Seed starting?

When is everyone starting seeds indoors this year? I have been biting my itchy spring fever this long...but now it's screaming at me. When and what are you starting first? The question of the week about cold season veggies has me wondering if it's time!?

(By the way, been gone a while. Nice to see so many people and such a booming forum!!)

Susanne

Susanne,

With our weather being the way it is in Colorado, some have suggested starting sets of seeds indoors about a week apart. This way you are sure to get one set that will do well. Here is a link from the Western Climate Center that shows average temperatures for Colorado Springs for the period of 1971-1990, http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?cocspr (This link doesn't go directly to the table soooo, when you arrive at the website look at the links to the left, under "1971-200" click on "Daily tabular data")

Here are the spring freeze probabilities for Colorado Springs, http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?cocspr (This link doesn't go directly to the table soooo, when you arrive at the website look at the links to the left, scroll down, under "Period of Record", "Temperature" click on "Spring Freeze Probabilities")

You probably already know about floating row covers, dark mulches and all the other "tricks" for early season success. Good luck!

Sonny

This message was edited Mar 10, 2010 8:57 AM

I've planted some perrennials that I can put out earlier without worry about a frost. Still maybe a bit early for veggies. Maybe not. I guess it depends on how big I want them in May when I can plant them outside.

Hey art, been a coons age since I've been in here,too. I figure in a couple of days, after the soil dries up a little and get things cleaned and amended, I'm starting cold veggies. Spinach, onion sets, peas, leeks, etc. Starting pepper seeds indoor tomorrow, toms and others later this week. Trying stupice this year upon mulchs' suggestion last year(year before? LOL). Toms got set back last year with all the cold into June and July. I also did some winter sowing, so we shall see what comes of it. Just started vacation, so will have plenty to do. Still need to get over and get some more horse poop. :-) Paul.

Hi Susanne,

I started my hot peppers, tomatoes and eggplants a couple of weeks ago and allthose veggies are up, except for the eggplant, but I think because it is old seed. I also started some impatiens, dahlias and some catnip. Ive never grown catnip before, is it as weedy as mint? I also went to lowes and bought a couple of grape vines. I know its a little early, but it seems to take forever for the peppers, tomatoes and eggplants to grow to transplant size. I have other herbs that I am going to start, but not for another couple of weeks. Im also going to head over to fox garden supply and see if they have some begonias. I really like them. I have a lot of shade in my yard and I like to put them in hanging baskets. They also seem to take a long time to get going.
Lillyz

I have garden in zone 4 (now) and zone 5. Whatever the zone, I always started my tomatoes and peppers on March 15 for planting-sized plants. Likewise for other veggies that need to be started indoors

I start my peppers and eggplants a couple of weeks before I start my tomatoes because they seem to germinate and grow much more slowly. I also start the peppers and eggplants over a heat mat, whereas I don't bother for the tomatoes. They seem to like it a bit cooler. I planted the peppers and eggplant on March 5th, and just did the tomatoes on the 15th. Everything in the first batch is up but some hot peppers.

S: your byline lists Colorado Springs as Zone 6a, but I think that is a little optimistic for the North side of the house.
The Master Gardener program has fallen on hard times in El Paso county, but you can still get Extension Service information on-line:

This is a sheet showing probability of Last Spring Frost:
http://www.cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/743.pdf

This is a sheet showing optimum germination and growing temperatures for garden vegetables:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/720-Planting.html

Fact Sheet 7.862, which showed a chart suggesting when to plant what, is apparently out for review and revision.
You could plant onions and spinach outside now. You could start slow growing bedding plants inside now. A lot depends on how large/old you want your transplants to be when you set them out.

Hi guys, thanks for all the great responses! Lots of good info out there. I'm also especially glad to hear first hand opinions/experience. And more than anything, I wanted to see that some people had started already to give me a reason to go ahead!

Seems like each year I get it a little wrong, maybe this will be the year. Last year was way too early to start, then I was lazy and didn't repot soon enough and lost some, and then I put them out too early and lost some more.

I'm going to be out of town for a week here in a bit to visit family, so by default I'm just going to have to wait until after that. If I can...

Meanwhile save your 1 gallon milk jugs to make into a mini greenhouse for your plants. They will help plants harden off, and protect them against a late frost.

Here is how:
Cut the bottom off. Then cut a door on the side. You can make it smaller than what I did, then enlarge it as the plant grows. A dowel through the top and into the soil will prevent the jug from blowing away.

Place the jug so that the door faces east. The plant inside will get enough light while hardening off, yet protected against the elements.




This message was edited Mar 24, 2010 12:56 AM

Yeah! I am very anxious to get some seeds started too, so I'm very glad for the great info here. Vadap, I was told (after failure) last year that peas don't like to be transplanted and can be direct sown early (as soon as the soil can be worked). Is that true? Also, we failed miserably with leaks last year, they started well inside but didn't transplant well... any advice?

Brenda

There are several veggies you can plant really early: peas, radishes, onions, carrots, chard, spinach, lettuce (I even have a little mesclun lettuce that survived the winter). If my garden were ready, I'd have those things planted out there already! I winter-sowed some snow peas & bunching onions this year - I hadn't heard that peas don't like transplanting, so I guess we'll see how they do.

In my old garden I would plant peas on St. Patricks day. I would soak them overnight before planting the seeds out. I had spinach that overwintered there too. The east side of the house had the most sunlight and was at the top of a slope.

Where was your old garden, Lillyz? What zone? I still can't get to the dirt (still snow covered... but finally melting). Maybe by next weekend! Thanks again for the specific info!

When I lived in Aurora, Colorado (Denver area), I found that St. Patrick's day was a little too early for peas and radishes - they would get nipped by frost once in a while. It was okay for spinach and onions - they can take more cold. When I lived in Sicily, I decided that nothing in the broccoli/crucifer family should be planted before the first day of spring, because they are day-length sensitive and don't like growing when the nights are longer than the days.

I think a person could gamble and put in small experimental sowing of cool weather crops on St. Patrick's day (or earlier), but I would hedge my bets and succession sow more in April.

I lived in Erie, Colorado near the Boulder/Weld county line. The soil was heavy clay and I amended it each year with composted steer manure. I had a beautiful garden there. The only thing that wasnt really nice is that we had watering restrictions there. Here we don't :) oh and because it was mostly farm or horse ranching not a lot of trees we would get a lot of wind from the north/Indian peaks area. I miss it.

Long ago, in a galaxy far away, I attended High School in Fort Lupton, Colo. I attended track meets at Erie. The soil in Fort Lupton was pea gravel - or at least it was at our house. We could grow terrific tomatos. The Burger King parking lot is about where our yard used to be.

bsavage, fortunately I didn't get much done on vacation. 1st in 1 1/2 yrs, so mostly slept. With the snow dumps we got, it was a good thing. I usually only do snow peas for spring, and they always get direct sown. I've transplanted leeks with moderate success. They don't get very large. Same with green onions. Think I'm going to start leeks in the fall and see how they turn out. I know they will survive. I use onion sets they sell in the garden ctrs for green onions. Vadalia green onions rock! Toms are up and running. A little late but only by 2 weeks. In my opinion, that is the most important thing in the garden, and by which I declare a good or bad season.

Yes, I love my tomatoes too, Vadap! That is the most important one for me as well, though I love lettuces and spinach as well.

oooooo I missed this thread. I seeded my toms, basils and perennials the weekend of March 21st in the indoor grow-op. Lettuces, mustard, parsley, chervil and sweet peas direct sown outside on April 4th. All indoor babies moved out to the greenhouse and a bunch of annuals were seeded 2-4 weeks ago. Now I am potting up the little babies as they are growing like weeds (hmmm I wonder if I'm growing weeds? That could so happen). I have a few more things to direct sow into the garden but I have to wait til May cuz it is still freezy at night. Spinach hates me so I am not going to try to grow it anymore. I shall drool over everyone else's so please keep me posted about spinach.

You have you computer working again dahlianut!

So why does spinach hate you?

It wasn't the computer that was broke DwiD. The furnace was broke and it is too hard to type with mittens on. You can do it but it comes out all gobbleygookey sigh. I have NO idea why spinach hates me. I have tried sowing it many different times of year but in different light/heat conditions but it either doesn't germinate or it bolts. I must have been mean to spinach in a past life.

LOL. So its your fingers that are now working - sans mittens. Is the heater back on?

Whatever the reason, we are glad to see you!

DG has been considerably less nutty without you, that's for sure!

Hello dahlianut. I guess you, even more than the rest of us, are eagerly awaiting the spring warm up! Although catching up on posts, I can see my suspicions are correct and things are warming slower this year.

Oh, you are way ahead of me in getting things started DN. I have so much to do (things that I am happy to do... yard cleanup, planting, forcing bulbs that I didn't get in the ground last fall, etc.). I LOVE spring! Hooray!

DwiD new furnace, new water heater (cuz the old water heater hated the new furnace). This caused tres techical difficulties with the indoor grow-up cuz the old open flame furnace kept the grow-op warm but the new envirofurnace (Edgar) casts no heat into the surrounds. Indoor grow-op dropped to low 60s so had to put in a heater (how funky weird is that) but had germination probs cuz DUH! took me too long to figure that out. Also fell off the ladder while cleaning up the white spruce (no big surprise) but NOTE TO ALL: if you fall off a ladder do not lay on the ground pondering the incredible view up into the white spruce cuz it will scare the crappola out of your 93 year old neighbour who saw you fall and not get up. O and I have perfected the butt mud slide down the slope from the garbage cans. In other words: same ole, same ole (snorkel). Hi all; glad to be back ^_^

Lord have mercy!

I am glad your life is so much more exciting than mine! LOL

Just started work on a 25' X 50' compost pile/ dirt conversion project.

I will be bankrupt by Fall, but happy! LOL

Sonny

Pics please, pics please pewjumper. I have an ole fashioned hole in the ground compost that my true luv digs out for me every fall but at some point that will be too much work for him so I'm keen on above ground compost projects.

DN,

Dear love, it is good to see that you and your DH survived your heater breakdown! :)

If you put in an application, you could probably get a reimbursement from the US Govt. for an energy efficient furnace! LOL.

I will send pics as the project goes along. I want to document this whole process and what I do so others with similar problems can do the same thing. I figure it will take a while longer and I will start a new link as well as keep a log.

I am now an Uberscheissmeister and the similarties between soil building and wastewater treatment are incredible. Now it is time to use everything I have learned and put it to the test. Any help from you or other folks is greatly appreciated.

Sonny

YEAH! I'm keen on worms. 'Above ground' needs to 'on ground' for me so my heebiejeebie giant worms can do their magic. So many above ground composts are build with 'bottoms' so the worms can't get in. That being said I know you will be doing what works best for you pewjumper. Do you have heebiejeebie giant worms? I hope so cuz MAN they luv making compost here.

Like Charley Brown said in "The Great Pumpkin", I got (a) some rocks.

Very few worms, clay soil, salts, basic (pH 8.25).

First things first. It took my a while to understand what the difference between what acid, basic and alkaline soils are.

An acid soil is anything below a pH of 7.0

An basic soil is anything above pH 7.0

A neutral soil is 7.0 pH

pH is a measurement of hydrogen ion concentration on a scale of 0-14.

Alkalinity is a measuremnt of calcium carbonate in milligrams per liter, or parts per million.

Alkalinity is the measurement of Calcium Carbonate in the soil, (or water!) that resists change in pH usaually in a movement from higher to lower, (Say 7.1 higher to 6.5 lower).

Why does this matter? Because certain plants require certain amounts of nutrients to be available for their growth needs. At certain pH levels some nutrients are more available than at other levels. At a higher pH say 8.0 Phosporous (P) gets locked up. No or less flowers :(

I could go on forever, but I am just figuring out all these increadible things.

Try bringing up http://www.kernradio.com/ between 0800-1000 on Saturday Morning (Pacific Time) Ask for Jerri White, a Stanford grad with a heart for plants and a nursery in Bakersfield, CA along with Dan Monji who is a huge landscaper. I gaurantee you will like the show!

This message was edited Apr 25, 2010 6:34 AM

Here in Pueblo West we have chalky white shale in our soil. If you pour vinegar on our soil it actually fizzes, almost like baking soda. And the pH returns right back to where it was before the acid was applied.

Hmmmm, I'm all excited about my new composter that my friend gave me, it's the kind on a stand that you spin to mix the 'ingredients'... now I'm worried that I won't have worms in it because it's off the ground. Should (could) I add some worms to it once it starts to cook?

If your compost gets hot enough to kill weed seeds it is too hot for worms. I think you better keep your worm bin composter and your tumbling composter separate.
I have a wire bin composter for most of my stuff - it doesn't always compost completely, I go ahead and use it partially composted. I have a rubber/plastic trash can for stuff with weed seeds in it - I make sure it is thoroughly composted or buried deep. The worms get their chance when the compost goes into or on the ground.

Okay, thanks Pollen!

Pewjumper, you're compost production area is going to be almost as big as my yard! I can't imagine the maintenance needed for a yard so big that it requires a composer of those dimensions. !!! You're going to have a fabulous garden some day.

I've been eying the composters out there, I'd love to get one, but for now, the pile in the corner of the garden is going to have to keep working. Digging a whole there sounds like a good idea though, thanks Dhalianut.

I am thinking of making this a two step process.

Get some red worms started on the above ground piles & some "hebejeebie giant worms" for later after the piles are incorporated with my dirt. Throw some certified straw & peat moss in the mix with some Dr. Earth. Since the first pile is about 10 X 10 X 1.5 feet and is twenty feet away from where it is going to end up, I can "walk it" over there a little at a time. (Wormsluvsharon would probably tell me worms are not avid travellers. LOL)

Once I get it to the final location then it is time to let my microscopic minions do their thing in a lasgna style compost bed using masonary sand as the sandwich layer. Let that set over the winter with some turning through the Fall and I should be ready for the heavy equipment in order to mix with the native dirt.

It's nice to have a friend who will deliver all the material I want. It saves him about 15 miles RT to the commercial composter at the dump.

I just have to keep telling myself to have patience and respect the sensitivities of those with a more "delicate" sense of smell. LOL