N & C Midwest: March 2017 Brink of Spring

Scorpio Rising wrote:I have way more tan needed for this whole year, CC.  Just have never seen Rouge de Hiver lettuce available.  
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SR, I found the Rouge d'hiver envelope it definitely has my seeds in it. Apparently that's what I planted this year. Not from the jar with the question mark on it. Yay me! Remind me next winter and I will send you some seeds. Meanwhile I think I'll plant from this jar today and see if it's my beloved Grand Rapids even though it says otherwise.

CapeCoddess wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:I have way more tan needed for this whole year, CC.  Just have never seen Rouge de Hiver lettuce available.  
!

SR, I found the Rouge d'hiver envelope it definitely has my seeds in it.  Apparently that's what I planted this year. Not from the jar with the question mark on it. Yay me! Remind me next winter and I will send you some seeds. Meanwhile I think I'll plant from this jar today and see if it's my beloved Grand Rapids even though it says otherwise.

Cool!  I am up for that!  

Here, cold, will start basil, dill, cilantro, parsley tomorrow.  Also peppers, Romanesco cauliflower for sure.  Lots of leaves up.  And my garlic is alive, hope the big freeze doesn't do anything in.  

Got a couple books from the library, Rodales' Basic Organic gardening and The Vegetable Gardening Bible.  Will check them out!

   Full is moon, very bright tonight.

I was at Home Depot today, and found some seed garlic - yay!  There will be garlic this spring.  Hopefully...

Also found a good deal on a pound of onion sets, so we're good there, now.

Got my pepper seeds in the soup earlier today, so they're going to get a little more time to get going than they had last year.  Any of you ever try the "Mucho Nacho" jalapenos?  I grew the "Early Jalapenos" last year, and they were super-mild.  I'm hoping to get some real heat this time around.  Can't really tell from the catalog descriptions.  I raised Tula Jalapenos a few years ago, and they almost burned down the house!  They were awesome!  But I can't find them any more...  

The kale, broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce are all going great now.  Here's a shot of a nice little six-pack of baby kale plants that are exploding out of the seed tray...

Nice looking plants, Kate!  I am gonna get moving here in a minute and get my herbs and peppers going.

Basil, cilantro, dill and parsley started, as well as Peppers; Big Red, King of the North, Mini Bell mix, sweet banana, and early jalapeño.  Along with 2 Romanesco caulis.  On the heating pad.  Moves sprouted lettuces and spinaches off.

Nice mix of peppers, SR! When I get to a point where I feel I've mastered the bell peppers and jalapenos, I'll have to add some of those banana peppers - love those!

Have you grown the early jalapeno before? What do you think of them?

CitizenKate wrote:Nice mix of peppers, SR!  When I get to a point where I feel I've mastered the bell peppers and jalapenos, I'll have to add some of those banana peppers - love those!

Have you grown the early jalapeno before?  What do you think of them?  

No they are new to me,(Early Jalapeños) And I too love some heat...so when I saw that your experience was they were really mild I was bummed...

I have never grown a hot pepper.  I love the big bells I did last year.  Both were excellent producers.  Red, gorgeous fruits.  And the only reason I grow sweet bananas is that they are so unbelievably reliable heavy producers into October.  

I am excited about the mini mix, because they are sooo expensive at Krogers!  $5/bag!  And wonderfullly sweet.  3 Ls 

I was hoping I just got an odd batch of them, or maybe someone knows a trick or two to make them more fiery.

Scorpio Rising wrote:
I am excited about the mini mix, because they are sooo expensive at Krogers!  $5/bag!  And wonderfullly sweet.  3 Ls 

Yes, I have seen them at Dillons (the Krogers store in Kansas), and thought, "Wow, I could grow that myself for a lot less."

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:
I am excited about the mini mix, because they are sooo expensive at Krogers!  $5/bag!  And wonderfullly sweet.  3 Ls 

Yes, I have seen them at Dillons (the Krogers store in Kansas), and thought, "Wow, I could grow that myself for a lot less."

If you have room, I could send you some seeds!

Okay, I can make room, I'll take you up on that. :-) I'll PM you with my mailing address.

CitizenKate wrote:Okay, I can make room, I'll take you up on that.  :-)  I'll PM you with my mailing address.

Sweet!  I think they would be great for container growing!

I'm raising all my peppers in containers this year, so that will be great. Thanks again for sending me some!

The beds will be busy this year with all the stuff I didn't get to grow last year - missing my garden fresh green beans, and have long ago run out of the last ones I canned.

It's been pretty cold so far this month - more like February, whereas February was more like March, go figure - what little puttering around I've done in the garden since the big face lift... I can already tell gardening is going to be a lot less work this year.

BRING IT!

Yeah,  Super weird weather wise.....

Honestly, I just don't trust the weather stuff....

It is wrong.  So I look at a day by day snitch.

Me too as far as getting things in the SFG.  That will be super helpful

Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of it, either... not sure who to believe.  I still haven't forgotten I hardly ever turned on the air conditioner in 2009, which is something that never happened to me in more than 30 years prior to that.  Yet, I also remember summers with highs in the 100's every day for more than six weeks running, back in the 70's, again in the 80's, and yet again in the 90's.

I'd be a lot more concerned if March were more like June, though, and for a while, I thought we were headed that way.  The freezing weather and snow might be a good sign, even if it didn't come right on schedule.  When does weather ever come on schedule?

CitizenKate wrote:Yeah, I'm not sure what to make of it, either... not sure who to believe.  I still haven't forgotten I hardly ever turned on the air conditioner in 2009, which is something that never happened to me in more than 30 years prior to that.  Yet, I also remember summers with highs in the 100's every day for more than six weeks running, back in the 70's, again in the 80's, and yet again in the 90's.

I'd be a lot more concerned if March were more like June, though, and for a while, I thought we were headed that way.  The freezing weather and snow might be a good sign, even if it didn't come right on schedule.  When does weather ever come on schedule?

I agree...glad it is cold, really.  Such a strange winter....

So my box of leaves (lettuces, kale, spinach and chard) are up and can no longer have the clear shell over the seedlings!  A few of the peppers are up on the heating pad; the cauliflower, and the basil.  So on my way for 2017!  Still have tomatoes and melons to start, sunflowers, too.  But I have a while!  

Still cold here, had a wet heavy snow that just turned to slush...messy.  Will check the beds to see if it is frozen.  Radishes, peas, could probably go in soon.

Scorpio Rising wrote:So my box of leaves (lettuces, kale, spinach and chard) are up and can no longer have the clear shell over the seedlings!  A few of the peppers are up on the heating pad; the cauliflower, and the basil.  So on my way for 2017!  Still have tomatoes and melons to start, sunflowers, too.  But I have a while!  

Still cold here, had a wet heavy snow that just turned to slush...messy.  Will check the beds to see if it is frozen.  Radishes, peas, could probably go in soon.

Got a lot going on! How long ago did you start your pepper seeds? Mine seem to be coming along slowly again this year.

Got out this afternoon and planted my onion sets and garlic!


The cold weather has finally passed, so I've been able to get my lettuce, kale, cabbage and broccoli out for some sun and breezes... they're just lovin' it! They're just about ready to put out:



It's really hard to see the Sea of Red lettuce on the far right... but it's doing really well so far.  BS Simpson... not sure what's up with that, I've always gotten a good turnout from that species before.  I'll probably have to start some more to fill out the squares I have reserved for them.

Here's what I finally settled on for a garden plan...

The smaller circles on the lower right are containers where I'll be raising my bell peppers and jalapenos.    Next over, a whole box of green beans, then the box with lettuce, kale, cabbage, and broccoli.  Above that, onions, carrots, and garlic.  That one still has two squares I haven't decided what to do with yet.  Next to the left is squashes and cucumbers, and the box in the upper-right will have tomatoes this year.  

I'm going to try planting just 9 tomatoes in the box this time, so they have a little more space between them.  Last year I planted 8 tomato plants and 8 pepper plants, and the foliage got so dense I couldn't tend them the way I like to.  I also decided to try trellising them with Florida weave - that looks so simple, and definitely looks strong enough to hold up in a strong thunderstorm.

I also really want to restrain the squash plants somehow.  Last time I grew them, they sprawled outside the box, and that created problems for both me and the plants.  At the moment I'm thinking of just putting up short fences around them.

Everything looks great, Kate...and very well thought out. How old are your Simpson seeds?

It's new this year, and I usually try to get at least 50% more seedlings than I need, and start double that amount of seeds. So if I want 4 of a plant, I'll set up 6 slots in the seed tray for it, and put at least 12 seeds in water to soak. In this batch, there were two more that emerged from the mix, but they couldn't shake their hulls loose, so they never got very far.

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:So my box of leaves (lettuces, kale, spinach and chard) are up and can no longer have the clear shell over the seedlings!  A few of the peppers are up on the heating pad; the cauliflower, and the basil.  So on my way for 2017!  Still have tomatoes and melons to start, sunflowers, too.  But I have a while!  

Still cold here, had a wet heavy snow that just turned to slush...messy.  Will check the beds to see if it is frozen.  Radishes, peas, could probably go in soon.

Got a lot going on!  How long ago did you start your pepper seeds?  Mine seem to be coming along slowly again this year.

Pepper seeds just last Saturday, mine too, nothing really happening with them at all, but they will germinate if on the heating pad....why, but they do.  Patience!

Scorpio Rising wrote:

CitizenKate wrote:

Got a lot going on!  How long ago did you start your pepper seeds?  Mine seem to be coming along slowly again this year.

Pepper seeds just last Saturday, mine too, nothing really happening with them at all, but they will germinate if on the heating pad....why, but they do.  Patience!

My pepper seeds are on the heating pad and not germinating either. Everything else with them came up already. Peppers are just finicky I guess.

Mine have been in their seed tray on the heating pad since last weekend. I soaked them first, and they all sprouted before I planted them, so I'm pretty sure they're alive in there. Can't seem to figure out what it is they are in need of that they're not getting.

CitizenKate wrote:Mine have been in their seed tray on the heating pad since last weekend.  I soaked them first, and they all sprouted before I planted them, so I'm pretty sure they're alive in there.  Can't seem to figure out what it is they are in need of that they're not getting.  

One is barely peeking up out of the pot this morning. It's still wearing its brown seed hat, so I had to look closely t make sure it's really a sprout, but it is, all of 1/4" high.