All recent comments/discussion

Showing 4801 - 4830 of 20105 comments

Watermelon 19 Nov, anon (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): I suggest you phone your agricultural department and ask. Generally it comes down to what kind of melon you want to grow, seeded, seedless, big, small. Check out a few internet seed selling companies also and read up about the different varieties.
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Choko/Chayote (also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton) 18 Nov, Marlene (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Growers food markets are a good place to source chokos. Facebook also has localised growers sites. I've given many sprouted chokos away as there is only so many you can eat - they are so prolific. Have some at the moment if you live in the Clarence Valley.
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 18 Nov, Bill conry (Australia - sub-tropical climate): 1. How do you know when Corn is ready to harvest? @ How many cobs can you expect from just one plant ( i have six plants which are pretty near harvesting - I think they seem to have 2 - 3 cobbs per plant?
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Sweet corn (also corn,maize) 19 Nov, Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate): When the tassel (the flowery part that comes out the top of the plant) comes out the top, pollination will take place for the next 4-6 days. A rule of thumb is 21 days after pollination. The silky threads at the top of the cob will turn brown and then black. After they have turned brown feel the cob with your hand. It should feel bulked up (thickish). Peel a little of the husk down the cob to see the kernels, if small and pale in colour, not ready yet. If nice kernels and good yellow colour right to pick. If the kernels are looking sunken and dry it is too late. Generally 1-2 cobs per plant. In future plant several rows to achieve better pollination. I give my corn plenty of fert and water when growing.
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Rhubarb 17 Nov, Roy van Deemter (South Africa - Semi-arid climate): My rhubarb is about ten years old. The plant has never been higher than 10 cm's with one or two leaves the size of a normal hand. Every year I leave it thinking next year it will grow better. Unfortunately it does not happen. What can be my problem?
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Rhubarb 18 Nov, Another gardener (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate): Rhubarb grows for about 10 years. If you have had poor crops from it I would think you haven't looked after it very well. Plants are like us, they need feed - fertilising and watering. Maybe time to plant some fresh new ones. Prepare the soil well before planting and in a new position.
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Carrot 17 Nov, Jenny (Australia - temperate climate): I often plant carrot seeds in Adelaide and they are always successful. I need to plant more but wondered if it was advisable to plant just before a heatwave? Tomorrow is forecast 31, tuesday 34 and wed is 40. Thanks jenny
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Carrot 18 Nov, Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Anything planted in hot to extremely hot needs protection from the sun/heat. Very small seeds are planted very shallow. With hot temps the top few mm of soil dries out very quickly. Very hard to germinate when the soil is very hot/dry some of the day then wet from watering. Try to keep the soil temp as constant as possible and moist. I use a 1.8mx1.8mx.5m high wood frame with shade cloth on it. I have 30%, 70% and 90% shade cloth.
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Tomato 17 Nov, Allan Clarke (Australia - temperate climate): Hello to all at Gardenate, I see that you say that tomatoes can be frozen, but it is my experience that on thawing they go all soggy, and will not hold there shape, is this correct. Have a great day, Allan.
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Tomato 17 Dec, Barbara (Australia - temperate climate): I wouldn't freeze fresh tomatoes. I do make pasta sauce, freeze it and then use it for all those wonderful winter recipes like lasagna. You could just peel them (by placing them in boiling water for 3 minutes), and cook them for five minutes on the stove, cool them and then freeze them to use later.
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Tomato 18 Nov, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): If frozen I don't think you could use as a fruit to slice etc. I think you could make sauces or similar.
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Cucumber 16 Nov, Mick (Australia - temperate climate): What fertiliser can you use on apple cucumbers crystal
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Cucumber 18 Nov, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): A comment about WHAT fertiliser to use on different plants. In a hardware store's catalogue last week. Complete Garden Fertiliser NPKS 12-1-5-16, Fruit & Citrus 13-1-5-16, Rose 11-1-6-15. Like really, they are virtually the same fertiliser. We are brainwashed about all the different fertilisers to use. My local agronomist recommends for vegetables what the commercial farmers use Nitrophoska 12 N 5.2 P 14.1K 8S and you can have it with trace elements also. Works for me. Or if you are an organic person use organics but you need to apply about 2-3 time the required amount per square meter to have the same NPKS.
