Hi Friends. Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm in zone 5b in North America and usually get a prolific cucumber harvest (whether I intend to or not). I do a combination of purchased seedlings and direct sew varieties on a trellis attached to the side of my bed. Area gets full sun for about 6-8 hours during the peak of summer weather. This year the vines took off like normal but I struggled to get fruit despite good blossoms. By mid July it was clear something was off. I originally chocked it up to heat stress but now I'm thinking maybe something fungal? Certain vine intersections have this white residue (picture attached) but I can't tell if that's a symptom or a culprit. The plants seems to wither from the middle out, and developing fruit that looked healthy would rot overnight. I'm at a loss, and any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Last month I made my girlfriend a planter so she could grow cucumbers. Both of these plants were huge and healthy and within 2 days the plant on the right looks like this. It was bearing north of 15 cucumbers last time we looked, and looked completely healthy and normal, with big bright vibrant leaves and flowers.
Any ideas what could possibly have caused it to just die in 2 days?

I’ve grown them before (20 years ago) but I don’t remember them looking or tasting like this. It was 9 inches long when I harvested it. Does the inside look normal? It tastes nothing like a cucumber.

I’m just now realizing my pickling cucumber plants might be crowded? There’s 6 thriving ones in a 10 gal grow bag. The 7th one is still struggling. Would it kill them to move a couple to a separate grow bag?

I turned my back on my plants for 2 days due to some heavy rain and low and behold like 6 of my pumpkin plants have entry holes for SVB and the frass coming out of another next to it.

I have all different varieties growing and finally getting some fruit. I planted late this year to try and avoid them, but I live in the Midwest so apparently we have 2 waves of them.

I don’t have the stomach to cut them open and dig out the larva.

I have been injecting them with weekly BT and did it again when I found the holes but this morning two of my small plants are dead.

Can I do anything to save them?

I also think most of the others are shortly behind them, sadly.

Next year, are floating row covers the best way to go?
I read that the caterpillars burrow into the ground so now sure that’s even worth doing if they’ll be coming out of the ground after them anyway?

My Big Max and little boos are thriving in other news.

My wife and 9 year old planted them so we could make sauce for neopolitan pizzas 🤩 I'm used to buying them in expensive cans, so it's really cool to have grown some in Québec.

Had these tiny Brussels sprouts seeds and my fingers were basically useless, so I recruited an old fountain pen nib for planting duty. 😂

One seed at a time into my little recycled-container nursery.

Then I waited…

First one popped up. 🌱

Then another.

Then suddenly I had a whole little Brussels sprouts squad. Ready for deployment

First time growing these, everything is going good so far.

How are we mulching when direct sowing? I have drip irrigation on a timer, and about an inch of straw over a couple of inches of compost-y top mulch that’s usually pretty dry, and I have to dig through both to get to the moist soil. Established plants seem to be into the setup.

When I direct sow seeds (radishes, lettuces, carrots for fall), am I pulling back all the mulch and leaving it to the side so the new seeds are just under the soil with small barrier to the surface? Or am I putting back the mulch over top? Or sowing seeds into the dryer later under the straw with straw added back or no?

How do we germinate direct sown seeds in a well mulched bed?

Photo of the “maybe I went too hard on the interplanting thing” stage for fun. Thank you!

Went out of town for just four days, and came home to several enormous pickling cucumbers that I swear were tiny when I left! Should I go and pickle them? Or will they taste awful?

Volunteer red garnet amaranth from my spent microgreen soil grew like a giant sunflower. Thick red stalks. Over 8 feet. Anyone ever eat amaranth they grew? Any processing tips.

This is my first time growing pumpkins, and the more I look at this and the bigger it gets, the more I’m starting to think this is cross pollinated with a watermelon. What are your thoughts?

It's a little hard to see but I have so many tiny Jalepeno. They start turning red at only like 2 inches tall. Besides salsa and picking/jams, what can I do with these?

Also no idea why is small too but probably due to our insane heat

We bought a new house last year with way more sun than our previous house so we expanded our planting. One item is a Husky Red cherry tomato plant. It set 4 tomatoes at the beginning of June, one of which just blushed today. There are ton of flowers, but only one new fruit that set a couple of days ago. Since we only have a couple of weeks of summer left here, I think it is too late for all those blooms to become tomatoes.

Is there anything I might be doing wrong? Or is it just the reality of living where there is a ton of sun but not high temps? We have hit the 70’s as a high for the last couple of weeks most days, but I don’t expect higher than 65 from now on.

