I've had more luck starting cucumbers in pots and transplanting them into a different part of the field (away from any existing cucumber plants) a few weeks later. I keep them under row cover until the plants are full of flowers. Disease can spread from the existing plants to the new seedlings, and if cucumber beetles are an issue for you they may infect your new plants with bacterial wilt before they've had much chance to grow. That's what happened to me last year, even though my new seedlings were under row cover - I had planted them in the same row as my existing cucumber plants. The beetles either made their way under the cover or they were already in the soil. It's going better this year, but it's just a constant battle with cucumbers.

My 2nd planting of squash has almost all germinated now, going to cover it soon. A couple of zukes and both yellow squash from first planting are wilting - I think the SVB got them, even though I injected Bt and hilled up around the stems. Picked my first Little Leaf pickling cuke of the year today - have about 5 more coming this weekend. Not the production is was last year, though no PM/DM this year I don't know what's going on - have lots of cuke beetles but cukes aren't wilting. Have 1 cantaloupe that's getting webbing, the watermelons are flowering but I have no hope of getting any before frost (likely will be within 60 days). Still waiting for first ripe tomato (cherries don't count) - but I haven't seen any hornworms!

tox - in my experience fungal diseases both in the veg garden and in the lawn seem to be greatest at seasonal turns when the days are reasonably warm -- mid 70's to low 80's -- and the night temps are breaking down into the 50's. nj - I agree with tox. Material from about any reasonably healthy garden plant, clean grass clippings, and anything from the kitchen you are willing to put into your compost. The most common problem for most folks is getting enough brown material for the amount of greens they can produce from their kitchen in an ongoing basis, let alone fresh grass clippings. On the lawn treatments, the two big ones for compost and plant health are herbicides and fungicides. The issue on herbicides is carryover via your compost to your garden and subsequent killing of your plants. The transfer to the compost comes via amounts that have been taken up or absorbed by the plants treated. Most of the common herbicides available to the home owner work via foliar absorption. Only a few, mostly atrazine and Image, work primarily through translocation from the soil. If you're doing the application with common homeowner retail herbicides that you bought from someplace like HD, then they will decompose to very low residual levels under any reasonable composting conditions. There is a risk, but it is very small. To minimize that risk I suggest that after application of any herbicide you wait until after 4 regular mowings of 1/3rd grass height or greater. After that the residual in the grass should be low enough that even with marginal composting you should be without issue. Fungicides present a different threat, and that is to the microbial community that is working in your compost. Honestly, I don't have a good feel for how long they can persist and at what levels in grass clippings. It would probably depend on whether they work topically or systemically. I don't think there is much data on this - just a few specific lab studies on or in media to determine susceptibility. I've not heard of it ever being an actual problem. Commonly available insecticides generally aren't a concern to plant or compost health, but they could pose a risk if they are systemic in action and transfer through the compost. Again, this is one of those I don't really know about, and I don't think there is much data on that either. A final word of caution - all present a risk from handling treated materials. My SWAG is that grass clippings from any homeowner treated lawn would be safe to handle and compost after the 4th mowing, provided that the materials were used in accordance with the label instructions. After all that on grass clipping, I am not a fan of composting them. I've done it in the past, but gave it up several decades ago. The best place for those grass clippings is right back on the lawn from where they came. You lawn will benefit from tremendously over time from mulch mowing and allowing the clippings to decompose in place, providing organic matter for the soil beneath the surface. That also eliminates all the risk of lawn chemical transfer to your compost system.

I'm pretty sure #5 is cayenne - but maybe #4 is too. Have to wait til it gets bigger. Are #1 (actually a couple different plants) and #6 both Numex? Looked like Anchos to me, but supposedly didn't have any Ancho seeds. Maybe Numex Sunrise is a type of ancho chile? Jalapeno is as hot as my cousin will eat, I don't know how he ended up with cayenne and serrano seeds. Numex Sunrise were free seeds from Totally Tomatoes. Thanks Josh - I was wondering if that was sunburn - porch faces west so these pots get afternoon sun, not all day, but can be pretty intense. The garden gets pretty much all day sun from 9am til late afternoon. How long for them to ripen (I could ask the same for all the varieties!)? I wish all my crops were doing as well as the tomatoes and and cukes in this garden by the house (squash are just starting to produce b/c I planted late). Not a great year for berries, and I have 75 indeterminate (mostly heirloom) tomatoes in 5 rows 1000ft from the house, they are not doing great except for the yellow pear hybrids - which didn't taste like anything when I ate 2 split ones this AM! Of course, that could have been the rain. Gotta go stake up some more peppers - trying the Florida weave (!) since I have too many peppers to cage. I keep waiting for my determinate Glaciers to die off so I can reuse the cages and plant other things (I have 20 more peppers in 4" pots - jals and portugals I got free at Agway and repotted,nursed back to health) there, but they just keep getting taller and getting more blossoms! Peppers are just starting to get blossoms, I hope to get ripe peppers before first frost early Oct (if we're lucky).