23,822 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Agree. Get a professional soil test done by your local county ag extension office. Costs $10-12 dollars in most places. That's the only way you'll know exactly what it needs.
In the mean time scout for a local source of bulk compost and a 25-50lb. bag of cottonseed meal or alfalfa meal to bulk up the N levels to cope with all the bark and wood chips. Just don't apply until you get the soil test back. Normally has a 1 week turn around time.
Dave

As several folks have mentioned in your other thread on the sickly tomatoes, the questions about sufficient sun exposure and planting methods are also problems for you that need to be resolved. Even with ideal soil mix if there isn't sufficient sun exposure you are going to have difficulty.
Dave


Judging from the color of the new growth, the plants are taking up plenty of nitrogen and are poised to make vigorous growth when they get warm sun.
The older leaves are stressed and probably incubating early blight, so I would go ahead and clip them off. A leaf with more than 30 percent of its photosynthetic capacity offline is not worth keeping. I would also mulch with something to help keep the leaves dry -- plastic or cloth if it keeps raining, grass clippings or rotting wood chips when the rain stops. The mulch will also encourage more shallow roots to grow, which will serve the plants well in the long run.


Depending on how deep you planted and how much you covered them it and well they are kept watered and how much nutrients are available will be anywhere from 3-6 weeks although it can take longer. See the discussion about this further down the page title newly planted asparagus for more info and details.
Dave

I put some crowns in 10 days ago and out of 45 more than 30 have come up. I ,initially, made the mistake of putting them in upside down but went in and righted crowns. The article I followed for planting asparagus said they should begin to pop up in about 1 week. Paul
Here is a link that might be useful: Grow Asparagus
This post was edited by victory_tea2085 on Sun, May 12, 13 at 9:24




My ornamentals did that too before I moved them to their permanent outdoor containers that I am still bringing in at night because of too low overnight temps. I now have one tiny little pepper growing and a ton more blooms. I think they will be just fine if planted out soon.


My Serrano peppers are making peppers too. One is almost 2" long already. I plant to thin the load when they go outside. At this point in their growth cycle, you want them to put their energy into growing big and healthy.
As a side note - I bought a lemon tree one year - it was about 6" high, made flowers, actually produced a lemon, and then promptly died (probably of exhaustion)


IMO, burlap is not an effective weed control cover.
Another thing , probably won't decompose for a long time.
use mulch(whenever I can), that will eventally become a soil improver. I like free stuff like tree leavrs, pine needles, wheat straw. if you have small garden(,Under 100 sqr.ft), you can just enjoy weedind a few minutes a day and cultivate the soill. Weeding is essential in the first half of the season when your plant are small and weeds compete with them for nutrients. After that small weeds should not be a problem. actually some of it can be benefitial.

Still looking for thought on germinating under burlap...Thanks for the idea of cutting crosses and pinning flaps back. And the other thoughts.Im committed to the burlap coffee bags this year...i find find a layer of two is excellent and any weeds are weak.
Not worried about too much burlap. Do others have thought on my main question? o others?


Those are the cotyledons. What those seedlings need now is stronger light.
Starting a few more seeds than you need is commonly done. I'd pinch off the larger, spindly ones and save the newly-germinated ones, getting them into more light will give them a better start.
It is, however, late for broccolis in your zone. You'll probably have better luck with your squash.
they do look like brassicas - the tell is the butterfly shaped wings. They all come out like that, radish, cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, mitsuna - you need to wait for the 2nd set of leave (true leaves) to see how they are shaping up.