Sometimes you are about ready to throw in the towel, but it is worth giving a shot a few more times. I am going to give one more chance at these to grow before I give them up for good… until I decide to keep trying haha!
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42 Comments
Growing up, we had a large garden. My father raised cauliflower and broccoli, along with many other things. Unfortunately, even though he tied them up, it kept turning green. At harvest, he realized he had tied up the broccoli, and we had whitish green broccoli.
I cant offer any tips for the crops you mentioned, but I can offer empathy. My nemesis is carrots. I try them every 4-5 years just to remember why I don;t try them more often.
With cosmos you should hit the cut stem with a flame for a few seconds.
This is going to be one of the best comments sections! I already see a whole bunch of awesome stuff that I can apply myself! The watermelon has always eluded me too! I know people have grown competition level pumpkins here in MA, so I might try for one of those this year as a novelty!
Please do tell if you can figure out tje jicama!
Im not sure how to give tips on the cauliflower i grew it year before last for the first time and other than having a small head (i definitely started it late and neglected it) it seemed totally fine. I had it planted in a raised bed with afternoon shade. Also never heard of blanching the tops never heard of blanching outside of blanching before freezing soooo i definitely didnt do it lol.
Ha Luke, I have the same problem with cauliflower and watermelon that you have. We live in east central Wisconsin close to Lake Michigan. Cold and clay are our issues. I would add sweet potato to my list of what I want to do better growing. I can't get decent sweet potatoes. Mine are just thin tubers.
My secret to growing good cauliflower is to raise it in the fall. For several years, I tried growing cauliflower in the spring. Once the head began to form, the weather would get hot and stunt the growth of the head. Now, I start snowball variety from seed, transplant into the garden the first of August and my cauli ripens in the cooler weather of September/October. When the heads begin to form (golfball size) I tie the leaves up to blanch. Most years, the heads will get so big that they bust out of their leaves.. Each fall, I freeze over 100# from 20 plants. I use it to make pizza crust, cheese soup, and in homemade veggie soup. Yum! I'm in West-Central MO-Now zone 6B! Good luck trying this , because cauli is one of my favorite vegetables. Did I mention I only plant seed from MIGardener?
I'm in Northwest Ohio, I struggle with all cool season crops. It seems our weather goes from winter to August overnight. A friend once told me melons grow best in manue piles.
It took me several years to be successful with cauliflower. I had even given up for a few years and then thought try, try again. Finally one year I got one head. Ever since then no issue. I have no idea what happened. I plant in early spring , cover if it is still super cold, and plant again in mid August. I grow white and colorful varieties. I even had a 5 pound head this past summer. Former zone 6b now 7.
I received my MI gardener seeds today! One of them was watermelon so wish me luck!
Thank you for being so honest and humble! Yes! We all have to learn new things, or our brains will shrink. I'll be honest: I've given up on some things, too. I used to be able to grow big, beautiful sweet corn. And now, I can hardly get it to come up–last year, it tasseled out at 12"! My dad would be so embarrassed! 😂 He was a master gardener, and was always trying new things. I am really enjoying your channel, and I can't wait to start the seeds I bought from you. I'll bet they're great.
Regarding cut flowers from the garden, cut the ends again under running water, or just before putting in water.
for cauliflower try self-blanching or colored purple or chedder
I live in mid Michigan and have grown Watermelons as large as 80lbs consistently for the past several years. Part of that of course is the variety (Truck Buster). The other conditions that I believe have led to my success may be harder to replicate. The area that I use for my watermelon patch was under a brush pile for perhaps 20 years before it was burned. I assume that all of the decayed wood beneath the surface as well as the wood ash on top has resulted in very fertile soil. In addition to that it receives full sun from sunrise to sunset.
for your watermelon growing : https://www.uaex.uada.edu/counties/crittenden/How%20to%20Grow%20Giant%20Watermelons_accessible.pdf
You are probably harvesting the flowers too late. Generally, you dont want them fully open. It really depends on what you are growing. Harvest sunflowers when they start to open and see a bit of color. Snap dragons when 1-2 florets have opened…
I watched a YouTuber that says the trick to broccoli and cauliflower is to start it inside in the summer and plant out in late summer, it doesn't like heat, I will try that myself this year
Huge pumpkins need lots of water and fertilizer, an expensive amount.
You got me with the "I QUIT" in your thumbnail
Michigan has a short season with up and down temps. I grow small sugar baby watermelons. Big ones nope. West Branch area.
Are there any heritage varieties of cauliflower that are self blanching?! The leaves of the hybrid, self blanching varieties roll up around the heads to protect them from the sun. Half – ama!!! 😆😆😆
Vase life is really dependent on the types of flowers more than anything but be sure you're not harvesting in the heat or grow things you can dry and enjoy much longer maybe—strawflower, gomphrena, etc.
