Here it gets a bit complicated. Nurseries typically sell vegetable seedlings in packs of four or six - segmented plastic trays with one plant in each segment, which is what we gardeners immediately think of when we hear the term six-pack. It is expected that each of those seedlings will have grown past the point where that are at most risk, so each plant will survive, given adequate soil and care. I can't speak to your growing conditions, but here in Maine if I practice my technique on tomatoes, I can plant seeds in February, start harvesting in June, and stop in October, and expect each plant to give me 20 lbs. of tomatoes. If I plant cabbage, about 75 days after I plant seed, I get one cabbage per seed, and it's done. After harvesting cabbage that was planted in the beginning of the season, I still have some warm weather ahead of me, so I can plant a fast maturing summer crop or a longer maturing winter crop in the space where the cabbage previously grew. The tomatoes, which I grew under plastic to prolong my harvest, will be pulled in October or November, so I won't be able to plant a long-maturity-date crop there, because although things will survive in the greenhouse in winter, very few will actually grow, because of the limitations of lower temperatures and reduced hours of sunlight. Shorter days = less photosynthesis = less rapid growth. Most plants produce fruit via a complicated biochemical process related to the number of hours of light that they receive - this is an evolutionary adaptation that ensures that seeds are produced at the time of year when they are most likely to survive - it is rather complicated - but that is why plants have various growth cycles and seasons. One carrot seed = one carrot, but one chili pepper plant = 25 chilies. On the other hand, one carrot plant, allowed to go to seed, might produce 400 seeds, but a chili pepper plant might only produce 200 (these are just meant as examples, not based on fact - I don't save many seeds). The reason it's important to plant a lot of seeds is that there are a certain percentage that will not germinate, some will be lost as seedlings, some will be lost during the growing process, etc. As your experience grows, that mortality rate drops dramatically, but those losses in the beginning make you aware of why certain things are done a certain way - it's much more effective than simply being told what to do. One of the best ways to see the whole process is to plant radishes. 1 seed = 1 radish. They will, in the right conditions, germinate in about 4 days and be ready to harvest in 3 or 4 weeks. If you like radishes, you buy a big bag of seeds, and every week you plant as many radishes as you think you will eat in a week. In one month, you have a weeks' worth of radishes ready to pick and eat, and every week after that you have more. You pick all you want, when you want - you can pick them as big as the end of your little finger, or wait till they're the size of a golf ball (or a softball, with some varieties). You can grow them in red, pink, purple, white, black, or green on the outside and pink on the inside, and some can weigh several pounds. At a certain point in the radish growth cycle, the root starts to get woody, and a stem develops from the rosette of leaves. A few weeks later, little white flowers develop, and guess what? They're delicious! They taste like radishes, and are, in my opinion, even better than radishes in an elegant salad, but don't eat them all, because once the flowers get pollinated, they develop into little seed pods, which look like miniature beans - and they're delicious too! There are some varieties of radish that are grown specifically for the seed pod, which in some cuisines is pickled. Almost every vegetable has this enormous diversity of varieties - there are hundreds of different tomatoes, and thousands of lettuces. Many of them are not offered as plants because the demand isn't there, or because the plant won't transplant well, or because, as with some radishes, they grow so quickly the retailer won't risk having them ripen in the six-pack before he has a chance to sell it, but buying by seed gives you the opportunity to select from tens of thousands of vegetable varieties, most of which you cannot buy in a grocery store. Let's talk broccoli and cauliflower. These are closely related plants, and can even be cross bred. They are grown, ordinarily, to produce one large head per plant. Broccoli is green (usually, it can be purple) cauliflower is white (but it can be orange, or green, or purple). With broccoli, after you cut off the big head, you can let the plant grow, and where the leaf meets the stem you will get a new smaller head. If the plant is grown well, the number of smaller heads can equal, in weight, the size of the one large head, effectively doubling the yield of the plant. If you planted the broccoli at the right time, it may be worthwhile to do that, but, depending on the season, it may be to your advantage to remove that plant and replace it with another crop that will give you a different yield more appropriate to the season. As an example, you could probably plant broccoli now. It is predicted to be mature in 60 days. The variety you plant has only fair side-shoot production, so you would plan to replace that plant in the middle of April. In April, it will be nice and warm, so you can start planting summer crops in the garden, and cucumbers would be a good choice... they don't respond well to transplanting, they don't share diseases with broccoli, and they will mature in 75 days, producing 15 or more cucumbers on a well-grown plant. Now you have a plant that will be in that space for 90 days. It will give you possibly 8 pounds of cucumbers over 2 weeks’ time. In the beginning of August, that plant will be done producing, so you take it out. It's too late to put another summer crop there - the days are getting shorter, and it will be too cool for good ripening and flavor development for some things. On the other hand, radicchio, which likes warm germinating conditions, and forms good heads with nice color in cooler ones, and takes about 70 days to be ready, would be a great crop to plant where the cucumbers were. Even better, in the space it took to grow one broccoli plant that gave you one head, and one cucumber plant that gave you 15 cucumbers, you can grow 4 radicchio, with a few carrots and radishes to keep them company. After you harvest the radicchio it is approaching the coolest time of the year, so your options are more limited, but it happens that spinach will germinate and grow well in cool conditions, is ready to pick in 35 days, and can be harvested almost continuously through the winter. Even better, spinach tastes best in February and March, unlike any you can buy at a grocery. When it's done... time to plant broccoli - except now you have a lot more experience, so you're tempted by Brussels sprouts, or Romanesco cauliflower, or Belgian endive. The point of all this is to say that it is very difficult to estimate yield, because it is so variable. It depends on what and when you plant, how you manage your succession planting, what the bugs and deer do, frosts, hail... it never ends. The easiest way to deal with this, your first year, is to make a map of the garden, and a short list of plants you know that you want to grow. On your list, lettuce, carrots, and spinach can be planted now. Yu can buy lettuce seedlings in six-packs so if you eat a lot of lettuce, get a few six-packs to transplant, so you can harvest them in a few weeks, but get packages of seeds for all three, so you can plant a short row of seeds every week, which will give you a short row to harvest every week. When it starts getting warmer, those plants won't do as well, so put the rest of the seeds in a cool dark dry place and save them until fall, when it is time to start planting the cool weather crops again. This year, you should buy most of your plants as seedlings started in six-packs, but those will not be as easily available in summer or fall, so you need to buy seed for the crops you want to plant later - the good varieties will sell out, and you will have less selection if you wait. This is all pretty detailed and complicated, but it will make a lot of sense once you get started. That is why I emphasize the importance of defining why you are gardening - if it is to save money, you will want to grow different varieties than if it is for gourmet produce, or to have a colorful backyard, or to be able to serve home-grown at dinner parties - and you CAN do all three - but that decision makes it easier to narrow down all the choices that make it seem so overwhelming.

