Southern gardeners need to talk about spring!

I think there's a hearty conversation going on over in the Tomatoes forum about seed-starting, but I'd like to be a bit more general.
What are you southern zoners doing these days in prep for spring?

This curious gardener wants to know:
1. What are you doing to prepare beds?
2. What seeds have you started, or plan to start shortly?
3. Bed-planning considerations versus what's in the ground now?

In short, what are you DOING now?

As for me,
I've pulled dead stuff out of harvested beds, and put down an inch of home-made compost. I plan to add rockdust, not sure what else.
I started a few varieties of tomatoes and one of peppers a few days ago and will shortly start eggplant. I'm awaiting an order of seeds from Johnny's that are in shipment.

I have sunflowers in the ground. Somewhere I got the idea that it was okay to plant them in the fall, but they are up a foot now and not sure that's a good thing. I'm still harvesting chard and kale from fall and a tiny bit of lettuce and spinach. The bok choy has all sent out some lovely flower stalks that are about 2 feet high. I like the flowers so will keep them around but I suspect the bok choy leaves may not be the best now.

Empty beds sort of drive me crazy -- I'd like to put in some radishes and more spinach and lettuce or other things that will be ready to come out, before tomatoes need to go in. Your thoughts on that would be appreciated.

Your turn. :-) Thanks!

LiseP like you, I am in zone 8b but in Charleston, S.C. so your tomatoes should go in mid March to beat that heavy heat.
Pulled everything end of November when we were suppose to get a freeze- it didn't but ended up with a whole garden cart of green tomatoes. Layered them between newspaper, put the cart in the garage and checked them daily. Had ripe tomatoes for Christmas dinner.
Never got the cold like last year- our first hard freeze was January 2nd- and the temps have rollercoasted since then. I grow in raised beds now that we live in a sub-division and the only full sun is a strip beside the driveway. I shoveled off the top 3" or so and threw it in the working compost bin, then layered on finished compost and turned it all in. I then topped it off with fresh topsoil.
I am a seed saver, everthing I grow is heirloom and OP, but I do not save seed from beets, radishes or bok choi. Those are already planted plus some sugar peas and coming up fine.
I have started all the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants( I have a 4 shelf light stand) and they will be ready to go in the ground around mid-march.I have also started the annual herbs and the early season flowers such as calendula.
Next week I will start all the annuals that I plant and there is always weeding, leaf raking and spring pruning to do.
My husband is always saying CONDO but I think I'd wither away if I didn't have dirt to dig in. I'm now 65 but that dirt keeps me young.
Happy gardening, Susan

I'm still cutting broccoli.

The recent rains are breaking down the fall leaves that were piled high throughout the garden. I'll be running the mower through them next month to make some fine mulch.

We usually get a few days of nice weather in February, so I plan to set the 8ft t-posts during that time.

I need to purchase some 8ft x 12" boards to replace some of the rotten 6" boards that are now 6 years old.

All my seeds are here, as is the heating mat, coir, and worm castings to start them in under lights in March.

I placed an order for organic fertilizer yesterday, so it will be here in time for April's main planting month.

So, to answer your question, LiseP - I'm making a list and checking it twice to be sure I have everything for the coming growing season.

My fall/winter vegetable garden is in full work.
I am harvesting lettuce and Arugula every day.
Brussels Sprouts are about 1" large
Fennel bulb is about 2"
Kale are still growing and harvesting once a week.
Kohlrabi about 3" large
Fava Beans are 2" tall and they are staring to flower. I am harvesting the flowers and the small buds to add to salad.
I am harvesting radishes.
Broccoli have all finished their large head and they are full of side shoots.
I have just finished today my harvest of Cauliflowers.

Tomorrow I will seed some more lettuce and spinach.

Indoor I am growing tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

GREAT thread, LiseP!

