I am having a lot of problems this year with the seeds I plant in rows. They are coming up very spottily. I try to fill in where I still have seed left but that doesn't seem to help much. I hate to plant more thickly because then I just have to thin, but this isn't working either. My Swiss chard, raab, broccoli, carrots and radishes are all coming up that way and it's frustrating to see such uneven rows with large gaps. Any suggestions?
Uneven Germination...
Are the patches with no germination fairly good-sized? If so I would suspect something other than the seeds, esp. as it is happening with all of your veggies. It sounds like there is something in the soil (or a lack of something in the soil). Maybe you dressed with hot compost?
The patches are fairly good-sized, but I didn't dress with compost this spring; I did a thorough job last spring so I didn't bother this year. There will be four or five chard seedlings, then a gap, then maybe one, then another gap, then maybe another bunch of them, etc. My turnips have come up much more evenly in one of the same rows, so I don't think it's the soil. I guess I need to sow more thickly; I was using Eliot Coleman's practice of sowing more thinly, but that doesn't seem to work for me. It doesn't seem to depend on the seed vendor, either.
greenhouse_gal - Of the soybeans I sowed May 1st - only two sprouted. I sowed another row May 8th and most of them sprouted. I sowed more seeds today (May 15th) so will see what happens.
As to why the May 1st ones had a problem... I think the soil might have not warmed up enough, and they just sat there and rotted!
Your chard and turnips should not have had a problem with the soil not being warm enough, they prefer cooler conditions. Do you think the birds got them?
I don't even think they sprouted enough for the birds to SEE them. But come to think of it, in the past I have noticed more sprouts which then disappeared, so maybe those robins hopping along the garden rows aren't quite so focussed on worms as one might think.
The turnips seem to be coming up fairly well, but the raab and the cabbage and the chard and such aren't doing much. I have resown all of them several times; maybe they just need more water than I was giving them. We've had good rainfall the past week - 4/10ths earlier, and almost 8/10ths last night, so that might help.
greenhouse_gal - here's hoping this time's the charm for you :)
I just came back from picking some arugula, and heard a thunderclap off in the distance. Perhaps we'll get some much-needed rain, too.
A couple of the arugula plants have gone to seed, and I disturbed several house finches that were enjoying the seeds. Arugula pops-up all over the place.
Today I sowed soybeans and Fortex beans. I also tranplanted the last of my basil seedlings -only they were waaaay past the seedling stage!
My sweet peppers seem to be doing better - perhaps the birds ate the flea beetles, I see them hopping around in that area quite a bit - (the birds, that is)
The tomato plants are doing great! I see flowers, but no actual tomatoes yet.
Tomorrow I will sow more soybeans, black turtle beans, and the cucumber seeds I purchased today.
Weekends aren't long enough!
Honeybee, flea beetles don't bother my peppers, just my eggplant. I'm going to plant out some of the eggplant among the peppers, but I think I'll put some in a container on our upstairs balcony just in case the ones in the ground get eaten.
We're retired so we have all week for this stuff! My tomatoes are in but don't have flowers yet. Some of my pepper plants have buds, though!
What kind of support did you decide on for your Fortex beans?
greenhouse_gal - I purchased two metal bean towers from Burpee. My hubby cut two sturdy bamboo poles and I lashed one to the top and one to the bottom of each with cable ties, then I strung jute twine.
I had hoped to get a photo, but my daughter wanted to go to Earth Fare after lunch, and shopping won out!
I'll try to get photos of be bean tower set-up tomorrow.
I think I saw your bean towers on another thread; I remembered that after I posted here. But another photo would be good!
I too prefer to plant thinly rather than to pull out living plants, but it is difficult to get an even spread when sowing thinly. That might be the problem.
Robins are carnivores, but I have seen them tearing out small vegetation looking for bugs and worms. Ditto grackles. They usually stick to tossing dead vegetation aside, but they can get very enthusiastic about it and could uproot tiny seedlings. I'm thinking uneven sowing, though. I had this same problem this year with peas.
I think it's probably a mixture of thin sowing and uneven germination. I even tried planting by moon signs this year to see if that improved my germination, but no luck!
My peas came up beautifully, btw. I sowed them fairly thickly, since they were seeds I saved from Merveille de Kelvedon plants that I've grown since I first got them in France and I'm never quite sure of their viability. They're a very nice pea; productive, sweet, and they freeze well, too.
greenhouse_gal - here are some photos of my latest Bean Tower
Here's a close-up of the top
Here's a photo of the Bean Tower that is now three years old - with Fortex Beans
That bean tower looks like a very handy item, Honeybee!
You're correct, greenhouse_gal. The first one has done such a great job, I just had to buy another. I've also used it to grow Sugar Snap peas. Hubby tied them down with nylon rope that is nailed into the wooden boards around the bed. So far, the first one has withstood whatever wind, snow, rain Mother Nature thrown at it!
What's nice is that you don't have to rebuild it each season, the way I do with my bean lattice, but you do need somewhere to store it, don't you?
I leave it where it stands. Each year I say I should move it, but never get around to it. Now, if I should ever get a disease in that spot - it will have to be moved!
I had mine in one spot for 3 year, moved it for another 3 years, then this year moved it into a square foot bed. I also have bean trellis's, but I never thought to link them together. great idea!
What do you plant along the long trellis?
On my long trellis I plant beans going up one side, and alternating squash and cukes going up the other side.
I'm lucky to have bamboo growing in the corner of my garden.
I'm unlucky to have bamboo growing in the corner of my garden!
I have a love/hate relationship going on - it's great when I need a cane, but when a shoot appears in my flower bed I know it has to be removed quickly. Bamboo left to it's own devices would cover the planet!