STARTING OUR 2012 FALL/WINTER VEGGIE GARDENS

Happy 4th to everyone. Great day for gardening!

First off , I refreshed one end of RB#1 with some compost, lime, rock phosphate , and fertilizer. I've planted all the remaining bell pepper seedlings. Next up is the remaining eggplants and rooted tomato cuttings. Once all this is in, the bed will be fairly filled. I'm tempted to sprinkle some carrot seeds in between the spaces, since this is where they'll go once the bells are up.

What do y'all say about this idea?

After that I'm emptying the EBs where the pitiful onion nubs are just sitting. Redirecting the EBs for my mustards and collards, and onions I'll start from seeds this go round.

Y'all eat some Q for me!

Linda

Started some of my fall tomato seeds and some Holy Basil today. Ordered another Bio-Dome from Parks Seeds, and some refill sponges for the existing 3 domes I already have. I've had such good luck with these little spongy things from Parks, I just can't go back to the peat pots. Almost 100% germination rate with the sponges, and it was just hit or miss with anything else I've tried. I did get a heating mat, and this year, I added a grow light for my seedlings.

Tomatoes started today:
Dagma's Perfection
Riesentraube
Costoluto Genovese
Fireworks
Super Sioux

All heat lovers with a shorter season (60-78 days)

Oh, yumm on the tomatoes!

We just had our first good downpour of the summer! Hooray! Now I hope it's done in time for fireworks tonight. I won't do anything in the garden today but plan over the long weekend, to fertilize and continue our slow makeover of the backyard. We ate our first serving of okra Saturday and hoping for more this weekend. Harvested some white sweet peppers and put them in chicken fajitas. I also harvested my first edible cantaloupe ever.

That is one good looking cantaloupe! Congratulations!

Nice Mindy! You'll never be able to enjoy one of those so called cantaloupes from the store again ;0)

Happytail, have you grown Costoluto Genovese before? Interested in hearing if it is a prolific producer.

I've grown it. Nice flavor, but can't tell you definitively about production.

Here are some update pics on those bells I was concerned about.

Pic #1 was when only the two bells in the lower right corner were greening up.
Pic #1 was taken yesterday. All the bells are finally taking off (the wee bells in the pic were planted yesterday...)

Pic #3 Also planted some eggplants (2 Hansels & 2 Gretyls)
Pic #4 Tomato cuttings I rooted several weeks ago. Hoping for Thanksgiving tomatoes!

I had really good luck with some snow peas called Melting Sugar as a fall crop. Seed in August and use the same type trellis as Gymgirl and i use for tomatoes, ie the string. when I get rid of the vines, I just cut the strings and install new string for the next crop. No need to "unwind", just throw whole thing on compost heap. I plan to grow broccoli, gai lan, snow peas, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, red potatoes. My latest cucumbers are still going strong as well as my lima beans.

My DH made me a thing for my snaps to grow on, with eye hooks all around the bottom, that I can tie up to my maypole thing, and I'll be able to just cut the string and throw the whole thing on the compost heap too! I'm so excited!

I have not tried the Costoluto tomatoes before, but they are rated highly for our HOT summers. Hopefully they'll do well for a summer tomato. Will keep you posted.

Steadycam,
You're not growing any root crops or brassicas this fall /winter?

Hi all. It looks like this thread could use a few more zone 5r's. Near Chicago here. Have played with fall/winter gardening a little in the past and would like to again this year. I'm hoping for a good long season this year. With the heat as high as it is, as early as it is, that might actually happen. Time will tell.

