Becky, you might try regular curled CFL bulbs. I think my space is less than three feet, but they sure worked well for me there.
Fall/Winter Gardens 2014-15 Part 2
We've used grow lights for years. Standard 4' cool white bulbs. No more than 3" above the plants.
Check this out;
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/371007/
Good Morning!
I am so disgusted with my broccoli plants that I am thinking about chucking them all...I planted them on August 16....not one plant is over about 2" tall and have only 2 or 3 measly leaves....most aren't even that large. I will direct seed them in my raised bed as soon as it dries out enough (we had rain all weekend to the tune of 2+"). If that doesn't work, I will have to resort to purchasing plants at the nursery.
I don't know why I had such a hard time starting plants from seed. I tried to do everything just like I read, but my green thumb definitely turned brown on this project!!! Oh well, there's always next spring to try again!!!
Thank you to all of you that gave me suggestions and encouragement. I appreciate it.
TB
i would not give up on them yet. As someone else on DG once said: dont give up on a plant until it literally kicks the bucket. If anything, you could make a salad of sorts out of the leaves, thats a similar situation that i had last year. the plants did well, but never formed any heads, so i just cooked them up like you would turnip greens ;)
This message was edited Sep 29, 2014 12:08 PM
Belle, for me broccoli is a cool-weather plant and simply doesn't do well in the heat. Your plants may take off as soon as you start getting some cool nights. Don't give up.
Ken
jmc
These plants are so small that they make micro greens look like dinosaur greens!!! ;) I will keep them on the porch and let them do their "thing" but I don't think they will ever get big enough to take out of their pots and set out.....which brings up a question.....
Can starting seed in too large a pot affect how they progress? What I'm getting at is...will the roots develop better in a smaller container (like the tiny seed starting pots) than a larger one? It doesn't seem to make a difference when direct sowing, but does it make a difference when starting ahead of time?
TB
agreed with Klrkkr.
It may still be too warm down there in TX for them to start taking off yet. maybe they are just biding their time until temperatures are more comfortable for them.
No, pot size doesn't matter a bit except for the fact that the roots will be more spread out and thus more likely to be damaged in the transplanting process. Keep in mind, probably 95% of all seeds are started in a garden or farm setting, not in pots. But they are not transplanted. I start all my seeds in plug trays simply because it is easier to transplant those plugs into either larger pots or into the garden.
Ken
It's still to hot here...
I started my broccs and cabbages on July 30th, and kept them under lights inside too long waiting for the weather to cool off. The leaves started yellowing, so I put them out to get some rays.
They have been out since last Wednesday under the patio cover. Today moved them into some dappled sunlight, and they promptly swooned...
Desperate times call for desperate measures. ..
We're supposed to have a cool front this weekend.
This message was edited Sep 29, 2014 6:15 PM
Fall is close. We are supposed to get into the upper 40's this weekend. We are several weeks early (global warming, I am sure) and just puts me into "moving in day". I have over 500 tropical plants that will have to over-winter in my greenhouses and (winterized) porch.
Ken
CountryGardens-I think you meant you've used shop lights for years. It was because of your example that I have raised thousands of seedlings with the cheapest set up I could find but it has given me the best results too.
Here are my broccoli plants. This picture is form last week, now they are mush larger. Soon updated pictures.
Radishes have germinated.
This Sunday I will transplant out Swiss Chard and kale and direct seed lettuce.
Still very hot here too ...
Happy gardening
The swiss chard here is starting to take off as well, as are the Bulls Blood beets. The kale is growing by leaps and bounds it seems. The bases of the carrot plants are starting to get a bit thick and stocky! The radishes here are also off to a great start.
I found out that taking photos of them from directly overhead like ive been doing is totally doing them an injustice, lol. So these photo are down close to their level.
This message was edited Sep 30, 2014 11:25 AM
Also my golden beets are coming along well. along with some lettuce that i have going
Drthor & Jmc1987,
Your seedlings look wonderful!
It's so hot here still outdoors, but, my seedlings indoors were turning yellow. I brought them out to get some sun, and to harden off, and all they're doing is fainting, and looking puny...
I feel like I want to just toss them, and start throwing seeds everywhere, for the first time in my life!
AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH...all that work since July 30th.
But. I know that they can still bounce back once I go ahead and transplant them. We're supposed to have a cool front this weekend, so, hopefully, that will jump start them again...
Hugs!
my kale was doing the same thing too in their seed trays--leaves yellowing and all, and like you say, putting them in the ground did the trick. it probably also helped that i planted them into the bed on a clouded over day,
Thanks for that encouragement jmc1987! Now, I don't feel so bad about how bad they look.
Actually, I'm exaggerating. They've got some yellowed leaves and are kinda straggly, but, I've brought some back from the brink of death, in far, far worse condition than these!
Hugs, again!
First beet harvest of the year :)
Im thinking this will be their fate today:
http://hotcheapeasy.com/2012/07/18/sauteed-golden-beets-with-olive-oil-garlic-and-parsley/
And their greens prepared like so:
http://hotcheapeasy.com/2013/09/03/dont-throw-them-out-easy-sauteed-beet-greens/
Both accompanying a good ol' batch of baked chicken, lol!
Soon...very soon for my carrots, just waiting for a frost to come along to sweeten them up first.
jmc
Please don't tease about frost yet....it's 95 or so here.....I would love to see 75 sometime other than just before dawn!!! ;>)
tb
texasbelle -
My husband is retired Military & I have gardened in Sicily and North Dakota. I learned the hard way that the Broccoli/Cabbage family is sensitive to day length. They were practically dormant in the short cool days of Mediterranean winter, but grew like crazy in the warm to hot extra long days of North Dakota summers. I have heard that record-breaking size cabbage are grown in Alaska.
So for now, leave your grow lights on for more hours. Be prepared for slow growth through winter. And expect a growth spurt come spring. I don't know if there is a variety recommended for winter growth. You might try a fast growing variety next year for spring & fall.
Bought some Redbor Kale seed a week ago and got them sowed in, they are up now :)
The cherry tomatoes are still being quite persistent even after a couple of nights of 40 degree temps a couple of weeks ago.
Radishes growing like mad
I had a bit of a panic with my siberian kale, as i noticed the lower leaves yellowing, but later i found out that its what happens to the old lower leaves anyways when they have gone past their prime, and that i should have been picking them off as i see them turning.
This message was edited Oct 11, 2014 11:06 AM
wow ! very nice
Minnesota grown peppers. Picked them clean on Thursday afternoon. Froze hard Friday morning.
Colored ones sell for $2.00 each.
Radishes planted September 7.
those peppers are amazing!
I was never able to grow a peppers so large and colorful ! Well done !
i was just thinking myself, what whoppers those peppers are.
And now I am hungry! LOL! I've been wanting to try a new stuffed pepper recipe all week...
one radish seems to be in a race against all the others to fully mature, its way further ahead of all the others!
Well, I really still in summer garden mode, although the weather is starting to play games with me. But today I harvested my first bean EVER! More than one actually, but I am so proud, lol. I make a mean ginger green bean dish, but faced with these plump beauties I'm not sure what to do.
But also, I made my first chili powder with my first chiles and garlic ever. It feels like I've been drying peppers forever, but there was an end to it, and I ended up with over two cups of pretty well ground powder. Trouble is, I can't digest peppers so I haven't tasted it yet. I can add pinches to whatever I'm cooking though, so that'll have to be my first test if I can't lasso a friend.
And now that I'm pulling out vines and other plants I keep sticking kale into the slots. I guess that counts as winter forage for two humans. This year I'll have to buy onions though. Oh well, I did a lot of branching out ;~) this year, and I am happy.
13Turtle, I'm like you - still doing some summer things. I did a very late planting of purple hull field peas & they're just starting to come in. The peppers are still going strong, mostly Thai & jalapenos. I think the heat beat up the habaneros too badly. I'm planning on putting a hoop house over 2 of my raised beds. I'm going to try to keep the peppers alive over the winter.
The onions seeds are coming on strong and really looking good. But the weeds are starting to take over. I'm going to try a new herbicide for me that's supposed to target only grassy weeds. I'll just try it on a small area before doing the entire beds. Grassy weeds are the bane of my gardening! They spread so easily down here and I have a few beds that were grass a few years ago, so it's a battle there.
