Well, let me tell you where I'm coming from. I'm thinking along the
lines that clay holds moisture a little better than sand. And I said
alot of water because the water drains through the sand here, so
the soil the cucumbers are growing in here dries up pretty quick.
So here are my thoughts. If you've got some that already planted dig
up the some of the clay around the top (the top soil), mix in some of
that composted cow manure dirt from Home Depot, chop up a
banana peel, mix in some dead dried up leaves if you have some,
mix in some coffee grounds and then apply that as the new top soil.
Some other things I'm doing that seems to work really well, is I dig
up some sand every so often, put it in a bucket, mix in some of that
composted dirt, put in coffee grounds from used coffee filters, mix
in some sphagnum peat every so often. It's still sandy but it's a heck
of alot better than plain old sand and the sphagnum peat seems to help
the water retention properties. Dead leaves and buds that falling off an
avocado tree are a real blessing, and perhaps you can do something
similar with whatever type of tree grows around your house. I use the
needles and blossoms that fall off jacaranda trees here.
"Sue" wrote:
They get a lot here. My 2nd year they did really well (as only
zucchini can - my friends were starting to lock the doors and draw
the curtains when I came up the walk toting a bag). Not much I
can do about the heat.
Not sure what you're meaning there. :-) They're afraid of you? g
The farmers have tractors that they use to plow the land and turn the
soil? :-) So if you're clay is really tough and thick, make sure you turn
it and mix in some dirt and dead leaves and composted banana peels
and coffee grounds. I think the clay will start to work itself into a
better soil as the sand here is doing for me. Turning the clay will help.
I take back my statements about the heat and sunlight. Silver-leaf white
fly and a hurricane did my cucumbers in last year. I guess I'm thinking
along the lines that the heat and sunlight stressed them, but maybe I'm
inproperly thinking so.
Hope that helps.
--
Jim Carlock
Please post replies to newsgroup.
On Sun, 29 May 2005 20:08:34 GMT, "Jim Carlock"
wrote:
I've found the following to be true about cucumbers and zucchini:
2) They like multiple waterings every day.
Really? I thought my problem might be *over* watering.
3) They like a rich soil which holds the water content pretty well
(might mean putting some small wood chips into the soil).
Composted soil seems to work very well. You probably can mix
your clay with soil and let it compost, maybe 2 parts soil to 1 part
clay. I'm not familiar with growing things in clay so you'll just have
to make a best guess at it unless someone else comes along and
suggests something else.
Clay is really awful stuff. One problem I have is that my gentleman
friend is a farmer (cotton and wheat). He just doesn't take my
gardening very seriously ("It's not like your livelihood depends on
this little garden.") and doesn't understand why I get so stressed
when things go wrong. I keep wanting to put more "good stuff" in and
he compares it to his farm and how little he (and all the farmers) has
to add. For one thing his soil is better out in the country.
4) The hotter it is, the more water they need.
5) They grow well in 90% shade here in Florida where they only
get some direct sunshine in the morning (about 1 to 1.5 hours
worth at most, the rest of the shade comes from an avacado tree).
I've never monitored how much sun they're getting. Certainly more
than 10%. I'm going to try the increase in the water - just went out
and turned it on.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for your advice!!
Sue
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