Ask the Gardener: Cucumber beetles, hot pepper plants and planting potatoes

Gardening editor Doug Oster gets asked a lot of questions. A lot. And he doesn’t mind offering gardening advice. But rather than just limiting those answers to the person who asked, we thought it might be a good idea to share that wealth of knowledge with everybody.

There are three ways to send in your questions:

• Email askdoug@535mediallc.com

• Submit your question on our “Your Garden” section of our site

• Send us a message on Facebook.

(The questions may be lightly edited for grammar/clarity/etc.)

• • •

Kyle R.: Any tips on how to control cucumber beetles naturally?

Doug: Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Brew would work. I also grow resistant varieties like Diva, County Fair and Markemore 76. Planting another crop this time of the year and growing it up a trellis will help, too.

• • •

Hot pepper plants can be grown from saved seeds.

Chris V.: My son, who has never had an interest in gardening, purchased an assortment of extremely hot peppers last year online.
He saved several of them, dried them out and removed the seeds. He threw maybe 20 seeds in 4 small pots (each) never expecting them all to grow. Well, they all sprouted and now he has a cluster of about 15 to 20 plants in each pot.
They are all very small and would be hard to individually transplant. Do you have any suggestions on the best way to separate them?

Doug: Plants actually prefer to be separated when they are small. Turn a pot upside down onto a dry surface, maybe some newspaper. Have some small containers filled with moist planting mix. Gently tease the plants apart and plant them right away into the mix. One plant should be in each container. Get them established and then get them in the garden.

• • •

Janice D.: Hi Doug, I planted potatoes in containers for the first time after watching you on PTL. I planted three varieties in six containers. One has flowers already. When can I harvest for new potatoes? Do I pull the plant out of the container?

Doug: Pretty soon, how exciting. When the plant puts on flowers, that means it’s starting to form potatoes. I’d take a look in a couple of weeks and see what’s down there. Send me a picture when you harvest something.

More from Doug’s mailbag

Zebra grass, pale vegetables and yellow nutsedge

More from Everybody Gardens

See also, Family Legacy Lives On With Special Plants.

Follow us on Twitter.