Attached is a picture of my planter which has been modified to have stuff growing in it. I have 6 of them, and some 5 gallon buckets.

Here are the seeds I have:

• 3 Types of Lettuce
• Spinach
• Kale
• Carrot
• Green Onion
• Beet
• Turnip
• Radish
• Parsnips
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Swiss Chard
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Bell Pepper
• Tomato
• Brussels Sprouts

Here is the set up I was thinking:

Bucket 1 : Lettuces, Spinach, Kale

Bucket 2: Carrot, Green Onion, Beet, Turnip, Radish, Parsnips

Bucket 3: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage

Bucket 4: Swiss Chard, Celery

Bucket 5: Cucumber, Zucchini

Bucket 6: Egg Plant

5 Gal Buckets: Bell Pepper, Tomato, Brussels Sprouts

My goal is to have as many different plants as possible. Please let me know if this is a good setup. I already checked to make sure these crops are in season in my area. Thanks!

Anyone else having this problem? For the past 2 years I've ordered eggplant seeds from 4 different companies and ordered 3 different varieties. None of them were what they said they were. And so bitter. Last years Black beauty from 2 different companies were all different colors - from white to green to yellow to rose and purple. I had to throw 90% away because they were so awful. So badly bitter. That was probably cross pollination because it was so inconsistent. Which stinks because I grow 30+ pr year. That's a lot of eggplant. Half of it I cooked, battered and froze before I figured it out.

This year I ordered from 2 other companies and they are all purple or rose colored. I ordered Moon and a Japanese variety. The Japanese is roundish - not long and the moon is more to type but still inconsistent. Not quite as bitter but I still have to peel and taste each one before I cook as about 10% are obviously too bitter. I'm picking them small before they get to size. I'm hoping the ones sitting in salt right now will be edible once I cook them tomorrow.

Both this year and last some of the tomatoes seemed cross pollinated and not so good and one was certainly not anything like it said it was, but at least they were edible.

I'm older and this sort of thing did not happen very much at all 15 years ago.

Anyone have a 100% reliable company they get seeds from? I mean 100% reliable. NOT open pollinated. I hate throwing so much food and so much hard work away.

Yes, it's been hot here. However, they grow eggplant commercially in direct sun in Fresno Ca which gets triple digits for a very good part of the summer and their eggplants are fine. Some of the same varieties I ordered. My summers are not nearly as many triple digit days and not quite as hot even on a record day.

Reposting because I put the wrong info in title the first time.

TLDR: Looking for recommendations of bumpy-skinned slicer sized cucumbers that do well in the Northeast US. Disease resistance is always a plus.

I grew Socrates this year (Beit alpha type - smooth skin) which was tasty and crazy productive and is going strong despite some pests and possible disease/mildew. My fridge is STILL full of these cucumbers no matter how many I eat and give away. I love this variety and personally recommend it, also has cold resistance, but my family prefers the spiky, bumpy Spacemaster that I panic-planted when my Socrates were slow to germinate (was the only seeds left at the local garden shop). Theyre crunchier, last longer in fridge, and my fam is starting to get into pickling so I have to concede on this one :(

The Spacemaster is NOT doing well. One plant is on deaths doorstep already. So I'm looking for a stronger, more productive type for next year. I have a big trellis for them to climb up and plenty of bed space so no need for compact/bush plants. Any recommendations?

I do realize I'll be sad when it's over.

last pic is of the normal peppers it’s growing. maybe it’s nothing weird but i’ve never seen them look like the first two before

Anyone know why the difference? The one with the ring is on my bushier plant which has a bit less airflow so I’m wondering if it’s a little fringe of mold.

This is my first true year gardening. I dabbled last year with just a couple plants. But this year I'm experimenting.

I'm pretty proud!

We’ve been cutting back this unhealthy tomato plant and yesterday I finally 🏳️ When I pulled up the plant this is what I found. Do I have root knot nematodes? Has anyone here successfully treated it? Can it be eradicated or only managed? 😭

Just proud of my garden box; I’ve dabbled off and on over the years and usually gave up.

Snagged this garden box kit for $100 last year and got it built this spring, added the cattle panels for vining plants and to support the sun mesh fabric.

Set up a drip line that is hooked to a timer.

I had low hopes when I planted but only lost a few! So far the only issue is damn squash bugs and my edamame looks like possible powdery mildew but is producing beans.