►I've got 6 flats of tomato seedlings that are about 3-4" tall, and I haven't even potted them up once, yet: Black Krims, Mule Team, Virginia Sweets, Momotaro, Russian Rose, Purple Perfect

►I've purchased mat'ls to construct a second grow light shelf system in the cool room. Once I move the six flats over (the longest DTM varieties) to the cool room, I can sow the seeds for the mid- to early-season tomatoes that have a shorter DTM: Sioux, Kimberly, Eva Purple Ball, Costoluto Genovese, Galina, Beauty, Chello (yellow cherries), and Tumbler (red cherries).

►I've targeted my tomato plant out dates as: 2/18 & 2/25, and 3/3 & 3/10.

►Have bell pepper and eggplant seeds to sow soon, for proposed plant out somewhere in mid-April. Early Sunsation and Chinese Giant Sweet Bells, Pingtung Long, Hansel Hybrid, Listada de Gandia, and Pot Black Eggplants.

►based on visit to a local community garden, I will be direct sowing more Brussels Sprout seeds in some concrete TIGHT soil in February. My visit was in August and there were perfectly content sprouts growing in the heat!

►Will sow seeds for okra in mid- to late-April.

►I have purchased mat'ls to construct two 4'x8' raised beds.

►I still have to get the existing bucket garden off the RB site, till, mix up my RB soil, build the RB frame, and secure trellises/stakes to have at plant out.

►I've assessed all the ferts/fungicides/miticides/pesticides I will need for the season, and will dispatch a notice to those expecting seedlings this year that they can get seedlings with $ or supplies!

►Have bags of dry leaves sitting in the side yard, but I don't think they'll be ready this season. Need to poke holes in them so they can get some moisture...

I'm using the existing medium from all the buckets to fill the two raised beds, plus some additional components to put together Tapla's raised bed planting mix: 5 parts pine bark fines, 2 parts builders sand, 1-2 parts Turface Pro League (or the fines screened from MVP)
1-2 parts vermiculite, 1 part compost or reed/sedge peat.

That's where I am to date.

LiseP, I agree with you on the "empty bed" syndrome, and I'm still trying to figure out a year-round growing cycle. I'm thinking you could go ahead with some spinach (with a short 45-54 DTM), and radishes, too. The problem we're facing here is the heat. I lost two beautiful 2-1/2 to 3 lb. broccoli heads that blossomed on me. And, those waaaaaaaay-late, transplanted, resurrected cauliflower seedlings are just making half-dollar size heads. I need more cold to keep them from bolting.

AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

Linda

This message was edited Jan 19, 2012 2:09 PM

I'm just working on getting the beds ready. I'll be starting my tomato, eggplant, pepper seeds starting this weekend. I've got various onions, garlic, and shallots growing in one of the beds set up this fall. Also I have some odds and ends grown on from some oriental seeds growing there, too. Mostly cabbages. I'm still putting together the seed tapes/cheap paper towels with lettuce seeds, etc. for this spring. That is only in the evenings.

Just really working on getting all the compost I made last fall, and all the racked leaves and donkey poo turned into the beds and then installing the drip irrigation I have here and on order installed in all the beds. I've got bareroot roses to plant and replacement and new bareroot fruit trees to plant, too. My baby fruit tree really took a hit this past summer with the drought and intense heat. I just don't think they had enough root system yet to compensate. This year I've bought some shade cloth to install over them. I think that might help if we have more of the same drought as predicted for this summer. I've also got more shade cloth and want to set up shade hoops over as many beds as I can as Callalily did with hers. That is about it for me right now. That's about it for me right now. Should keep me going for a while!

Wonderful contributions, thanks for all the updates. It is fun to see and good reminders too.
In that vein, here are some "to do" lists for January in the South:

*Central Texas Gardener (TV show website): http://www.klru.org/ctg/tips/january.php

Better Homes & Garden: http://www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-by-region/south/january-tips-the-south/

Rainbow Gardens (local nursery): http://rainbowgardens.biz/january-in-the-garden/

*Bexar County (TX) spring planting guide (dates and varieties): http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F4Best/nspringveg.htm

*My favorite guides are those that I marked with an asterisk. I find them most clear and concise.

