Latest harvests.
I juts removed all the broccoli plants and kale to make room for my tomatoes.
My mistake ... I should have planted broccoli and kale in a different area because they could keep producing for a couple of more months.
I am happy with this year broccoli harvests.
Tomatoes are already hardening off in full sun.
I prepared the pvc hoop house and it is already covering the soil (to warm it up faster).
Lettuce forest is growing, radishes and onions too.
These were yesterday temperatures: soil and air.
But lots of blankets will be ready for next week temperature drop.
Happy gardening
quick question: is it normal for pepper seedlings to fold up their seed leaves in a "prayer hands" type of position late at night (then they go back to normal in the morning and all the rest of the day), or is there some kind of problem here?
Howdy again everybody!
On the heating mat question, we built our own system with incandescent rope lights embedded in sand in wood trays, and my soil stayed between 75 - 80 F. It worked so well that I had more seeds germinate than I thought I had planted!
I love running into this thread each year. I won't be planting out any tomatoes, eggplants, peppers for another 3 to 4 months, so you all kick my butt into gear at just the right time. I'm slow, lol.
I am embarrassed to realize and admit that, while I can grow tomatoes like gangbusters and peas and garlic, peppers and zukes, I have NOT yet been able to grow uhh lettuce, spinach, chard with any success, and only limited with kale. Does this seem weird? Aren't those supposed to be the goof-proof veg???
Thanks for all the heat mat ideas and suggestions! Guess I'll try the baking racks since I already have the heat mat. I bought it cheap in an off brand box, but when I opened the box the mat said "Burpee" on it. No temp control though.
I also enjoy the inspiration from the TX people. Spring will come here faster than I think.
jmc1987,
It is not at all unusual for our Texas bell pepper seedlings to offer up prayer at night. They pray for relief from the Hell fires of our summer heat which hover around 99° with 100% humidity.
They also pray for rain to fall more than once between July and September...
Yep. We're a faithful sect of growers down here, and we train up our seedlings in "the way in which they are to go..."
Start 'em off right, and they'll reward us in the end, LOL!
Amen!
Jmc1987,
I hope you know I'm just joking this morning!
___________________________________________________________________
On another note, I was up until 2:00 this morning, playing with my tomato seedlings.
I sold half my inventory at our gardening meeting Monday, and the plants were well received. One member delivered a couple plants to her sister who noted how healthy they were. I consider that a way high compliment, being as the sister is a nursery owner!
So, I walked in my growing room yesterday and started tending the remaining 114 seedlings. They are finally ALL labeled (I didn't take them all to the meeting...) and grouped by height under the lights, and every tray now fits on the light stand. I had so many in the beginning, I was rotating them under the lights on eight 4' shelves!
I must say, I selected the best of the best for the sale Monday. But, you know that old Texas saying, "stand in the same spot for 10 minutes and the weather will change?" Well, once these seedlings were better spaced out under the lights, with the breeze from the fan flowing quite freely between them, this morning, the seedlings I have left are looking better than the ones I sold Monday!
I am soooooooooooooo very happy.
And, I've already learned a lot regarding a more realistic number of seeds to start, the spacing requirement for the seedlings to get adequate light and airflow, and most importantly, how to safely TRANSPORT seedlings for sale, LOL!
Today is a great day, and I thank God for it!
Hugs!
i did get a good laugh out of that for sure, good to know there is nothing going wrong with them.
Hugs!
LOL Lynda!!
Thanks drthor, I'll check out that link.
Hey drthor, I checked out the heat mat thermostat on Amazon. I was wondering if the sensor would work in something as shallow as a Jiffy-seven peat pellet. I always start seeds in Jiffy-sevens. Thanks!
The sensor on the Hydrofarm thermostat is 1" long, 1/4" wide. If your pellets are deeper than 1" I don't think it will be a problem. It has been a while since I used these pellets. I was never successful on growing anything inside them (I am sure it was "operator" error). Good luck !
JoWalker, I purchased this one from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZZG3S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It worked fine in the jiffy pellets. I'm now using it in my hoop house where I have it set in the soil of a 3" pot. When the temp falls below 70 degrees, it turns on the christmas lights under the shelf to warm it up.
Jo-Ann
This message was edited Feb 13, 2015 5:13 PM
Thanks drthor and jomoncon. Looks like that is what I'll do.
I don't have a thermostat for my heat mat and have never had a problem with it getting too hot. This will be the 6th year I've used it. I check the soil temp with a kitchen thermometer. I try to find the least expensive way to do everything even if I have the money....
I got the thermostat this year and it was a bust. It was set at 80º but never got above 72º. Took it off and went with just the heat mat. Works like a charm.
GG- not my experience with colonoscopys- mine was good, cept for... but I liked the magnesium citrate anyway. The interruptions you spoke of lasted at least an hour, and knocked me totally out to sleep. I have an obstruction that prevents the camera access, so, it ended up being xrays the 2nd day. Depends on if your colon is healthy or not I guess as to discomfort. Still have to go get the biopsy checked out on one item.
Elms are dusting everything with pollen, and I am trying to get my wildflower seeds tossed, milkweeds seeded, only one more day off, sigh.
Everything is just shooting right on up, will be time to pot them up into something bigger soon, makes me wish i had bought one of these grow lights a LONG time ago!
