N&C Midwest: March 2020

The promise of Spring is here today, cold now but warming up later (before rain of course).  Just checked the baby celery, all containers are up under the lights in the basement on a heating pad.  Starting cabbages later today in peat pots.  Will probably put them out in the cold frame as soon as I can!

Kale, brussels sprouts, lettuce, tatsoi, bok choy, tomatoes, that I planted last week are up.. just a few still left to peak out.. Everything is under lights.  I'd planted herbs, flowers, eggplant, peppers, leeks, onions and shallots early February.  I'm going to need more room, but alas the patio is only so big.

nrstooge wrote:Kale, brussels sprouts, lettuce, tatsoi, bok choy, tomatoes, that I planted last week are up.. just a few still left to peak out.. Everything is under lights.  I'd planted herbs, flowers, eggplant, peppers, leeks, onions and shallots early February.  I'm going to need more room, but alas the patio is only so big.

You guys are way ahead of me!  I follow the Skippy’s app pretty much line by line.  I can’t wait for planting though!

What is the Skippy's app?  I've never heard of that.

It’s a free app on the Apple platform.  I am trying to get a link!  

Hope this gets there!

http://skippysgarden.com/apps/

It is searchable on a variety of sites... dang it!  All Ihave is Apple!

Put the Kale, Chard, and Spinach seedlings out into the cold frame today so they can continue developing and get ready for transplanting in a few weeks.

Removed the leaf mulch from two of the raised bed sections so that the soil can dry out a little and start warming up.  Was surprised to see how many earthworms were on top of the soil and feeding on the leaves - must have been hundreds of them. As soon as they were exposed to the light, they retreated back into the soil. Left a light covering of leaves so that the worms could keep feasting.  Next week will start putting out some beet & carrot seeds.

All good news!  I have plans to get cabbages, Chard, radishes, spinaches, and lettuces started this weekend.  And with cabbages, I will plant some pepper seeds.  They take forever!

Got some of the tabasco pepper seeds I harvested in 2017 started in paper towels. So far 5 of the 6 I started have germinated. I'm pretty excited, because this is the first time I've used any of the seed I harvested from the tabasco plants I raised - those were all purchased as plants. We'll see what happens when I put them in growing mix. That's where I've had peppers stall out when I tried to start them from seed in the past. Also may get to start some lettuce and carrots yet this weekend.

Meanwhile, it got up to the 70's here today - !!! So I headed out to my boxes to start cleaning out all the grass and weeds that took over last year when I was living at work. One down, four to go!

It ended up being easier than I thought, because last fall I tried to pull out some of the crab grass that got pretty established, and that stuff was not budging for me. But now that the grass and weeds are dried and shriveled up, I just got in there with my garden tiller and it all just came right out. So, lesson learned: when the beds get overrun with unwanted grass and weeds, let winter do the work for you, and clean 'em out the following spring.

I'm sure they're full of seeds, though, so I decided to try the solarization technique discussed in SFG 3rd Ed. to kill off all the unwanted seeds. (Not to mention, any other pathogens that may be present in the mix.) It's recommended to allow 4 weeks for that to work, but my lettuce box will probably only get three weeks at the most. The tomato/pepper box still has plenty of time.

My Mel's Mix still looks surprisingly good, so I'm hoping I can just top up the boxes with compost and they'll be good to go.

Scorpio Rising wrote:All good news!  I have plans to get cabbages, Chard, radishes, spinaches, and lettuces started this weekend.  And with cabbages, I will plant some pepper seeds.  They take forever!

Peppers do take forever, if they come up for me at all. I usually allow 4-6 weeks to start plants before I want to plant them, but I start peppers 8 weeks out. Some people manage to get them to come up pretty fast, though. I ask them what their secret is, and they just mention all the things I already know to do. Drives me crazy!

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:All good news!  I have plans to get cabbages, Chard, radishes, spinaches, and lettuces started this weekend.  And with cabbages, I will plant some pepper seeds.  They take forever!

Peppers do take forever, if they come up for me at all. I usually allow 4-6 weeks to start plants before I want to plant them, but I start peppers 8 weeks out. Some people manage to get them to come up pretty fast, though. I ask them what their secret is, and they just mention all the things I already know to do. Drives me crazy!

