Mild Temperate climate): Hello from Vancouver! Thank you for this wonderful site. I wonder if you could tell me if Loofahs can be grown in this part of the country? It would be great if so. Would they need a greenhouse? Thank you! Martin
Reply
Luffa (also Loofah, plant sponge) 23 Jul, colleen (USA - Zone 10b climate): You could, with two caveats: they take forever to mature (like 200+ days), and they take a lot of space (like 6-9 meters). So I think it's too late for you to grow them outside this year, but you could still grow them in a LARGE greenhouse...they set fruit during short days so time your lighting accordingly. Your best bet is probably to start them indoors in peat-type pots in late winter for next year.
Reply

Showing 3721 - 3750 of 20203 comments

Gardenate

Keep your garden growing - see what to plant right now

All recent comments/discussion

Gardenate

Keep your garden growing - see what to plant right now

All recent comments/discussion

Become A Supporter!

Planting Reminders