Huge veggies

[MapMan]

I dug some of my potatoes the other day, and from one plant I got three 2+ pounders, which I thought were pretty good from one plant.

But they don't compare to this record veggie:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081014/ap_on_fe_st/odd_pumpkin_contest

Anyone grow some large vegetables this year?

MM

[dragonfly]

My garden was a flop this year, and it usually does quite well. It wasn't just mine, though. It seemed to be a regional phenomenon, and I haven't spoken with a single gardener that had a good productive year.

Your potatoes are quite impressive. When I have grown potatoes, it has been disappointing. Probably a mixture of the soil here and the fact that our heat inhibits the plants during the time they are developing. I am just now starting to have some tomatoes ripening. Between the weather, the raccoons, and the deer, plus the stinkbug population this summer, I didn't have nearly the tomato production I usually have. But, there's always next year.:)

Congrats on your spuds.;)

[MapMan]

Dragon- treat your tomatoes to some manure - maybe you'll get one like this:

http://www.tomatocasual.com/2007/09/05/world%E2%80%99s-largest-tomato/

Kinda looks like a pie pumpkin!

Potatoes are a natural here in Wisconsin. We grow a lot of them - mostly chipping potatoes. Yes, there is always next year - the weeds took over much of my garden this year.

MM

[dragonfly]

the weeds took over much of my garden this year.

MM

Mine too. I've spent two weeks digging Johnsongrass out of one of the garden beds. Do you guys have that stuff up there? The rhizomes grow 18-24 inches underground, and if you leave just a sliver of it, it grows a whole new plant. It's a truly disgusting weed, and the bane of my gardening pleasure.

[cow pollinater]

I grew a whopper pumpkin without knowing it. I had pumpkins last year in a feild where I'm raising a winter forage stand for my cows this year. I was walking through the six foot tall feed and walked right into a monster that came up to my thighs. Unfotunately, it was on it's way downhill fast, so there wasn't much use in pulling it out for the kids.

[cow pollinater]

I unknowingly built my garden on top of the worst johnson grass area on my place. I have been known in the past to coat every living thing in my garden with roundup and consider the loss of veggies a good trade.
I have since found that if you break it off and force it to send new shoots while your garden plants are a little more mature, geese will graze on the new shoots and eventually kill the rhizomes as they wear out forcing new growth.:thumbsup:

[dragonfly]

I have since found that if you break it off and force it to send new shoots while your garden plants are a little more mature, geese will graze on the new shoots and eventually kill the rhizomes as they wear out forcing new growth.:thumbsup:

Are you saying I need to buy some geese? The cats would certainly love that.;)

[drobbins]

you better be careful
the geese I used to have would have tried to eat your cat;)
I swear the gander bit me once and drew blood
he sure was tasty

Dave

[dragonfly]

you better be careful
the geese I used to have would have tried to eat your cat;)
I swear the gander bit me once and drew blood
he sure was tasty

Dave

We had an old beloved cat that died a few months ago, and it was like losing a brother. Anyway, he was a manx, and he thought he ruled the animal kingdom, even after he was neutered. He had attitude for the 20 years that he lived.
We bought some guineas about 15 or so years ago, and the farmer that sold them to us assured us that there was no way that cat could kill those guineas. Well, within 2 weeks, those 10 guineas were all cat poop. I doubt our two remaining females would really mess with them, but he would have given it H@#$.

[Zane]

All I grew where record weeds!!! and lots of them. We had sooo much rain this year. After the kids helped me(yes they actually helped!!!!) in July pull out the weeds, my gardens did pretty well. Lately,(today even)I have been laying ground cloth over my flower gardens and mulching the heck out of them. Hopefully the yard will be more managable next year. I also have put in a drip irrigation system on alot of my gardens saving water and time I hope.
I would like to grow some monster pumpkins like that but I have alot of clay soil. We have a guy here that grows lots of 200-300lb range pumpkins
($100.00+ a piece) but not me!!!! I have some sweet potatoes out there I haven't dug up yet. the tops look great but my clay soil will probably give me little taters again!!!!. I am going to try stacking tires up, filling w/ sandy soil and planting spuds and other root veggies that way. Has anyone tries that?
Dont them geese spread the weed seeds(via their droppings) everywhere?

[dcross]

Had one pumpkin plant produce over 800# total:


http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220900&page=2

Very happy with the Red LaSoda potatoes this year, and the fingerlings. Russets, Pontiacs, and Norlands, not so much. Digging sweet potatoes(pretty small ones) and planting winter onions and garlic, and then I'm done until March or so!

MM, did you try sweet potatoes this year? I don't think I'll grow Vardaman again.

[MapMan]

Had one pumpkin plant produce over 800# total:


http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220900&page=2

Very happy with the Red LaSoda potatoes this year, and the fingerlings. Russets, Pontiacs, and Norlands, not so much. Digging sweet potatoes(pretty small ones) and planting winter onions and garlic, and then I'm done until March or so!

MM, did you try sweet potatoes this year? I don't think I'll grow Vardaman again.

dcross - don't know how I missed your earlier post - must have been during one of my busier stretch of days. That's a good size pumpkin (or is it more of a squash)?

I gave up on Pontiacs a couple of years ago, and rely on Red Norland. I think that Norland is better quality for cooking than Pontiacs, even though they are an earlier variety and smaller - but they are gonna be cut up anyway. Great for potato salad - hold up better than Pontiac. They did average in crop, but Yukon Golds were a bumper crop and my mainstay variety every year the Kennebecs did great too - that was where the large taters were. Never did get around to planting sweet taters - ran out of garden space. Next year...

Dragonfly - I have more of a problem with Quackgrass - even a little bit of a rhizome will start a new plant. Tough to eradicate even with Roundup, as most of the buds on the rhizomes are dormant, and resistant to Roundup. To combat that, you should actually hit the Quackgrass with high amounts of nitrogen fertilizer (I know - who wants to benefit the grow of the weed?). This will induce the plant to break dormant buds in the rhizome and allow the plant to absorb the Roundup. Even then, multiple applications of Roundup will be necessary. Don't know if this procedure could be applied to Johnson grass. Worth a try.

MM

[dcross]

It's an Atlantic Giant, got the seeds from bigpumpkins.com for free. Seriously delicate plants though, I'm not sure I'll bother again.

If there was a year NOT to grow sw. potatoes, this was it. I asked Steele to send them mid-May, and got them the second week in June. I was a little miffed, but if I had them in the ground any earlier, they would have been frosted. Then no really hot weather all summer...

[dragonfly]

All I grew where record weeds!!! and lots of them.

:D Me too.

MM, I forgot to mention that I did grow one big veggie this year, but it wasn't really a veggie. I have a martin house gourd that is 9 1/2 inches in diameter, and still green. Don't know if has reached full growth, but that's the largest gourd I have ever grown.:)

[cow pollinater]

you should actually hit the Quackgrass with high amounts of nitrogen fertilizer

I know a guy who dumps miracle grow in with his roundup to increase the uptake. He kills plants that normally don't die with one treatment. He says for weeds like johnson grass he can use less roundup and get a better kill for less money.

[dcross]

Ammonium sulphate is a pretty standard addition to Roundup sprays here, I believe it's done partly to neutralize the minerals in the water.

I had excellent results with one dose of Roundup on quack last fall right before frost. So good I still don't have much of it.