Your 2024 Garden

[Nomadicus]

I have no idea what was just perfect about the one monster spinach I managed to grow (it bolted and got a few feet tall, but leaves were still perfectly edible so I just cut what I needed, and we really did have spinach on and off for weeks). Never had another one like that!

Last year's spinach barely sprouted even though the seeds were only a year old, and quietly died in sprout form. Couldn't get a single one to stick.

That might have been a really good plant to save seeds from.

 

[gtaus]

So when people talk about it Bolting, what does that mean? I only see it mentioned in spinach and similar plants

Increase in temperature causes some plants to shoot upward (hence bolting) and set flowers. Generally causes the greens to become bitter, like it's quite noticeable in lettuce, as the plant puts its energy in producing flowers and seed.

Bolting means the plant has flowered and is now in the "setting seed" phase of its life. It's a term used for greens, especially, because when it happenes, the leaves often become bitter, or tough. So something that is referred to as "slow bolting," that's a good trait.

I usually grow a number of cool weather greens that don't like hot weather, like Kale, Swiss Chard, and Spinach. I have had moderate success growing them in garden beds that are not exposed to sunlight all day long. Like maybe a bed that is in shade late morning thru the remainder of the day.

You might not be able to do anything about the temperature outside, but I have seen some people use shade cloth over their cool weather greens to cut down the pounding sunlight. It helps.

If you snip off the flowering top when the plant starts to bolt, you might be able to save some of the greens before they really turn bitter. But, in my limited experience, once the plant starts to bolt, the season is over for those plants.

 

[Nomadicus]

I want to try growing spinach under a hoop top made of clear visqueen for green houses that as a shade green dye applied to it. That works on tomatoes in the heat of summer so maybe it might work on greens. Ends open for ventilation or maybe covered with a screen that would keep all but the tiniest bugs out. Lots of ventilation. 8' wide by 12's long is worth an experiment. Maybe a second one for a few slicing tomatoes to keep stink bugs off of and prevent sunburn on the shoulders.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

In theory, I like the idea of compostable pots. In practice, I ended up with compostable pots that were growing mold on them before they got planted. Probably, totally, my fault. But the pots had so much mold on them that I would not bury them in transplanting.

After watching some YouTube videos on this issue, I switched over to potting up my early plants into 3 inch net cups....

View attachment 3715461

The net cups worked much better for me, bottom watering them in a tray, and at the end of 8 weeks growing inside the house, none of them had any mold. Those net cups come in both smaller and larger sizes, depending on what you are starting to grow inside the house and how long you want to grow them indoors.

A big part of me wants to reduce the amount of plastics I use in my gardening. However, if you buy the heavy-duty net cups, you can reuse them year after year. So that made me feel better about using plastic again in my gardening efforts.

Because of those slits in the net cup, the roots air prune themselves and do not develop that spiral of death and get root bound in a typical starting pot. My transplants were much healthier after transplanting last spring, even compared to the compostable pots I had used in the past. The air pruned root structure is just better if the plant is started in these net cups.

Given, I'm not the greatest gardener, and maybe those compostable pots are just fine if you know what you are doing, but I'm just saying that I had much, much better luck with the net cups and bottom watering.

If you are interested in learning more, here is one short video on using net cups...

Hmm, I might try those when my stack of the compostables run out, so probably just next year at this point

 

[JacinLarkwell]

How do yall feel about the spacing recommendations listed with seeds. I followed them last year, but I just feel like it's more room than really needed. Maybe it's about the surrounding soil nutrients more than literal space around the plant?

 

[Sally PB]

I have to say Slo-Bolt cilantro seems to bolt just as fast as regular cilantro.

It's the only one I had, so I can't compare. Maybe it's just a marketing ploy.

I usually grow a number of cool weather greens that don't like hot weather, like Kale, Swiss Chard, and Spinach. I have had moderate success growing them in garden beds that are not exposed to sunlight all day long. Like maybe a bed that is in shade late morning thru the remainder of the day.

I've read that cucumbers (I think...?) could do with some afternoon shade. Or maybe it was spinach...

 

[Sally PB]

How do yall feel about the spacing recommendations listed with seeds.

I usually plant, say, beans, at the "final" spacing recommended. I wait for them to sprout, and give them an extra week or so. Then I will replant seeds in between where none came up (for any reason).

For stuff like lettuce or greens, I would plant at the "seed planting" spacing. If a lot come up, then I thin them out and eat the young plants in a salad. Or give them to the chickens.

 

[Nomadicus]

How do yall feel about the spacing recommendations listed with seeds. I followed them last year, but I just feel like it's more room than really needed. Maybe it's about the surrounding soil nutrients more than literal space around the plant?

Varieties within a vegetable type can also vary in space needs and with a vegetable that gets prune and how pruned can make a big difference. Tomatoes can be planted a foot apart or 3.5 feet apart. All depends on culture and variety.

 

[Iluveggers]

I am meticulous about my tomatoes. I grow them in small trays, up-pot twice, and use a post-hole digger to plant them, burying the stem as much as possible, and filling the hole with a bunch of nutrients that break down as feed. Unfortunately I have had no luck w sweet peppers, my son’s favorite vegetable. lol

I use peat pots for squash, cucumbers, and sunflowers. When I plant them directly in the ground, I feel like it sometimes takes too long for them to grow to full size before it gets cold. The peat pots are great because these 3 things don’t like to have their roots disturbed, so I can plant the whole pot in the ground.

As far as seed spacing, I am so bad. For lettuce, greens, beets, and carrots, I just sprinkle seeds all over their growing area. if they get too crowded I pull out the ones too close to one another.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I am meticulous about my tomatoes. I grow them in small trays, up-pot twice, and use a post-hole digger to plant them, burying the stem as much as possible, and filling the hole with a bunch of nutrients that break down as feed. Unfortunately I have had no luck w sweet peppers, my son’s favorite vegetable. lol

I use peat pots for squash, cucumbers, and sunflowers. When I plant them directly in the ground, I feel like it sometimes takes too long for them to grow to full size before it gets cold. The peat pots are great because these 3 things don’t like to have their roots disturbed, so I can plant the whole pot in the ground.

As far as seed spacing, I am so bad. For lettuce, greens, beets, and carrots, I just sprinkle seeds all over their growing area. if they get too crowded I pull out the ones too close to one another.

I was mainly considering just sprinkling my carrots. They're just so freaking tiny as seeds and none of my varieties should get very thick around.

Tomatoes did decent with my spacing last year, so I'll probably do that again