But in the meantime, I've been getting ready for another long growing spell. Just seeded for the fall in trays:

Bloomsdale spinach
Dwarf blue kale
Michililli cabbage
Baby bok choy
Early Dutch cabbage
English cress
Cress
Swiss chard
Fennel
Butterhead lettuce
Baby romaine lettuce
Mizuna
Broccoli raab

In the garden:

Bull's blood beets
Early Wonder beets
Detroit dark red beets
Zinnias
Sunflowers
Manmouth dill

Plus, I've been scouring the seed catalogs for what to add next. I have a huge seed order in a shopping cart at one of the suppliers and am going to have to whittle it down in the coming days. I've got another chore ahead moving the strawberries into the asparagus bed (or maybe toss them altogether) to make room for fall planting. For this particular bed, my husband made cold frames that fit over it to extend the season. I'm itching to try it out this year. We tried tunnels, but the winds tore them to bits so we had to reevaluate and come up with other options.

Two more days of this wicked heat and then we can finally get back to a normal summer season. :D

Lusciousleaves, welcome to the discussion. ALL zones are welcome here. Looks like we're gonna be growing some things in common. Nice for comparison!

Keep on posting! I think the southern growers are inside enjoying the A/C!

Linda

yes, GG, Im going to grow radishes, carrots and beets but the two broccolis are the only brassicas. Cabbage takes a lot of space and I dont like it THAT much. I love broccoli so I give the cabbage space to the broccoli or gai lan. I forgot to say the radishes, beets and carrots. They do really well for me. Gradually my soil is getting less lumpy so my carrots are growing more normal instead of "space alien" carrots.

Steadycam,
What soil blend do you grow ur root crops in?

I started several years ago with a mix of potting soil and the earth double-tilled under my beds, adding compost every time I plant a new crop. Im working toward getting something closer to Tapla mix, adding more pine bark fines and some fine rock crumbles for more structure. What I had been using decomposed quickly so the level in my beds had to be replenished often. I just let things "evolve" rather than doing any radical changes. I pretty much compost every weed, grass, plant, stick and kitchen peelings that my property produces so I always have compost. I was limited to how much of the pine bark fines I could purchase so I do that more slowly than I would like but Im not a person who frets.

GG, 90% of the US is inside enjoying the AC! :D Including us way up here. I keep repeating the mantra, "One more day. One more day of the heat . . . "

My garden has never produced a carrot without getting filled with those little worms. White fly, I believe. I'd like to give them another shot again this year, though. Maybe planting later in the season will prove more reliable.

Gymgirl you mentioned rooting tomato cutting how about a few helpfull hints on doing this

Im not GG but take a sucker and stick in a glass of water under a flourescent light or kitchen window and in 5 days you will have roots. then plant in soil.

I'm Gymgirl! Thanks Steadycam!

I changed up my method a bit. I wasn't getting as strong a seedling by rooting them in water . What I do now is dip the tip of the cutting in either a rooting hormone (which I rarely have on hand) or some ground cinnamon. Then, I poke a hole in some fresh potting mix, ease the cutting on down, water in, and sit it off into some shade until I see some new growth.

I took the suckers while the mother plant was relatively healthy. My suckers average between 8" and 12" long.

That's it!

Linda

I have a double T12 48" shop light suspended over my sink area in the kitchen which allows me to root things on my bar which I dont use for sitting or eating. My sister laughs at me for growing something "anywhere there is a small ray of light" in her words. My bar does look like a commercial nursery most of the time but it allows me to see my plants often. For someone like me with ADD, out of sight is out of mind. I think it is this strong light which makes it so easy for me to root things in water. My tomato seedlings have roots thicker than the "hair on a dogs back" as my mom would say. When I plant out, I bury the plant to the point only the top two sets of leaves are above the soil line.

Nice setup!

And now that you mention it, I have a breakfast bar countered that is never used! Duh!!!

Thanx for the help My DW does root starting so I showed her the answers so maybe she will get some going ,I know she has some rootone cause she took all of mine and has not givin it back

I have a question regarding rooting tomato suckers...

If I take a sucker from a determinate tomato plant, will it grow into a full-sized plant and produce tomatoes?

I have lots of healthy looking determinates that I would like to try a fall crop with.

Thanks.

