Inside Starts, Yours & Mine

digitS'

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I have 9 Giant Marconi sprouts as of today!

The box will have to come out here to the South Window by tomorrow morning so I'm hoping some of the other 8 varieties will begin to emerge.

The prospect of sunshine doesn't seem very good for the week . . .

Steve
Oh Hey! I decided to move the flats of onions back to the south wall of the greenhouse since their chance of freezing there this week has now vanished. I found 20+ sweet onion sprouts!
 
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digitS'

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Well, I don't know about zones but we could use the rule of thumb that tomatoes and peppers shouldn't go out until the overnight temperatures stay above 45°f. I checked back the last 3 years:

2013, June 15th
2012, June 20th
2011, June 26th

Some experts advise 50° so I could run right into July!

You see why I have stunted peppers every single year, Red? I don't feel I can wait that late to set the warm-season plants out. This is also why I am in various states of panic at the end of May/early June after I have set them out (usually tomatoes, first) that I have to protect them from actual frost.

Steve
 

thistlebloom

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Well, I don't know about zones but we could use the rule of thumb that tomatoes and peppers shouldn't go out until the overnight temperatures stay above 45°f. I checked back the last 3 years:

2013, June 15th
2012, June 20th
2011, June 26th

Some experts advise 50° so I could run right into July!

You see why I have stunted peppers every single year, Red? I don't feel I can wait that late to set the warm-season plants out. This is also why I am in various states of panic at the end of May/early June after I have set them out (usually tomatoes, first) that I have to protect them from actual frost.

Steve

Sheesh, wait until my peppers find out I've been kicking them out the door about 3 weeks early! I fear a rebellion....
 

buckabucka

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I usually put the peppers and tomatoes out on May 31st. Last year, they were protected by the hoop house, but still got badly frosted. The peppers lost all their leaves, but slowly rebounded and it turned out to be an excellent year.
Predicting that last spring frost is always a crap shoot.
 

digitS'

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I hope it is clear that I am putting the warm-season plants out near the end of May. If I follow the rule of thumb, they won't go into the open garden until late June.

The more conservative experts would even have me wait longer.

I think that there are some pepper and tomato even melon advantages to growing here thru their seasons. Arid climate, good soil drainage may be a couple of them. Being out there in late May and June is a cruelty.

Steve
 

buckabucka

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Even before our hoop houses, I never really had a normal "open garden". Black plastic just about everywhere. Peppers under floating row cover fabric all summer, and each tomato plant was incased in clear plastic sheeting (only open at the top).

It used to be so labor intensive: cut hole in plastic, put in tomato seedling, put on cage, stake cage in two places, wrap cage in plastic, pull out tape. Drop tape into dirt while swatting hordes of blackflies, curse, retrieve tape that has rolled away while plastic sheeting gets picked up by wind, etc. Now, I only do the first three steps. I don't even stake the cages, as there is no wind in the hoop.

Our best garden feature (which has it's own downfalls that we compensate for), is the soil is sand. You can dig up the whole yard looking for a rock, but you won't find one.
 

digitS'

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I didn't have an acre of protected growing when I worked at the greenhouses. I mean, we had to grow the boss' roses in there to pay for all the heat! I was still kind of spoiled by having a very wide, sunny walkway near the packing shed and tolerant co-workers :).

I replaced that space for starts with my own backyard but,it's only a backyard. . . and, the neighbor's backyard. I just need more neighbors like Ken!

Steve
 
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