Anyone else getting ready to start this years veggie plants?

[kantuckid]

The manure (The load from hell?) I wished I'd never gotten- was actually saved by the dairy farmer for someone else who never came back from a previous year. He'd run it into a pile in an unused space for someone else and tossed it in the pile over time with skid loader. It looked and was supposed to be well composted.    

[SwampDonkey]

No way of really knowing if it got heat enough to kill everything, unless you do it yourself. That pile could get seeds on top blowing from all over. Guys I see doing it have it contained. The bagged stuff I've never had weeds. What I buy is put up about 100 miles from here. No sense in trucking it 1200 miles, no one going to pay more than $3 a bag. I get it for $2.50.

[SwampDonkey]

Fresh radishes my friends.

[SwampDonkey]

These babies will need an upgrade in rooting realestate by the weekend. Going into 1/2 gallon pots.

[SwampDonkey]

I had to pot the lettuce over into 1/2 gallon pots. This is buttercrunch (Boston Lettuce). Be pick'n next weekend.  I have 4, plus 4 iceberg, iceberg is slower.





Good stuff.

[DDW_OR]

the green areas are for plants in the ground or in raised beds
the center area for tomatoes in the ground and their vines suspended on string from the rafter.
like commercial growers do

the squares are walk areas that the Pex pipe will be 2 ft under.


(Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

the walk area is 12x12 concrete squares
pex maybe just 6 inches under. two loops 12 inches apart, each loop centered under the square.

[SwampDonkey]

 
But on peppers plants, bigger ones are better, even if they have blossoms on them.
I wet down the ground first, don't make it real muddy, but wet, than a sheet of black poly. I weight it down with rocks. You will need rocks in between the plants too to keep the poly from blowing up and covering the plants. Than where ever you want a plant, cut an X into the poly and put your plant in.

That's what I am trying, this allows water through, but black to catch the sun's heat. I have that and more floating fabric coming.

[21incher]

I have a craving for fresh radishes now . Finally  started peppers and used the heat mats.  Germinated in 3 days. Tomatoes took 5 days with no heat. Eggplant haven't  germinated yet so I may replant. Spinach and peas went in today. The garlic is about  4 inches tall now also. Great  weather  the last couple  days.

[thecfarm]

I plan on using more crop cover this year. I just bend ½ inch metal conduit pipe for my loops. I cut it at 5 feet, which is in half, it come in 10 foot lengths. Yes, plastic can be used, but I've had these loops for 10 years, metal don't break from the sun rays. 
I want to try it on my cukes, keep them warmer and "maybe" help out on the bugs.
I use the crop cover on the basil and that works on keeping the bugs from eating the plants.

[SwampDonkey]

I don't even use anything to hold up the fabric, she just floats. I anchor down with rocks. Dad would use it on strawberries and have berries two weeks ahead of time.

The bug I deter on the squash is cuke beetles. In my upper garden they don't touch my cukes. I think they also eat beans, seen them around the beans last year. But I had fabric on beans and squash until they  got up good and strong and took off the fabric. The flea beetle hits the basal here, but way late in the season, September. These are bigger than leaf hoppers. They eat grape leaves to.

[Ianab]

Things are winding up here. Been a poor season for chillies.    I'm starting to pick some now, but not many habanero / ghosts / 7 pots etc. Just been too cool for them to really get going, even in a greenhouse. 

I think I'm settling on the Rocoto as my favourite now. That's the red apple shaped variety. I grew them from seed last season, but only get a few fruit. But they are a perennial and this year they have gone crazy, and could fruit for another 10 years.

Jalapenos / Cayenne / Thai Birds-eyes and chiltepins have also done OKish this season, and one Scots Bonnet plant is on it's 3rd season.  



 

[SwampDonkey]

My tomatoes might have gotten a little too much fertilizer. Seeing a little stress on older leaves. Not yellow but some wilting. Might be a touch of shock there to. Tomatoes are sensitive little buggers. So I'm cutting that back for a bit and just using a pinch of Epson salts every other day. I know the soil is not rich in N-P-K from the bag, but this 10-15-10 is concentrated and they suggest half a dropper per litre. I think I may have some that had twice that. It's so dilute when you look at it that you can't see green, but powerful apparently. Schultz out of Rivier-Du-Loop, Quebec. Been around for at least 30 years.

[SwampDonkey]

Big beef        March 29-2021



Red bells (upper left) kicking in now to. Scotian tomato lower right.

[mike_belben]

The flea beetle hits the basal here, but way late in the season, September. These are bigger than leaf hoppers. They eat grape leaves to.

Flea beatles will shot hole my entire garden by about late may, early june.  Then the rest of the crowd follows suit.  Its deflating. 

[21incher]

Those flea beetles get my eggplants every summer and that's all they bother. I may try something non organic  this year because  they seem to have developed immunity to everything else that is non toxic the last 2 years. Put some eggplant in and they will leave everything else alone. I am hoping  with the mild winter  we don't  have a bumper crop of Japanese beetles. 17 year chicadas are supposed  to emerge  this year also .

[SwampDonkey]

Up here the potato beetle will fleece egg plant. They will even eat tomatoes if in the same area with potatoes. Earwigs seem to love lettuce, but I have mine scattered around the gardens and they are less bothersome. Didn't seem to be too bad last 3 years. If you have a lot of shade, that is where they hang out. I do same with basal, a little spot here and there and they might hit one and not touch others. Also, when plants are under stress, that attracts bugs, so keep the ground moist. Had to water the garden all last summer, we had next to nothing for rain. I use creek water and my pump/tank and SxS. Creek 5 minute drive.

[kantuckid]

I have a craving for fresh radishes now . Finally  started peppers and used the heat mats.  Germinated in 3 days. Tomatoes took 5 days with no heat. Eggplant haven't  germinated yet so I may replant. Spinach and peas went in today. The garlic is about  4 inches tall now also. Great  weather  the last couple  days.

I think it's safe to say we have never, ever had a pepper seed germinate in 3 days. We use a heat mat, baby the crap out of them , use a grow light and a southern exposure picture window and still one of my peppers just popped out yesterday and several haven't as yet. I'll throw out that maybe around 3 weeks is commonly seen on peppers.
 You must have some serious green thumb going on? 
Radishes I can eat if they appear in a salad but we don't grow them or buy them. In a restaurant it's common to not see them in salads at all.
 My granny taught me to make "radish roses" for holiday meals as she was  the real McCoy when it came to cooking-knew it all. Their falvor gets off after thge weather warms up but nice spicy snap until then.

[SwampDonkey]

Fresh greens from under the lights today. I gleam from the bottom leaves.

Buttercrunch



Fern leaf dill

[SwampDonkey]

My bells here were just under two weeks, I'll be transplanting by next Friday on those. My jalapeno 2 to 3 weeks and might be going on 4 for some. But I have more than enough right now to get to size, more than I'll ever eat if they have 6 on each. And they usually have that many without working hard.

[SwampDonkey]

I have some peppers to transplant into 1/2 gallon pots real soon. They are darker green than the photo, reflected light.