STARTING OUR SPRING VEGGIE GARDENS Part 1

stephanietx
if the weather is as nice as it is now ... we may be able to start tomato season earlier this year !
wee .....

Drthor,
This beautiful weather is exactly why my long-season seedlings have been outside hardening off since last week! I'll bring them in tonight and tomorrow night, because I've designated 48° as my cut-off point for leaving them outside. Then, right back out again for the beautiful weekend.

In seventeen more days, they will be in the ground!

Okay, you guys are making me so envious. It's still in the minus degrees here at night, and Spring Fever has kicked in big time. :)

Solace, I was just thinking the same thing! I sowed my peppers last night, but have to wait to do tomatoes. Our last average frost here is April 15- 10 weeks away, so I guess I need to wait at least 2 more weeks- how does that sound?

Sounds really nice! Our last frost date here is June 15! Sigh.

Only two more weeks until I can plant my early spring garden!

Linda, I think that bed is about 3' wide x 17' long, but don't quote me on it. Mark would like to tear this bed down and expand the garden, but he's not gotten around to doing that, so I keep planting stuff in it. LOL This was just the one bunch of sampler onions. We still have the Legends to plant, which we'll do tomorrow. Yesterday, Mark worked on pulling out the okra (dead) plants and weeds that were in the spot where the Legends are going. I think we're going to try to do the trench like Dixondale advises, but we'll see.

Ok.

This is what we are eating in the house right now ... delish ...

Nice! Have I tried to proselytize Asian Brassicas to you yet? Bok Choy, Tatsoi, Komatsuna, Tyfon, and Chinese cabbage?

Most of the seeds I'm eager to give away would grow under plastic in the winter, or in a short spring where you have early, too-hot summers. Even better in the fall. Say, 20-30 days for baby leaves, and 35-50 days to maturity. But they do like constant soil moisture.

And it's time for 2013 seed starting to begin! Time to start my leeks and shallot seed inside. Maybe a few red onions too.

Zone 5, last frost 28 April

Where is the "like" button?? Yay for you!

Jeez it froze here the last 2 nites. This morning it was 23* in some of the lower spots when I was driving my son to school. It's was 29* at the house. That's cold!

You should try North Central Florida. It doesn't know if it wants to be temperate or tropical so it just bounces back and forth. I gave up on a winter garden this year. Kept waiting for cool weather so the broccoli and other cole crops and chard wouldn't bolt or go bitter. But we're still having midday highs in the 70's and 80's and lows in the 50's, except for tonight when the National Weather Service is predicting 27...I rolled in the dwarf avocado and the Kaffir lime, and brought in the little citrus and olives that are still in pots. The rest can fend for themselves. My back hurts.

I guess I'll still go ahead and plant the bulb onions, and hope for better luck this spring. Time to start the 'mater seeds, for sure - but glad I didn't believe we weren't going to get winter this year. Thank Heaven for the bunching green onions - they just keep growing and spreading no matter what else is going on.

-Rich

Well, the seedlings came in for the night, but they're right back out this morning. Beautiful, 69° outside and SUNNY!

Gotta prep two beds and build tomato frames over them (Cricketsgarden's method). The frames are so neat, and I don't have to put trellises all over the yard!

Been working with mraider3 on starting vermicomposting in one of the RBs. Basically, you build a hot compost layer 2-4' down under the RB, then top the compost with the planting layer. The heat from the compost below warms the soil above in the planting layer, giving an early advantage to the early-planted heat lovers.

The compost layer is made of one foot of FRESH horse manure, chopped straw, veggie peels, coffee grinds, etc., and red wiggler worms. These should all produce heat during the breakdown...

I'd cover the bed with perforated plastic sheeting which would allow wind, rain, and sunlight through, and not fry the seedlings. Sheets, frost blankets, warm water milk jugs/small space heater will be standing at the ready for overnight freezes (we might only get between 5-10 nights dipping below 30° between mid-Feb and mid-April, and none more than 24-72 hours in a row. The daytime temps should average between 42-52°, and the sunlight will build up ambient heat in the hoop to also help warm the soil without frying the seedlings.

This method would be a blessing if it helped me keep my long-season tomato seedlings happy in the middle of winter!

