Second chance
I always wonder why I get ahead of myself.. The eagerness to hurry spring along has a way of biting me in the butt from time to time. I know that starting some seeds too early can lead to poor germination due to colder ambient temps, and the amount of true daylight needs to be taken into account too. It’s better to wait, the later plants start sooner and therefore get a better start. It’s the same with our chicks, I can be in a hurry and get chicks as soon as the hatcheries have them available, and then keep them under artificial lights for a considerable amount of time, or I can just wait and let the sun do the lighting and and some of heating. I have found by waiting, the hardening off is not such shock to plants or animals, and both grow better with natural light and warmth.
My first plants that were worked over by the mice took about 5 – 8 days longer to come up than my second round. The quicker seeds germinate, the better chance you have at a good harvest. I was glad to see some action in the newly seeded flats. What a difference three weeks makes.
Miscellaneous peppers – phew.
Celeriac.
This time germination took 8 days, it took the last flat 16 days to emerge and they were much weaker appearing.
Second round of salad greens.
MacGregor’s Favorite beets.
Five color Silverbeet.
I normally direct sow beets and chard for greens in the garden, but for the first spring salad plantings I start transplants. It’s too cool & wet here to work the soil yet.
I am so relieved to see the peppers! Have you overcome any gardening setbacks yet this year?
Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
yay for peppers! I was thinking to ship some to you if you didnt have any.
Like you…I ordered chicks too soon..now I am stuck with 50 chicks in the garage and my wife isn’t too happy : )
No set-backs yet..as we restrained ourselves from starting sunflowers in the middle of Feb. They came out fine and never made it to the garden..too soon.
wf, yeah, I’m pretty excited to see those peppers poking out!
I agree with your wife, although we don’t have a garage, but I can imagine all that goes with that
Let’s hope for a good season to come!
I wish I had a little greenhouse! I am going to plant cleraic this year because of you
I started them last week and can’t wait to try them.
momzoo, I think you’ll like the celeriac, it sure it handy to have around when the celery is done.
I started my lettuce too soon and it ended up getting too big and root bound to be of any use at all. Then I tried to harden off my cole crops too quickly and they got a bit sunburnt. They seem to be coming back well, but I was very worried. I have no patience.
The Mom, been there done that one too – luckily gardening makes us resilient. Right?
This is my first year starting plants. My tomatoes I started too early, they far outgrew their little pots. The 2nd or 3rd day after transplanting them into bigger pots, I had them sitting outside on the porch to enjoy some sun and warmth, and the wind blew them over. What a mess! My hubby helped me pick them up and salvage what we could. My peppers however (all multi colored) are doing great! I’m hoping if the rain will hold off until the weekend we can work the garden up and get potatoes, onions and other cool weather crops in the ground.
Hope you are enjoying your day!
Sarah, oooh that doesn’t sound fun at all! At least tomatoes will root along their stems if they didn’t get broken, but still I bet you could have went a lifetime without seeing that.
Hopefully the weather will be cooperative for your planting!
For our area, we want to always start too early and I am trying to hold the hubby back from being too anxious.
Lisa, I can’t blame him, winter seems soo long. At least he has you to slow him a little bit
This is my first planting season in our new place, so my major setback has been planning. I just barely forced myself to buckle down and do it last night. What a pain! But I’m glad it’s mostly done.
Sarah, some of my best stuff (quilts, projects, etc.)comes after a huge bout of procrastination. But, I can’t recommend that method – much too stressful. Hope you get some of our warm weather!
No setbacks yet, though I’m a bit worried I had my soil a bit too damp in my seeding trays. Hopefully I didn’t drown the poor things! Oh, and I learned that one blueberry bush isn’t enough, they’re like apples and need two varieties. So I’ll have to go and get a second one of them.
Hrist, oh darn, more pesky nursery shopping
Best wishes for a successful gardening season!
We’ll see. I’ve a bunch of stuff started under lights and on a heat mat in the garage, but a lot of it is spindly. I think if I treat them well enough, the tomatoes will be okay, but I’m not ready to move them or the pickling cukes outside yet. I’ve lettuces started, and kale, which I hope with do alright, but I thing the turnips and beets are too far gone and I’ll have to seed directly once I get my planter boxes filled.
I feel like I’m always behind the eight ball.
Paula, that 8 ball feeling never seems to go away for me…and it is always my fault too. It’s early yet so you won’t be behind at all.