I am preparing to transplant ME out of the desert and to The South! Been a long time, but finally going back "home." So, no garden for me this year, but I am going to be vicariously enjoying all you all's gardens!

kmom246, where are you going?

Today is potting up day. 75 seedlings into drinking water bottles, because these are the giveaways for gardening friends. The seedlings are ~4" to 5" tall. They should reach 7"- 8" by plant out dates. Making very good progress here.

After they're moved to the 2nd light shelf in the "cool" room, will sow remaining 1/2 of the maters, and the bell peppers. Eggplants next weekend. Only so much time in one day!

Linda

No need to wait for spring - it's here in Gainesville! Lows in the 50's, highs in the mid-70's. I may just move outside this week!

I wish I was getting more done. I am so disheartened by the continuing loss of plants from my garden. I am adding more defenses as quickly as my finances allow, but my neighbor's chickens continue to beat me up in the morning and have figured out how to jump the electric fence I installed last week. I went to a local Home Improvement store and picked up some rather sad-looking broccoli and kale plants, put them in the ground yesterday afternoon, and by the time I got outside at 8:30 this morning half of them were eaten down to the stems.

It was suggested (elsewhere) that squirrels might be the culprits (presumably because they will go after tomatoes), but this evening I watched from a concealed spot and watch two of them foraging in the grass. One actually crossed a coner of the garden under the fence but completely ignored the plants. And I'm still finding feathers...

I will keep you posted. Anyone know of a site that gives details to prepare recently-live chicken for the table?

-Rich

Speaking with the owner of the chickens and threatening him with reporting him didn't help, Rich?

I got a late start on my winter garden, my greens are nothing more than large seedlings. I'm going to prepare my seedling shelf here soon though, to start eggplant and other summer crops.

Rich I have chickens and they don't bother my garden much at all. I wouldn't lock them in there but when they get in or around my plants they pick at plants and sometimes pull the whole thing out of the ground, they don't eat them down to the stems. I do find feathers everywhere. I also have peacocks and guineas and they eat and keep moving they do more damage by stepping on stuff.

I'm not saying it's not chickens but could it be deer? Since you don't have a fence many things could be getting in at night. I understand your frustration. It wad so hot this summer and then the deer found my garden. This was the first year I didn't have fall tomatoes. The deadly nightshade plants weren't deadly enough.

I have already started about 400 plants for part of an order but the weather is so mild I feel like I'm already behind schedule. I have to keep reminding myself it's only Jan. Christmas was less then one month ago.

Well, nothing got potted up this weekend cuz I decided to clean up the veggie patch first. The BS are giving nothing but "blown" sprouts
So I used a brand new pair of pruners to cut them up into small pieces for the compost pile I need to start somewhere.

Well, my finger got in the way, and I sliced through it pretty good. After I patched it up, I wasn't up to working in potting mix in a rubber glove. So, evenings this week.

On another note, I just did a rough calculation on the # of days I have left to start 6 more varieties of tomatoes.

Based on my last two sowing seasons, my seeds need 21 days from sowing to pot up, 21 days to get fat in the cool room after potting up, and 7 days to harden off -- 49 days from seed to plant out. Then 73 DTMs = 122 days. There are 139 days from tomorrow to May 31st....

Ok. Bye.

@JoParrott - depends on 1) if my current company will keep me on and let me work 100% remote 2) where the jobs are. Considering SE TN as our first choice (Chattanooga, Knoxville), NE GA, Charleston or Charlotte SC areas.

Nope. They are aware of the problem. They are apparently unwilling to do anything about it. I spoke with the county sheriff's department, and the county regulations covering "livestock" and "pets" do not mention any poultry (unless there is an actual commercial "for profit" operation).

That's good news/bad news.

The bad news is the county won't or can't do anything about loose birds (they probably think it would take up too much of their time). The regulations requiring keeping livestock off public and other private property don't apply.