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Cucumber 18 Nov, Anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): General all-round vegetable fertiliser.
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Watermelon 16 Nov, Anne Hay (Australia - temperate climate): What sort of of soil should be used for growing watermelon. Should they be grown in the sun or shade and what do you feed them please.
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Watermelon 18 Nov, Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Any reasonable soil just not heavy clay soil. In the sun and any general vegie fert. If you prepare your soil well before planting by adding compost, manures, organic fert, inorganic fert, then that is enough to grow the crop. I have never used any of these soil enhancing products. If you grow pretty good crops without them why waste money putting all that stuff on.
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Garlic 14 Nov, Graham Bower (Australia - temperate climate): In Berwick Vic. Have grown garlic with great success for years but this year virtually all plants have segmented in the ground pre normal harvest time. Plants are still strong, green and upright although have grown slimmer leaves as they segment. I do not believe I have done anything differently this year. Any thoughts?.
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Garlic 18 Nov, (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Maybe the hotter weather.
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Pumpkin 14 Nov, Tim Dare (New Zealand - temperate climate): Hi, I’m curious about the advice not to plant potatoes and pumpkin together. Some sites seem to suggest that the two won’t do well if planted too close together. Is that right? I have a large potato patch (about 40sqm) and was planning to plant pumpkin in about 2sqm at one end. Would that be a mistake? Thanks
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Pumpkin 15 Nov, Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate): A few pumpkin plants would need half your potato patch to grow in - not 2 sqm.
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Pumpkin 14 Nov, Liz (New Zealand - temperate climate): Some plants produce chemicals in the soil or extensive root systems which affect other plants. The advice is generally to avoid planting curcubits (pumpkins, courgettes etc.) and potatoes together. If you have room grow them in separate plots.
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Ginger 14 Nov, Rachael (Australia - temperate climate): Wash well & freeze-u can scrape the skin off with a teaspoon when frozen, or if the skin isn’t an issue, just grate with a box grater or similar
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Strawberry Plants 14 Nov, Deb (Australia - temperate climate): My plant is in a hanging basket..last season just runners......... It's looking good again and growing runners...... Will I ever get fruit ?
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Strawberry Plants 15 Nov, anon (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Read up about how to grow strawberries or go back through the last 50 posts here. I would suggest you scrap the idea of a hanging basket. Have a big pot where you can plant several plants or plant in the ground.
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Strawberry Plants 19 Nov, natalie (Australia - temperate climate): My hanging baskets never survive or thrive, yet planting in large pots that already have a plant, and they have taken off!! Seperate them from the hanger and plant in pots
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Strawberry Plants 25 Nov, Another gardener (Australia - sub-tropical climate): Anything planted in a pot requires a lot more attention to watering and the amount of fertiliser you apply. A fine line between under watering and over watering, same with fertiliser. Too much fert and the plant will be just leaves. The other night on a gardening show I saw a person fill 3 pots of reducing sizes to make a tower. One pot on top of another on top of another.. The bottom pot about 15 (??)
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Cucumber 11 Nov, Bhaidas Bhula (New Zealand - temperate climate): Sometimes the cucumber plant only has male flowers. Is this normal? and sometimes the female flower forms a cucumber and shrinks and falls off.Why is this?
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Cucumber 11 Nov, Liz (New Zealand - temperate climate): Most curcubits (cucumbers, courgettes etc) produce male flowers first. If the weather is cool, no female flowers appear for a while. If the immature cucumber falls off it has not been fertilised. If there are not many bees around, you can use a soft artist's brush or cotton bud, to transfer some pollen from the male stamens to the female flower.
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Ginger 10 Nov, Mary Shute (New Zealand - temperate climate): How deep do you plant ginger?
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Ginger 11 Nov, (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate): Try an on-line search 'Growing ginger in NZ'
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