Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[midnightroo]

Lol! Armor, I thought I took the prize on my inability to grow carrots, but yours are pretty ugly! Sorry I mean no offence, but that is crazy. Not sure about blight and carrots, but I understand they need very loamy soil. I don't have much luck so I don't grow them.

Your sunflower is incredible! You must save seeds from it!

 

[MumsyII]

Lol! Armor, I thought I took the prize on my inability to grow carrots, but yours are pretty ugly! Sorry I mean no offence, but that is crazy. Not sure about blight and carrots, but I understand they need very loamy soil. I don't have much luck so I don't grow them.

Your sunflower is incredible! You must save seeds from it!

Yikes about those nasty carrots!

They need fast draining soil. Friable and loamy. I use crop covers to prevent carrot maggot fly from laying it's eggs in the soil when they are germinating. Raised beds keep the soil from compacting. And I thin carrots when they are in the seedling stage. Never seen that kind of slimy, gnarled carrots before. Don't plant them in the same place next year and try a different variety too. I have no idea why you got roots like that.

I agree! That sunflower is a wowser! Yes! Saving seeds to plant from it next year is a great idea!

 

[aaggjg]

Oooh I just found this ... see what happens when I don't read the natural chicken thread I miss Mumsy garden thread starting!!! I love to look at your garden pictures and drool!!!! I love what you can do in the PNW!!!

Posting so I can find my way back ...

 

[Kassaundra]

That is generally how my carrots look too.

 

[BlueMouse]

I'm not sure when I should pull my carrots... I had three that actually came up out of all the ones I planted. Lots of things drowned this spring, carrots were one I didn't re-plant. Mine are Nantes half long. We'll see how they do.

On the not of complete crop failure, I planted radishes this spring, and not a single one of them made a bulb. I kept going out and checking them, and no bulbs, so leaving them another week. Then they all flowered, which I figured was a bad sign. Finally I pulled them all and put them in the compost. Tow of them had skinny woody bulbs. most of them had only a taproot. Any ideas on what on earth I did wrong?

 

[armorfirelady]

Lol! Armor, I thought I took the prize on my inability to grow carrots, but yours are pretty ugly! Sorry I mean no offence, but that is crazy. Not sure about blight and carrots, but I understand they need very loamy soil. I don't have much luck so I don't grow them.

Your sunflower is incredible! You must save seeds from it!

No offense taken. Carrots are one of those things I never seem to have luck with yet I still buy them with the thought maybe this year will be different.......I guess I just need to give up the carrot dream

Quote: They are in my newer part of the garden. They didn't sit in water when we got all the rain in June but I wouldn't say the ground is loamy either. Its not as nice as my raised bed though I have tried growing them there as well with no luck.

That is generally how my carrots look too.

Glad to hear I am not the only one who grows weird carrots

I'm not sure when I should pull my carrots... I had three that actually came up out of all the ones I planted. Lots of things drowned this spring, carrots were one I didn't re-plant. Mine are Nantes half long. We'll see how they do.

On the not of complete crop failure, I planted radishes this spring, and not a single one of them made a bulb. I kept going out and checking them, and no bulbs, so leaving them another week. Then they all flowered, which I figured was a bad sign. Finally I pulled them all and put them in the compost. Tow of them had skinny woody bulbs. most of them had only a taproot. Any ideas on what on earth I did wrong?

Would your hens of eaten the green tops? I have tried radishes before and had no luck. They are like carrots and don't grow well lol

 

[armorfirelady]

Mumsy as summer is coming to an end do you have any suggestions for what to add to our veggie gardens this fall to help give it a good start next spring?

I am going to try a cover crop this year once my plants are done.

The last couple years I dumped all my leaves I collected in their as well. They break down, give the hens something to dig thru during the winter & in the spring they rototill in wonderfully.

I don't usually do a thing with my flower gardens. The plants die back, the leaves blow in and everything sits till the spring. I used to clean them out but then read some plants need insulation and the birds enjoy the seed heads from the plants during the winter. So I just clean out the dead plants in the spring

 

[Mrs Rebecca]

I'm not sure when I should pull my carrots... I had three that actually came up out of all the ones I planted. Lots of things drowned this spring, carrots were one I didn't re-plant. Mine are Nantes half long. We'll see how they do.

On the not of complete crop failure, I planted radishes this spring, and not a single one of them made a bulb. I kept going out and checking them, and no bulbs, so leaving them another week. Then they all flowered, which I figured was a bad sign. Finally I pulled them all and put them in the compost. Tow of them had skinny woody bulbs. most of them had only a taproot. Any ideas on what on earth I did wrong?

My radishes did the exact same thing! I moved to a new home in December, and assumed it was the new hard clay soil I am working, but when asking around, I have heard from many local gardeners that their radishes did the same thing as well. Many of these folks are very experienced gardeners, so I really believe this years weather pattern is to blame. Perhaps even last year's drought is still affecting this year's garden. This year has been a very strange year for me. I am not accustomed to working such heavy soil. Very little in my garden did well. Most things that I typically grow easily, was a flop. However, I have planted a few things that I could never grow in my old garden, and it is thriving in this new soil. For the first time in my life I have grown chamomile from seed!

 

[MumsyII]

Hi aaggig!

Carrots are one of those vegetables where germination is tricky. They take a couple weeks and need to be thinned early and often. I start to pull them when I see 'shoulders'. Same with radishes and beets. Thin thin thin. I used to get root maggots on everything until I started using the crop covers.

Radishes belong to the Brassica family. These are cool soil and weather crops. As soon as it gets too warm in both places at the same time they bolt to seed. Timing is everything. When I do radishes, they are the first crop in at earliest possible Spring and the first crop out before the heat of summer arrives.

My chickens will devour all the green tops of all Brassica family. They don't like the leaves of carrots or parsley in the Umbelliferae family.

I have planted Kale and Collards late summer for winter crops. I plant annual rye grass in my unused runs. Some people I know plant clover. Cornel University has a good link. http://covercrops.cals.cornell.edu/

 

[mlowen]

My chickens will devour all the green tops of all Brassica family. They don't like the leaves of carrots or parsley in the Umbelliferae family.

Maybe because I haven't had many Brassicas come up/be harvested this year, my chickens don't know what they taste like, so they have eaten the carrot greens--they just left the stems.