The good news is that stray chickens have no legal definition, hence no legal protection. The requirements of the regulations for pets and livestock require reporting the infraction and letting the county deal with it (on their schedule, and I imagine a loose chicken would not be a high priority). Since loose chickens aren't legally pets or livestock, there is no need to go through the county.

OTOH, if someone claims loose chickens as their "property", they are responsible for any damage they do, just as if any of their other property did someone harm (fiscal or otherwise). That is apparently true even (or especially) if they try to lodge a legal complaint against someone for killing the chickens - a move guaranteed to backfire.

Boiled down, if you see stray chickens in your yard, and the "owner" is unwilling to assume full responsibility for any damage they do, they are in effect disclaiming ownership. Additionally, chickens are not covered under any state hunting licenses or "season" restrictions, since they are not native birds. As far as the legal system is concerned, they may as well be rats with feathers.

I'm not happy about hunting down and killing the birds. It's not their fault, after all - they're just obeying their instincts, and the neighbor doesn't even seem to have anything green growing for them to satisfy their cravings. It's just an unfortunate, unpleasant situation.

-Rich

I am 99.99% certain there are no deer coming into the yard, and especially not into the garden. I have seen them plenty of other places I've lived over the years (you have to be extremely careful driving at night where I lived in Georgia) - I've been at my current home 2-1/2 years now and never seen any deer sign at all. The entire garden area is covered with heavy paper that is very fragile when wet, and that is covered with several inches of composted wood waste. It's VERY soft stuff; I leave deep footprints in the aisle spaces between the beds, and I have to be careful not to step on any exposed paper until it's deeply covered. In that surface deer would leave obvious tracks.

The damage also doesn't resemble what deer do. The plants aren't chomped off, they are pecked apart. Very sloppy work, bits and pieces of leaves and stems scattered around.

And last but not least, I have photos of the chickens in the garden, pecking at the plants. naturally, it was the one day without my .22 because I was taking out the garbage; just a smartphone with a camera, but the pictures are clear enough, and of course I could see what they were up to!

I think my neighbor must not be feeding them, or not very much. There is nothing else to eat on his property (he doesn't irrigate or overseed his pastures; it's been very dry here, all the grasses went dormant long ago, and the seedheads shattered weeks back). They come over here because they are hungry. I have even thought about feeding them to see if that would redirect them away from the garden area, but I don't want to establish a new habit or give him a reason to say I am enticing them onto my property. I'm stuck with very limited, unpleasant options.

-Rich

Rich -- too bad you can't throw the feed over on his property. Good luck with all that. Must be frustrating.

What am I doing now? I moved last summer so I'm starting over with EVERYTHING and behind schedule as a result. (Good luck with your move Kmom! I had no garden for 2 years because it took awhile to prep the house for sale, etc.)

-- The closet with our internet equipment worked well as a germination room. Started about 100 tomato seeds.
-- Meanwhile frantically working on a grow shelf -- Shelf #1 got finished only minutes before I needed it.
-- Now working on more shelves for when I pot up. Got some plastic cups from an event last night to try out.
-- Selected a garden area and tilled before the rain yesterday. (Oh, the soil there looks really nice. I hope the plants like it.)
-- Found a local place to order compost -- hope to get it early next week.
-- Still need fencing, & irrigation. It'll be a mad DASH to get all that set up in time.
-- Still need to decide how to lay things out.

Learning as I go. It's all an experiment. Can any one person have any more fun??

Not unless I was on a Jamaica beach for life, with a hut, 8 bathing suits, and a daily supply of "Coca" bread and fresh seafood.

Oh. Add that man from the deodorant commercial -- the one with the deep voice, the bright white smile, and the towel...

^^_^^ (Linda, having fun on the Jamaica beach!!!)

Rich-since you posted "scattered around" my opinion has changed. Wish I could help.

