My vegetables are coming along nicely.
Tony
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Because of late freezes the last few years, I’ve started my indoor seeds around this time of the year. I just finished sowing the last of them this afternoon. I almost filled two 72 cell trays this time, as I wanted to start my leafy veggies indoors as I’ve had poor results with direct sowing into the garden.
I sowed about 33 tomatoes this year, about the same as last season. Maybe sowed more peppers this year, some of them were seeds I saved from last year, so we’ll see if I did it right. I probably should have started them last month, though.
My 36 cell tray of onions that I started in Feb are now about 4-6in high now, so I need to get these outside soon-
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Oh wait, maybe I missed this on my thread. Are you saying the castings themselves have something in them that actually fights against the bad fungi?
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Your microclimate is warmer than mine. I’ve had light ground frost in early May two out of the last three years. Nothing that would hurt fruit, but enough to kill tomatoes that are at ground level.
I stick to the old “Mothers Day” rule for tender stuff like tomatoes and peppers.
yes, something thats in worm castings helps stop dampening off.
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Last week:
This week:
the tomatoes are getting big, I planted too early…again. oops. I need something to do in late winter and then end up with too big tomatoes.
Here’s my extended-ish forecast- could i put the maters outside? They probably wouldn’t grow much but they would be out of my basement.
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I wouldn’t plant them out, but I would just put them out a few hours each day to harden them off. First few days in some shady areas, a few more hours each day, then give them some sun a bit more every day.
Being in Minnesota, your last frost date is prob in May, so I sure wouldn’t put them in the ground until next month. Even if it doesn’t freeze, the cold temps may stunt their growth if you plant them in the next few weeks.
We don’t even put ours out until late May here, but it’s usually because it’s usually very wet here that month, and I don’t like planting stuff in the mud.
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well i guess i planted my peppers too early. started them at the beginning of march. all 17 are 12in high and already have peppers 1/2in. long. they are only in 1qt. containers. would like to pot up but don’t have room in my grow room to do it. have 3 more weeks before i can put them in the green house. i guess they will have to make it on kelp/ fish emulsion fert. until i can put them out .
Put those pots in clear plastic tubs and set those out. Keep a thermometer in at least one tub to keep tabs on the temps. On cool days you might have to keep them closed, but if there is any sun you will have to monitor them closely to keep them from overheating. Keep the cover partly open then and weighed down. It takes more watching than the lights, but if you are home during the day it can work. On cold nights just bring the tubs inside and stack them near the door overnight. I have even taken them with me when called out of town for several days to visit a dying sister. Any weather over about 68 degrees you will have to remove the covers completely. And as Subdood said, break the plants into sunshine gradually. Also, you can pinch back plants, which will make them bush out more.
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there is a couple things you can do to slow them down.
First thing is stop giving them any kind of ferts. second is cool the roots down by putting ice cubes in the cups to water them.
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I’ve been just giving water and limited sun. they are very pale green and seemed to have slowed down since i put them in limited light. ill try the ice cube trick. 
next week ill have my greenhouse up and they will go in there until i can plant in the yard.
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I started my indoor plants recently.
Parsley, lettuces, chard, kale and broccoli.
Cabbages and some kale. I am doing more cabbages this year as we find them very versatile and have been easier to grow than broccoli and cauliflower.
These seeds are in my basement right now, but will be moved into the unheated garage soon. I think it is too warm inside for the brassicas.
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My basement grow room is good for the cool season stuff, but cold for maters etc.
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I start and keep tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers indoors. Start them in small cells and up pot into Solo cups. I plan on sowing these next weekend. What lights do you run?
JustAnne4 is right, those resources are a good source of knowledge. When cannabis was legalized in my state I started looking for info on how to grow it at home. After checking some articles on 420growradar, apparently I have two tents for this in garage and I would say that’s very enjoyable hobby. I managed to harvest a few times and looking for expand my garden outside.
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Here’s some ornamentals (aster, chamomile, catmint, coleus, nasturtium) that have been growing for… a while I really can’t even remember when I planted them. I used compost and perlite. Still just using plain old Costco shop lights, same lights for the past 3 years now.
The second pic is a mystery. I have it labeled pansy, but I’m becoming suspicious that it’s really spinach. I’m too afraid to try and eat it.
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That is funny. When I was first married I planted flower seeds and put them on the window sill. Only one germinated and it grew fast, then my farmer husband looked at it one day and asked my why on earth I would plant stink weed.
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I usually wait until the second set of true leaves grows out. But I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. Waiting to thin helps the root ball hold together better a bit when it comes time to up-pot / transplant.
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lol…
I went into the local hydro-growing store and after wandering around for about 10 minutes an employee came up to me and asked if I needed help growing anything. I said I was looking for coco coir and he asked what I was going to be growing. I replied, I grow “weird stuff” and literally everyone in the store, all 10 of them replied “we all grow weird stuff”.
We laughed and they all grow pretty much the same thing. My weird stuff consists of things like kiwis, passiflora, schizandra, poncirus, etc. They were all surprised at the kinds of things that one could grow here. They also let me know that if I ever needed help growing their weird stuff that any one of them could help me figure out what the problem could be…
I have a very small, as in a 5-way splitter with white and multi-colored LED lights, grow light set up now. I have never had much luck starting seeds, except by winter sowing outside. My tomatoes end up leggy. My squash seem to do ok, but as soon as I get them outside they are so tender and lush that they seem to attract every insect and fungal problem within days of being set out. I direct sow lettuce, spinach, chard, beets, peas and carrots.
I also don’t have space to really do seedlings. I have 2 rooms of the basement filled with plants already. The rest of the house ends up being the stomping grounds (quite literally) of the kids and pets…
Well, maybe one day…
Scott
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