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Showing 4711 - 4740 of 13866 comments
Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 17 May, Ken (Australia - temperate climate)
Adding Epsom Salts at the rate of 1 tbs - 2 litres of water will improve the flavour and sweetness of tomatoes so you could give that a try. They are both in the Solanacea family. All the best.
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Parsnip 17 May, Aaron (Australia - arid climate)
I am in Perth Western Australia and wants try to harvest my parsnip in between July & September can you advice on planting date. Thank you ! Regards
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Parsnip 17 May, Giovanni (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Parsnips take about 5 months to harvest from sowing and are normally planted between June and September in the Perth climate zone. This leaves a gap as seed sown in late September would be ready in late March not July - September as you were hoping. They would normally only keep for 3 - 4 weeks in the refrigerator so you still have a 'gap'. Why not plant some seed in March and give them a try? When the seedlings emerge keep them moist and apply a thick mulch to keep the soil a bit cooler. It's worth a try and you'll know for sure then. Maybe someone else has tried it and can answer.
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Potato 17 May, Suzanne (Australia - temperate climate)
The information you have here is helpful, but what i need to know is the average growing time to harvest please. The plants are flowering and I'm wondering if that is an indication? We live on the Sunshine Coast and the potato's were planted in October, 7 months ago.
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Potato 18 May, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
In Qld we plant potatoes in Autumn and Spring. St Patrick's Day is the general start time March 17th for Autumn. Spring is probably Sept. They take 12-20 weeks to grow - probably the warmer the climate the quicker. You can pick potatoes any time but to have mature spuds to store for awhile you wait until they flower and then start to die off. Have a little feel around to see how big they are.
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Potato 19 May, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I was talking to a friend today who planted certified potatoes about 8 weeks ago (the last of the hot summer weather) in sandy soil. The last ones to shoot out of the soil had stunted curled up leaves - like the leaves had not unfolded and grown bigger. He took them to a commercial grower to find out why. This fellow said it happened because the soil was too hot. Being sandy loam it probably retained the heat more in the soil. Out of about 35 potatoes about 8 had this problem. The commercial grower has only just planted his crop - Bundaberg Qld. He waits until the potatoes eyes start to shoot and then plants. Hope that helps.
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Potato 17 May, Ken (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Potatoes can take 14 - 20 weeks, when the tops die down to be ready for long-storage harvest. 'New' potatoes can be harvested about 4 weeks after flowering. These potatoes should be 'raided' without disturbing the plant too much so that others can mature.
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Rhubarb 17 May, +david richardson (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi I have a single small plant which is producing multiple stems but they are very thin and as a result not really usable. the plant is on a balcony which gets sun in the morning, this is melbourne! is there something I can do to create more growth of usable stems? many thanks
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Rhubarb 17 May, Jack (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Rhubarb responds to heavy doses of old manure, blood & bone, etc. It also likes plenty of water which is often a challenge for plants grown in tubs. Your aspect is fine and living in Melbourne is not a handicap! Using good potting mix, not cheap stuff, is a must when growing plants in tubs as they need to get everything out of the amount of soil that is in the tub. If it is not practical to re pot it just make a few holes down beside the roots with a stick and pour some blood & bone down the hole before closing it over. Keep the rhubarb mulched and moist and bury all of your kitchen scraps under the mulch. This will rot down and provide extra nutrients.
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Yacon (also Sunroot) 16 May, Craig (Australia - temperate climate)
Has any one grown yacon in hothouse to save from frost l live in melb
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Okra (also Ladyfinger, gumbo) 16 May, Chris Jacobson (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I started growing from seed then it severely eaten by ? what do I do
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Okra (also Ladyfinger, gumbo) 17 May, Jack (Australia - temperate climate)
If it is a chewing pest such as caterpillars you could spray with Natures Way Caterpillar Killer. This is an organic, natural spray that is harmless to birds, animals, us, etc and is effective against caterpillars. If they are only small plants it could be cutworms that live just below the soil surface.
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 15 May, maurie (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
do I need to stake a capsicum plant whilst it is growing?
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 15 May, Darren (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Maurie, capsicums grow fine without staking, however I found that once they start to bear fruit, they lean down to the ground. Staking might help keep your capsicums off the ground.
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 15 May, Sean (Australia - temperate climate)
Normally capsicums make a sturdy, self supporting bush. If they are getting tall or leggy a stake would certainly help and would avoid the disappointment of a plant being blown over when it was laden with fruit.
