23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Don't know whether this thread has been closed or not... but since this thread no longer shows up on search results, I am bumping it to keep it from dropping off the radar. Please use the new thread, Unusual/Odd Veggies, for posts on this topic.

Almost lost this thread, it no longer came up in search results... but I had saved it in my clippings. Bumping to keep it in the active archive. Again, please do not post on this thread, but use the current "What's Your Favorite Unusual Vegetable" thread.

Kale is starting, spinach just a few since seeding on Tuesday (too warm at 67 degrees? About to move everything to basement). Lettuce germinated in 3 days and it's crowded - I tried for 5 seeds per cell since seed was packed for 2012, I bought it end of year to use 2013. But some cells have a dozen seedlings in them!

When to thin (1-2" like outside)? Can these be separated and when? Starting peppers today.

Call me crazy but I thin that little tiny stuff with a cuticle scissor. Just snip the ones you don't want. I figure the sooner I get the extras out the better the others will do.

Fungus gnats could have been my issue in the past with the plant I brought to the office that had been outdoors. I've not really had issues with seed starting and bugs before now but since I was starting seeds in the office I didn't want this to be the first time.

So I have a related question, when you guys start peppers or tomatoes at how many days or at what stage of their growth do you move them to pots? I think in the past I've kept them in the tray weeks too long.

I don't do my peppers/toms in trays... I use the paper towel/baggy method(peppers) or straight into containers from the get go. But, generally you would want to do it right away so you can get them under lights right away.

Kevin

I would plant tillage radishes right away, and forget about them until 2015. The twins will be demanding.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I decided to go with red clover, ? with oats as a nurse crop? (that would suppress weeds better?)

How soon can we plant it? (there's currently 2 feet of snow on the ground, so it won't be very soon but can it be planted once the ground thaws in April? or does it need to wait until after the last frost (traditionally Memorial Day around here)?

Thanks!

What Dave said. Another thing though. Whether you use water, insecticidal soap, neem oil, or something else; you have to stay diligent. Instead of the recommended weekly treatments on the bottle for heavy infestations, try every 3-4 days for the 1st couple weeks until you can bring down the populations. Aphids reproduce at very rapid rates, so really attacking them is key, IMO. You could also release some ladybugs or lacewing larvae to clean up the guys. If you do, no pesticides.

Good luck

Kevin

Ladybugs are really a good control if you have them. They go to bed around Oct. 15 here, and all of a sudden pristine brassica plants get populated with these.

jean001, thanks for posting about day length sensitivity. I read it someplace but don't remember where (pre-internet days I think) but since I started planting spinach as soon as possible in the spring here in NH, I've gotten a good crop. I direct seed. I think the easiest way to get early spinach would be to direct seed in the fall and let it overwinter. That worked perfect for me one year even when we had little snow cover. This is our second winter with a high tunnel and last year we had too much spinach in winter so I didn't direct seed in the outside garden.

I direct seeded some about two weeks ago and they are emerging. The weather here at the PNW, has been in the range of low 30s to low/mid 50s., with lots of rain, clouds. This tells me that you should germinate Spinach in cool temperatures. You don't need a heating mat, You don't need too much warmth. Probably an unheated garage would've been just fine.

In fact all legumes benefit from support, it's just that the bush varieties don't sprawl as much as a pole will. Pods that stay in contact with the ground suffer damage very quickly, regardless.

It's been awhile since I've grown green beans but varieties of bush beans I know of will grow all of their beans in a short period of time. For these you will need to grow more than one row/group to get a continuous crop. Whereas pole beans will not produce as many beans at a time but have a longer production time. My recollection is that bush beans were better for me. But, as I said long production bush beans were not available at the time.

Dan

You have to do that early in the morning before the bees get to work. They can carry off huge amounts of pollen. I've seen them so heavily laden that they have dificulty flying.

Probably there are plenty of pollens but one cannot always detect them visually. Some plants like lillies have tons of pollen, many don't have that much.