Garden

[Chris]

the watermelons bring to mind some things that should NOT be planted together. I've been told that squash and cucumbers will cross pollinate making Gerkhins, and pumpkins and watermelons will make similar unusable fruits.

I have not tested this, I just heeded the warnings of the old timers who told me. I'm probably wrong about the specifics of the plant pairings, but you get the gist. I'm terrible with searching on the net for such things, so better luck to you for finding the info!!!

That isn't how plant biology works really.

The fruit will ALWAYS be based on the genes of the mother plant.

The seeds inside the fruit will be based on the mother and the father.

If the cross polination of cukes with zukes was possible you probably wouldn't be able to save or do anything to the seeds, but the flesh of the fruits shouldn't taste any different.

Think of how fruit trees work.

[Chris]

Wood chips in the veggies use up too much nitrogen tring to break down.
use for paths, and around trees.

One advantage of mulch that hasn't been brought up, is keeping the dogs feet from getting muddy.
This is important to keep from getting killed, both me and the dogs.

You can always toss a bag of bone meal in when you're using wood mulch. It should rectify the nitrogen problem. It is what I always do.

That or I guess, pee all over it.

[Rick]

Yeah, YCC, I'll second what Chris said on the cross pollination. My winter squash and cukes were so inter mingled last year you had to really look to see what you were picking. Squash was squash and cukes were cukes.

[equus]

Thanks guys. I am learning a lot.

[your_comforting_company]

maybe the old folks were wrong and were just doing what I did and I said I wouldn't... repeating something without trying it first (at least I did say I hadn't tried it lol). I had been warned and didn't want to ruin a crop for the sake of experimenting.
I was under the impression that some of them were in the same family (squash flowers and vines look almost exactly like pumpkin flowers and vines) and could create a sort of "hyrbid".

I'll have no fear this year of planting whatever I want. Thanks for clearing that up guys. I learned something today. It's a good day

[Rick]

Who knows what they might have encountered. And perhaps that's what they had been taught and had never questioned it. Sort of like tomatoes are poisonous.

[crashdive123]

Sort of like tomatoes are poisonous.

[Chris]

maybe the old folks were wrong and were just doing what I did and I said I wouldn't... repeating something without trying it first (at least I did say I hadn't tried it lol). I had been warned and didn't want to ruin a crop for the sake of experimenting.
I was under the impression that some of them were in the same family (squash flowers and vines look almost exactly like pumpkin flowers and vines) and could create a sort of "hyrbid".

I'll have no fear this year of planting whatever I want. Thanks for clearing that up guys. I learned something today. It's a good day

They would create a hybrid... the seeds...

Think of people... when a man loves a woman... er well... you know how things happen.

But in anycase, the baby is half dad, and half mom, but the mom's genetics don't change through the act of carrying the baby.

In a plant the fruit is still part of the mother plant, and has the mother plant's DNA, the only part that contains DNA from the father are the seeds. So, this would certainly be true for a crop where you eat the seeds (nuts, etc) but when you're eating the flesh of the fruit, it isn't the case.

Many people save seeds though to replant next year, and in the case of cross polination, the seeds will not be like the mother, or the father, but could be something better (or worse).

But for eating, and not seed savings, it is not a concern.

This might explain it better:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vege...-cucumbers.htm