Winter planting: not germinating well. Advice please.

9 years ago

I planted some of the winter leafy stuff, first time doing winter garden. I am in Dallas. Early September, we had a week when night temps dipped down into 60s. After that i planted these things. Since then day temps have been up and down, highs between 80s - 90s, but the night temps have been in high 50s to low 60s.

Over the first 3 weeks of September I planted various kales/collards, spinach, cabbage, mustards, Chinese cabbage, broccolli etc. The only things that germinated were radishes, turnips, beets and some carrots. Most others did not germinate at all. Thinking that i planted them too deep, I replanted most of them, not so deep this time. Since then, a few things have germinated very sparsely. In 3-4 weeks since germination, none of them have really grown much. Most don't even have the first set of true leaves.

Cause?: Is this temperature related? Or may be this is normal. Should I plant some more seeds when the temps go down or the ones that are already in the ground will germinate then. The first frost will be around Nov 15.

thanks.

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Comments (3)

pitimpinai
9 years ago
It sounds like you have planted your seeds directly in the ground. Did you prepare the soil well before sowing the seeds?
Did you provide any moisture and some protection to keep the moisture even?

Since turnips, beets, carrots and radishes have germinated but not the others, I think the 80 - 90 degree temperature might be to high for them to germinate because they are cool weather vegetables. You might want to try again when the day temperature is a little cooler. Good luck.
ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
9 years ago
ju1234,
did you plant in containers or direct sow?
I have winter-sown some of the things you mention:
kale, spinach, broccoli
and found they germinate very well.
check out the FAQ's to see what you might want to change.
and then ask questions here.
good luck.
missymoo23_(z9a_Tx)
9 years ago
I have a bunch of lettuce that came up more than a month ago...the seeds were from a plant that bolted lasted year. They have one set of leaves and are just sitting there. I'm in Houston, the seeds are in the regular garden. This has been a really weird fall for us...If it helps I know that the seeds weren't covered by any soil, just on the ground.