23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

To get the true benefit of warming the soil to transplants you need to plant thru the plastic. If you just put a shhet of plastic down and then remove it a few days prior to planting you'll lose the heat in just a few days.

Although there are sweet corn growers who plant under a perforated clear plastic, this is probably nor for you since weeds germinate in abundance as well as the corn.

Larger sheets of black plastic, available as mentioned, will not allow enough water to wick under and so if you do plan to plant thru the plastic you'll need to first lay rows of driptape. The 4' rolls of plastic don't necessarily need the driptape (I don't use it in the field). What I find is that the soil actually stays more wet under the plastic; however with a prolonged drought followed by I don't agree with the suggestions above as for injuring plant roots from the excessive heat in our zones. In fact I have planted broccoli, cabbage,and other cole crops as well as lettuce,peppers,tomatoes, melons, eggplant and onions thru black plastic for many years now with repeated success. The direction specified for growing "PA Simply Sweet (Candy) Onions is to plant thru plastic with drip irrigation.

The normal recommendation given for warming the soil is to lay the plastic a few days prior to transplanting thru it in order to adequately warm the soil prior to planting. Once you have the black plastic installed and see the added benefits of weed control and plant growth you won't want to remove it. Some even try to get 2 or more seasons out of a single sheet.

I've used rolls of black plastic ordered though a commercial agriculture suppy company. Before rolling it out, I drilled small holes (maybe used one quarter inch drill bit...don't remember it was so long ago) into the roll every 4 inches or so....takes awhile but the roll is large and has been used for several years. Some of the plastic has lasted two seasons. You could probably lay it out and punch holes with a pitchfork if your area isn't large and you start with a large sheet instead of a roll of plastic. Large size sheets are available at big box stores such as Menards and Home Depot. They can be overlapped to cover a larger area if you can't find a wide enough sheet. Put some rocks or landscape fabric pins/staples over the seam and cover the outside edges with soil. I use a pitchfork to add holes to any low spots that collect water.

I've only planted warm weather transplants through it such as peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, and melons. Cut an X where you want the plant, and set the transplant in place. Much of the plastic was covered by foliage by time our days became hot rather than warm....and my idea of hot is over 80-85 F unlike many areas that see 90 and 100 on many summer days. I wouldn't recommend it for those areas unless it is torn out or mulched over before the heat hits. I'm using it over extremely well drained soil with lots of sand. I do not use it on the garden I have in an area with clay/clay loam since I think that soil needs all the exposure to air it can get. However, my daughter has used it on heavy soil and it worked fairly well while she worked to get her weeds under control.

It has been a real help in my far from home garden where it keeps weeds under control and maintains soil moisture when I'm away for a week or more. I usually hand water around each plant which takes time, but during rainy periods the small holes let the water into the soil below and hand watering isn't needed. Automated drip would be wonderful, but that isn't going to happen at that location.

In my area where really warm summer temps can be unusual, the added warmth with the plastic lets me grow the heat lovers and get a much earlier and longer harvest. Perhaps that is what your zone 5 is like, too, and then the plastic might be great for you.

I am growing parsley for the first time too on my youtube channel TheItalian Garden. If you would like to tune in and see how big i can get them i would love to test that question. Because now i am curious lol. love to hear any of your other questions on my channel.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

Here is what I do to make parsley germinate faster in 7 days or less. Soak the seeds in soapy water. Fill a cup with warm water (not hot) . Add a drop or two of dish soap, and stir the mixture to help it dissolve. Place your parsley seeds into the warm water soap mixture and allow them to soak for one to two hour. The heat of the water and the dish soap will help to break down the tough outer casing of the parsley seeds. This will make them germinate and grow faster than they would without soaking.

A few plants, eaten as greens, will be fine. For seed in Zone 9 it is too late. They die a miserable death in hot weather.

I can grow Favas in the summer in my climate you just need some shade cloth to keep some heat off or an area where they get just morning sun and maybe a little bit of the mid day. but NO evening sun its too hot for them yes. I don't like favas very much so i am not growing them again but i have just sown my Bush beans just a few days ago. i will be showing them when they sprout on my youtube channel TheItalian Garden. i will be doing losts of general info videos on there if you would like to tune in would love to answer some question from people who need help.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

Thanks Kevin.
I was in Fred Myers today they had seeds called Bibb Butterhead. So that is what it is. I will plant some.

yeah i was going to say bib or all year variety of lettuce. I am growing some on my youtube channel TheItalian Garden. Looks like you will have a nice fresh head of lettuce lol haha =D

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden

Looks like a lettuce to me too. But maybe a cabbage also.

