23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Well you know. Patience has not always been my strongest suit :-) I still have several more SmartPots going, but I emptied one out just to see what was going on and I would say, out of 5 plants, I probably got about 7 pounds. Could definitely see lots of babies that undoubtedly would have grown bigger, but what can I say, we had a good dinner :-)

Good for you! They look lovely. Thanks to you, I've just made up my mind to add another row to my potato patch.

Getting thing like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, early in ground in cool air and soil temperatures, without special provisions has NO advantages and often causes stress and delayed growth. If Nothing else, they will not move much.
Provisions to extend your season (in spring) are: Wall O Water, Cold Frame, Hoop, Row Cover, covering soil with black plastic.
Peppers, in particular need warmer temps to take off but they actually do not need real hot weather.
As mentioned, you have to look into prolific types. I am personally in the same situation. I have abandoned growing bells. Instead I plant things like Cubanelle, gypsy, banana, cascabel and some mild peppers with some heat.

In over 40 years of gardening I never had much success with bells--late fruit and then not very many. Then I started to grow Corno di toro, an Italian pepper that, while not bell shaped, tastes like a bell. Seed is available for both red and yellow. Corno di toros are very early and very prolific.

I don't understand spraying the leaves. Isn't that unhealthy, if you plan to eat the plants? Maybe try some diluted fish fertilizer around the roots, next time? My mom has success with that...I just put lots of aged horse manure in the soil and don't fertilize with anything else. So far, so good :)

"I don't understand spraying the leaves. Isn't that unhealthy, if you plan to eat the plants?"

There's no toxic chemicals in compost tea.. Only thing that would be a concern is the bacteria and other pathogens.. If you are using tap water, that would be a second, that's about it..

If i was in your shoes, i would add compost and an organic source of nitrogen(blood,feather,alfalfa meal,etc.. I wouldn't go out of the way throwing sulfer or any synthetic chemicals to lower pH or fertilize.. Most plants do just fine in that pH... Plus the compost will probably help balence the pH..

So i would add a compost(least couple inches, ideally)and mulch(couple inches) with leaves, grass clippings, straw, etc.. Probably add some organic fertilizer, or compost if the plants seem yellow and deficient.. Keep adding compost every season.. That's about it..

Nancy-literally!

Not much to add, except I think chard, beets, and maybe spinach all like a higher pH. So your soil might grow some really good ones.

Well, if we're talking about baking compost, get out the clothespins and put them on your nose! Ick. Don't do that.

I have grown hundreds of pepper, tomato and other vegetables per year for the better part of 50 years, using just soil from my garden with a little perlite and dried moss mixed in. I have never any sort of issue with losing plants, or even with any significant number of weeds to deal with. Call it dumb luck.

Planting garlic right now is fine I think, but you might not get to see any sprouts until spring time when the tulips and daffodils come up. But your skips will make roots. EXCEPT, we get a very warm rest of DEC and JAN.

I live in Iowa, and I planted garlic in February of last year, and I had a decent crop. They weren't big bulbs, but I just used some organic garlic I bought at Trader Joe's.

I am also in N Cal, 45 miles SW of Sacto. I did put out some garlic this weekend, and I've heard folks in cold places do this even after a freeze, but most things have been out for at least 4 weeks. I like to wait until it cools off, and after the first rain for sugar snap peas, chard, collards, and mustard, and try not to go later than Thanksgiving for the garlic shallots and favas. None of it is harvested until the spring, although I often get usable greens over the winter.

This December seems unprecedented though, and I have had to cover EVERYTHING this week. I usually like the fall/winter/spring garden because it takes less effort than gardening when it's 90 plus degrees, and dry.

Thanks for all your help. I have really good planting schedules for my area received from our local extension office. It really comes down to that I need to experiment. Just wanted to get some thoughts. They recommend plant by nov 1st. But then we start our same plants around the end of January. Ill be mostly planting from the Brassica family and some lettuce. Ill try planting some end of Dec and see what happens.

Planted spinach 11/7 and I already have a flower bed. :

You can still harvest and eat them. But it is amazing that this (bolting) happened in zone 8b. You must have had a very warm fall season.

I would plant them closely and as they get bigger I would thin them for use.
Finally I will have them about 6" apart. I do this with swiss chard.
Younger chards, beets can be used just like spinach.

I received beets with lots of greens on top last week in my CSA box.
I cooked them with a little bit of bacon and onion. They are very tasty. (These are organically grown here locally.)
I roasted the beets and they are good, too.

Sprouts turned yellow and died, sounded like chemical burn to me.

I have also had seedling failures with cheap "potting" soils. They are typically very crude mixes of nasty stuff high-N OM, sludges and manures. A large mature plant can handle it and even make use of it, but a seedling cannot, unless it is massively diluted.

Depends, I would think. If the pest is something that normally overwinters, then maybe a little extra predation and other death might happen compared to a mild winter. But if the pest is something that has really blossomed in numbers because of recent mild winters, then a long cold winter should knock them back considerably. I'm thinking of the nematodes in particular. Where I am is a borderline area for them since they don't withstand freezing well. Hopefully this winter will knock them back to the almost unnoticable population of a few years ago, after our last freezing winter. And of course that depends on whether the weather stays cold. Can't rule out another 80ð January/February yet.

I agree with sunnibel7. If you live in a warmer climate and the pests are used to having mild winters, I would think the severe cold would have an affect on the next year's pest population. However, like here in Michigan where it usually gets cold the pests are used to it. So a quick cold snap like this isn't going to due much in terms of pest control. The adult pests have laid their eggs already, the adults are dead, and the immature stages of the bugs are already overwintering.

Rodney

Thanks, Planatus! I have four lots growing in pots, and they are using the grow lights. Last year I did this and they survived until about February, but I think my living room was too cold when I was out all day. I am thinking of putting them on the cat's heating pad (cat deceased!). As back-up I want to try to keep the vines in water going. They look absolutely wonderful right now, but presumably plants cuttings cannot live by water alone for very long, so I was wondering if I should be putting some kind of fertilizer in the water.

My son says I am obsessed!!

Ashita

they will live and grow for quiet a time in water, they are also a shade tolerant plant, growing their lives on the jungle floors with no sun.

they don't need to ramble keep the vines around in circles over itself will be fine.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens growing sweet 'taters and pineapples