FALL/WINTER Gardens 2014-15, Part 1

Um, SPwD,
Do you have these under lights? They seem a bit leggy.

I pot up my cole crop seedlings after they get at least one set of true leaves. I started my Arcadia Broccoli in a deep cell system (ATP Deep Root cells from Gardener's Supply Company), that's 3.5" deep per cell, so if I had only planted one seed per cell, I wouldn't be potting up at all. However, some have 3 seedlings in each, and I don't wanna lose any of the seedlings so I'll pot them into another deep cell tray, but only one potting up.

The cabbages and collards are in 6 oz. yogurt cups, and they'll get split out to other cups, too. These were sowed Wednesday, July 30, 2014.

Yeah they are a bit leggy -- I do have them under lights, but didn't realize I had them on my lowest shelf where I only installed one light, rather than the other shelves where I have two lights. I moved them yesterday to a 2 light shelf and they are straightening back up (they were actually stretching sideways for the light yesterday!).

Thanks for the potting up advice, Linda! This is my first time growing any fall/winter veggies so it's a totally new experience for me. This is also my first year growing tomatoes from seed, and the information I gleaned from DG is the only reason I've had any success in that department. I really do love this site so much, and having experienced growers to guide us newbies is totally amazing! 😃

I agree, SPWD - the experienced folks on here are the BEST and so generous with their advice and tried and true methods. I learn something every time I log on here.

In case I haven't said it enough, "Thank you , Thank you, Thank you!!!"

Mae Belle

yeah it probably is still too intense for them, because the beets i have in containers will get limp when the morning sun is on them, and perk back up when the dappled shade from the crape myrtle is on them. That garden bed down there gets full on complete sun from about 10AM until around 6:30PM

SPwD,
I'm not sure, but are your temps closer to StephanieTx, who's growing in zone 8a (Fort Worth)?
If so, I would recommend latching onto her for your planting schedule. We're still having 98-99° here, with "feels like" temps closer to +101°.

I believe the Dallas/Fort Worth area gets much colder than we do, and for a bit longer into the springtime.

On my Zone 9a schedule, I'll be sowing seeds for long-season, indeterminate tomatoes the weekend of December 20-21, without fail. These will take from 85-120 days to maturity (DTMs). They'll be transplanted out the weekend of February 14-15, 2015, after one week of hardening off. I expect to start harvesting ripe tomatoes from May 30 until June 30, 2015, unless the weather does something wonky, like staying relatively cool enough to keep the crop going. Otherwise, I'll rip the tomato plants at the end of June. Any greenies will become salsa...

From what I've learned this season (I didn't grow anything -- just lurked amongst the tomato growers), I'd like to start brand new tomato seeds (indoors) in June 2015, for a plant out in mid-September 2015. I think I can hold the cold weather off with my over-the-bed greenhouse until around mid-December, to give those tomatoes a chance to complete ripening. I'd plant mid-season tomatoes (DTMs = 75-80), which could work.

My current schedule calls for more brassica seeds to be dropped this weekend.

Linda

JMC1987,
I WISH I had at least ONE bed that got that kind of full on sun, and for that length of time! That's where I'd plant the tomatoes, okra and eggplants, LOL!

On another note, I'm about to post some seeds, and, in rummaging through my envelopes, I ran across a SASE addressed to you! Any idea what you were planning on sending me, cause I sure don't remember, LOL!

I can still put a stamp on it, and drop it into today's mail. You can surprise me, LOL!

you know i have absolutely NO idea what i was going to send either , LOL!!

you are free to take your pick from anything on the "have" section on my trade list.



This message was edited Aug 13, 2014 3:59 PM

Yes my temps are exactly like Stephanie's in FW (she's an hour due east). This year when I was just starting sowing seeds, she already had hers up and going strong, so yes I always pick her brain for dates now :)

My tomato harvest would have been insane if I would have planted them when she did, but I still had a good harvest, plants are still going strong, and I hope to have that killer harvest this fall. Next year I'll be better prepared for sure.

Things didn't go quite as I planned this year, my 3 sisters garden was an epic fail (aside from the squash which yielded more than we could eat), and I procrastinated planting in half of another raised bed until it was way too hot and too late to try anything in it (which really ticks me off seeing all that wasted space)!!

