Early in my childhood, I was exposed to the concept of gardening. My mom grew Eggplants, Bananas, Okra, Tomatoes and few others in our backyard. So early in life, I had discovered the joys of playing in the dirt. As a kid, harvesting brought lot of excitement. Guess I imbibed my mom's passion of gardening. I see those influences on my 8 year old daughter now!! She is growing her own Potato plant.
Well, this is my first year of gardening in beds. So last winter was just the research and understanding the dynamics to grow in Ohio weather. Faced few hurdles and an action plan to cope up with failures are in progress!! Here are few challenges that I came across.
Lining for Raised Beds: I had a ready raised bed available in my yard when we moved in. Never occurred that some rodents will mess my plants underneath. So having a landscape fabric lining will block Voles and Moles. I have seen few 1 inch diameter holes in my raised bed.
Thinning: I got away with thinning Carrot seedlings and when harvested my Carrots were merely 2 inch long. It is very hard to space out seeds when you sow them as they are tiny. So when the plants reach 4-5 inches tall, thinning is must.
Broccoli Bolting: I have two Broccoli plants one from seed and another from nursery. I harvested multiple Broccoli heads from nursery plant while the one from seed started to bolt(flower). Not able to understand what went wrong. Few on net suggest bolting happens when temperatures go very high. I have another plant in perfect shape still producing heads!! Room for mystery!!!
Caterpillars and Slugs on Cabbage: Slugs and Cabbage showed up when my Cabbage plants were mature enough to produce heads. Used Salt to get away from Slugs. The population reduced drastically. Had spotted white butterflies in my beds making pit stops. Few days later my plant was stormed by Caterpillars. Had to use solution of Neem oil/Water and dish washing detergent to get rid of them.
Squash Vine Borer: My Zucchini plant was producing first set of harvest when one day I noticed the entire plant wilt. In spite of watering, the plant was not able to revive. Then noticed larvae inside the stems close to ground. It was too late to save the plant. I had to pull out the plants and look for buried pupae inside the soil as it will overwinter and moths emerge next summer and lay eggs on stems and the entire life cycle starts again. Pumpkin plant is attacked but it is still producing flowers. I have piled a heap of compost to kill larvae.
Cilantro: Never had success growing this simple herb. I tried several ways to plant them but somehow it does not germinate. I get seeds from Indian grocery and I suspect that could be the reason!!
Well, this is my first year of gardening in beds. So last winter was just the research and understanding the dynamics to grow in Ohio weather. Faced few hurdles and an action plan to cope up with failures are in progress!! Here are few challenges that I came across.
Lining for Raised Beds: I had a ready raised bed available in my yard when we moved in. Never occurred that some rodents will mess my plants underneath. So having a landscape fabric lining will block Voles and Moles. I have seen few 1 inch diameter holes in my raised bed.
Thinning: I got away with thinning Carrot seedlings and when harvested my Carrots were merely 2 inch long. It is very hard to space out seeds when you sow them as they are tiny. So when the plants reach 4-5 inches tall, thinning is must.
Broccoli Bolting: I have two Broccoli plants one from seed and another from nursery. I harvested multiple Broccoli heads from nursery plant while the one from seed started to bolt(flower). Not able to understand what went wrong. Few on net suggest bolting happens when temperatures go very high. I have another plant in perfect shape still producing heads!! Room for mystery!!!
Caterpillars and Slugs on Cabbage: Slugs and Cabbage showed up when my Cabbage plants were mature enough to produce heads. Used Salt to get away from Slugs. The population reduced drastically. Had spotted white butterflies in my beds making pit stops. Few days later my plant was stormed by Caterpillars. Had to use solution of Neem oil/Water and dish washing detergent to get rid of them.
Squash Vine Borer: My Zucchini plant was producing first set of harvest when one day I noticed the entire plant wilt. In spite of watering, the plant was not able to revive. Then noticed larvae inside the stems close to ground. It was too late to save the plant. I had to pull out the plants and look for buried pupae inside the soil as it will overwinter and moths emerge next summer and lay eggs on stems and the entire life cycle starts again. Pumpkin plant is attacked but it is still producing flowers. I have piled a heap of compost to kill larvae.
Cauliflower: I was not successful in growing Cauliflower this summer. The plant that I started off as seeds never produced any heads but the plant from nursery did form a crooked head!! Guess too much heat won't yield any heads.
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