Ok Ladies I took 4 cutting(suckers) from an Abe Lincoln (roma) tomato which I put into a shaded bed and four of same which I put into a jar of water on my back porch where it is shady so now it is just wait and see ....Honeybee if it grows it will be a direct clone see us gardeners have been doing SYFY for a long time///

grits74571 - thanks for your reply. I understand the "clone" part, but am wondering if - because they are determinates - whether or not they will grow into full-sized plants, or if they know they have already reached their end of life.

HB, if we extend that logic, a cloned cat would be born the same age as the parent cat. We know that is not the case because cloned animals are born babies and grow up just as any other animal does. Sorry I dont have time to google that right now to give references but you could, if you have time. All plants from cuttings are clones. Determinate is kinda like "annual" and indeterminate is similar to perennial. The clone of the determinate would then be determinate and have a limited lifespan just like the parent plant. If you clone an annual, ("take a cutting") before the annual dies, you will have a "new" plant which will grow until the frost kills it.

This message was edited Jul 8, 2012 5:22 PM

Honeybee,

Are you asking if you take a cutting from a determinate tomato (one that is genetically designed to only grow so big, then terminate the growing points in a flower cluster), will the cutting plant get as big as the parent? Or will the cutting plant send out the terminal flowers before it reaches full size and prevent the plant from growing to its full size? I don't grow tomatoes from cuttings, but my guess is that if you take a cutting and remove any flower clusters you will 'reset' the fllowering trigger of the plant so that it will grow vegetatively to its full size before setting flowers.

This message was edited Jul 8, 2012 5:18 PM

A frigid 85 degrees F out today, well frigid compared to what we have been getting.
Planted Burpee Stringless Green Pod bush beans where the spring lettuce and kohlrabi were.
Planted the last of my Cool Breeze cucumber seed where I harvested the garlic earlier this week - 15 nice bulbs.
Cole crops and chard started indoors a couple weeks ago, growing well.
Tomato harvest has started - three Muriels (all with a little BER, sigh... the calcium/magnesium supplements couldn't stand up to the weather), and one perfect looking Bella Rosa. Peppers (except for the damaged pimento type ones I picked earlier) I am resisting until they turn color...
Wrapped my sweet corn crop in bird netting, scattered critter repellent around the base, and sprayed the ears with capsaicin spray. Hoping I save enough ears for at least one meal, compared to last year when the squirrels (!) went on a rampage and I didn't get a single ear.

I just LOVE it when y'all talk veggie gardens!

Looks like fall seed starting is about to ramp up. I got a whole lot cleared up in my yard this weekend, so my way toward the seed starting trays is clear.

Hey y'all, I'm getting an ammonia smell in my garage since I stacked six and a half 25 lb. bags of MooNure compost in there. The bags are sealed. Should I tear a slit in them so they can get some air? Does this mean the compost isn't finished? I couldn't leave them outdoors cuz of the ants and possible compost predators.

Thanks

Linda

I just found this thread, so will go back and read all, but just wanted to say I'm glad I found this one as I'm just about to try growing a veggie garden for the first time in FL, it feels weir to start at this time of the year. I've gotten several seed orders in, just have to go slow with getting everything (low budget, as I just got laid off a few months ago). I still have my grow bags, soil mix, and then I'll be set. I'm picking up a 50 pound bag of DE to start my seedlings in, then the next week another item, and so forth.

Looking forward to compairing notes with others who are growing this time of the year.

Jan

ps I love the multi color drawers

meadow how much did you have to pay for 50lb. bag of DE here I can say that the change left from a 20 would buy you a cup of coffee...

O.K. ~ you lost me. Jan, you said you are picking up a 50# bag of DE to start your seedlings? I've always known DE to be diatomaceous earth which is used for bug control, not seed starting fodder. Am I wrong? Kristi

Cybrczch -

meadowyck - I gardened in Palm Beach County, Florida for 30+ years and it gets a little getting used too. But I loved being able to start seedlings outdoors in late summer for winter/spring harvest. Those Jan/Feb occasional frosts were the only thing that spoiled the fun.

