Late Feb Pictures of my garden

Joy,

If you have a full month before planting outdoors, start new tomato seeds now.

Bob: Does that mean the ones I got planted now aren't going to make it? sniffles. I have started roma, vilma and chocolate cherry tomatoes, but they are the small ones, I like the big ones.
joy

did you do what I said on your d-mail?

why can't you just pot up in grow bags etc till time to put them out? As for the heater put jugs of hot water in the green house. I can't imagine it getting below 33 in a greenhouse if it's just one or two nights.

You all are just amazing me!! I am so green with envy!! We are going to have a heat wave today here in the St. Louis area, maybe up to 40!! No way to put anything outside. Bob, I do have a question if you don't mind, did you call those carrot bushes?? Where do you get those if you don't mind me asking. thanks Laura H (just a wannabe).

I suggested you put them in BocaBobs black five gallon bags about five in each and hope for the best. You would be far better off re-seeding as the ones you have now may get so stressed that they will get diseased. I would never start early for my season under any conditions as it does the plant no good.unless you have a heated greenhouse. Forget it Joy and bite the bullet and consider it a lesson learned. We all make mistakes but to be a great gardener you must develop patience and wait till time is right. In the interim buy gardening books and study so you too can answer difficult questions for people. Gymgirl is a fine example of the knowledge she developed in a short time! She didn't know dirt from container mix? Araness is another by the purchase of EBs and learning one step at a time. I could go on and on about the newbies that have graduated to full fledged gardeners and you will soon be there also as we all learned by our own mistakes. The trick is not to make the same mistake twice so don't feel to bad by starting over as it would be best for your plants. Buy some determinate, early season, heirloom seeds from www.tomatogrowers and they will have them to you within the week and you will have tomatos ASAP. Just make sure they are heirloom or they will be tasteless.

Joy, I can't believe you are giving up 30 days of great gardening weather for the possibility of one night of frost. Your plants should have already have been going outdoors every day the temp gets above 50º.

My maters have been outdoors continuously since 2/10/09 except this past Sat night and Sunday night. We had ice Sunday am and it got down to 36º Monday am so I brought the plants indoors. Once your plants get a taste of sunlight they will get strong like little trees.

This year is your year for learning so why don't you start getting the plants you already have outdoors and if you want to, go ahead and plant new seeds as Bob suggested as insurance against loosing any of the outdoor babies. Next year you will an expert and will be flying through this exercise. LOL

Joy if your electrical problem is just a faulty outlet they couldn't be cheaper to buy and put on yourself. I've replaced a many of them. Of course, you would probably want your field hand guy to do it but it will be very easy for him too.

Just buy another comparable outlet at Lowe's for a few bucks, turn ALL electricity off, and using a screwdriver take off the plate and outlet, attach your new one to the electrical wires by screws or electricians tape and put the plate back on. IF if it just your outlet and not electrical lines.

Joy, just curious, but am wondering just how old your tomato seedlings are at this point. And yep, I'm like several others and hope you don't go trash them but rather try to work with them; you'd be surprised how hardy those plants can be.

And I bet you already have some seeds left over so as a back up it won't hurt to start some more as a back up like TexasRock mentioned. And yes, if it is only a last frost then you can easily cover your plants. A "freeze" would be a different matter though.

As for your electrical outlet, more often than not it is a ground fault circuit, meaning the safety switch may have kicked in. If there is a little white button directly on your outlet push that and it'll reset it. OR, check your breaker box and see if any switches are in the "half way" position, if so, click it back on. And lastly, some porch outlets are connected to your porch light switch, turn on the porch light then check your outlet for power.

Hang in there!
Shoe

PS. Tplant, "Buy some determinate, early season, heirloom seeds from..."

I've never come across a determinate heirloom. Have you discovered one I'm not aware of? I gotta know if so!

Yes! Siberian is one and there are others with TGS listed in Early Season!

Thanks! I'd forgotten about those, I've tried Siberia, Siberian, and now I hear there is a Siberian Pink, too. I didn't care for the flavor but think I should give them another try now that you mention it.

Much obliged!

