BYC gardening thread!!

[lazy gardener]

Lettuce doesn't like to sprout in warm soil. Most likely, same for the other mentioned crops. But, they should sprout just fine in the house. One old timer's trick for sprouting those cold weather seeds outdoors in hot weather is to plant them, and then dump some ice cubes over the row, cover the row with a board to keep the sun off the row for a few days. Be sure to check daily for sprouts, then you can uncover the row.

 

[hennible]

Very cool

 

[marktoo]

Yay! Another thread for garden fun and advice!

So I have a question for all you multi-year gardeners out there. We're in zone 8b (Texas) and just got our garden started this last weekend. We'd wanted lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli and a Swiss chard or two but were unable to find plants, only seeds. We have been told that those plants won't grow during the summer here but I remember my grandmother growing lettuce, spinach, cauliflower and broccoli and everything else she wanted all year long out by the lake house. We have seeds for the above mentioned plants so we can start them in the house and run them out to the AP system once they are about 4 inches tall. By that time they'll be partially shaded by the taller pepper and tomato plants that are already growing.

Any real reason not to try it? As additional information the water in our AP system is 15-20 degrees cooler than the outside air so our grow beds remain cooler than the surrounding soil.

Thanks bunches!

RichnSteph.

I'm in 8b or 9a depending on what site you're looking in. I can start cole crops & lettuce in the 100+ temps of August & Sept if I only allow them morning sun then put em in the ground as the weather is beginning to cool, but if I tried to grow them now they would bolt. I direct seed very little! Hey, if your Grandmother did it, give it a shot, California Master Gardeners has a Veggie planting schedule for each of our zones I looked around & found this for Texas http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/organic/files/2011/03/E-502_home_vegetable_guide.pdf

 

[vehve]

Can you find one for Southern Finland?

 

[vehve]

Tomato seeds went in 4 weeks ago today.


I have run out of height on the light support, so I'm going to have to repot them ASAP and rig up something horribly ugly to support the lights higher than what these do. Even though the lights don't produce much heat, the leaves are starting to brown in some spots from resting against the light. And it's still way too early to get these guys outside, won't be warm enough for at least a month.

 

[hennible]

Hang it from the ceiling Felix...

 

[marktoo]

Can you find one for Southern Finland?

http://www.finlandforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=35910

 

[City farm]

@City farm : Thank you! I'm not particularly new to BYC, I'm just figuring out which threads to follow and participate in.

Yes, me too!!

 

[City farm]

I was checking my rosemary cutting to day and they actually rooted!

I will have to catch up on that article you posted..
Did you put anything on the cutting?

 

[City farm]

The four chicks in the brooder managed to escape in my project room and do a walkabout, hid pretty well as it took a bit to find all of them.  The only damage appeared to be some errant chicken poo on the carpet.  HOWEVER, I noticed today when watering the growlight seedlings that all the pepper sprouts are just denuded stems.  Ahem.   It seems my husband's chicken Annie the Ameraucana did a little free-ranging and took out this year's pepper crop.  

Boy they are spoiled brat's.. We have decided to do our garden in pot's and a raised horse trough.. Even our duck's go threw the Canis ..