Home Vegetable Gardens

It is not the same - different bacterium. It will work for borers. Differences are Bt has to be eaten to kill them, Spinosad kills if eaten but also with contact. Both can be used around squash stems and even injected into the stalk if borers are already inside. Spinosad kills multiple bug types, Bt only kills caterpillars. Bt won't harm bees, Spinosad can kill them until it has dried. You don't need to wait to harvest squash with Bt, it is not harmful. Spinosad you are supposed to wait 3 days between spraying and harvesting. They are both 'biologic' controls.
 
I finished building my raised bed around a 40’ section of chain link fence. I will use this to grow pole beans next summer.

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A lot of people aren't aware these are even edible, let alone highly nutritious.

But these leaves went straight from one of my Sweet Potato plants and into my dinner tonight



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There is a vining plant called 'Malabar Spinach' that grows in hot weather I am going to try on my garden arches next summer. Leaves are edible and can be used like spinach.
 
It has been so rainy and wet here in NC that I have sort of had to put my new garden project on hold. Probably a blessing as I have been going at it so hard it has taken a physical toll on me. I've got 160 bags of wet raised bed soil sitting out there waiting to be put in my beds, and will have to get nearly that much again to fill my other long bed at some point.
 
My first time growing tomatoes so I don't know whether to eat these or not ?
Couple weeks ago, had a bunch of green tomatoes with one just beginning to redden.
Then leaves slowly & gradually started dying. First I pruned it as the leaves died, and picked off 2 red ones...til all the leaves went to shit. (btw, the white stuff is all egg shells)

But during that whole process, the fruits themselves continued to ripen, and still do
My neighbor said to discard it all, including the fruits...And A.I. said it could be 4 possible causes ;
And if the actual cause was Fungal Wilt Disease, it said to toss it all like my neighbor said, and not even keep the fruit's seeds for planting.

But another neighbor said, just to pick them, let them finish ripening inside and they'd be fine.
One of the characteristics of this "Early Girl" variety is they have a strong resistance to disease.
I'm still not so sure if they're diseased or not. Though, to me it doesn't look like natural aging either.

Another thing is most of them have the same bruise-looking mark on them.

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So I asked A.I. how to determine whether it's Fungal Wilt Disease. It said to scrape the very base of the stem.
And if it's light green, which it is, then it doesn''t have that.

I'm starting to think I may have caused it with an overdose of Calcium, by sprinkling too much egg shell powder.
Either that or too much sun.
In either of those cases, I guess they're ok to eat
 
It’s probably just been a hot summer. They are fine to eat. There are a lot of wilt type viruses. One thing you can do next time is as the plants grow, trim off the lower branches about 6 inches up. The tomato plants get the wilt virus when rain or water splashes dirt onto the lower leaves. That’s why you’ll see it start low and move upwards. Very common. Drought periods can also cause the plant to wilt.
 
It’s probably just been a hot summer. They are fine to eat. There are a lot of wilt type viruses. One thing you can do next time is as the plants grow, trim off the lower branches about 6 inches up. The tomato plants get the wilt virus when rain or water splashes dirt onto the lower leaves. That’s why you’ll see it start low and move upwards. Very common. Drought periods can also cause the plant to wilt.

That totally makes sense, and brings assurance.
Not only to the plant structure, but I think it also explains those brown spots on the tomatoes. I guess it's their version of sunburn.
Thanks very much !
 
I have not Mickalino. I don’t really have anywhere to put one given the layout of my property. They are very cool though. A decade or so ago I was starting all of my own plants from seed indoors using a 4 tier fluorescent light rack. It was fun but I found it hard to produce the same level of quality plants as the ones on garden stores. It is a challenge not to grow leggy seedlings no matter what you do so I do t k ow if I’ll get back into that or not.
 
I started out small and humble with a greenhouse I constructed.
Some may laugh at this creation. But it gets the job done.

Made with scraps. I'm more of a scrappy scrapper, as opposed to the crafty craftsmen in this thread.
For several years, and multiple winters, this has sustained some very climate-sensitive plants, native to southeast Asia's tropical weather


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Where do you live? I don't think something like that would work in Zone 7b where I live where it can get as cold as single digits. Is that a fan in back of your rig?
 
It would probably work in 7B, with a similar winterizing like this one.
This setup has withstood temps in the teens, with zero casualties.

Right before it's expected to go below the plants' tolerance, I wrap with insulation, duct taped together. Then a car cover. And then with tarp for a 3rd layer of protection. Then tighten all that with a rope in a tight knot.

And I separate the insulation that's around the sides, from the insulation on top, since the door opening is on top. And cut the insulation to the
size & shape of the door. That way during times in the winter when it gets warm enough to tend to them, all 3 layers are easily removable, then wrap again when temps are expected to dip again.

The insulation I personally use, comes from those big boxes of frozen dinners shipped by Metabolic Meals.
They're just as good, at keeping cold OUT of my mini-greenhouse, as it is keeping cold IN the boxes of frozen meals for preservation.

That thing that looks like a fan is a screen used for ventilation, after I cut a proper hole in the clear vinyl.
And it has excellent micron level, to keep insects out. It also acts as a "poor man's humidity control" ; If I sense the plants need more humidity, I block it (except winter when it's already blocked).

And I have a flat square full-spectrum growing lamp that fits nicely on the door on top.

This is what my 1st layer insulation looks like and below that pic is a 'splash guard saucepan screen' that I used for ventilation/humidity control/insects etc.
Of course it doesn't need to be done exactly like this, but similar. You can also use burlap, frost cloth, or a heavy blanket for example...


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Yeah, I will admit that is WAY more work than I'm willing to do. If I decide to start plants in the winter months, I'll just buy an indoor grow stand again lol...
 
Been on a trip for the better part of a week. Prior to leaving, I planted the garden arches I had built. Lots of pole beans, some pie pumpkins and small ornamental pumpkins, some vining flowers. Almost all have come up. Whether I will have enough time to harvest much before the first frost remains to be seen. I am filling my long raised bed along a chain link fence today and will plant more beans and some Malabar spinach (which I have never grown) along it. Once I have that done, I will focus on doing some planting in my other raised beds with fall crops.
 
Dig my Fig ?
I been feeding this kid for 5 years.
If this sucker doesn't start pumpin out fruit, I'm gonna start chargin him rent



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