Do you stagger sowing the brassicas so as to stagger the harvests as well? I should have done that..

oh, by the way--this question directed towards GG, since she suggested the product to me last year: Is Sluggo Plus SUPPOSED to mold up as it breaks down? most of my seedlings and other plants dont care about it, but apparently my beets and swiss chard seem to be a little bit sensitive to the mold / fungus that forms up on it, as not long after it starts forming up, the stem collapses on some of them with damping off type syndromes (also it didnt help that it rained for nearly 3 days straight)

This message was edited Aug 13, 2014 4:50 PM

Say WHAAAAAAAAAAAT???? LOL.

Uh, Sluggo Plus does that on my beds, but my factors are a bit different than yours:

1. I don't use it too close to my plants, mainly on the perimeter of the raised bed. Long as the pillbugs cross it, they'll die in a minute or so (not literally...)

2. My seedlings are WAY bigger than that when they go out into the garden, so I think they're a little more able to shrug off any melting Sluggo Plus.

3. I don't sprinkle too much -- a little goes a looooooooong way (as long as it doesn't get wet...)
I generally sprinkle it right after I've set and watered in the plants, but, I let the bed drain about 1 hour or so. I don't sprinkle it on the soil when it's too damp, or it will start to melt.

Hope this helps. Sorry for your loss...

well that explains a lot, lol. So that IS supposed to happen, but i perhaps have been using it all wrong. i tend to break it out every time i see a seedling suddenly end up half eaten or missing all together, lol. I had to put some (or so i thought) directly into my seedling cells because i was noticing munched leaves, and one seedling missing both of its cotyledons.

I think this slight dry spell, followed by the 3 day deluge of rain really sent the critters and mold / fungus into hyper overdrive, lol

Once the plants get going well to the point of 2 or 3 sets of true leaves, im usually all good, its getting them to that point thats been the challenge

This message was edited Aug 13, 2014 6:17 PM

That's why I keep mine inside so long -- they have at least 2 sets of leaves by the time they go out.

And by then, most of the pill bugs are dead in the bed. ..I sprinkle some Sluggo Plus on the bed right after I fluff up the soil, about a couple days before planting the seedlings out...

DC just came in and said "I'm a-nnoyed, and I don't mean a tomato with no identity."

hmm.....perhaps beets just arent my thing when it comes to trying to grow them. Had another one today in my metal was tub that had 3 true leaves on it, yet a brown pinched up looking stem--like i have lost so many others to before. (what the heck am i doing wrong here?! LOL!) I havent watered it in weeks thanks to the natural rain were getting around here.

Could it be a reaction to summer heat?

This message was edited Aug 14, 2014 11:34 AM

JMC1987,
It could very well be the heat. According to my planting charts, beets should be sowed around October 1, so they can take off into the cool/cold.

I don't plan to start sowing beet seeds until mid-September. Then, I'll stagger sow new seeds every month thereafter, until mid-December.

I didn't realize how hot it was in your Zone 7a. I thought ya'll had some cool weather by now. We're still in the high +98°.

well, seeing that all of you guys in the south getting cooler weather seed started, i figured that i was WAY behind for my zone, considering we get cooler sooner, lol. our average temps are still hovering around high 80's - low 90s, but i only let them have morning sun (which even then still seems to be too much for them on some days, reducing them to rags until the dappled shade moves back over them, then they perk back up)

JMC1987,
"...getting cooler weather seed started..."

INDOORS, in the A/C, where it's cool enough for us AND the seedings, LOL!

I am NOT (voluntarily) going out there in all that heat!

Mine are out in the garden. Mucking about with babying seedlings is not something I have time for when the seeds come up in the dirt just fine. :)

If we had more window space, then i probably could start mine inside, alas, there is only one small southern facing window built onto this entire house, wish i could afford one of those huge overhanging grow lights that you guys have.

Im sure that i have well proven myself to be the comic relief of the fall veggies thread ;)

This message was edited Aug 14, 2014 2:17 PM

JMC1987,
NOT SO "the comic relief of the fall veggies thread"!!!!

I don't use any high-powered, high-falootin' grow lights. I have a bunch of regular old two-bulb, 48" fluorescent shop lights on hanging chains. I keep them 1-2" above the tops of the seedlings for 15 hours a day.

You can buy one kit (two bulbs, side by side) for $10 at HD or Lowes, and prop the ends on some books or blocks. Shove your seed trays underneath and off you go til the weather changes some.

