Teething troubles

I have 2 boxes so far. Box 1 seems to be doing great ! I planted seeds April 4th and today April 16th, I have sprouts of Beets, Carrots, Scallions, Spinach and Lettuce. whoohoo ! My English peas have not shown any interest as yet, I will wait a few more days. Unfortunately I didnt realise that I should have soaked the peas before planting. DUH


Bed 2 is a smaller bed with the same mix apart from NO worm castings, I had run out. This bed has been covered with teeny flies for the last week !! this bed also smells more manurish than the other bed. Not having worm castings this bed got more chicken manure and regular compost than the other bed. Still I kept the proportions of compost, peat and vermiculite correct. No signs of anything sprouting in there , bugger me.

Today I reworked this mix in bed 2 and added more regular compost, most have the flies have gone now but still some munching away on that chicken poop.

I replanted leaf lettuce, lettuce and scallions and marigold and in a top hat I planted Nantes carrots for the Competition.

I planted Nantes in a spare square in Bed 1 also, but no top hat.

Anything i am doing wrong? Im so happy with bed one but bummed about bed 2

I'll let the more experienced folk chime in. But hang in there. Last year, my first year, I had the same sort of experiences that a lot of the newbies had. Some things good, some things really slow growing and frustrating.

The beds that are on their second year are doing better this year. I too have a bed with flies - I put tulle over it not knowing there would be flies - boy was that pretty... NOT! I kept thinking the peas were not sprouting (I didn't soak mine either). Then suddenly a few days ago - WHAM - I've got peas all over. I've got radishes growing. The lettuce which had been dragging along at a snail's pace suddenly got taller. I didn't do anything any different. It rained. It was sunny. That was it.

I don't have good explanations for you except to take the advice of the experienced gardeners on here as they are usually dead on and to be patient. The garden has a way of surprising you when you least expect it.

Thanks, I will try to be patient with the peas.... packet says 7-14 days so there is time yet.

KBB, gie your peas an extra cup of water at early morning & night . if your using Mm to grow themn inn the Mm wil hold the water to help them sprout .



Next time when you do your successional sowings pop a seed in small vending machine cup ( how ever many you need ) that has had a rain hole bunged in the bottom and filled with MM. Stand the cups with peas in an inch or so of water for three or four hours and the MM will be so wet the peas will be through in about four days if you keep the pots on a saucer on a sunny windowcill that does not get roasting hot... Don't let them get dry .

It is still worth doing that if you have seed left in any case just so you can have a couple of spare pea plants incase slugs , birds or mice get the original seeds or plants as they come up. If they aren't wanted put them on the compost heap.

I would say give the peas some extra water and a few more days.

As far as the MM, did you add composted manure or fresh stuff? Composted should not smell like manure. I'd give more water and pay attention to the plants. That is prob. why you have flies/knats for it needs to finish composting. The peas will not be bothered by this for they really don't like fertilizer or very fertile soil.

What are you planting in the bed with the peas?

Jo

Plantoid, I am going to do that this morning! Thanks for the tip. I have tons of seeds left.

Jo, it was the exact same compost as in the first bed which doesnt smell ! The only difference is that there were no worm castings so it has a higher concentration of the 'fully composted" chicken manure. Yesterday I sifted some bagged compost into that second bed, it doesnt smell as strong now and flies are reduced by at least 80%. I replanted fresh seeds. haha I foresee things popping up everywhere in that bed now lol.
My peas are at the back of my carrots and beets and will be next to the tomatoes when I finally transplant those.

Day 22 and still no sign of the peas. I started some seed indoors like you said and have some wonderful sprouts! I will give the outdoor seeds till tuesday and then think about transplanting these new sprouts.

Another problem? second bed has absolutely nothing sprouted yet! Seeds sown April 16th, the lettuce leaf should have germinated at least. bah

from April 4th plantings my spinach germination was dismal, 4 out of 18 ! Lettuce 4 out of 8.

Beets doing AMAZING! Spring Onions, so so. About 2/3rds through. Carrots all plus extras through but growth seems slow.

My tomatoes planted indoors March 12th sprouted fast, suffered a lapse about 2 weeks ago and since then no growth? some leaves turn white at the ends and then fall off. I am flumoxed and will be buying starts to plant out.

pfft

Well, this is not in the book, but it's what I do. Just go out to where you planted the peas, and dig them up, you'll find them unles the birds got them, and see if they've sprouted, if they have sprouts, then you planted too deep, if no sprouts, then it's prob. not wet enough? Or old seed was sold to you. Put on a plate, dampen well, and put a damp paper towel over them, see if they sprout, if they don't sprout, buy some new seed!

Jo Ann

Thanks, I know the seed is good because I did some indoors and they sprouted in a matter of days. I thought about digging to see what was happening, I will wait till Tuesday as I am off away for the weekend and who knows....... magic might happen before then !

Are you keeping those peas moist every day? How deep did you sow them? Only an inch is sufficent.

After 4 inches of rain over the weekend, our sugar peas in the community garden started sprouting just fine but it took them 10 days. The ones pre-soaked came on only by hours sooner than the dry ones so I won't be wasting time pre-soaking peas in future.

It sounds like that chicken manure wasn't fully composted and it may have cooked your seeds in that bed.