[mudbug]

It's that time of year!

What will you be growing in your garden?
Trying anything new?
Are you starting from seeds or starting with plants?
What are your year to year favorites?
Anything you're particularly looking forward to?
Anything you'd like help with?

[chrose]

After last year I had decided to cut back the size of my garden and grow fewer veggies. But as soon as it started to warm up I changed my mind somewhat. I'm still a little iffy about what to grow this year, but I will be on my second year of the Alaska Bountea treatment and I am also using John Jeavons Bio Intensive techniques. Over the course of time I hope to have soil that's alive and can grow the type of quality plants that my friend John Evans, and John Jeavon can grow.
So this year along with the usual Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano I am going to go with Goliath and Roma tomatoes, Jalapenos, Salsa, Poblano and Goliath Bell peppers. Japanese Eggplant, Beets, Onions, a giant sunflower, some Lettuce and perhaps some Sweet potatoes and a pumpkin. I will of course document my progress and track it from last year.
Oh yeah, I will also be planting a Blue Spruce in honor of my father, a couple of Dwarf fruit trees, and I hope to make a wet garden to grow some Wasabi roots!

[phoebe]

I have several flats of tomatoes and peppers started from seeds, but am having problems. After the first set of true leaves they all just stopped growing . I think it was the shock of some sudden unusually cold weather. Then, just when the weather was calming down and I'd fed everyone a dilute solution of fertilizer, the winds came and knocked down one of the flats, destroying all the plants in it . Right now the rest of them are cowering under an overhang until the latest rainstorm passes. Sigh.
Still have some carrots in the ground and nothing seems to kill my huge rosemary plant. In a few weeks I'll start some basil and restart some Italien Parsley and bolt-resistent lettuces. Fingers crossed!

[Porkchops]

Last year was my first year with a plot in our community garden. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that people were swiping my produce... Herbs and lettuces did well, but the tomatoes & peppers walked.

This year my husband and I are buying a house. We'll know for sure if it's a "go" tomorrow night. In anticipation, I bought the following seeds from rareseeds.com:

Amish Deer Tongue lettuce
Brandywine Tomatoes
Albino Bullnose Sweet Peppers
A Euro Mesclun blend
New Zealand Spinach
Chinese 5 color Hot peppers
Ancho San Luis Peppers
Harlequin Marigolds (to keep the pests away.. I hope)
Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
Broad Leaf Sage
Giant of Italy Parsley
Genovese Basil

If buying the house falls apart.. I will try to plant these in the community garden.. I sure hope that I have a private place to do this.. then I'll take a stab at composting, etc.. If the veggies do well, I'd like to be able to eat them myself.. and not donate them to the guys who hang out in there with cases of beer.

I think I'm starting this planting stuff a little late... seeds are still in packets.. but this house buying stuff is stressful, and I haven't been able to bring myself to set aside the time.

(fingers crossed)

P

[diane]

New Zealand spinach? Would that be silverbeet? If so you will find it an absolute doddle. My kids had one plant each they picked from when they were kids, we used to go outside and pick dinner, they each had a little basket. For their Own Pot. It was a lot of fun.

[Marzoli]

What is a doddle?
Pardon my asking, but I lecture my students all the time about asking questions when they don't know what something means, so . . . what's a doddle?

[chrose]

From "everything2.com":

A doddle is something that can be accomplished with little effort. Seems to be peculiar to British and Australian English. For example, "Compared to cleaning out Erics' coffee mug, elephant proctology is a doddle."

And considering that Diane appears to be from New Zealand, I suspect this it true.

[Porkchops]

I'm not sure if it's silverbeet. The packet's at home. The seeds are huge, though. So far the deer tongue and the mesclun are the only things that have germinated (it's only been 4 days).

I'm a little worried, though. Some of the seeds look a little fuzzy. I'm using peat plugs, and I'm worried that I overwatered them and it's mold.. but I heard that overwatering plugs is hard to do.

House closing is tentatively set for May 26th! hopefully everything goes into the ground that weekend! I want to do that before we even move in any furniture.

[mudbug]

Porkchops,

Avoid using peat pots, especially if they're made out of synthetic materials. Your problem is not uncommon and if they do sprout, the roots often do not leave the environment of the peat pot when planted in soil which is not healthy for the plant. At the same time, be patient. Unless your soil temperature is at 80-85 degrees, germination may take longer...

[CrazyTATT]

I will be growing some of my "staples" some from seed, some from clones preserved through the off season...

Japenesse Egplant, seeded
PattyPans', seeded
Tiger Squash, seeded
Hierloom 'Maters( thanks be to mom)
Golden Boy tomatoes, looking forward big time to em'
Strawberries, residiual
I'm hoping to see results from a Kiwi plant that is almost 5yrs old now. Last season it threw little "buds" that looked like kiwis, but no bigger then a marble, and were REALLY bitter. I will say that it has vined all over everything like a monster.

My firsts, and I hope the results/yield will be wort it:
Edible Orchids, brought up from my boy in FLA.(from clippings)
And I am going to try some potatoes, blues, and sweets, both from clippings.

[Porkchops]

This is my first time using the peat plugs.. it was at someone's suggestion at work. I won't do it again, now that I know, but I'm hoping that I can get through this season with them.... since they're already planted and all.

If nothing happens within about a week, I may go plant some additional seeds in soil. Unfortunately, I've got very little space to put anything, let alone a whole pallet of seedlings until we move.

I read online that some hot pepper seeds can take a month to germinate. I wonder how long I should give everything.. before I try soil.

[mudbug]

Porkchops,

If your soil temperature is between 80-85 degrees, well over 90% of your seeds of all varieties should germinate within a week. If you did not score the bottom of the peat pots, you might consider doing so. This way the roots won't get trapped.

If you're in doubt about germination, go ahead and sow some extra seeds in the dirt now. The worst that can happen is you have some extra plants. If you end up with extra, you can always kill the weaker ones, leave them in and compare which do better (the peat or direct sown), or give some away.

[Porkchops]

Thanks Mudbug!

I'm not sure what the temp is in the soil. I do have them under a 60 watt grow light during the day, which I think generates some heat. At night, I turn the light off. I wonder if I should keep the light on 24 hrs a day to keep it more toasty. Any opinion?

Thx!

P

[mudbug]

If you're growing them inside, then your soil temp is probably the same temperature as the room. The light will provide a bit of heat, but not enough to get the soil to 85 degrees. If you really want to, you can go so far as to get a Seedling Heat Mat.

I don't know where you are, what you're trying to plant, or what your outside temps are, but you can always sow seed in a seed tray that has a clear cover. This creates a mini greenhouse effect and if outside, can warm up nicely in the sun.

[Porkchops]

I live in Hoboken, NJ. Someone told me that the last frost date is the 2nd week in May.

I think you're right about it not being hot enough. I decided that there was a draft blowing onto the three trays that I have, so I've tried to remedy that. I do have them covered with a clear plastic top, so I hope that's helping to keep it toasty, although I try to let them air out a little bit each day. I read somewhere online that doing that might help reduce the chances of developing mold.

I'm going out of town for the rest of the weekend, so I don't anticipate having time to plant in soil trays for a week or so, but I'm hoping that I've helped to up the temperature a little bit.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

P