That's a good idea elisa. Especially for the rotation thing. After a couple years of gardening, I pretty much knew what each plant looked like. Peppers, because I grow many varieties, are a different story if I grow multiple varieties where the pods look similar to another. Screwed up last year with my superhot varieties. Regarding the rotation, I usually just try to recollect when I had such or such where. Probably won't work so well when I get old-timer's disease.

;)

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 16:14

Even if the tag was missing, one should know what she/he planted there. Secondly, most garden vegetables are easy to identify close by and by tasting. Unless it is some kind of volunteer .
Having said that, often it is not possible to ID varieties of things like tomato b/c there so many varieties. So it makes sense to tag them if you want to save seeds from those.

Chitting or Greening:

When potatoes sprout in the dark, they are white and long: NO GOOD FOR PLANTING. twist them off.

Best way is to single layer them, like on the kitchen counter. The skin starts getting green (Thus the term greening), Then they start sprouting healthy greenish sprouts. Now that is worth planting. BUT the sprouts should be no longer than 1". Then you have to handle them carefully , not to break them.

I prefer shorter sprouts with just some suggestion that they are growing.
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Good post seysonn.

I like my sprouts strong and sturdy...more than wisp.

I did consider automotive fluids, but it is a very well maintained company vehicle and definitely doesn't have any leaks. Also, he always backs in to the spot, so his front end is out toward the road... its only where the back end sits that I'd be planting (and he's only been parking there for about a month - long enough to rip up the yard, but not really long enough to impact the soil toxicity).

Thanks so much everyone for all of your help working through this. I feel like I have a much better plan for these crops now!

2cents from one who has done the 3 sister garden "successfully". The garden was 40x50, I did 4foot diameter mounds with about 3feet between. Put Silver Queen corn all over the mound with red yardlong beans around the perimeter of each. Threw in some butternut squash, Cinderella pumpkins, cantaloupe seeds and walked away. Weeded once mid season, picked a few bushels of corn, picked the yard longs as long as they were coming in, got a few anemic cantaloupe but several squash and pumpkins that were good. Even got some volunteer ground cherries and tomatillos from the soil seed bank. For not giving much effort, zero watering and maintenance, I thought it did fairly well. This method worked for a garden of neglect, I wouldn't bother with it again unless I had a large garden space that I didn't have a better idea for. This was my old garden that I didn't want to invest in because our house was on the market and I didn't want to sell after spending a lot of early season effort. New garden is much better cared for.

https://www.google.com/search?q=long+squash&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xqAOU5LJIbLJsAS524GYBg&sqi=2&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1241&bih=615

Long squash is easy to grow, less insect problem, it is a hot season crop, taste good too.

Nancy, he is not going to can anything. He will probably freeze some if he has enough.

OK! Therefore, since multiple plants are sprouting from the same cluster, would we still want to thin to 1 stalk per cell?

If you are growing for the beetroot then yes, single plants. Othersie you don't get roots just tops. That's one reason why beets are normally direct seeded. That plus the fact that they don't transplant well when that root is disturbed.

If you are growing them for the leaves, the tops only, then it makes no difference.

Dave

Otcay, that looks like what the Filipinos call Kamote, a sweet potato grown mainly for its leaves. I grew that for many years in SoCal, and even tried it once here. If that is the same one I grew, the tubers wander quite far from the plant, and are difficult to find (except by digging up the whole area). Those tubers were white & very twisted like the ones in your photo, and had a very dry texture when cooked. Dryness aside, they weren't bad tasting.

thank you. I think i'll slice these up and make sweet potato chews for the dogs!

Yeah, I don't remember if I pre-sprouted them or not when I grew them before. I've currently got them in a cold closet in the basement with no light since I probably wont be planting them until mid-late April (I'm hoping I didn't buy them early but I think they only get one shipment of seed potatoes each year and once they're gone, they're gone) so, Ill bring them out around the beginning of April to where it's warmer and with light to chit them. Then I just pick off the extra stems that spout huh? Too easy.

Maybe 8 inches is a bit deep for the trench. I probably do more like 4-6. It is true a high hill gets hot, but if the vines have grown well they pretty much cover it before mid-summer.