Up until last year, I was one of the lucky ones with peppers.  I started them 3 times last year, and bought plants in a desperation move—then lo and behold, the last flight of seeds made it!  Therefore, I was overrun with peppers!  Not a bad problem, but they were late.  I froze a bunch and made lots of unstuffed pepper casseroles that have been lovely over the winter!  

It is supposed to be warm here today, looking forward to it!  I have 2 beds to site, and I’d like to get the cold frame planted!  Plus some weeding and general maintenance, adding compost, etc.

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Up until last year, I was one of the lucky ones with peppers.  I started them 3 times last year, and bought plants in a desperation move—then lo and behold, the last flight of seeds made it!  Therefore, I was overrun with peppers!  Not a bad problem, but they were late.  I froze a bunch and made lots of unstuffed pepper casseroles that have been lovely over the winter!  

It is supposed to be warm here today, looking forward to it!  I have 2 beds to site, and I’d like to get the cold frame planted!  Plus some weeding and general maintenance, adding compost, etc.

The first year I tried starting peppers from seed, they did just fine, and even sprouted almost as fast as the tomatoes. But every year since, there's been some issue.

So now, all six of my tabasco seeds have germinated (good germination rate!), but some kind of fungus got into the tub. I moved the seeds to a new tub and added some H2O2 to the water I used to moisten the paper towels. The new tub has stayed free of mold/mildew, but now all but one of them have a brown spot at the tip of their roots. Evidently the fungus got to them before I moved them to the new tub.

Oh well, at least now I know the peroxide works, and I've got a crap-ton of seed, so I guess I'll start over.

Planted Lettuce, Radish, Carrot, and Beet seeds today in one section of the bed that I prepared last week. The Kale, Spinach, and Chard I have in the cold frame is doing great, and will soon be ready for transplanting.

Oh wow!  

OG, you are a bit ahead of me but sounds great!

CK, I literally started peppers 3x last year.  It was ridic!  Will stay posted

I got my 48” ring and the 4x4 cold frame sited and dirt placed in there!  The ring isn’t ready, needs compost.  But nothing planted...too many chores!

Plan: plant stuff this week...spring forward is getting the better of me!

Put out 150 onions sets that I started from seed.

So I planted direct in the new cold frame:

Spinaches
Radishes
Bok Choy 
Swiss Chard
Cabbages—red and green—first time
Broccoli—hope this works!
Turnips (the oriental version, very crispy and yum). Tokyo Cross

I watered it in ( the mix was super dusty due to high winds)  Then closed the frame so we will see?!

OhioGardener wrote:Put out 150 onions sets that I started from seed.

When do you start your onion seeds, OG?

Scorpio Rising wrote:So I planted direct in the new cold frame:

Spinaches
Radishes
Bok Choy 
Swiss Chard
Cabbages—red and green—first time
Broccoli—hope this works!
Turnips (the oriental version, very crispy and yum). Tokyo Cross

I watered it in ( the mix was super dusty due to high winds)  Then closed the frame so we will see?!

Yikes, I need to get going on my lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and carrots!

CitizenKate wrote:

OhioGardener wrote:Put out 150 onions sets that I started from seed.

When do you start your onion seeds, OG?

Last week of January, or first week of February at the latest.

CitizenKate wrote:
Yikes, I need to get going on my lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and carrots!

So I plan to start my lettuces inside this weekend, CK.  And I wait a bit for carrots and direct seed them.  I was just glad I got that stuff in, because I have zero early or late season luck!

I planted Bell, Banana, and Jalapeno pepper seeds a week ago today, and they are all up and growing nicely. I put them on a 75F heat pad and with a plastic cover, and they seemed to like it. 

Nice, OG!  I could put some peppers in too.

The Kale, Swiss Chart, and Spinach are doing well in the cold frame. They are now 3 weeks and 2 days since planting the seeds.  The bed is ready for transplanting them as soon as the weather settles a little more, and I start opening the cold frame daily to harden the plants.

The Rhubarb plants are starting to pop up through the mulch.