ripe mango melon vine peach  How do you know when a mango melon/vine peach is ripe?

romain lettuce is very tall  Our romain lettuce is about 3 1/2ft tall. Leafy (no head of lettuce forming, does it form on the end of the stalk?) I've been using it for salads etc....

Chilli Pepper - Hot Banana  Yesterday July 14th I was cleanig a backyard of weeds and abondoned plants when I came across a hot banana chilli plant. The peppers were already dried ...

Watermelon, Moon and Stars not showing any watermelons  My watermelons were a little slow to take off after I transplanted to the garden as it was cool and wet for a few weeks after that. Now it has gotten ...

turnip plants are flowering  Turnips are flowering, but not producing much of the turnip itself. Is this because they are transplanted plants?

new growth on frozen lemon tree  My 4 yr old Myer lemon tree in a container froze last winter. It is too large to bring in the house. Now I see new leaves at the base of the trunk. Should ...

Growing pinto beans  How long does it take pintos to mature? We picked some as flat green beans and now are wanting to have shelled beans. It seems like it is taking FOREVER!...

sweet corn with multible stalks  What should I do when my sweet corm plants grow multible stocks? Do I keep breaking them off or do I leave them alone. Also why do they grow? Is my ground ...

Squash dying when small  My squash plants are large and healthy looking, but the squash are not getting bigger than about 1 1/2 inches long. about 2 weeks now - some are rotting ...

mr flavorless squash  why are my squash flavorless?

How to stop vegetables wilting when picked  Soon after picking some of my veggies they are wilted and soft. Lettuce is the worst. My raddishes are the worst!
Any ideas for me?

Eggplant question  Most of my eggplants are producing beautiful shiny black fruit, but sometimes they produce a yellow one! These odd ones grow as big and healthy looking ...

Growing vegetables in drainage pipes on wall  I wish to grow some lettuce, strawberries and herbs on a wall in a container. A TV show I saw the other night said to grow them in plastic guttering. My ...

Rhubarb growing - removing rhubarb leaves  I saw on comp that you should remove the larger leaves of rhubarb because of high water content. Is this true? Thank you

Passionfruit infertility? No fruit on my passionfruit.  Now three years in, our passionfruit (on grafted root stock) is again producing flowers in abundance and looks a picture of perfection. It has yet to ...

Onions - Can flu virus be absorbed in onions?  I heard if you put an onion in a bowel in each room of your house it will absorb any flu virus that would be in your home see below:

Worth a try... we'...

Lavender... how hardy are they.  How long do these plants live? I had 3 and one bush died.
People love my lavender bushes, and ask if I can give them a branch of it or split it. I am ...

Cantaloupes - when do I pick cantaloupes  How can I tell when it is time to harvest my cantaloupe.

LEGUMES - peas and beans grow then died  I have four 'no-dig' gardens and have had great success with most vegies. However, this year all my peas and beans grew to about 120mm tall then died. I ...

Root crops - How do I grow large root crops?  The root crops I grow never get large.

Black Mustard - Growing black mustard  I would like to have black mustard growing and would like to see a picture, and know more about it.

Knobby potatoes  Burbank Knobby potatoes.
I planted burbank potatoes for the first time this year. The plants are wonderful and loaded with buds for 3 weeks now. I dug ...

pumpkins and cantaloupe going rotten  My canteloupe and pumpkins are growing but when they get to a decent size they get soft and rot. Why?

Broccoli goes to flower  Donna from Wisconsin writes: I'm new to gardening. I planted broccoli seedlings and let them accidently flower. Now what?!

Peas have yellow leaves and broccoli leaves have holes  We live in Southern California( Riverside, hot and dry, I think zone 10) and just started a garden in May. We started it in containers and moved it to ...

Squash not ripening - Huge squash not turning yellow  Question
Why does my squash get too big before it turns yellow?

Slow growing peppers  My peppers are growing sooooo slowly! What is up and do you think they will catch up? It is already July 6 and mine are only about 4 inches tall. I ...

Growing broccoli with leaves eaten off?  I started my first garden ever this summer and it was doing fabulous, and I was so proud of it. I just got back from going away for the holiday weekend ...

Checkered raspberries?  A neighbor gave me some young raspberry plants last season. This is their second season in my raised garden. Plants look great and are producing many ...

Why does my squash produce two different sorts of fruit?  What causes my Yellow crookneck squash to produce both light colored tender fruits and darker colored hard fruits? The hard quashes are so hard they aren'...

confused parsnips.  Hi, I was just wondering if you could tell me a possible explanation for my parsnips being bulbous at the top and then growing numerous smaller roots underneath....

Growing pumpkins in box  Can i grow pumpkins in small 4x4 box type above ground garden.

Planting carrots in a container  how deep does a container need to be to plant something like carrots?

Thin asparagus stalks  My mother has had an asparagus bed for years. The stalks seem to be getting thinner and thinner. What could be causing this?
Thanks for your time. Sincerely,...

Carrots - leave old carrots in the ground, or dig out?  Last fall we didn't pull all of the carrots from the garden before everything froze solid for months. Now here in New England we are just getting ready ...

Support for tomato plants  Last year my tomatoe plants grew 7 feet tall even though I had cages around them. Can tomatoe plants be pruned? Any ideas on supports to keep them vertical?...

Three sisters method of planting  I've been reading up on the three sisters method of planting corn, beans and squash. I was wondering how you work your way thru the beans and corn to ...

Veggies lacking size  Hi there, I have a No-Dig organic veggie garden. I created it around 4 months ago. Filling it with Organic compost and then topping it with veggie mix ...

tomatoes blooms but no tomatoes  We have four tomato plants, three have produced tomatoes, but the fourth just grows and blooms but never any tomatoes. This really has us puzzled. Any ...

Slow growth and small fruit on cucumbers and tomatoes  hi have raised bed garden, lots of compost but this year notice things growing slow. like tomatoes and cukes vines ok but fruit small. added horse and ...

Using eggplants  I love eggplant and I grow them a lot. but I don't know if I can preserve them. Can I slice and roast to(seperately)freeze or freeze whole? I don't think ...

Growing Vegetables upside down - Hanging Garden Quandry  This coming Spring I intend to grow most of my garden (eggplant, peas, beans, cucumbers,melons, tomatoes, etc,) in hanging buckets & bags. The question ...

Dates for planting vegetables - When to plant potatoes?  What are the best dates for planting different vegetables. For example, when is the last date for putting in a potato crop?
We are in the Motueka area ...