Rich - when I lived in South Florida it was illegal to keep chickens. I found out the hard way when the zoning department made me get rid of them

Perhaps you could call your zoning department to see if they are allowed. My other suggestion is to build a chicken coop and let your neighbor's hens move in.

Honey-thats right in some city's its illegal to have roosters within a certain distance hens was another distance. Due to roosters crowing. Thank Goodness my neighbors in Los Angeles County didn't mind the chickens (I did have a fenced yard) or the pig. It maybe cheaper to build a chicken coop, then you at least get the eggs.

But first find out if you are zoned for them. That would be my luck, Id get busted for having the chickens.

We are in the middle of growing everything here. This weekend I picked squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and all kinds of greens and other stuff. Perfect weather, 78 daytime, 68 night, partly cloudy, light drizzle right now. Winds yesterday were not bad, only 5-10mph. We desperately need rain.

I am planting cantaloupes this week along with onion transplants, more cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes and hot peppers. We are going to try potatoes later into the season this year. I learned last year it doesn't pay to try late cauliflower and broccoli. It does produce, but if hot weather starts early it is bitter. Just dug the last of the sweet potatoes. I will start new ones to be planted in February. Last Thursday I transplanted 65 tomato and 50 bell pepper plants, planted 300 linear feet of fingerling potatoes, 2 beds of mesclun mix and 100 ft of scalloped squash.

First greenhouse is one third finished! I took a peek at the transparent fabric covering and I think it will stand up well to our wind.

I am having trouble with something munching on my cauliflower heads. There are holes in the ground that lead to tunnels, with the entrance being at least 2" diameter and a huge pile of dirt outside the hole. We do not have moles here or groundhogs. I have never seen a gopher. We do have Mexican ground squirrels and palm rats. I don't know if we have meadow voles. The droppings look like giant mouse poop.I have tried traps, glue traps and rat bait (the kind that doesn't cause secondary kill) plus I have two cats. Someting takes the bait from the bait stations (smaller openings so o'possums and the neighbor's dog can't eat it but big enough for a rat) but it keeps coming back and eating my cauliflower heads. Once one bed is finished, it moves on to another. We water at night, soil is very soft and I see no tracks except my cat's tracks where he patrolled the garden isles. This irritating creature also eats sweet potatoes leaving tooth marks and hollowed out potatoes, tomatoes, beets, prefering the golden over the red and munches on carrots.

Calalily - I've had turtles eat tomatoes and melons, but not the other vegetables you mentioned. The droppings sound much too large to be from mice. Moles will NOT eat vegetables - they like grubs and earthworms.

My best bet would be rats or another rodent.

So, if you're planting cauliflowers and broccolis NOW, you should expect to harvest when? before the heat sets in. I'm trying to figure out planting timeframes, because I want to begin growing year-round, too. Calendars say I have at least 285+ days I can expect to garden in Houston, and I want something growing on all of those days.

I just can't seem to get my timing right.

For example: Right now, my yard is full of broccolis that produced a main head (that's been harvested), and are now giving me lovely side shoots. I also have mature drum- and cone-shaped cabbages that I need to remove and process for the freezer. I have very late cauliflower transplants that are actually making heads, too! (They were so totally dogged out, I had no hope of seeing cauliflowers...). Finally, I have a whole other batch of baby cabbages, and broccolis that were part of the late transplant group, that are making heads, and trying to figure out this warm weather.

So. In the year-round rotation, once I rip the mature broccolis and cabbages, what might I put in place right behind them? The plants are all growing in free-draining buckets. As I empy the buckets, this soil will be repurposed into my two new 4x8' raised beds. I currently have tomato seedlings inside that are 4"-5" tall, and I haven't even potted them up once yet. And, with this warm weather, I'm tempted to just set the trays out, let 'em harden off and dole 'em out for planting. Have you ever by-passed potting Up?

Ok. Please give me a hint on what I could possibly be sowing/starting now to jump in on a year-round rotation. Forgot. I have seeds for the sweet bell peppers and eggplants, so they'll get started this week.

Much appreciate, in advance.