I'm gonna try this with one bed, and post the progress. It certainly can't hurt anything!

P.S. Mraider3 also has a contingency for cooling down the hot layer if needed. Sink perforated PVC pipes down into the bed, one on either end. Fill with cold water as needed to cool down the underground hotpile...

Linda

I think it's time to plant potatoes. These are in my compost pile. LOL

Everything I've read about vermicomposting using red worms says the compost can't be very deep because the worms will leave or die. They only do well in a few inches of compost. And forget heating if you want live worms. They really prefer their compost fully digested. They will still feed on "raw" organic matter, but it's recommended to add it to the surface and not stir it in because what the worms actually eat is the stuff that's already been worked on by the microorganisms.

I'm willing to be shown different. The info I have comes from people who raise worms professionally.

Mraider3's been vermicomposting worms over 50 years...

When E.F.Hutton speaks, I listen!

Linda

This month yes. your compost pile is a mini micro climate, best scenario- but this month of Feb yes plant taters...

I wasn't responding to Mraider3, I was responding to your statement that you were using straw and fresh manure. That's pretty much a recipe for generating heat, and one of Mraider3's own recent posts in the vermicomposting group indicates she understands that worms don't do well in the hot stage of compost making.

Maybe her worms do well deeper than mine. I haven't seen her weigh in.

-Rich

Maybe bc she is a he. Lol It might also have to do with the different ambient temps in Florida and the far north where Morgan lives.

I know it's time to plant taters but I hate the tops to get nipped by frost.

Today is the first time I start adding nitrogen to my onions. Since I'm going organic, it'll be blood meal. The blood meal is 12-0-0, and Dixondale recommends ammonium sulfate, 21-0-0, at 1/2 cup per 10'. So I guess I'll use a little less than 2 cups per 10'.

Linda, Do you also add additional fertilizer to the onions you have growing in earthboxes?

Here's some pics:
1. Onions in 4x8 bed
2. Onions in 2 Earthboxes
3. Manure producing ladies. Manure is all they're giving, cause they're not giving too many eggs.
4. Just something pretty that's blooming.

Yes lettuce is germinating.
Look at this: I am a "champ" to "throw&grow" lettuce

The rest of the vegetable garden is still producing a lot of lettuce, cauliflowers, carrots and I have harvested all the kohlrabi.

Jo,
Today is my first fertilizer day, too!

All my onions are planted in the EBs. I'll be using the Ammonium Sulfate, and I have no idea how much per box. Maybe about one teaspoon between the rows, scratched in and watered?

Linda

Jo, you could also fertilize weekly rather than every other week as well. That's what I did last year.

It was sunny today so I weeded a bunch. I got almost everything done. Next thing I know, I am seeing volunteer peas and lettuce and stuff and the 10 day forecast looks good including a warm rain Thursday... so I sowed a lot of seeds today. Nothing I can't replace.

I also got my paw paw seeds in tree pots. It's too cold yet, but I think it's better to have them come out of dormancy naturally than pulling them out of the fridge and sticking in 80F soil.

But boy do my knees hurt from getting up and down and crawling around so much. I don't think I'll be using the stand-up desk tomorrow!

I also worked outside in the garden today. I pulled out weeds, old plants, harvested more broccoli side shoots, and planted the last of my onions. My hands are sore from pulling weeds and my hips are sore as well. It's rough getting old.

In addition to my mater seedlings, I also have some tomatillo seedlings now as well as a couple of herbs, stevia and borage.

Have you grown tomatillos before? They grow really fast. I usually just direct sow, but it's too early for that.

Finished the first major pot-up to the 3.5" deep pots, filling 3 trays. Can't wait for Tuesday to get the 3 new lights for the shelf. And the new seedling mats & trays, I feel another bunch of seeds being started this week...

Lisa, what kind of tomatillo's have you planted?? Showed Momma the Tomato Growers catalog and she picked the Pineapple Tomatillo & I decided on the Toma Verde Toma... Being this far south, in relation to Stephanie, direct sow or start inside?? Haven't researched yet, but would guess similar to tomato germination and set-out timeframes and temperatures.. With our HOPEFUL weather predictions, we might not be starting too early after all...

