23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I start tomato and pepper seedlings in an unheated greenhouse with heat mats. I'm not sure exactly what temperature it is right around the plants, but with the warm soil and a plastic dome cover over them, they do very well. The ambient air in the greenhouse gets into the 40s at night, but never below freezing. If I'm worried about things getting too cold, I put a frost blanket over the plastic dome.

During the day, things warm up fast. Leaving the plastic cover on is an efficient way to kill all the seedlings. Also the heat mats are on a thermostat so they turn themselves off.

Hope that helps!

Tomato and pepper seedlings are more flexible than more mature plants. I routinely let my greenhouse go down to 35 degrees at night, BUT the next day, I make sure they go back up over 100 degrees in bright sunshine. Low night temp slows growth significantly. High temps the next day reverses this effect. The way to look at this is number of hours at temperature below 65 must be countered by the same number of hours at a comparable temperature above 65. So if my plants go down to 35, that is 30 degrees below 65, then the next day, I make sure they get the same number of hours at 95 degrees. This is really easy to do, just watch the weather daily and adjust the ventilation to set the temperature in the greenhouse as needed. Bright sunshine can bring my greenhouse to 120 degrees when the outside temperature is only 40 degrees. So the range of temperatures you can work with is from 35F to 120F. Don't go above or below this range for healthy seedlings.

There is one warning however for capsicum chinense peppers. They are more sensitive to low temperatures than most of the other pepper species. I make a point to ensure C. Chinense don't go below 45 degrees. This is because the seedlings will stop growing and won't start again until they have about 2 weeks of temps above 75 degrees. Bell peppers and most cayenne/jalapeno types are not sensitive to cold in this way.

As mentioned above, letting tomato plants get below 45 degrees for short periods of time can increase production. Dig around on the net and you can find some articles from the 1930's that document this effect.

Thanks for all the good information. I think I'll try the Sarah's Choice again. It seemed to be fairly compact and never got powdery mildew or any other disease. It seems like a good choice for a container, and that's the only way I can grow something in my yard. I've had great luck with sugar baby watermelons in another whisky barrel. I will just need to be much more careful about watering and watching for signs of cracking.

It was a watering issue due to being in a barrel. It is better to water them well until a couple weeks before they get mature and then cut water.

Try your local Lowes. Probably have Burpee seeds on racks , at much lower prices then online. I got a pack of Brandy Boy today for $2.49 vs $5.95 online.

Seysonn

It is very expensive to buy from them online... I only bought a couple things I really wanted that I couldn't get otherwise.

ahh 60-80 pounds! You only said 60-80 asparagus in your first post. No mention of pounds. :)

Dave

Whoops. I didn't realize, lol. Typo on my part in my OP. Yes, 60-80 pounds, not 60-80 asparagus. 60-80 asparagus would so not be enough.

Pnbrown, have you tried the white skinned / purple-fleshed Asian sweet potatoes? I share your preference for the white and yellow fleshed sweet potatoes, and the purple - while smaller - has similar qualities. They are long season (far too long for my climate) but should do very well in Florida. Chances are you could find stock in Asian markets; several markets near me are selling them now.

If you would like to try them & can't find them locally, send me an email. They dry out faster than commercial varieties, so you would want to start slips shortly after you acquire them.

Yeah, that's a good thought, Zeedman, Asian markets. I guess a trip to downtown Orlando will be in orderâ¦I have not tried the purple-fleshed ones, but have heard the flavor is rather different from what we are used to.

Looks like I found someone to send me some tubers of Hayman, which is exiting.

I wouldn't use fresh horse manure in spring. But if it possible, you can buy compost(probably by truckload, depending on the size of the garden it is much cheaper) and still do your garden next spring - just start as much early as you can, to let soil settle before you plant.

From what I've heard at two different farms in my area, but not from my own personal experience, is that adding the horse manure directly to the garden is too harsh for plants early the following season. Is there a spot you can let the manure compost before adding it to the garden?

Another method you can try, and this is what I do in my own garden, is leaf/kitchen composting. With enough turning and watering, it will turn to garden-ready soil in weeks, and should not be potent enough to burn your plants, at all.

glib and dan, thanks for discussing this and then narrowing it down to "do this in summer, this in winter" simplicity!

Somebody should write an article, no?

Yes, Elisa, there is a lot of pee-is-good and pee-is-bad, but not a lot of easily available wisdom about when and how. I mean, chemical fertilizer is good and bad, depending when and how you use it. I'm just beginning to get a clue. What I'm concluding is that for composting (whether in a separate pit or in-situ in an unplanted bed), it's good. Really good. As long as there is natural leaching to prevent salt buildup. That points to winter. As a fertilizer for active crops, some care is needed, as in a lot of dilution, but might be useful. That's for summer. But it's looking like you can use a lot more of it in the winter than you should in the summer. Let's all drink heartily in the winter.

I'd really like some soil biochemistry experts to weigh in here, though. We're talkin' biochemistry.

Fusion - the early plantings are all SH2 varieties so does it matter?

Oh, one other question. Will the reemay physically block pollen or is it small enough to pass through?

Looks like celery. Smell it?

Second Mugwort. Does it smell like a mum?

Thread revival.

There is a new product coming to market in February 2015. They are being called 'mulch mats', and are made from industrial hemp. They compete with petroleum-based weed block. They're an all-natural, biodegradable solution, combining the benefits of natural mulch with the convenience of mats.

There isn't much info on their website except for the product announcement. http://www.woven-earth.com

Full disclosure: I work for Woven Earth, the sellers of the mats. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woven Earth homepage

Thread bump

Any updates on how it went through the season with gardenmats? Yields, weed time, etc?

Flora, I imagine part of the issue for you is that you never get the hot summer weather that brings on super-fast growth. I'm in a cool spring climate as well, maybe not as cool as yours, but once the soil is good and warm the legumes grow at a whopping rate. Very often all kinds of direct-seeded crops catch up with or pass transplanted, IME.

So yes, totally different climates round north america and the UK.

If you have good soil, a nearby water source if needed, the free time so it doesn't become a "job" , I say go for it. What you learn this year , will guide you next year. A few years back I built 8 raised beds 5 feet wide by 50 feet long peaking at 3 feet in the center, with the help of a frontend loader. No borders , when mulched and everything growing I knew my time hadn't been wasted. Then the cicada killers moved in and dug hundreds of holes in the sides of each bed. Every time I watered , the paths between the beds would flood. I now have 1 raised bed , 1 foot tall, but a very big bed. Seems as though irregardless of best laid plans , life will find a way to test your will. I wish you the best of luck. Oh, and with those deer , I found that the fence should go up before they find that garden.