Linda

Honeybee, I knew moles didn't eat veggies, just mentioned that because of the tunnels. I have had turtles in the garden, one used to come up and steal tomatoes every morning. She was a huge slider. She would lay her eggs in the soft compost. I would mark the eggs so I wouldn't disturb them when digging out compost. One morning she was heading for shore and an aligator caught her. He was huge and was taking a toll on our wildlife (big egrets, turtles, ducks) so I was very happy when hunters took him out!

Chachalachas, Texas tortoises, orioles, mockingbirds, greenjays.........these all love the tomatoes with chachalachas being the worst for pecking every ripe tomato they find. (Chachalacha: big bird the size of a pheasant, hangs out in flocks, makes lots of noise at dawn and dusk, sleeps in trees)

I am thinking it is some kind of rat.

Linda, I have cauliflower/broccoli transplants and also am planting one more planting of seed. Winter onions are transplants from seed sown in October. I have to plant cool weather crops no later than Valentine's Day. Tomatoes will grow year round here, but only cherry tomatoes will produce during August/Sept. I sow seeds directly into the seed bed. I scoop them out when they are big enough to transplant and put them directly into the garden. Sometimes my plants get too big before I get to them. The other day I transplanted tomatoes that were over a foot tall. I stuck my hand in the soil past my wrist, put the plant in the ground and pushed the soil up around the stems. They are doing great. The first three or four days they wilted, but now they're fine. Peppers were almost 12 inches tall also. I kept waiting for the greenhouse (high tunnel) to be ready and finally couldn't wait any longer.

Broccoli and cauliflower planted from transplants take about 60-65 days. Seeds sown in the beds will be at least 90-100 days before harvest. My favorite cauliflowers are Cassius, Majesty, Cheddar and Graffiti. My favorite broccoli is Green Magic followed by Belstar.

I keep really good records of everything from planting to markets (I just don't have them right here beside me). I am still learning, but have found the best way to know if something grows here is to plant it. I am always experimenting with how early in the season I can plant something and how late into the heat/cool I can plant. I had sweet potatoes up until last week and okra produced until around Christmas. I have ripe tomatoes now and harvested broccoli and cauliflower heads yesterday. I tried direct seeding into the garden crops that I normally transplant. It didn't work. I had erratic germination, bugs and birds pecked at the baby plants, snails ate the tender leaves and the biggest problem of all was the inconsistent height of the plants. I like neat, I like my plants to all be the same size in the row.

Planting seems to be a guessing game down here. One year it is chilly (when I say chilly I mean highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's) until April, some years it is warm starting in Feb. This winter started out colder than normal, but now is very warm. Last year we had a freeze in Feb. then went from winter to summer within a week!
As I harvest cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli I follow with cucumbers, squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes.......something other than a cole crop and depending upon what is next in the rotation.

For some reason we are warmer in winter than Houston, but cooler in summer. Last year was the first year in ages we went over 100 and stayed there for days. I am 3 miles from the coast and the wind blows 90% of the time. Yesterday it was 35mph, today it is supposed to be calmer, only 20-25mph.

Lily,
Thanks so much for the information. Tell me more about your "seed bed," please. I could easily make a couple of seed beds out of old (large) drawers.

My number # bain right now is the GAZILLION pillbugs I encountered just this morning. I went to upright two fallen broccoli plants in the buckets, and they were all over the sheet of plyboard I had laid down to level the site for the buckets...a total GAZILLION!!! I have long suspected the holes in my cabbages were from pillbugs and not from cabbage loopers...now, I know!

Linda

Linda - you probably already know this, but Sluggo Plus will kill sow bugs.

You got it, Toyota!!! I gave a neighbor enough Sluggo Plus to eradicate a 4 x 12 patch of mustard greens. Told him to trim all the hole-ridden leaves off, clean out the detritus, then sprinkle the Sluggo+.

He has given me a VERY favorable report that the greens are coming back, HOLE free!