We grow our cauliflower and broccoli in our winter greenhouse. Cannot grow them outside never get a nice big head and the small heads are buggy.
For jicama grow it like you would sweet potato and you can trellis it close to other plants that get heavy pest pressure cause it repels them just make sure it's full sun
Try as I might I have trouble with radishes. I know it's crazy but if I get a radish to form it ends up so spicy I can't eat them
Sorry no tips as I do not grow those plants. But seeing that healthy umbrella plant behind me is my goal to create with the plant I have. Almost threw the one have outside for good.Its coming better in the sunniest window I have.
Eastern Nebraska grower. I grew watermelon for the first time last year. 3 over 20lbs and 2 over 10lbs on one plant. Outside. Didn’t do anything special. Variety was Ali baba.
Broccoli Raab gets me all the time. It goes straight to seed. Maybe I plant it too late and it’s too warm.
We cover the head with it’s own leaves to keep it white
thanks Luke, love these. Have watched you for years but I love that you have also shown your fails. I am in the same zone and for the love of Pete I cannot grow cauliflower. Broccoli no problem, cauliflower hates me… that is my story and I am sticking to it.
When my cauliflower starts to show through the leaves covering it and it is about 3 inches wide I take the inner leaves and snap them and bend them over the heads. If I would tie them together like they say to do I would think it was a pain to keep untieing them so I just lift up the leaves that I folded over the head to check its progress. I also have insect netting over it and I am sure this keeps out a little bit of sun. I grew one 2 years ago that I think the heat here in Florida got to and when I inspected it it was a nice white fuzzy cauliflower. It was weird and I didn't eat it. Not molded but it looked like it had a pretty white fuzz around it.
Florida Gardener
Zone 9a
With watermelons, variety is key for size. My family has farmed watermelon and cantaloupe all my 30+ years
Growing Large Watermelons: Here's what I do each year. Load the watermelon patch with sand. They need sand for root expansion. Lots of calcium. I use eggshells. Bake, then blend the shells to a powder. add the 1oz of the powder to 10 oz of vinegar and let set for 7-10 days. Then dilute 1 oz of the eggshell liquid into a gallon of water and spray, you have instant calcium in your soil. Also, add manure, and I used your Trifecta + when I planted the seeds in April. I live in northern Indiana, about 200 miles from you. Thats how I get big watermelons.
Cauliflower…. shade cloth!! I finally got nice big cauliflower when I grew it under shade cloth!!! 50% shade cloth in my area zone 7.
Grew watermelons for farm market, agricultural Zone 4A. They get the best soil in my garden, decent amount of compost and manure, and a lot of watering. Dryland growing has not worked for me. Fertilizer, chemical 20-20-20 and I haven’t had any better results with different ratio fertilizers. Start as transplants and direct seeded under aquariums, but mainly direct seeded. Sweet Dakota Rose get pretty big and an early Black Diamond variety from Fedco Seeds.
"Only 50 pounds"
Sometimes, honestly, it's hard to take you seriously. It just comes off as humble bragging. I could be wrong.
I think there's a variety of cauliflower called "Self-Blanching" but I haven't tried it. Good luck, Luke, and happy birthday. Your best years are ahead!
I think jicama isnt suitable for climates above 40° north or south because its meant for warm climates
My daddy grew giant watermelons and pumpkins for the state fair here in Eastern NC. You have to remove MOST of the new pumpkins. Almost leaving only 1 per vine. My dad use to pay my youngest sister to search the patches for ‘babies’ and pinch them off 🤣
When I was a kid, we had a neighbor that made his living growing watermelons. He said he dug a 1 foot wide by 3 foot deep hole and filled it full of manure and then made the watermelon hill on top of it and watered them regularly. He had the biggest best melons!
As far as cut flowers go. Sugar in the water helps alot and I also remove alot of the leaves. Then, pick newer flowers with some not quite open and never put them in the sunshine. Zinnias are great cut flowers and and should last a week or more this way.
Love the new app and your store is awesome!
I'm in Ann Arbor & my snowball cauliflower produces well by starting the seeds indoors in early February in a 72 cell seed tray, then transferring 2 seedlings each into a 17gal bucket in late March as soon as the surface soil (that I amend with a balanced organic fertilizer at the end of the previous season) is warm enough to be workable. I can get away with putting 3 waltham broccoli seedlings per 17gal bucket, go figure. My brassicas do very well in partial shade. The only ones I struggle with are the broccoli romaneso & the early purple sprouting broccoli varieties. Both of those varieties grow well all season, get huge all the way into January, but by the time the blizzards hit, not even a single floret is formed & winters are too harsh here to successfully overwinter them. Years of failing with those two, & I'm so done with them. I like the standard broccoli & cauliflower varieties that actually produce for me too much to keep wasting time/effort/real estate on the fancy exotic ones that haven't produced a single floret after years of trying.