I think you're right, Kristi, about the DE. Meadowyck should be starting seeds in a sterile, seed-starting mix. I use MG, but there are any number of brands available.

Meadowyck,

Thanks for the drawer compliment! You have no idea how many responses I have gotten about those drawers. Every time I see them, they make me smile. Will be drilling holes in them today to start my onion seeds in the deeper drawers, and some of the brassicas in the shallower drawers.

Regarding the seed-starting process, here's a link to a seed starting tutorial I put together. It's what I do, however, there are many, many, many other ways to do it. You can skip the part about sterilizing the mix, since you're starting with fresh. I only sterilize re-purposed seedling mix that I use over again, from time to time. I'm starting with more fresh this time. I'm probably very anal about the sterilizing thing but, since I'm on a gardening budget, if I can sterilize what I have to use over and again, well, that's a penny saved!

And, the number one tip I can give you is --

►DO NOT PLANT YOUR SEEDS TOO DEEP!

I have found over these last four seasons of successfully starting tomatoes, bell peppers, and brassicas from seeds, that one of the greatest contributors to seed-starting failure is planting too deeply.

I use a pair of chopsticks and drill holes in my potting mix that, on average, are never deeper than 1/4". It may seem shallow (it did to me, at first), but I compared my previous failures to my current success, and that is just about the defining variable that made such a difference.

Hugs!

http://allthingsplants.com/blogs/entry/136/

Linda

This message was edited Jul 9, 2012 9:12 AM

I place the seeds on the ProMix and sprinkle a light covering of soil on top of the seeds. There is less chance of them being planted too deeply in that manner.

And, the number one tip I can give you is --

►DO NOT LET YOUR SEED STARTING MIXTURE DRY OUT!

I've found that to be the primary requirement of seed starting.

I don't know if anyone else here does succession planting but I just set out 7 cucumbers, 6 squash and will try to do the tomatoes between these wonderful showers. 1/2 inch of rain so far... yippee!

Kristi,
You keep posting those succession planting details here, and you're gonna have a following!

Hugs!

Kudos on the "dry out" tip!

Linda ~ it is just to keep new summer vegies started and when the ones in production play out, rip them up and replant with the new starts. Or you can plant successive rows every two or three weeks with the same results.

This climate is tough on beans, squash, cucumber plants, etc and by starting new plants throughout the summer season, it will keep up continuous production. Just curious if anyone does this or only two plantings? Spring and Fall? Kristi

Kristi,
I'm trying to get on your bandwagon!

My goal is to always have something ready to put in, as soon as I pull something out. Since I'll be starting the brassicas and onion seeds this week, I will strive to have seedlings ready to stagger plant out from August 1st until December 20th.

We have approximately 285 growing days in Houston, and I wanna capture as many growing days as I can starting with my fall/winter garden!

Linda

This message was edited Jul 9, 2012 2:57 PM

Kristi,
Where are you starting your seedlings? This will be my first attempt at starting any seeds outdoors, except for some beets and turnips I did once before. I know it's easier to just sprinkle the seeds on the RB (I guess, since this'll be my first attempt), but with all the pillbugs in my yard, I like to give a seedling the best advantage I can.

I truly don't mind starting them inside under lights, and transplanting them out. Plus, since I have limited growing space, I like to control the number of plants, and would rather set out the right number, than waste seeds by having to thin where I sowed too many!

My first attempt will be with sowing 1/3 of the seeds in the painted drawer seed trays and leaving them outside....but, I'm still starting 1/3 indoors, and I'll be direct sowing the final 1/3 directly in the RBs. It's not a hard and fast experiment, cuz I won't be sowing them all at the same time.

Well, I could if I only sowed a few seeds all at the same time, in the three different locations...maybe...

Linda