New England ~ May 2014

Haricot Bean seeds can be sown when the soil is 60*F or by the last frost date.  Others can be sown 2 wks Before last frost.

Today I roasted our first harvest of asparagus for dinner with lemon vinaigrette.  It was pronounced "Mmmmmm good!" by everyone.  They're hoping for more on the menu in the coming days.

The following week looks to be above frost temps but I'm still waiting on transplanting the tomatoes, peppers and many of my flowers (pansies, marigolds, baby's breath, impatiens).  I don't want to lose any to cold.

CapeC....Your garden is looking great.  You've done a wonderful job as a gardener.

Other in N.E., its time for us to bend our backs and get things planted.  Weather is looking warm enuf and even sufficient rain coming.

I bought pansy plants and put them in the ground over a week ago.  They are doing fine!

I just had to... I planted out in my raised beds a bunch of tomatoes, eggplants and pepper plants, to take advantage of the weather and rain.

cpl, I could tell by the weather forecast and by the 80F day (and some other warm ones) that it was okay to plant the bean seeds. The other year (maybe it was last) I planted them too early just to see, and they just rotted in the ground. But it hasn't been like that this spring - some really warm days and not a lot of soggy rain. Actually I believe my last frost day is today, but it hasn't frosted here in 2 weeks anyway, maybe even longer.

Here it is forcasted to have extremely wet weather coming!

NHGardener wrote:And the carrots I seeded 2 or 3 times, and NOTHING. BLEH. Grr. I really like carrots and really wish I could grow them. Can you seed those indoors and then transplant?

This year I tried starting carrots indoors and had very good results so far. I used the TP roll method someone posted last year. Saved a bunch of TP rolls over the winter filled them with MM and seeded. 3 weeks later, just as I was about to give up, they sprouted. Grew them under lights. Misted them with water every day. After 2 or 3 weeks I let them dry up so I could plant them. Waited till nearly dark to transplant them so the bare roots wouldn't be exposed to bright sunlight. Carefully unrolled the tube and let the MM fall away. Used a dowel to put a really deep hole in the MM and gently picked up the plant by its leaves and eased the long root in. The roots were nearly as long as the TP roll. Watered well and carefully for several days and they look great so far.

Planting was a bit nerve wracking but for yummy carrots its worth it! I planted 3 squares this way and they all have they're true leaves now. Sorry for the sideways picture. Can't figure out why it does that.

camprn wrote:I just had to... I planted out in my raised beds a bunch of tomatoes, eggplants and pepper plants, to take advantage of the weather and rain.

whoah! did you plant all of them or hold some back? Will you cover during the colder nites?

I have aight asparagus! The broccoli Rob has bolted along with the pak joy. Everything else is looking great except the spring seeded spinach which doesn't seem to be moving at all and will probably bolt soon. this morning I weedid a lot and now plan to divide and transplant black seated Simpson lettuce that I seedid a few weeks ago outside in the SFG.

this tablet has decided to be ridiculous! maybe it's the constant construction noise across the road but I'm out of here..

Nice, Lyndeeloo! Very nice. I will definitely do it that way if these end up not sprouting - I'll give them till after this wet spell and see what happens. Hopefully it won't be too late in the season for them to catch up.

So you said that even under controlled conditions, it still took 3 weeks for them to sprout? Maybe I'm not giving them enough time.

Still, if this batch does not sprout, I'm not going to direct seed carrots anymore, I'll transplant instead. Okay, maybe I'll direct seed AND I'll transplant. I mean, by next year all the soil components could decompose even further (this bed was new) and make a really nice growing medium....

haha. We gardeners - ever the optimists. 

I also found the asparagus seeds didn't sprout out there, while they did indoors, so some of these tiny, fragile plants, unless you have the finest of soils (that was a new bed too), they just seem to do better started indoors.

CapeCoddess wrote:

camprn wrote:I just had to... I planted out in my raised beds a bunch of tomatoes, eggplants and pepper plants, to take advantage of the weather and rain.

whoah! did you plant all of them or hold some back?

I planted the healthiest plants I have.

CapeCoddess wrote:Will you cover during the colder nites?

Yes, of course.

Hmm. The lowest overnight temp I'm seeing for the next 10 days is 47F. I think I'm pretty much out of the woods here for everything.

Today is another beauty. Mid-70s, yes cloudy and breezy, but I'll take this over 2 months ago anyday.  

C'mon rain!

NHGardener wrote:So you said that even under controlled conditions, it still took 3 weeks for them to sprout?

