Peas that I planted on July 21 are growing like mad!
STARTING OUR 2012 FALL/WINTER VEGGIE GARDENS - PT. 2
I'm starting my first batch of brassica seeds in 10 minutes!!!
Linda
I've put my home recipe potting mix in a flat and watered it well. Tomorrow I'll sow some chinese cabbage seeds. I've never grown these before, but from what I read on the seed package, they grow very quickly.
What's your mixture honey?
Well,
I had all my components laid out.
Every 10 minutes I popped a huge bowl of seed starter mix into the microwave to sterilize it. Trays all prepped and sitting on the light stand just waiting for me to fill those cups and cells, and drop seeds.
And did I do it? NO! Cuz I kept looking at all those containers of pine bark on my patio and that big empty raised bed and I'm thinking "I can knock this out in no time."
Well, "NO TIME" started at 9:30am, and ended at 8pm. And, I only filled half the box, and no seeds got started.
Had to stop to go get more vermiculite for the mix, and it was a welcome break. Picked up a couple bags of cotton burr compost to top off this bed when it's finally filled, tomorrow...
I mixed 5 pts. PBFs, and 2 pts. Each peat, sharp sand, composted manure, and vermiculite. Sand is very heavy.
Sure hope I can move tomorrow...
Will mix up three more batches to fill it, and then mix MG potting soil, and the cotton burr compost for the top 4". That outta keep those hungry hippos happy for awhile.
Linda
Linda, I have days like yours. I remember putting okra seeds in warm water to soak and finally got to them 2 days later. They still germinated very well. Bud calls it the "but first" syndrome.. I will do one thing, but first let me do this quick job.............
WOW Linda! And in this heat! You go, girl!
stephanietx - here's the recipe. It has evolved over the last twelve years...
1 brick classic coir soaked in 4qts hot water makes a little over one gallon
1 gallon worm castings, keep bag closed after each use to prevent drying
2 gallons coarse perlite
1 gallon vermiculite
2 tablespoons bone meal with iron
¾ teaspoon trace elements
4 tablespoons dolomite lime
¼ cup soil moist
½ cup Numus
1 cup crab shell
1 tablespoon phosphate
Linda - "stuff" in my garden needs attention, but there's no way I'm going out there for any length of time until September!
I did get 12 pak choi "Toy Choi Hybrid" seeds sown indoors this morning. ^_^
Good job, Linda!
I am waiting until it gets a bit cooler.
Thanks, ya'll.
Harvested speckled butterbeans today. I only have 5 vines but got about a pint of shelled beans. With all this rain, Im mostly growing bermuda grass, not by choice of course. Also got some guava from my neighbor's tree. They moved and no one has bought the house yet. I love the scent of those lovely fruits and they tasted good too.
did you know you can re grow those celery stalks that you buy at the grocery store?
I started some celery from seed but they are so tiny and taking forever. I came across this and lights came on all over the place.
I want to try this.......and I want to grow mine in an Earthbox so I can control the environment by moving the planter around where ever it needs to be.
http://www.17apart.com/2012/02/growing-celery-indoors-never-buy-celery.html
Cricket!
I'll devote one EB to this, as well! Do you think starting them under my fluorescent lights for that first month will make a difference in the stalk beefing up sooner than in the tutorials?
Actually, I'd be growing into the winter season, so maybe my timing should start around November for rooting? Five months of growth would have me harvesting around April/May.
Linda
So it's time for me to start cabbage and broccoli. The 100º temps are not encouraging me to do anything except stay inside! LOL
The black eyed pea seeds I started a week and a half ago are going like gangbusters! Time to thin them out. I think I'll take some and relocate them into areas where no seeds fell or where the seeds didn't germinate.
Steph,
Those are gorgeous! What's your bed filled with?
And, uh, what time is dinner on 1/1/13?
Great idea! I've had zero success with celery and not much with celeriac. The boy likes his celery and I just bought a couple of bunches, so I'll try sprouting them.
Linda ~ Were you thinking of putting the celery outside during winter? Do you not get any frosts?
I think florescent grow light will do great.
We get frost and freezes during winter and I plan on putting mine in front of a south window when it gets too cold here but until then, I will start them indoors in the window and pot it up once and by the time the temps start to cool off, I can put it outside until frosty nights arrive and then bring my earthbox to the south window again. My celery seedlings might be big enough to plant by then too and I can fill the earth box up with celery seedlings and green onions and etc............... that link had other veggie rooting ideas too.
I also read one about some type of long semi headed lettuce that can be done the same way...i cant remember what type lettuce it was....but as long as you had the trimmed root end, you could make it grow.
Linda, that bed is the first raised bed we ever built. (I use the term "we" very loosely since Mark did all the work! LOL) It's filled with a layer of carboard, that has probably decomposed by now, compost from our own compost pile, dirt from our yard, some more compost from a local company, and then some other amendments like expanded shale, Texas green sand, cotton burr compost, and mushroom compost. It has TONS of worms in it, too. When we turned the soil before planting, we found an ant bed, so we mixed in some dry molasses. Not only will that feed the soil, it'll take care of the ants.