Voila! Instant light kit.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-2-Light-White-T12-Fluorescent-Shoplight-1233-SHOPLIGHT/203081577


http://www.lowes.com/pd_420865-43921-MXL-101_1z0y5pd+1z11ovb__?productId=4013481&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1%26page%3D1&facetInfo=Fluorescent%20shop%20light

now arent those nifty?

thanks for sharing those

^^_^^^^_^^ (Gymgirl and JMC1987 dancing under the light kits!)

oh hey, i can definitely get a couple of those blocks (my dad has some leftover just lying around extra, from where he built his auto body shop), the wooden board shouldnt be that much of a challenge to get either--more post building scrap from dad to bargain for, lol.

and what a neat idea using those clear plastic shoe racks to hold seed packs and other such stuff.

Now the thing is to find the space in this house for such a setup, LOL!

Hey jmc1987, isn't that what dining areas are for? Who needs to eat at a proper table when it's seed sowing time? I mean, first things first, right?

Good luck. My beets look exactly like yours sound. Gonna start some more.

OMG turtles, I just snorted out loud reading that dining table comment. Kids are looking at me like I'm crazy(er) but I won't dare tell them what you said.. they'll realize I have enablers. LOL but wow when I do all my seed starting, that is so me!!

Wow this thread has doubled in length today, well maybe not literally, but seriously.. the gardening juices are flowing! My cup runneth over..😄

That is because we have such good company here.

Glad I made somebody laugh Becky; somehow I'm not surprised it was you, lol.

hey you have a point there....its a good enough excuse to set it up in there. Cant "dine" without the food, and hey, were growing the food ;)

Exactly!

the rain we had a while ago seems to have started a massive new wave on my cherry tomato plant.

A nice size cluster of toms from my Paul robeson tomato--which will likely be the only ones from the plant i get, as it is declining from bacterial wilt (seems that the wilts are quite prevalent this year around here!)

and an update on the growth of all of those seedlings :)

and here are my pitiful little wash tub beets, lol! i had to circle a few of them because its really hard to pick them out in the photo otherwise. (i dont think they like how hot the sides of the washtub are getting when the sun hits it!) the golden beets in the other large container are doing ok it seems

You know, sometimes the brain just doesn't kick in immediately.

Your flats in the shade are gorgeous. Beautiful seedlings. Just keep 'em comfy.

Your beets in the METAL washtub, might be frying, slowly. METAL washtub....HOT, METAL washtub, lololol.

My indoor grow light area is a shelf in my storage room, about 4' x2'. I got 2 48" T-8 that I fixed to the shelf above them. Instead or raising & lowering the light, I raise & lower the trays, since different plants grow at different rates. My setup is about 3 years old, so I think I need to replace the bulbs this year. Getting some Spectralux 6500K T8 grow lights from 1000bulbs at $2.49 each. Use a timer for the lights for about 12 hours a day and heating mats to help germinate the seeds. I also wrap the sides of the shelf with a mylar emergency blanket to bounce the light around & keep in the heat since my storage room stays on the cool side:

http://www.amazon.com/ER-Emergency-Ready-Thermal-Blankets/dp/B008DEYGJQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1408117724&sr=8-2&keywords=emergency+blanketr day.

"Your beets in the METAL washtub, might be frying, slowly. METAL washtub...HOT, METAL washtub, lololol."

my thoughts exactly, and you also described me perfecty with the "brain not always kicking in immediately" line, lol. I suppose i shall use the ones in there right now as micro greens, and find something more suitable to grow in. The warm weather plants love being in the wash tubs just fine, and i had carrots to do well in them last year, beets are definitely a different story it looks like.

Yuh think the WARM weather plants might love being in the wash tubs just fine, the METAL washtubs, the HOT, METAL washtubs?

LOLOLOL!

We gotta meet...^^_^^

JO-ANN,
I heard the DEA checks the satellite imaging for new hot spots on the map. Girl, I'm just waiting for them to jump kick my door in looking for "other-than-veggie" plants, LOL!

I'm keeping my light kit and seed growing setup primed and ready for whenever Texas might pass some new laws, LOL! Retirement's right around the corner!

Lol! OK you gotta stop before I wet myself

Ok i am totally cracking up over here, LOL!

(by the way, did anyone else experience a site crash an hour or two ago?)

Bought a 15 Pound bag of organic earthworm castings today, and should be here by monday. Gonna get that garden bed soil straightened out ;)

"Sometimes I laugh so hard, tears run down my leg."

jmc, where'd you find those castings? And those are some beautiful toms. Sweet seedlings too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291182855798?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT