AMKuska's 2023 Garden

[AMKuska]

Look how big they've gotten!! All the first set are big enough for 4" pots now, with the next set probably a week or so behind.

I'm very pleased because I wanted to start tomatoes pretty soon and I didn't want them to overwhelm the peppers. They are all doing so well, I don't think it will be a problem.

 

[AMKuska]

I was reminded to get my cold season stuff started today. Leeks, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and lettuce. This year I'm trying something new--I selected varieties for shortest days to maturity. Many times my cold season stuff took forever to produce anything. It turns out some of them take as long as 100 days to produce, and that's not counting the germination stage.

 

[digitS']

A better way than days-to-maturity would be some weather measure related to a variety’s maturity. “Heat Units/Growing Degree Days” are measures that meteorology provides. Some seed companies evaluate and provide that information for commercial growers. Your coastal weather tends to be cool and cloudy, AMKuska, as does my Spring weather.

Of course, the plant isn’t a thermometer responding only to warmth. Sunlight is needed for growth. Filtered through clouds or direct, of course, light can be measured but there is all this complexity with life. It could come down to a good guess but I think way to often DTM is just something pulled out of the air .

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

How far back did you prune them?

I followed the method of removing all leaves and pruning back until you have two 'Y' shaped branches with nodes coming off the main stem. Then the plants sat dormant in the basement near a window, until I moved them back out in spring. The jalapenos survived but did not fruit any earlier than my new pepper seedlings, so it was a lot of effort with no obvious gain. I should try again though. I had planted them in the hottest part of my garden, and as others have mentioned peppers seem to like to have some relief from the heat during the day.

 

[AMKuska]

A better way than days-to-maturity would be some weather measure related to a variety’s maturity. “Heat Units/Growing Degree Days” are measures that meteorology provides. Some seed companies evaluate and provide that information for commercial growers. Your coastal weather tends to be cool and cloudy, AMKuska, as does my Spring weather.

Of course, the plant isn’t a thermometer responding only to warmth. Sunlight is needed for growth. Filtered through clouds or direct, of course, light can be measured but there is all this complexity with life. It could come down to a good guess but I think way to often DTM is just something pulled out of the air .

Steve

Hmm, it's not provided on any of my packets. I tried looking up a few variety's on google, but no luck.

If I tried to take this measure myself, do you know how I might do it? I can take daily temperature samples, I can at least note when the weather is cool/cloudy.

 

[AMKuska]

I followed the method of removing all leaves and pruning back until you have two 'Y' shaped branches with nodes coming off the main stem. Then the plants sat dormant in the basement near a window, until I moved them back out in spring. The jalapenos survived but did not fruit any earlier than my new pepper seedlings, so it was a lot of effort with no obvious gain. I should try again though. I had planted them in the hottest part of my garden, and as others have mentioned peppers seem to like to have some relief from the heat during the day.

Hmm. I agree, peppers actually don't like it so hot. My peppers died in the heat dome a couple of years ago. I've had really good luck with pruning pepper plants for bigger growth, but I've never pruned them for overwintering. If there's any hot peppers my husband likes from this test plot, I might try it.

 

[Zeedman]

A better way than days-to-maturity would be some weather measure related to a variety’s maturity. “Heat Units/Growing Degree Days” are measures that meteorology provides. Some seed companies evaluate and provide that information for commercial growers. Your coastal weather tends to be cool and cloudy, AMKuska, as does my Spring weather.

Of course, the plant isn’t a thermometer responding only to warmth. Sunlight is needed for growth. Filtered through clouds or direct, of course, light can be measured but there is all this complexity with life. It could come down to a good guess but I think way to often DTM is just something pulled out of the air .

Steve

I agree completely. For many plants, heat units (or a lack of them) has a strong influence on the days to maturity. DTM numbers are best used as a ballpark figure, and for comparing one variety to another. So IMO, DTM numbers should be given the same respect as the local weather forecast... keep it in mind, but don't treat it as gospel.

 

[digitS']

AMKuska, the weather service used to make it so easy. If they are still computing the information for us, I no longer know where to find it. Strange that their web page for 2019 is still available ....

I know that various universities have the information on their websites. Perhaps WSU has it and you can go into their nearby office and stand there and demand that they show you where the weekly data is available. Short of that, you can squeeze out the temperature data from the WS and stick it in a complicated formula (which you can find on Wikipedia, along with some info on when things like when corn and wheat do what).

Or, you can tap into a website that farmers use. Here's one LINK. If the weather service or ag agencies still have something, maybe someone can find it and share.

Steve
Ah ha!

Growing Degree Days | WSU Viticulture and Enology | Washington State University

The progression of in-season grapevine development is strongly influenced by air temperature. As such, average heat accumulation is often used to compare regions and vine growing condition. This average heat accumulation is often referred to as Growing Degree Days (GDD). The summation of daily...

wine.wsu.edu

 

[AMKuska]

Thank you @Zeedman and @digitS' for your thoughts. I think I'll record my own dates and temperatures and see if I can get a better idea for my plants. I think this in combination with saving my seed and trying to adapt veggies to my area will probably be the most helpful.

Today, my husband came back from the grocery store in a state of shock. The cost of everything was soooo high. I'm thinking I might double up on what I grow so the burden of the grocery store isn't quite so much.

I also ordered another one of the shelves I got for Christmas. They are so wonderful, and gives me a great deal more space to grow.

 

[Branching Out]

Just wanted to mention a brand of potting soil that I am quite happy with so far, called G & B (Gardner & Bloome). I bought a small bale of it at WFC (Whatcom Farmers Co-op), and I really like the texture. Their ingredient list is impressive, with bat guano, worm castings, and feather/kelp/alfalfa meal. So far no large pieces of wood, but I am just getting started on the bale.