I was given a bunch of broccoli & cauliflower transplants, but they don't seem to be doing much. The weather has been so hot, but we're going into a cold front that should bring the temps into the 60's. That should help out with them.
Jo-Ann
I still haven't gotten my garlic, potato onions & shallots into the ground. Between trips to the hospital & just plain feeling bad, I haven't had the strength get out of bed, much less do any gardening. I still have time to get these planted, so maybe I can do just a few a day until they're done.
You have plenty of time to get the garlic, onions, and shallots in the ground. I haven't started to get my 300 cloves of garlic planted, and I'm in Starkville, MS. I am still waiting on my huge mounds of Vardaman sweet potatoes to finally begin to die back. That's where the garlic is planted. It looks like it will be the end of the month (at least) before those vines begin to wither.
Ken
This heat is seriously holding on...My onion seedlings are coming along nicely. Thought I would plant the garlic tomorrow, in some large cattle molasses tubs. I just hate to fill those as deep as they are, since the garlic is shallow rooted.
May seek another container option, more like a child's pool. That would work really nicely I think.
Just be sure you have great drainage and well-draining soil. The lighter the soil, the larger the bulbs can grow.
Ken
Drdawg43,
I will be sifting double grind pine bark through 1/2" hardware cloth, and using what falls through. It is light, fluffy, clean, loose. I will mix this with MG potting mix, perlite, and vermiculite for my garlic planting medium.
Can coffee grinds play a roll in the above recipe for the garlic "soil"? I just collected a 5-gallon bucket of spent grinds. In the compost world, coffee grinds are considered a "green", adding a small amount of nitrogen.
What do you think about the recipe?
Thanks!
Linda
Heck yes, coffee grinds can be used. It ends up being about a 1-1-1 and breaks down slowly. It is excellent. I throw my grinds in all the time. I like your formulae except I would eliminate the vermiculite IF I were making the mix. This is just my opinion, but for me vermiculite holds water but otherwise adds nothing to the mix. I quit using vermiculite many years ago, since I use a lot of organic material and a lot of perlite to open the mix up. For every wheelbarrow load of mix (its a big wheelbarrow), I mix in about two cups of Osmacote as well.
Ken
Drdawg43,
Thanks! I just thought about the vermiculite cause I have a huge bag of it sitting around. I don't usually add that to my mix, so I won't this time. And, thanks for the coffee grinds tip!
So..........I went to the bank at lunch today, and was talking with the Security Guard about our beautiful weekend coming up, and all the garden opps I was going to have. He said "horseback riding."
And....in a nutshell.....he grew up in my community, rides with a club within a quarter mile of my home, stables his horse within a 1/2 mile of my home, doesn't use hormones or yucky stuff to feed his beautiful animal, AND, most importantly, said I could come muck all the aged manure I want -- his cousin has a veggie garden, and comes all the time!
But, God....
Heck, go ahead and use the vermiculite since its there. I just don't keep any. I doubt, with the organics and perlite, the vermiculite would be a problem.
Ken
Oh Jo, I would like you to start feeling better! I have experienced months like yours too, and it stinks. But like the good drdawg says, you should have PLENTY of time on the garlic and shallots.
That sounds like a score Linda. Nice. My envy glands have been activated, lol.
Oh, I just remembered a question: my last 8 or 10 eggplant are not purple, unlike the earlier ones from the same plants. I'm imagining it has to do with the sudden lack of heat, but they are either whitish or orange. They feel normal - are they safe to eat? Cooked of course.
After all my new successes this summer, I have decided not to push myself to try for same this winter. I only have a couple dozen kale plants; after another summer I should be better prepared for something else new. This is quite a new development for me, in it's own way. :~)
are you sure that you didnt purchase varieties of eggplants that are white / orange? lol, there are so many varieties of eggplant out there.
but i would also make sure that they arent fruits that have gone past their prime (lost their glossy sheen), otherwise that fruit would only be good for seed collecting
I did think about that, but all the August ones were dark purple. And they were sold to me as 'Long Purple' - that could be a clue, lol.
I know about the sheen, but only in a book-larnin' sense; I don't get it yet in a practical sense. But I did make some excellency baba ghanoush .