I am loving my heat mat – it would be hard to do without that puppy for sure. I am able to keep my plants outside, and the natural light has been sufficient.
Peppers are the ones I can never get to start very well. I haven’t figured out why, but if I’m going to try again, I need to do it very soon. Any great tips for sprouting peppers?
Teresa, they like warm temperatures (85F or so) and they take up about 7 – 14 days and that is if the seed is vigorous. After they sprout they still like heat, much more than most vegetables. And they need to be set out when the temps have moderated, here that is when it’s warm enough to plant corn and cukes!
A heat mat and thermostat are a great way to keep the roots/soil warm.
I’m growing Celery & Celeriac this year thanks to you and Mr H! BUT I have no clue what to do. The seedlings are so tiny and look so fragile. Any suggestions on transplanting. I was worried from your post that the germination was spotty so I sprinkled a tiny bit on each plug….and wouldn’t you know, they all sprouted!!! How will I ever separate these little guys without killing the rest???
You start a lot that I don’t. I guess that’s the diff in location. It’s time for me to direct seed spinach, kale, collards, beets, etc. My lettuce made it through the horrific winter we had. I guess it stayed snug under all that snow! The winter spinach didn’t do so well. It’s alive, but not thriving. I think I really need to rotate it to a new spot. I’ve worn out my welcome.
I do love this time of year. Now to find room for all my pots.
Diane, well, this will be culling practice for you! Save the most vigorous/largest plants and discard the rest. Celeriac is very slow growing, so you may have some time yet. I transplant, using a butter knife to prick them out of the cells, when they have at least one set of true leaves. I will transplant mine into 6 packs, and then those plugs will be just the right size for transplanting out in June.
Direct seeding here this early is suicide, it normally dries out enough to till in late May, plant around Memorial Day before the June rains come. Then 4th of July it quits raining until September.
My eating seasons are scooted around the calendar a little, I direct seeded beets for salad greens only, since by this time, we have just about had our fill of beets this winter. I won’t direct seed any until June or so, and I won’t really miss them too much
I tend to have the same problem – start seeds too early. I get so anxious and always want to make sure that they are going to be big enough by the time to transplant.
I have only just started seeds for peppers and onions. I am debating if I should start the tomatoes now or wait for another 2 weeks(which will be exactly 6wks before last frost).
YDavis, they always seem to grow so slow, it is agonizing to watch. And then when it is time to plant, voilà
I just potted up my tomatoes today – hoping it warms a little here too…
I’m glad to hear that you found what you needed to replant. If you ever have a seed emergency please feel free to ask us as we might have extras and grow similar crops as you do.
My biggest blunders so far have been our Diamante celeriac not germinating very well at all, but I did replant with Caeser and had excellent germination. Bad seed or just me…who’s to say. We are still struggling to get our ground cherries under way, they are always so slow to germinate for us…if at all. I really should simply just stake out a spot in the garden and let them re-seed on their own.
Mike, you know, my Diamante didn’t sprout too well either. Some was my seed and some was 2 year old Fedco. What did come up seemed weak, and then of course the mice used that flat to have seed dining parties on, and I guess the size of a mouse compared to a teeny, tiny celeriac sprout would result in a score 1, mice – 0, celeriac.
I used some 2 year old Brilliant from Johnny’s that really germinated very well. I am now wondering if the Diamante was weak to begin with, since we had similar experiences. I used a heat mat, and just plastic draped over the flats to keep the heat in at night. Uncovered during the day.
Your ground cherries sound like my cilantro – if I would just wait, it comes up in every garden spot we have. A good soil temp indicator. Every time I try seeding for transplanting the volunteers always beat the ones I started. This year I will not be in a hurry…
Gardening setbacks this year? Would the ice drift on the north end of the garden count?
Linda, brrrr, yeah, that counts for sure! At least it’s only on the north end right?
I lost two baby tomato plants to our recent freeze (wasn’t too cold, but enough). I covered them with 2 litter bottles (bottoms cut off) and a tarp, but I guess these two plants just weren’t hardy enough. Oh, well. I have more in the garage under the lamp.
I think I got the lettuce out too late. It gets hot fairly early here….
Rachael, oh sorry about that. We are so much later up here, I can’t put out tomatoes until late May or June. But for sure we don’t too hot here in the summer like your area.
Last year the mice/voles got the first planting of everything including onions! So far, so good this year.
ET, that is so frustrating – fingers crossed for this year to continue for you as it has.