2011 Getting Started

[MoniDew]

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/MoniDew/100_4959.jpg

God, how I love my life! I love the gorgeous light this little spare bedroom gets!

You should SMELL the awesomeness that is the seed starting mix from Garden's Alive! (http://www.gardensalive.com/search.asp?ss=NATURAL+BEGINNINGS+SEED+STARTING&x=15&y=12)

Seeds are from Baker's Creek (http://rareseeds.com/). Just started colder season veggies. Will start warmer season seeds in a few weeks.

[Sinfonian]

Looks amazing! Ah, southern facing windows with heat. How I wish! All mine have no heat or no place to put a seedling tray. So my 30 odd soil blocks are under lights in the kitchen. My wife walked in and asked if we had mold when she smelled the potting mix, hehe. I can't believe you have so many plants starting already, and that you like those peat pots, hehe. They never worked for anyone I know. Great for you if they do!

Congrats!

[MoniDew]

really?! (about the peat pots I mean) I dunno - baby gardener here. I just thought, they compost, so that should be good. They degrade in a couple of weeks, but by that time, I'm transplanting up a size (4"). And about the time those break down, they're ready to go outside. :Shrugs: Works for me...

I used to start seeds in my kitchen too, so I know what you mean. No one could tell if they were smelling the compost pail, the fermenting veggies (I culture veggies and tea), or the potting soil. Kind'a all smells like decomp - in a good way. LOL!

I'll try to mentally transport some heat up your way, although it's technically below freezing here right now. Patti's area (Boston?) being SLAMMED with snow, AGAIN, right now. We should think warm thoughts in her general direction too.

[plantoneonme]

Cold, nasty, yuck weather here, but I did set out about 2 dozen winter sown containers today. Otherwise, sorting seeds to get ready to get summer plants going under lights in early March. Kim

[GoldenAcres]

I am itching so bad to get started but it is raining today which we need badly.
Last season was awful, one set back after another including a layoff but my brother did manage to build one big raised bed so we at least had a few tomatoes.
The good thing is that we learned that raised beds are the only way to grow on our property, unless it's a tree. I plan on building two next week, getting the manure and compost up here is going prove challenging but I don't care if I have to haul it up the hill on my back those beds are going to be filled. :D

P.S. Scratch the rain, its snowing, yippy!!

[gardengirl72]

I like your spirit!
Have you started any seeds indoors?
What are you going to plant in the beds?

[Sinfonian]

Hang in there Plantoneonme and GoldenAcres, your season will come. It's cold and rainy here too. I don't care though, I've got seeds germinating in the kitchen and seedlings under lights upstairs! Heck, if I let them go long enough or the weather doesn't comply, I'll just harvest an indoor garden, hehe.

Oh, and MoniDew, my experience with peat pots is that they DON'T break down, at least not in one season. I ended up picking them out in fall and tossing them in my compost. They're gone now, but that was years ago. I'll leave peat for my Mel's Mix... though my brother is considering using peat for chicken bedding. Odd duck that one.

Come on SPRING!

[MoniDew]

Well, it looks like I got itchy, too! We got caught in the storm of the century that swept through 90% of North America, and wound up with nearly 2ft of snow on the ground. I have no idea how that might delay frost date. I might wind up with very spindly, overgrown plants! Might just have to keep them indoors and transplant up until I can plant!

This is what my little babies look like now:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/MoniDew/100_4982.jpg

But *this* is what it looks like outside my door right now:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/MoniDew/100_4983.jpg

And this is what it looked like after a couple of days blizzarding (is that a word?)
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/MoniDew/100_4961.jpg

And, for the sake of clarity, I do put my spent peat pots into the compost. Sinf's right. They don't break down in a single season in the ground. (but they do in the compost pile.)

[MoniDew]

What I have started so far:
cucumber (pickling)
cabbage (red, green, and chinese)
fava beans
pumpkin
cilantro
dill

What I will start indoors later:
tomatoes
peppers
zucchini

What I will start in the ground, early - when I transplant my early crops outdoors:
peas
leeks
beets
carrots
spinach
chard

What I will start in ground, later - when I transplant my later crops outdoors:
lettuces, several types
basil - tons - it's my husband's favorite!
green beans
quinoa (a grain I can eat without it poisoning me :D )

Of course that doesn't explain the later crops I start indoors early because our season isn't long enough to accommodate them. I have never had pumpkin/squash fruit for me. It'll grow, it just doesn't set fruit. I can't figure out why... I hope by starting them super early, letting them establish well, then transplanting out later that they will finally bear some fruit for me.