I really think I planed my seeds too soon. A lot of things have outgrown the seed shelf indoors & had to be moved to the hoop house. I have a lot of peppers, both hot & sweet, and several tomatoes. I've been picking flower buds off the peppers and decided to top off some of them to encourage lower branching. The tomatoes are looking really healthy, but when I get ready to plant them, I'll have to dig a hole about a foot deep to bury the stalks!
I'll be about 2 weeks before I can put the tomatoes & peppers outside. Although I may plant a few peppers in some earthboxes & leave those in the hoophouse.
The first 2 pics are on the indoor grow shelf. The last is in the hoop house. These pics were taken 10 days ago. Since then, I've had to move even more plants to the hoophouse.
Have to make a note to plant next year's seeds a month later!!
Jo-Ann
What a fantastic day for planting tomatoes yesterday.
No wind and 77F degrees !
Now I will start the "tomatoes dance": cover, uncover and sleepless nights worrying for my tomatoes ... hoping for a big reward at the end (as usual)!
Sun Gold II from Baker Creek is the biggest surprise of this year (first time planting): this was the ONLY tomato plants that has already a full developed flowers bud. I loved the taste of Sun Gold, but the tomatoes often cracked on our Dallas heat, that was the reason I did stop growing it. I have hope for this Sun gold II now (60 days - ind)
Too bad we're expecting very cold temps this week and some wintry mix, drthor. Hope your tomatoes come through with no problems.
I hope so too !
After last year, I don't worry anymore.
98% of the tomato plants did survive the 17F drop !!
Remember? the day before was 82F and in the morning dropped to 17F in my garden.
Right now my PVC hoops have an extra layer of thick row cover (even if it is still 72F) and by tonight I am planning to cover with a 6ml plastic.
Wish me luck !
By the way I am trying the Marmande tomato you suggested last year.
Oh good! I hope you enjoy the Marmande as much as we do.
My babies are big enough to start deep watering them. I pour water into the bottom of their trays (& hope they don't leak as two did today...oops!) and let them set for about 20-30 minutes. Then I pull them out and place into a dry tray and water again in about 2 days. This helps them develop deeper root systems and helps decrease leaf fungus and gets them used to less frequent watering. It's also time to pot up some of my mater babies. :)
when will be your transplanting date?
Stephanietx,
Thanks for reminding me I need to go back to the 6 oz. PLASTIC yogurt cups for potting up, instead of the 5 oz. PAPER cups I tried for the first time this season.
They worked ok in the beginning -- until they got saturated, and a light fuzzy mold started growing on the outsides of the cups. The fuzz hasn't hurt the plants, but, it sure isn't great to see fuzzy blankets growing on the outside of those cups...I had to "double" cup over the first ones to smother the mold, and, cause, in addition to being fuzzed, they were starting to sag, as duh, WET PAPER will do...
Lesson learned.
They were quite cute in the beginning....
drthor, I'll plant them in March sometime when I remember to do it! Of course, they might not get in until April. It depends on the weather.
Lynda, I start my seeds in the 6 oz yogurt cups. Next year, I might have to get some regular 6 oz cups since my stash of yogurt cups is running very low.
The calendula, and peppers are really taking off, and along with purple opal basil, and a couple of mystery seedlings
i will definitely need to break out my bigger cups for my tomatoes here really soon, picking some up friday! (the plant in the center is scarlet flax--just an experiment to see if some of the seed was viable)
This message was edited Feb 16, 2015 7:05 PM
So far so good: ALL of my tomatoes are alive outside.
It is very important to keep them dry from the rain at this time of the year. They cannot take both cold and wet at the same time.
2 days after I transplanted outside was really cold and it dropped to 32F and only 36F during the say.
No problems so far. Let's keep finger crossed.
Next Sunday I have a few ours window of "fruit" planting crop on the Thun's calendar.
I will start seeds of: squash, cukes, melons and watermelons
Happy gardening
Harvested more radishes and lots of greens.
I did pickled my radishes today.
Here is my favorite recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/sweet-pickled-daikon-radish.html
Happy gardening
More cold weather on the way for us this weekend!
drthor - then what do you do with them? I mean, how do you use them?
Yep. Canning underway.
Beets.
pollengarden
if you are talking about the sweet pickled radishes, I just eat them in salad ... but honestly they are just so good to eat them straight out of the jar ... yummy !
I like this recipe because if there is some bitter radishes in the mix, it won't matter. At the end they all taste like ice-cream.
Stephanie, when is the soonest you plant your tomatoes outside? Do you cover yours like Drthor?
Just wondering, since you are in my area.
sybram
watch these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh-VcwS3qus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6yljCs0444
I took this class before I started to plant tomatoes a few years ago at the Dallas Arboretum.
His planting date has been "removed" just to make the video available everywhere.
It is FEBRUARY 11th.
I have been trying to plant later but I didn't have so many tomatoes as when I planted so early.
In this way I will have at least 3,5 months of production. After mid July it is just too hot here and the plants stop to make fruits.
Happy gardening
I've started seeds indoors, but the soil is still too cold to plant outside. Gonna be another year where spring gardens are delayed.
If you are snowed in -- well iced in, snow isn't much of a problem but ice is -- tiny little sprouts are pretty cool.