Hey Bluethumb, I was offline for the weekend, too busy in the garden. But I'm really glad to hear that your cukes perked up again. Like others have mentioned, I suspect that they were suffering from overwatering while in the peat pots. Then the stress of transplanting made them weak, which is exactly when the bugs move in for a munch. Now that they are perking up, try not to overwater. A good test is to dig a small hole in the ground with your finger - if the soil is moist down to 1 inch, you're good, no need to water. I agree with kimmsr that letting the plants wilt puts them under stress, but it is definitely a sign that they're ready for a drink. Many plants will wilt in the midday sun whether the soil is moist or not, so don't be fooled by that. Water deeply rather than frequently - once the plants are established, one inch of water a week should be fine. About your compost pile, your friend is right, there's no need to get fancy or to worry too much about carbon to nitrogen ratios and all the other technical stuff you'll read. Pile it up good, turn it once in a while, and be patient. I don't know how much space you have, but I like to use a 3-pile system, so that I have one pile ready in early spring, one in the fall and one on the go. I usually start a new pile or two every spring and add to it over the spring and summer. The bottom layer of that pile will be ready in the Fall. I skim off the top of the spring/summer pile that hasn't decomposed and use it to start a new pile in the fall and add to it all winter. The top of the winter pile gets turned into the spring pile, and so on. I'm not that scientific about it, I just use what's ready and turn what's not. You should try to have a good mix of browns (e.g. Fall leaves, small twigs, dry grass) and greens (e.g. grass clippings, kitchen scraps, weeds that have not gone to seed) so that your pile is never too wet and turns into a sloppy mass - but even that I don't worry about too much. Just turn regularly and use whatever looks closest to dirt. If you can recognize what the material is, it's not ready to use. If it smells earthy and looks like dirt - use it!

Hi. Thank you. I looked at the pictures. Although the nuts look somewhat the same, the color is creamy white, and I would not describe these nuts as easy to crack. I think it was planted from a selection, from what I have read. These are good quality nuts and not terrible to remove from the shell. I really hate to lose this tree. It has fruit every year and not every other as the article states wild ones do.

Hi, pixie-lou and diggingthedirt! First, thank you for the warm welcome! Re: pixie_lou's response....I'm not sure if I can dry it off the stalk or not. That is something I did not think about! Thank you! I am looking into that right now... If I can, it might be worth it still....which leads me to respond to diggingthedirts reply: It is "expensive" (I think, it was $20+ for a 1/2 lb?) But, I'm new to corn (gardening in general, actually) and so, it may just seem expensive to me. Plus, it is organic corn and I've been having a bit of trouble germinating and then growing our organic seeds due to weather and pests (and pets!!!LOL)....maybe because they are more sensitive? AND on THAT note, sounds like I'm just going to go for it and plant as much as I can today....and hope for the best! I also did look for a corn specific forum, but didn't see one. I'll check the vegetable forum for some advice, too :) Lastly, in terms of the weather....I have a feeling that we will have an early frost. We always do. Maybe I'll also message the seed company they came from and see what they recommend. They're located in VT, after all!(Hadn't thought of that!) Nonetheless, it's always nice to hear advice from across-the-board. Thanks again! I'm still open for other suggestions as well! This is all very helpful!! This post was edited by purplethumbexpress on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 16:02