[GoldenAcres]

I like your spirit!
Have you started any seeds indoors?
What are you going to plant in the beds?

No I haven't started any seed yet. Usually we can start planting root crops mid February but that is not going to happen this year, its still below 18 at night and I think our high today going to be 30. Row covers don't hold up to the sustained 50 mph spring winds so I have to wait a bit longer.

For the beds I am planning on
Carrots, turnips, onions, peanuts, beets

Asparagus, rhubarb, cucumbers, winter squash, summer squash, green beans, peas,
Tomatoes, strawberries, sweet peppers, chili peppers

I don't have much success with greens but I may try some kale or mustard again. We are also planting blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. I had blueberries last year but a fungus got to them before I did so I will be starting over. Fruit trees are going in somewhere too.
This is the year that we go full bore, it is time to get the property the way we want it.

[gardengirl72]

Thanks for posting the images of your seedlings' progress. I just launched a new video on seed starting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25curpf_NfU
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25curpf_NfU)
There are lots of ways to start seeds from peat pots to hot houses to winter sowing. The cells I use in the video is a favorite. I do suggest taking the mesh off before planting in the ground or a container so that the roots can really branch out same with the peat pots, though if you don't it still works. The mesh is put in recycling and the peat pots go in the compost.

Hope you like the video.

[Sinfonian]

Great video as always! However, I've never had luck with peat pellets. They haven't seemed to work well. I try and dissuade new gardeners from using them.

[GoldenAcres]

I haven't had much luck with peat pellets so I just make my own mix and put them in little pots. This year however I can't find a single one of my pots :confused: but no worries I am going to recycle egg cartons instead, I see them offered on Freecycle a lot.
I am going to try newspaper pots again but only when its warm enough to put them on the porch, I find them a bit messy.

[gardengirl72]

Another great seed starting medium is coco fiber. Works really well and it's a renewable sustainable resource.

[GoldenAcres]

Well the weather has finally turned around 58 in the day and 20 at night, I actual did some work outside without a sweater :D
I will be able to start some seeds today, yippy!! I am also to make up some seed tape, I made some last year with toilet paper and carrot seeds and it worked great so I will be doing it again. It is time consuming but so worth it when you don't have to thin out the seedlings.

[gardengirl72]

So jealous! We had an above freezing day yesterday and had a good melt, but no where near enough for the amount of snow we have on the ground.

[SaraM2261]

Thank you for the great idea to use egg cartons GoldenAcres! I was gearing up to head to the store for some sectioned seed starting stuff of some kind.

I will be starting onion seeds this week. I have my dates for starting all figured out. :) I am in Minnesota, so I have to wait longer than most to start anything.

[GoldenAcres]

Both outdoor faucets froze and then burst two weeks ago :eek: I got them fixed on Tuesday which gave the weather time to finally cooperate so I sowed some pea and bean seeds this week and am building more 5 foot x 5 foot raised beds this weekend, strawberries and onions are going to be planted in one of my daughters bed so she is anxious to get them finished.
My daughter is loving the huge pile of dirt that I am using to fill the beds, its fun seeing the simple pleasure of dirt can make a child so happy.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/zeropixie/Garden/191973_1616591301397_1434788653_31282387_6634332_o .jpg

[Rl_haskins]

Wow! I've been so fired up this week.
Reviewed my GG videos, cleared out the garden area,bought supplies and assembled 3- 8x4 beds out of 2x10 lumber with the hardware cloth bottoms, stacked them up and went and got a load of gravel in the back of the pickup truck waiting to unload.

Now I'm "relaxing " during the thunderstorm outside.
Time to go to the Forum and introduce myself!

[MoniDew]

so nice to have you here! glad you introduced yourself. Patti is the coolest! I always learn new things from her!

[MoniDew]

Both outdoor faucets froze and then burst two weeks ago :eek:

OH NO! I'm so glad you're back up and gardening again!

[GoldenAcres]

Well I got three bads built and two of them filled before the Spring winds started. We had 40mph winds yesterday with 65mph wind gusts and today looks like its going to be the same :(
I made them 5feet x 5feet using cedar fence pickets and 2x3's. They are very sturdy and so easy to put together'
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/zeropixie/Garden/Picture.jpg
In the bed with the tarp (somehow it managed to stay in place) there is bib lettuce, spinach and bush beans. I just direct sowed those so it's going to be a while before I see them.