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 17 May, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Yes they do fall over sometimes. I have put up a little trellis this year. I had a 4" diameter split pine rail post 7 feet long - cut it in half - put them about 15" into the soil, 5' apart - I have 4 plants in. Drilled some 1/2" holes approx. every 9" and ran some twine (Bunnings 500m $12) between the posts around the outside of the posts. The plants are now just starting to come through the bottom lot of twine. I have done the same with tomatoes - posts are 7' out of the ground - I have a 6' steel post in the middle. If I have to, when the plants come through the twine I will pull the twine together and tie to the steel post. All a bit of an experiment this year to see how it goes. Did a lot of reading about growing indeterminate tomatoes and found I couldn't buy suitable wire netting to make cages. Very expensive also. I had the split rail posts from a shade structure I had pulled down, so it worked out very cheap. Use the twine around my snow peas also.
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 17 May, Sean (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
You are onto a good thing!For good air circulation and general management tomatoes are better grown in a flat plane than on a cage anyway. re using stakes, etc is sustainable and save money as well. You could probably replant the tomato/capsicum site with climbing peas or grow a quick crop like radishes or leafy greens ready to sow climbing beans in the spring. Good luck!
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Capsicum (also Bell peppers, Sweet peppers) 18 May, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
The way I did it, is how they grow them commercially here. With the stake you have to have something to tie them up with. I was buying ribbon and reusing it - but it is $5 a 25m roll. With 2-3 lots of tomatoes (?capsicums) in at a time can use a lot of ribbon and they tend to slide down the stake. I do mix it up a bit. I have had corn in, followed by, snow peas to be followed by climbing beans probably. I'm in the process of setting up 6-8 Styrofoam boxes to grow my leafy lettuce, hon tsai tai rocket baby spinach. Cheers
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Jerusalem Artichokes (also Sunchoke) 14 May, sonia marie (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I have just received JA`s and want to plant them but we are into the colder months , should i store them and if so how or should i put them in the soil and wait for them to come up ? i dont want to lose these ive been searching for them forever
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Jerusalem Artichokes (also Sunchoke) 15 May, Giovanni (Australia - temperate climate)
I would store them in a pot filled with damp sand until spring. If you leave them out they will shrivel and if you plant them they may rot unless you have good drainage. Once established they are virtually indestructible and would survive most winters.
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Corn Salad (also Lamb's lettuce or Mache) 14 May, Marion (Australia - temperate climate)
How do I clean this treasure for eating please
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Mint (also Garden mint) 13 May, Preetam (Australia - temperate climate)
My mint plant is not flowering in winter. All the leaves are turning yellow in Color. Any advice please.
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Mint (also Garden mint) 15 May, Ken (Australia - temperate climate)
Some of the leaves on my mint have gone yellow and dropped. They seem to do it every winter. It can be quite cold here so I just put it down to that. They freshen up every spring and take off again.
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Cape Gooseberry (also Golden Berry, Inca Berry ) 13 May, Mary (Australia - temperate climate)
In Nov 2016 I posted that I'd bought seeds of the Johnson World Kitchen brand. I sowed them straight into the ground. I am now (in May) harvesting big cape gooseberries which are great. Very easy to grow, I use composted horse manure/kitchen scraps and they seem to love it.
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Potato 13 May, Ian (Australia - temperate climate)
hi, just wondering if I can plant cucumbers after a potato crop. my potatoes are in a raised bed
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Potato 15 May, Darren (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Ian, While they don't make good companion plants, there's no reason you can't grow them in the same bed afterwards. Don't forget to enrich the bed with plenty of compost first.
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Potato 15 May, Giovanni (Australia - temperate climate)
You should be able to. Cucurbits, which include cucumbers like well manured soil and a consistent water supply. Put a trellis up, this will keep you plants tidier and the cucumbers cleaner.
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Potato 17 May, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
People say you can't plant this after that or plant tomatoes in the same area for a year or two. There is a cycle of how you plant different veggies after each other to best use the soil. BUT you can plant things differently if you like. I have a garden bed approx. 13 m long and it varies from 4 to 7' in depth. Now in the shorter rows I mainly plant lettuce, radish, beetroot, shallots etc and the longer rows corn, tomatoes, snow peas etc. I plant 2 crops per year (autumn and spring) and mix it up a bit - like I will follow radish with lettuce or tomatoes after snow peas. So year after year I plant like this. As long as you give the soil a top up with compost and or fertiliser then you can plant whatever you like. I don't have heaps of diseases etc. My main problems are birds eating young plants (lettuce snow peas) early in the growing season, grubs eating cabbages/broccoli after rain and beans being killed by some worm or something growing into winter. Am going to grow beans in the spring this year - see how that works.
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Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold) 12 May, Will stubby (Australia - temperate climate)
Can you grow silver beet in rocky ground ?
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Silverbeet (also Swiss Chard or Mangold) 13 May, Jack (Australia - temperate climate)
You didn't say whether the soil was big rocks or gravel but if you provide the nutrients and water you will be able to. An example is hydroponics where the growing medium is often scoria or some other inert material.Build the ground up with as much organic matter as you can, add mulch to help hold water and go for it!
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Showing 4711 - 4740 of 13866 comments
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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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