Hi everyone...Kinda new to veggie gardening, so I have a question. For veggies that generally don't transplant well, what is the best way to get a head start on them? Peat pots ok? Or is it best to just wait for the last frost date and sow outdoors? Something else? Thanks!
Growing vegetables that don't transplant well...
i've never used peat pots. for things like beans, i suggest starting your seeds in the ground but you can also try a few in peat pots just to experiment with. i have grown sugar snap peas under lights and then transplanted them outside and they were o.k.
Parks bio sponges. I know they are sold out till the first of January.
I could not garden without them. There is no transplant shock, and the sponges hold the plants up nicely in the gound until the roots take hold. I use them for daylily seeds and veggies.
In this zone you have to get a start indoors. Last frost is around the third week in June, and this year the first was August 31st. I use peat pots for tomatoes. Before planting them out, make sure both the pot and the ground in which it's to go are well soaked, and keep moist for a couple of weeks. I generally tear the side of the pot a bit also. Most importantly, make sure the pot is completely covered. The edges sticking up act like a wick and suck moisture out of the ground.
For beans and other veg. with long tap roots, the cardboard cores from toilet rolls or kitchen paper are a good and cheap alternative to peat pots.
Patgeorge, glad to see someone else has found the benefits of toilet cardboard rolls! They are fantastic for flower seedlings like Morning glories as well! For the shorter rooted plants just cut them in half. Fill them with coir, peat, or a seedling mix. I do tape the seams as they tend to come apart when damp but remove the tape when transplanting, which is very easy.
Like Gardenglory I also have used the Park's Bio sponges with great success.
In Florida I would think you could plant lots of things directly in the soil.
This message was edited Dec 8, 2008 9:18 PM
Bob, you left us hanging, That is a perfect sponge holder. I guess it doesnt float, but the first I have seen besides the blocks with the sponge size holes.
Yes, Im lucky, I do plant anything I can directly into the earthbox.
gardenglory - D-mail me for " you left me hanging"
BocaBob
I used CowPots to start many of my seedlings last year and had good luck planting them in the garden.
Despite all the warnings that cucumbers and melons do not transplant well, if I have been especially careful, I've had no trouble transplanting them.
Virtually anything can be transplanted from pots or plugs where the roots are not disturbed, Whether it is worth it depends on the yield per plant. Traditionally, transplants were bare root. So when an old timer like me warns about the difficulty of transplanting, we are thinking about bareroot transplants. In our youth, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers etc were pulled from hot beds and transplanted. No root ball.