Shoe

Joy I didn't see where TexasRockGarden suggested back up plants, but he is right. I have discovered that tomato seedlings grow and mature very quickly, and I lost several and some of my seeds didn't sprout. I just planted more tomato seeds this week. They are zooming up so fast I'm not worried about them not being mature enough after last frost. Try and do the best you can with the injured ones, but plant some more seeds too.

Darkmoon no seed yesterday, but I'm going to call Linda today and see if they have shipped...if so I'll zip some up to you.

Everyone: I planted the tomato and pepper seeds January 25th, I planted the eggplants and cukes January 28th. On Feb 1st the tomatoes sprouted and I put them under the lights, so, they are actually, about a month old is all. How long is it healthy for them to stay inside? Worse case scenario I put in the shower curtain type set up that Jaywhacker told me about or just set up the portable greenhouse without any heat, and if necessary tote them back into the house, if they are too old to stay under the lights. I actually think they are doing fine as they are growing really nice and green like they should be. Will take pics today and add to the pics and questions thread and we will then vote as to "should Joyce continue to keep them under the lights or should she put them outside" ok? LOL
joy

Ahah, thought so, regarding the age of those plants. I don't think you have as much to freak out about as you believe.

Those tomato plants will only be 8 weeks old at the end of March so if you have a late frost (remember, too, that is iffy) no worries. The best tomato transplants are from 6 to 8 weeks old.

I don't need to see your pics, I vote you keep them, no doubt about it.

Shoe

Shoe: I started a thread to let everyone see the pics of them today and to decide whether to keep them up under the lights a little longer or send them out into this cold, it is warm today; but, make no mistake, it will get colder tonight. Now my cucumbers, that's another story, they are becoming a forest unto themselves. I posted a thread with new pics and think everyone should vote to see what happens to Joyce's plants. LOL I think they look rather healthy myself. My neighbor friend likes to exaggerate, he says they will be waist high soon. LOL
joy112854

Joy,

Paw's right, "I didn't know dirt from container mix!" Well said, Paw!

My seedlings have been taking sunbaths every day the weather allows. This weekend I'm planting 'em in the Bocabags and launching their career. And, yes, some Houstonians will say I'm taking a risk, but it's a calculated one. There are far fewer days of deep freeze ahead, than tolerable sunshiny ones. And the best part of all is that the portability of the Bocabags will allow me to pull them all into the mudroom overnight if I need to. A bother? Just a little bit. But worth it to get the kind of crop I anticipate having this season by starting early as I can!

Read, read some more, ask a few questions, as a few less questions, do, do it differently next time, fail sometimes, laugh at yourself, record your progress, learn, and become someone else's mentor.

Paw taught me that. I'm almost ready to snatch the pebble from his hand (at least growing a tomato plant). Now, all the other stuff I still want to grow? Sheesh!.

Sounds to me like your plants are doing great! And yes, the cukes will grow much faster and gain size quicker than the tomatoes will.

As a guide, if your temps get lower than 40º at night I'd bring them inside. They will actually grow best at cooler temps, usually around 50-60º when they are young.

I'm on v-e-r-y s-l-o-w dial-up so will wait until I have time later to view your pics. (Pics loading up slow my prehistoric computer down to a crawl if there is a lot of them.)

Like they say, "you go, girl!"

Happy Gardening!

Shoe

Gymgirl: I know there is another freeze out there and they are doing so well, maybe it's just seperation anxiety???? Who knows? Everyone in this area is saying I'm crazy to be putting them outside and that they can stay indoors til they are at least 8 inches tall; if need be, but, everyone else is saying put them out. It is 60 degrees out there right now, but that will change and quickly too. The day I intended on booting them out of the house would have made them a month and a week old. Is that too old to keep a tomato plant in the house up under lighting?
joy112854

6-8 weeks under the light. Then boot 'em outside for field trips, in the temps they can tolerate.

Gymgirl: They went under the lights Feb 1st, that means they been under the lights all of 2 1/2 weeks now???? 6 weeks would be around March 17th. 8 weeks would be the 31st of March, right on schedule it appears??? As April 7th is the last frost date for my area. See, I am in the coldest city in Florida, my weather is more like that of Mississippi and Alabama, not Florida.
joy

Then it would seem that you're right on track! Let 'em keep going under the lights, take 'em out when the weathers nice, bring 'em in when it's not.