When, I get a minute, I'm gonna post a design that a guy named Hilo Sun (Hawaii) is using for a raised table tank. He's growing lettuce and spinach off the ground, in a VERY beautiful way.

Aw, shucks, here's a pic. I'll explain it all later. It's a hydroponics system...I'll be doing this next fall/winter. And, if I sprinkle a perimeter of Sluggo+ on the top, I should have NO WORRIES against pillbugs or slugs on my lettuce and spinach.

P.S. This system is a "set it and forget it" sort of thing! Wunnahful, just Wunnahful!

I'm intrigued with this system - I don't like spinach or lettuce, but my daughter does.

HoneybeeNC, et al,
It is 'DAH BOMB!' I'll be starting a new thread soon to post all the associated particulars and his instructions. He gave me permission to share the system on DG.

Looks nice!

With such a narrow rim, copper tape might be affordable. That's also supposed to turn slugs away. And if it doesn't, you can always try electrifying it!

Wow, you guys are even ahead of me and I thought I was starting too early. I just planted two tomato plants in buckets. I think that will be plenty, last year we had three 'sweet 100' plants and had more than we could eat.

I tried some carrots and onions last year and they did great in the raised beds so I think I will do more of them since they keep so long too. I was planning on getting the raised beds ready tomorrow and I may consider planting this weekend. We have another cold front coming in but the high is only 68 or 69 so that's nothing.

I would love to get my watermelons and cucumbers in the ground but I'm waiting till I get one good week of 80 degree weather so that they will germinate properly. (It won't be too long of a wait, we were hitting high 80's the past two weeks, ugh)

The only problem I had last year was with my sweet corn :/ Never got anything off of them. I had a patch in my raised bed and a patch in some prepared soil in our orchard and they just never took off. I think the raised bed soil was too loose for them. They only grew to about 3-4 tall. Any ideas on the corn?

I just started 32 varieties of peppers (mostly mild and superhot habs, including the infamous "ghost" peppers in several colors and varieties and some "seasoning" habañeros with little or no heat at all), and some from oddball species like frutescens and pubescens. I've got 32 more varieties to plant tomorrow - these mostly several disease-resistant sweet bells (they have a problem here with bacterial spot), Anchos and big sweet Italian frying peppers (I've still got one of those still putting on fruit since last spring), along with the indispensable serranos and several types of jalapeño. Also getting ready to start eggplants and tomatoes, and some herbs that need the bottom heat. My mat is big enough for 4 standard trays and it will be full soon.

I've already got over a half-dozen Curry Leaf plants started from seed using 80ºF bottom heat - way better than the predicted germination rate. The state doesn't like them brought in here so it's been impossible to find plants, but they are frost-tender and won't ever spread to become a nuisance this far north. I've got recipes I'm dying to try that require them (they say you "can use" bay leaves, but it's like substituting parsley for cilantro...).

-Rich

Linda, the seed bed is 4 x 34 ft raised bed, has a hoop frame and covered with medium weight row cover. I just make rows with my fingers, sow the seeds, water and wait. Easy as pie. Just don't plant the seeds too close. It does not work to put 50 broccoli seeds into a 2 ft row!

One greenhouse frame is up and one to go. Now to wait for a non windy day to cover this monster. I know I'm almost asking the impossible here in south Texas, but if the wind is less than 10mph it will be a go.
I have started squash, cucumbers and tomorrow will plant melons. The tomato and pepper plants are doing well. Everything is just waiting on the covering. For now they're under remay.

Aslan89, when did you plant the sweetcorn? Or better question would be what was the soil temp when you planted out the corn? That would be the first question anyway...

I've got English peas planted out this past weekend, along with radishes, and various lettuce. A bit early for the lettuce maybe, but I have row cover for them at the ready just in case.

Terri_emory ~ it isn't early for lettuce. I've had it growing all winter and never covered. It has shaken off the frost without a problem. I will be curious to see how your germination does at the cooler temps. Please keep us posted.

Will do!