Kevin

I actually doubt that has much to do with it.

-Rich

The other problem with active compost - especially if it's buried under soil - is that ambient oxygen levels should quickly fall to a level that will not support most complex life forms... I would still like to see some actual facts to support the addition of red worms to a buried, actively working compost.

-Rich

This thread sure is getting lively!

Kevin,
You're moving on steroids!! All that from one phone call?? I'm eating your dust!!

I was sick as a dog last night, and when the fever broke and the scrambled egg stayed down, the only thing that brought me any comfort was throwing out seeds in fresh dirt...

I sowed more Collards and mustards, eggplants, Italian Spinach and set out more beet transplants. I harvested some turnips and greens, and fed the onions.

Looks good out there, but I've got 14" tomato seedlings inside about to stage a mutiny...

They're gonna crawl off the light shelf and make a run for the raised beds!!!

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Linda, I got romaine transplants from HD in September of last year and they are bolting now. I got 2 6-paks and that was waaay too much. One six pak woud have given me all I needed. Im still using the lettuce as it is not bitter. It's a little tougher then earlier but other than that it's fine. It never headed completely, and I dont know if it was the variety or my conditions. Some of the plants got some bugs of some kind, looking similar to fungus gnats. Looks like they hatched there but they wash off easiy with water, I just harvested leaves from all the plants equally never taking the whole plant as we see in the grocery store.

Ive cut the old canes out of my asparagus bed and top dressed with compost. Ive taken down the lima bean vines, amended with compost and have planted tomatoes in the bed. Some peppers will go in there as well. My white stem bok choy is doing well and my gai lan too. Ive planted two tomatoes in the bed with them so by the time they finish, the tomatoes will be needing the space. Harvesting snow peas every other day and fall tomatoes never did quit. They are still producing tomatoes and blooming. These tomatoes were planted along my patio fence which gave them protection from the weather. For a while they just sat there but they are taking off now. I will cover them if temp goes down. Tomatoes are jaune flamme', yellow plum tomatoes, golf ball size. I think I lost some of my garlic plants. Need to investigate what happened. They were in same bed with half the Romaine lettuce. The rest of the Romaine is in the Asparagus bed and when gone will plant potatoes there. Have one bed resting under a cover of leaves. Will plant soybeans (edamame) there when weather is good and warm. My beds are all 4X4 by 12" high. I will grow cucumbers on the patio fence again this year and might try Malabar Spinach on the fence as well. Have a pot growing of mixed lettuces which is in the shade so it wont bolt so fast.

We had tomatillos last year, but got the plants as transplants. This year, I'm trying a purple tomatillo.

Wow.

You're growing asparagus in Houston? I'm in New Orleans & have been wanting to grow asparagus for quite a while, but was so afraid because of the heat & humidity. But if you can grow them in Houston, I should be able to grow them here.

What variety are you growing & do you have any hints for southern asparagus?

Jo-Ann

Linda, next fall, Sept. plant Black Seeded Simpson and Lolla Rosa lettuces. BSS is a lovely green leaf lettuce and LR is a ruffle-y red tipped one. The BSS is a crunchier lettuce then the LR but I like the LR because it adds color to the salad. you can plant in ground or in pots. Pots are good because you can move to the shade when weather warms and extend season. Beet greens are good in a salad too and they are not soft greens. They also add color. I kept an old beet around for a couple years until it got about 4 inches across, just to make beet greens for my salads.

Jo, I have two kinds. Martha Washington and Jersey something or other. The Jersey ones are only two years old so cant harvest from them yet. I grow in a 4X4 raised bed. I dug down below the bed actually to plant them so they would have more soil covering them. Im new at it and I only have a few plants but the ones Ive eaten have been delicious. I got the plants at HD. They just give you a little bundle of roots. They should be in stores now. Cant harvest the first year. Wait until second year which will be actually 4 yr old plants. You can keep them going for 30 years.

edited to say the variety is Jersey Knight.

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This message was edited Feb 4, 2013 10:38 PM

Steadycam3,
Thanks for the lettuce tip! I like red and green tipped lettuces, and especially Romaine lettuce.

This message was edited Feb 3, 2013 11:39 PM