The bed above that one has onions, carrots and strawberry plants. The tarp was removed so I think the only reason my berries survived the cold last night was because my dog slept on them last night :rolleyes: I am going to need to staple some chicken wire around the edge to keep her out, she loves to sleep in straw to much.

the third bed still hasn't been filled and I'm not sure what I am putting in it. Choosing what to grow in each box is the hardest part :p Today I am making some beet seed tape and starting okra, artichokes, tomatoes and peppers.

[MoniDew]

what a great start!!

how difficult is it to grow artichokes? as odd as this may sound, my entire family is gah-gah for artichokes. it would be great to grow my own. I know they are biannual - bearing year 2. How well do they overwinter? I'm in zone 6b.

[SaraM2261]

It's finally warm enough here for my NEW hoop beds!

I am building 3-5 raised beds to go into my garden, and then I am going to expand it and put all the things that go right in the ground on the other side of the raised beds garden!!!! I am so excited about this expansion!

My onions that turned yellow and "died" from the amount of rain we got last year came back!!! So they got the honorary spot in the first raised bed. The raised bed side is 1x8 and 1x6 boards making 5'x2' long beds, all with hoops and plastic so I can start gardening as soon as the snow stops! And from seeing Patti's Four Season Gardening video, I think I might be able to garden in these year round if I stay on top of the snow as it's falling and keep removing it.

For now I am doing all cold weather stuff in the beds, and all warm weather stuff (seeds started in doors already) in the ground on the other side (which is also the sunnier side).

I also found 8-10 new strawberry plants and transplanted them back into the strawberry patch in the middle of my garden. I started with 4 plants that I bought last year, now I have 10+ plants, and at least 8 of them are new so I will have more than a handful of berries to show for my effort this year!!!!! :)

I could not be more excited to get out there and start digging in the dirt again!

[SaraM2261]

I used coco fiber square cells last year for some of my transplants. I was bale to dig them out and re-use them this year as well! They broke down enough for the roots to get through and worked very well, and are still holding together enough to go one more round! They are looking a bit ragged but they still work great.

For most of my seed starting I just use dirt right in the cells. I don't use anything in particular to hold them together.

[GoldenAcres]

Clearly there is something wrong with the starting soil I used. 30 pots and not one seed has sprouted so now I have to start over. :( I know its not the seeds because the ones I direct sowed are up and healthy, thankfully I have plenty.

[MoniDew]

Clearly there is something wrong with the starting soil I used. 30 pots and not one seed has sprouted so now I have to start over. :( I know its not the seeds because the ones I direct sowed are up and healthy, thankfully I have plenty.

oh no! I hope you can restart in time for the upcoming season. I had a few failures, too. I am going to have to replace peppers, cabbage, and kale with seedlings/transplants - and soon! Hopefully I can find an organic source for those.

[MoniDew]

Just finished planting my seeds for the upcoming season! Everyone's in the pool. I hope they all swim!

[SaraM2261]

Clearly there is something wrong with the starting soil I used. 30 pots and not one seed has sprouted so now I have to start over. :( I know its not the seeds because the ones I direct sowed are up and healthy, thankfully I have plenty.
Golden Acres - are you sure the soil is warm enough? I had a flat of petunia seeds that I thought didn't work so I just put the flat outside. It did nothing for a while, but on a 90+ degree day they finally germinated! Some plants just need to be warm before they will sprout.

[GoldenAcres]

Golden Acres - are you sure the soil is warm enough? I had a flat of petunia seeds that I thought didn't work so I just put the flat outside. It did nothing for a while, but on a 90+ degree day they finally germinated! Some plants just need to be warm before they will sprout.

Yeah they were toasty so that is why I am thinking it was the soil. The weather was to fickle to stick them outside, no problem now I direct sowed seeds outside and they are doing great.

[GoldenAcres]

what a great start!!

how difficult is it to grow artichokes? as odd as this may sound, my entire family is gah-gah for artichokes. it would be great to grow my own. I know they are biannual - bearing year 2. How well do they overwinter? I'm in zone 6b.

This is the first time I have tried so I am learning as I go. The seeds didn't sprout so I found two plants on sale and one of them is doing great in the pot. I am planning to bring it in when it gets cold so it doesn't freeze which is what I have been told to do.