23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

." Why wouldn't you just plant them in potting mix "

it would be a tad bit harder to find and recover all the seeds, germinated or not...

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"Also curious as to why you didn't also plant some seeds directly in a seed starting or potting mix."

I wanted to plant some melons.

i had read that fulvic acid increases the ability to uptake minerals.

most people start their seeds in either paper towels, or in a soil-less media. in that respect, a paper towel shouldn't be much different, but, that would be a different experiment anyway.

My intent was to see if fulvic acid really made a difference. i had some worm castings, so, i was curious how they would stack up against the water and fulvic.

i also didnt start any in pure sand. i wanst trying to test every media.

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As fas as why i said i would use fulvic acid when it has a lower germ rate...

i want a healthy , strong seedling.

i dont need to maximize the number of seedlings that germinate.

if i really want more than one plant, then, i can plant 20 seeds.

my end goal is healthy strong plants

I sow canteloupe seeds, and the majority of my other veggie seeds directly into the garden and expect (and get) a germination rate so close to 100% that I never notice the duds.

For those that I start early for transplanting, the seeds are sown densely into heated seed flats until germinated, then transplanted directly into cell packs to grow under lights. 100% of my cells packs are filled with robust little seedlings.

My garden soil is mostly dense red clay amended occasionally with free wood chips. My germination medium is coarser than most, probably, and my preferred mix for the cell packs comes from Fafard....quite porous and fast draining.

I have to say that I have never understood why people germinate in paper towels, etc. That's not at all a criticism in any way. It's obvious that there are many ways to get the job done and we each will employ what we believe to be most efficient and successful and satisfying.

12" spacing is pretty standard so in 4x8 bed I'd plant 20 as you can't plant right next to the frame edges and you want to leave some room for replacing any that don't survive.

I started with a dozen, got antsy, planted another dozen and all are doing well. Just saw my first baby come up the other day! Nancy

I knew the soil temp would be cooler than air temp outside. However, I made the assumption (maybe a poor one) that the soil in a 3oz starter cup would be about the same temp as the air temp in a house. How much different could the soil temp be?

Thanks again for all the responses :)

How much different? The thermal conductivity of soil is very different from that of air. How much difference and the duration of that difference depends on the type of soil, the degree of compaction, the volume of soil, and the type of heat used. In a container outside the average is 5-10 degrees cooler than surrounding air temps, indoors can be as much as 15 degrees cooler. If watered with cool water then it will be even colder.

Dave

I don't care to get retinue e-mails either. Still, I liked the Dave's Garden D mail which were person to person mail that stayed with the site.

If you post in a discussion, you will be automatically "following" a post, such that notification of comments will be e-mailed to you, as per the frequency directives that Humsi was talking about. Those directives are for ALL e-mails, from ALL discussions. But at the bottom of the discussion that you have posted in, there is, in little green letters, a clickable link "Click to switch off notification about new comments >". If you simply want to turn off notifications for that discussion. Click that. This seems to work fine. As noted above, I just wish that the default was that you DON'T follow a discussion you contributed to, and select if you wanted to. That's the way it was in the old GW.

Agree with sunnibel7 and find that the main causes of problems with hardening off is either (a) plants that were started far too early and so are less tolerant of hardening and transplanting, and (b) starting the hardening off process far too early. It isn't the size or age of the plants that should determine when to harden-off, it is when is the planting time?

Planting dates are determined before seeds are even started and other than weather at that time which we can't control, you start hardening off a few days to a week before planting time. If you can't plant until May 15th (for example) why would you start hardening off May 1 ? Rather wait till May 12th when the weather will likely allow the plants to go in the shade and just stay there until planting time. Bringing them in and out and in and out only stresses the plants and defeats the point of hardening.

Check out the FAQ here that describes how to use various containers like a laundry basket under a shade tree to harden off. Even a cardboard box works. The goal isn't direct sun exposure, it is air temp, UV, and wind acclimation.