Stephanie ~ What will molasses do to/for the ants?? How will it "take care of them"?
It kills them.
And it's dry molasses (granular), not liquid molasses.
Yes, I'm also interested in what type of molasses is best to use to kill the ants..... I have ghost ants that are driving me almost insane.
Jan
We have so many different kinds of ants, and I do not know their names, but I would like them out of the kitchen and the garden. You can never kill ALL the ants. My husband goes around with a spray can of Raid....it will kill what he sees, but there are always more. I think all the queens live about a mile down under the ground. They just keep making more of them.
There was a pretty long thread called "regrowing store bought celery" in the beginner vegetable forum earlier this year. I don't know how to link it,but if you do a search it will come up. Anyway a bunch of people experimented with it. Those of you who are going to try it may want to take a look.
This is what we buy.
http://natures-guide.com/Fertilizers/driedenrichedmol.html
I started my cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower seeds tonight. 57 seedlings tonight.
Perfect seed starting setup allowed me to watch the olympics simultaneously.
I think seed starting should be an Olympic sport!
Linda
Im currently trying to regrow fennel in the manner of the celery above. I will try the celery too. Thanks for the link.
ohh let me know how the fennel turns out
stephanietx - I noticed on the label that the dried enriched molasses you use also contains soybean hulls. Is this an organic product? If not, are the soybeans genetically modified? Most soybeans grown in the USA are genetically modified to resist Roundup.
So, no one is impressed that I FINALLY started seeds?
Ok.
Be like that...
Hmmmmmmmph...
LOL!
I have some started but you've inspired me to start more. Had a out patient surgery on my eye yesterday so can't play with dirt for a day or so but I'll toss them in towards the end of the week. My tomatoes are huge, so I've got to start hardening them off..As soon as it cools a bit I'll get them in the ground...before they take over the grow room.
Which tomatoes do you have started? The three from cuttings are alive, but not looking all that great. Plus, I planted them BEHIND some okras that (duh) are taking over the neighborhood...
However, the four VOLUNTEER tomato seedlings I found are looking great! And, wouldn't you know it, two of them cooperated by showing up in the EB where the onions were!
What did you start already in the brassica family? I'm throwing all the compost I can find into that 2nd raised bed for those hippos. Spent ALL day Saturday (9am - 8pm) mixing up my soil mix, and TRYING to fill that bed. Only made it halfway before the body gave out...
Moved on to an indoor project...
Back to soil mixing, and bed-filling today. Supposed to rain on Saturday. That means indoor games...
Linda
I don't know about the soybeans. I do know that Nature's Guide does organic stuff only. I don't know if that's the brand we've purchased in the past, but I was trying to show what I was talking about regarding Dry Molasses.
We ripped out the pole beans this morning. They were looking pathetic and hadn't produced anything for the past month. Makes room for something else in the garden! Mark and I talked about where we're going to plant things this fall. Does that count for anything? LOL
Well, I am planning for were I will expand one of my tomato beds so I can plant more tomatoes next year. But so far lots of thinking and no doing. So I wonder if that really counts LOL?
There is another place would be perfect for a veggie garden in my yard. It is a slightly raised bed, seven foot square. In the middle of the 7 foot square is another raised section thee foot square. I can just see that three foot square used for pole beans next year. All I need do is put in some posts and netting. I could leave it open on one side for access, then grow beans on three sides of the square. I think it would be perfect for pole beans.
Then the outside section of the big square could have tomatoes. All I need do is move about 30 or so Tall Bearded iris plants. I have been looking at this raised bed thinking veggie garden since late this spring but haven;t done anything. Maybe I will take some pictures of the way it is not and post them so you all can see what I mean.
Steph,
It sure does! I'm re-reading Dr. Bob Randall's guide for metro-Houston veggie gardens, and, looks like I'm on track without realizing it!
Any gardening thing I do on time is a great thing!
Saint,
Dr. Bob says the ideal time to plant fennel seed outside is between Sept. 15-30, and October 1-31.
Tomatoes:
Nya
BlK Oxheart
Tas Choc (dwarf)
Black
BLK Giant
Bonny's Best
Carbon
Pierce's Pride
Pruden's Purple
Hillbilly
Jersey Giant
Black Bear
Black Early
Beefsteak
Vorlon
Roger's Best Black
Amish Paste
Momotoro
Cole/other:
Sugar Crunch Cuke
Broccoli (calabrese Green Sprouting)
Beets (Chioggia)
Turnips (purple Top, Golden Globe, Seven Top)
carrots (little finger, Danvers 1/2)
Parsnip (All American)
Brussel Sprouts (catskill)
Cabbage (premium flat Dutch)
Fennel (Florence, Finocchio)
Lettuce (mix of several)
Spinich (Teton hybrid)
do we fall in the metro zone?
You fall in the Houston metro area, yes.