Category: Vegetables

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Garden Peas and Sweet Peas

The Ides of March, March 15th, and St. Patrick’s Day are old time farmers method of knowing when to plant peas and sweet peas, the flower- at least those farmers on the North, Northeast and Mid Atlantic sections of the US. Of course, if the soil is workable, peas and sweet peas could be planted
even earlier. TheGardenLady has heard of New England farmers planting
the seeds even when the snow is still on the ground. Peas are frost hardy and love cool weather. They can grow wherever there is a long enough cool season- about 55 to 80 days. Peas need cool temperature to grow and produce. Peas like full sun in cooler temperatures or can grow in partial shade, but the flavor won’t be as good in the shade.

If you can raise your own peas, you will be rewarded with one of the most delicious vegetable. And the more one harvests, the more peas are produced on the plant. Peas taste best that are fresh out of the garden; the longer they are off the vine, the more they lose their sweetness. They are so delicious, lots of people like to eat them raw when they are picking them in the garden. And cooking fresh peas takes only a very brief time.

Sweet peas are delightfully charming, mostly fragrant flowers that can be planted at the same time as peas. They will bloom in the late spring and if the area is cool enough, can continue blooming into the fall. They also prefer full sun but will tolerate partial shade.

Sweet peas flowers should be pinched out when they are dying on the plant to encourage more flowering. Sweet peas flowers and seeds are NOT edible. They are poisonous.

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Sex Therapy for Cucumbers

                                                                           

TheGardenLady received this question from Jenny.

I am growing lemon cucumber this year for the first time on a trellis in my garden in the Chicago area. I have many plants that are thriving and have dozens of blossoms. My problem is that only one blossom has set fruit so far. The plants get about 8 hours of sun and otherwise look very healthy. I have a newly planted garden bed that I created out of vermiculite, peatmoss, and compost. The Kentucky wonder beans growing on the same trellis are fruiting (I have picked several meals of beans over the last 4 weeks) but the cucumbers are not.

The lemon cucumber is an heirloom cucumber which means that when you get fruit you can save the seeds and plant them next year, they will grow true to the parent.
 
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Zephyr Zucchini

                                                                          

TheGardenLady received this question from Kelsi.

I have a volunteer zucchini plant that popped up in my garden this year. However it is producing a bicolored zucchini I cannot identify.  It is green on the blossom end and yellow on the vine end.  Any ideas?

How exciting to have a zucchini volunteer. I hope you have tasty zucchinis.
 
One seed cataloge that has bicolored zucchinis is from the company Johnnyseeds.  Their’s is light green at the blossom end and yellow at the stem end.  It is called Zephyr (F1) Product ID is 2217.  Check out out the catalogue    
 
TheGardenLady spoke to a friend about bicolored zucchinis. This vegetable gardener spoke about buying hybrid seeds and having some of the seeds in the packet not growing true to labeled form.  Also, when hybrid seeds come back the following year like volunteer plants in your garden or compost, even though the last year’s product was a certain type, that seedling that returned might not grow true to form. Thus the volunteer might turn out to be a bicolor or some strange looking plant or vegetable. Only heritage vegetables will give seeds the following years that will be true to what you expected. 

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Veggie Garden Help

                                                                            

TheGardenLady received this question from Carrie.

This is the second year that I have tried to grow a veggie garden in south east Washington.  The location is the previous owners’ garden location.  I know I have plenty of water and fertilizer but my plants still insist on being small and not very impressive.  I’m running out of ideas.  How can I improve my garden?

The first thing you must do to help answer your gardening problem is to get a soil test. This will give you the most important answer to what is causing problems in your veggie garden. Every good gardener or farmer has his soil tested every few years. And even if someone had success with their garden, soil needs amendments every few years to bring it up to its optimum level.

How do you get a soil test? The easiest answer is to go to your local Master Gardener Office (some of the phone numbers can be found here or at your state agricultural extension office-call them and they will probably tell you to go to the Master Gardener Office which is really part of the state agricultural extension- and buy a soil testing kit. This kit will cost you just a few dollars- in TheGardenLady’s state the kit cost less than $15.  The people selling you the kit will tell you how to use the kit plus the instructions are in the kit for you to review when you get home and are doing the work.

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When to Plant a Vegetable Garden

                                                               

TheGardenLady received this question from Jenna - 

When should I start planting my vegetable garden?…I live on the east coast of the United States but we’ve had unseasonably cold weather this spring.

Different vegetables need different times to be planted.  Depending on where you live on the East Coast will determine when you will plant the vegetable seeds.   There are what are referred to as warm or cool season crops which refer to the necessary weather conditions for growing the vegetables. Warm season crops require soil that is warm when the seeds are planted and then need long days and high temperatures to ripen fruits. For warm season crops you will have to know when the last killing frost will occur in your area.

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Vegetable Gardens

                                                                

TheGardenLady received this question from Bob –

Does a vegetable garden want more acidic soil or less? I was going to put lime in should I?

TheGardenLady has no idea where you live. Different areas of the country can have soil with different soil requirements.  Check out this site.

When starting a vegetable or any garden, one should first have a soil test taken of the area that you want to use. This way you are not guessing about the wants/ needs of your garden. You will know what the ph of the soil is. To test the soil, you can buy an inexpensive ph kit in your local garden center or you can go to your local Master Garden extension office and purchase a soil kit.

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Nutritious edible plants

The following question was sent to me by David:

Are there any plants that are especially healthy to eat?  The reason I ask is that I am coping with a lifelong manageable disease and have been told that one of the keys to managing the disease is my diet.  I’m supposed to avoid processed foods and stick with natural foods.  I eat a lot of garlic and also honey, but I was wondering if there are any other plants that are known to be especially healthy?

Here is my reply.

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