Dave

PS: Hardening off Discussions and FAQs

Here's what I do and it generally works pretty good.

I don't babysit the plants. I simply refuse to do it. When it's time to start moving them outdoors, they go outdoors all day starting day number 1. I put them in a real shady spot for the first couple days then a spot that gets dappled shade, then partial sun, etc etc. I don't play the "hours" game I don't have time for that lol. All day, everyday (unless the weather turns sour).

As I said in my previous comment, I do have other beds elsewhere that I haven't shown. :) And while I do enjoy drawing up the plans and try to stick to them as best I can, there is almost always a some kind of problem.

Rodney

I must admit I did most of it just to get through winter. The biggest thing it did was let me know how many different plants I should get. Before I made the diagram, I had about 5 more different pepper seeds, and about 3 more tomato seeds. After making the diagram, I knew I had to eliminate some choices, which wasn't easy :).

Yes, I had mentioned that clustering related garden forums was a desirable thing. One forum missing there still is Soil and Compost...and please remove giant vegetables

Soil and Compos

t is still there you just need look under organic gardening tab

In order to identify the female plants I think you'd have to grow them to seed bearing age (3 years?) - and you might want to make sure they don't get a chance to drop potentially-female seed before weeding them out. Some writers suggest you don't want any seed to drop anyway, to avoid overcrowding the bed with new volunteer plants.

As for shipping across borders, many US companies do ship seed to Canada but I haven''t found any willing to ship asparagus root. Whether that's because they're prohibited, and whether it also applies to other plants, I don't know.

Please ignore this comment - it's only a personal test of how the new website works

Johnny's was the only one who followed through on sending the catalog, so they got my business. I was planning on buying from them anyway. So far I am very happy. We'll see how the seeds do!

I bought a couple seed packets from Harris I couldn't find elsewhere and they were sent prompt and without issue as well.

Does everyone know about egardnersplace it is the parent website of Jung, McClure and Zimmerman, Totally Tomatoes, Roots & Rhizomes, Edmunds Roses, R.H. Shumway and Vermont Bean Company. The combination of all those different catalogs makes it a great site in my opinion. You can get everything you want with one shipping cost. Obviously a huge selection. I only discovered it because I noticed those seed catalogs had the same address so I called the company. They never mention it on the individual websites for those companies. It can be confusing when you search because multiple catalogs can offer the exact same product but at different prices. However when there are multiple hits on a search they are grouped together and you can pick the cheapest one easily. I order from them annually and I have not had any issues with their seeds. I couldn't speak to the plants they offer as I haven't ever been happy with mail order plants from any company so I don't order them.

I also really like Baker's Creek for their selection of uncommon varieties. Territorial Seed also has a huge selection though I never seem to see anything I want.

The front of my house faces east, and none of the plants that require full sun do very well in the front. Those that can stand partial shade do better.

My guess is that you would get some harvest, and that might make you happy, but if you have other options, might be better to invest the money for the raised bed somewhere that gets more sun.

One other point to note - the front beds take much longer to dry out after a rain - again, this might be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on what you plant, and your drainage.

The location of the sun sounds good to me. My garden sits in a similar position. I just wanted to add that raised beds need more water because the soil dries out faster in hot temperatures. Also, if the yard slopes away from the house, your water will presumably run off as well (I assume the landscaping is designed for this). So be sure to water with some frequency.

According to the production chart in book "how to grow more vegetables" by Jeavson you will need between 2-6 plants to produce 1 lb/0.45 kg of okra.

how many pods per lbs is some you have look up .

We love Clemson Spineless - out here in IL, we plant straight from seed, after last frost. The spacing seems right, we plant ~20 plants in two rows of 10. Last year we were trying to harvest weekly at our community garden plot, and we were having to toss quite a few as they were too small one weekend and overdone the next. Harvesting about once every 2-3 days would probably be best as donnabaskets suggests.