It felt like such a long time. Just under 3 weeks. I don't think my basement was warm enough for them. I had enough seedlings to plant three squares and then direct seeded one more. To my surprise they popped up already. The last 4 or 5 days have been hot and humid or rainy here, perfect for sprouting and much of what I direct seeded came up very quickly. I over seeded the lawn and it sprouted in 3 days. Best luck I've ever had with grass seed.

I find it's really hard to keep these tiny, tiny seeds moist enough to sprout outdoors, without a lot of rain helping. I think that must be the culprit.

Did you cover the lettuce seeds with soil?
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/seed/msg0208355732175.html?18

I didn't realize lettuce seeds were time sensitive, altho the indoor seeds did germinate.

Even that article seems to more reference indoor seeding than outdoor. 

There's just no way around indoor seeding in our climate, I give up. I didn't give the celeries enough time and I think I'm just going to have to buy starter plants for those. The pepper plants really didn't get big enough either before I set them out.

There's a UNH master gardeners' plant sale coming up next weekend, can't wait.  Even tho I should slap myself for even thinking of spending money on plants when I can easily grow them myself. Then again, the money goes for a good cause, so it's really like a charitable contribution. Right? RIGHT?

NHGardener wrote:There's a UNH master gardeners' plant sale coming up next weekend, can't wait.  Even tho I should slap myself for even thinking of spending money on plants when I can easily grow them myself. Then again, the money goes for a good cause, so it's really like a charitable contribution. Right? RIGHT?

Right you are, fellow FTA member!   Oops.  I shall not enable. I shall not enable. Ok I admit it, I bought 2 heirloom tomatoes today because they looked so good and my seedlings are so far behind.

Camprn - I read the article you linked, do you cover your lettuce seeds with soil or just leave them on top of the soil.

Lyndeeloo - LOL. One thing I do have coming out of my ears is tomato seedlings, but like I said, we grew something like 36 of them for a science fair project in March. Then last night at the bee club raffle, what did I win but a tomato seedling. Ha!

yolos wrote:Camprn - I read the article you linked, do you cover your lettuce seeds with soil or just leave them on top of the soil.

I just press them into the soil.

I barely cover my lettuce seeds and let them germinate on the heating pad under the dome.. Interesting to read that they don't last very long. Mine are three years old and some had a 100 % germination rate and the rest, on down to  50%. Fortunately I over planted so it didn't matter . In the ANSFG book Mel says that lettuce seeds last five to six years. I think I'll keep them around to try again next year but also pick up some fresh.

What a beautiful day it was today! We actually got up into the 60's with sun and not a lot of wind until just after noon. I planted out 3 more sacrificial tomatoes and two sacrificial ground cherries. I also covered the asparagus a bit more with lots of compost.  The strawberries are in full bloom, a week behind the wild strawberries which were blooming last weekend. Thinned the chard and potted up the thinnings since it seems to be so robust this year,  turned some more of the compost pile and watered the sfg.

FTAs, no sign of life from my fig tree yet but I still have hope. the pear trees are leafing out.The peach tree blooms are fading. Does that mean the fruit comes next?.

OH, time for jeopardy! Gotta dash.

My neighbor's fig bush hasn't leafed out yet either down here in zone 8 and my daughter in N. Va said hers died so apparently a lot of fig bushes were lost this year.

Kay

CC, your zone is funny. Your strawberries in full bloom? Way before mine!

NHGardener wrote:CC, your zone is funny. Your strawberries in full bloom? Way before mine!

yeah, it is funny. In some ways it's more like the mid-atlantic here. Meanwhile, we're just starting to get a little drizzle. It appears its not going to add up to much if anything at all. I'll water later today.

are these potatoes? I've never been able to grow them before so I have no idea.
if they are it kind of screws up my summer plan. I've given up on the potatoes and was going to plant corn and beans in that bed...
  

Camp, regarding growing squash this year, what are you doing differently that has made you decide to try again?

Those look like potatoes to me, CC - and beauties! I'd take them over corn any day.

Woke up to heavy rain - YAY - but then had to rescue my seedlings off the deck. The asparagus seedlings were pretty much floating. But I think things should revive - the trays that the planters were sitting in (why do I have them in trays out there? hadn't thought of that before) were full.

Yes, potato babies.  I wonder if you could gently lift them from underneath and move them to another location, just a thought.

oh my gosh, I did that with annuals a few years ago. Learned my lesson back then and anything in trays gets covered or comes in before rain. But I agree, your asparagus will be fine. When I bought my crowns I read in the victory garden book to soak them in water for a while before planting. So now yours have soaked and you can plant them!
  
I'd like to try that seed thing. Do you have any extras to trade?

I noticed that the tide is low right now, once this rain has passed  it will be perfect for harvesting seaweed for the compost. Anyone who wants to join me get your butt down here pronto !