Gymgirl: After much listening to everyone, here is what I've decided, I like jaywhackers' plan with the plastic shower curtain and making a tote out of it and placing all the tomatoes in Bob's grow bags, cept, I'm adding an old sheet in between the plants and plastic, then I will carry them outdoors for sunlight by placing them under a table on the deck and then bringing them back in at night and also if it gets cold. It will also free up some space under my lights for my cabbages, lettuce, smaller tomatoes, spinach and carrots. I just planted a bunch of seeds today.
joy

Joy, do you have a wagon? It would make getting them in and out a little easier.

"Save the Baby Plants"

Devota, haha! Save the baby plants!

Joy you might want to consider direct sowing the lettuce and carrots too...I'm sure someone will tell us but I think I heard carrots are hard to transplant.

Devota: Now that my dear is an excellent idea, nope; but bet I can borrow one from a sister or brother who have little ones right? LOL Guess what? My cukes are getting huge too. I have 28 of them and I have a bloommaster which is a hanging basket with 30 holes in it, I could always go ahead and put them in that thing and hang it up in the back yard, the pole is already there and the basket it put together. It's kind of like the EZ stackers only you hang it and you can plant 20 plants in it. I was planning to do my peppers in it and use the homemade on for cukes, but think I'll use both for cukes instead now that I have all the extra HEBs. My daughter also came up with about 5 more 5 gallon buckets, is that right on time or what?
joy

Darkmoondreamer: Thank you for telling me that about the carrots, I haven't planted them yet. Just the lettuce, cabbage and spinach. I was told it was time to plant my greens and carrots? So; I will have to ask about the carrots now before planting them? I know the corn is direct plant and so is the peas and beans and legumes. That will be it, except for the melons and it's too early for those yet.
joy

lhettenhausen

My carrot bushes are just too many carrots that I didn't thin out.

Bob

Bob,
I'm growing the same carrot bush! Imagine that!

Bob and Gymgirl: I have the sweetness II carrots from Park's and was going to plant them into an HEB, I just put the seeds in the HEB? Or is that just with the grow bags? I have those grow bags I got reserved for my maters guys. LOL
joy

Bob -- After all your work and my work plus expense the landscaping people for the school just put in an entire underground sprinlker system all around our place! If they only would have told me this in the first place? What a waste. Also planting six palm trees but I am getting a much larger garden so I really can not complain but I am not doing another darn thing here until they are completely finished....I don't like the underground system because it will not be good for my future tomatos by wetting the plant. I'm thinking of putting a clay pot over the sprinkler heads where I'll be setting my tomatos?

TPlant: That is why I haven't gotten a sprinkler system yet. I want to wait until I have everything exactly where I want it then in comes the timed sprinkler systems for everything. In the meantime, it's manifolds and hoses, thanks to all the suggestions from my buddies here at Dave's who gave me that idea! It will save me a lot of work waiting til I got everything where I want it. I am not good at change. I put my furniture where I want it in the house and it don't get moved, unless I'm cleaning under it.
joy

Ya'll should know that Araness just became a bonifide "Coco-Nut!" She's joined the coir club!

Welcome to araness........we need more cocanuts. Once they get their hands in that stuff........they are hooked for life!

The EB people always said to buy a mix that does not contain fertilizer but even they later on admitted it was almost impossible to find. The coco coir fits the bill perfectly and is better to work with as it doesn't get behind your fingernails and I know that to be important to the ladies. Just don't forget to pack the corners of the EB just like you did with Jungle Growth. The JG people are going to miss me but how you say "Sae La Vie" *****.

"Hasta la vista, baby!"

"Ciao, bambino!"

"Arrivaderci"

"A Dios, amigos!"

"Bye, Bye!"

"Later!"

"Holler!"

I think I'm going to be a "coir snob." I like the sound of that.

So far, all my grow bags are coco coir and my HE buckets are too. I have 4 HEBs with coir in them (my strawberries and my artichokes). Of course, I have a good supply of the coir.
joy

Those grow bags look to be plastic. But wouldn't that keep everything wet and soggy? How do they drain away excess water?

Everybody's plants look great. Sur will be glad when I can get something out. We are still having snow and hard freezes. Have I mentioned I hate cold weather?

Cajuninky,

The grow bags have many drain holes punched in them.

BocaBob