Started My 2019 Plants Today

[flowerbug]

I now have 10 of my 15 cells out in the open under the grow lights. About the only things that haven't germinated so far are the peppers and egg plant, actually a couple of the peppers have a couple of starts in their cells.
My local farm supply store just got their seeds, bulbs and root plants in, I picked up a few rhubarb roots and I'm gonna try and keep them "happy" until it's time to plant them. They're kinda pricy at $5 a root.

THANX RICH

put 'em in a big pot (one root per pot) and plop 'em under the grow lights. if all of them don't make it send me a note later this spring and i'll mail you some to try again - i've never been able to kill them all off.

 

[digitS']

It's interesting that a plant that can really take abuse in the North, has survival problems in the South. Maybe it's dormancy that allows it ...

Dad's 40 year old rhubarb plant sat right against the eastside of the house. It never had a drop of fertilizer. Mom was a baker and rhubarb pie needs were met just by pulling stems, don't cut, pull. (tapioca in the pie filling )

I have 5 plants sliced off that original. Before too long, I'll be watching out for them trying to set seeds instead of growing leaves. They are in a location where watering is a little awkward. That's about the extent to the bother. Long Winter Dormancy. It must be what allows them to recover from neglect.

I'm beginning to check the containers for sprouting pepper and snapdragon seeds. Well, checking by staring at the soil surface for long periods of time. Should get some eggplant seeds in!

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

Actually I did my pre planting routine on Friday when I filled my growing cells with potting soil.
I have a bunch of Jiffy grow trays and I fill used 4 cell containers with soil. I place the containers in the grow tray with the soil in them, then I fill the bottom of the tray with water and let the water soak into the soil from the bottom.
In about 24 hrs. the cells are soaked to the top.
I did one tray today and have about 12 four cell containers with tomato, 1 Black Beauty eggplant, 1jalapeno pepper and 1 with Calif. Wonder peppers.
I put a clear lid on the tray and set it in my growing cabinet. I'll see what happens in a couple or 3 weeks.

THANX RICH

I have started cool weather crops and long season crops. Peppers next.

 

[so lucky]

I guess I need to start thinking about seeds. Honestly, I don't have a great ambition this year yet.
I haven't been able to get in the garden and finish clearing off the old straw and newspaper (was my plan to combat carry- over bug eggs) because of the constant rain. So I'm going into the season behinder than I was last year, I think!
I could at least plant some pepper and tomato seeds......

 

[ducks4you]

My rhubard was planted some 15 years ago and the ONLY thing I have done with it was transplant a part of it when I knocked it off with a spade. Don't water or fertilize it, haven't even harvested it, but I might do that this year. They both sit on the west side of the garage with NO wind protection. VERY hardy.
Some northern plants need a good and cold winter and don't like the "Southern Sauna" summer. Funny, I ALWAYS have volunteer tomato plants every year, even though they are tropical.

 

[ducks4you]

I guess I need to start thinking about seeds. Honestly, I don't have a great ambition this year yet.
I haven't been able to get in the garden and finish clearing off the old straw and newspaper (was my plan to combat carry- over bug eggs) because of the constant rain. So I'm going into the season behinder than I was last year, I think!
I could at least plant some pepper and tomato seeds......

I never seem to get my beds cleaned up either. Once I start pruning my fruit trees I will probably clean the beds up and burn what I should have cleaned up last Fall. I just dig out what I don't want and move in more mulch in it's place. All good.

 

[digitS']

Funny, I ALWAYS have volunteer tomato plants every year, even though they are tropical.

Tomato plants and varieties are a mystery to me.

When we read about the location of the wild relatives, we learn that some describe it as "one of the driest places on earth." Wild tomatoes grow in the rain shadow of the Andes. Moisture for some of this landscape is from the mists that rise from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Dew is an important source of moisture!

Probably because of their centuries in wide distribution, tomatoes have adapted to growing in climates far different. I find that the varieties that I would like to grow to be quite "needful." and yet, I can't help but think that my garden location is more like their ancestral home than the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania!

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

Tomato plants and varieties are a mystery to me.

When we read about the location of the wild relatives, we learn that some describe it as "one of the driest places on earth." Wild tomatoes grow in the rain shadow of the Andes. Moisture for some of this landscape is from the mists that rise from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Dew is an important source of moisture!

Probably because of their centuries in wide distribution, tomatoes have adapted to growing in climates far different. I find that the varieties that I would like to grow to be quite "needful." and yet, I can't help but think that my garden location is more like their ancestral home than the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania!

Steve

life will try to adapt wherever it can. as far as reproduction and fruiting go those seeds have to hatch where they fall or are carried. i sure would not want to be so dependent upon chance like that, but plants manage because they can have so many offspring each season and just a few have to survive to grow in some following year. in a drier climate that may actually be a good thing as long as there are seasonal rains or dew enough to sprout and grow because on the off season without the moisture the seeds would not have as many fungi/etc trying to rot it.

in our native soil and climax forest tomatoes would not fare so well. there's not enough light in a forest here and the cold would keep them from sprouting for quite some time. it would be quite a chance for some tomato plant to be able to grow in some random clearing/meadow - most likely brought in by a bird and then deposited...

 

[dickiebird]

put 'em in a big pot (one root per pot) and plop 'em under the grow lights. if all of them don't make it send me a note later this spring and i'll mail you some to try again - i've never been able to kill them all off.

bug
Today I did just as ordered, the biggest thing with potting them up was going out to the green house and bringing in the potting soil
We'll see what happens!!
Whatever happens will have to be better than the way I was doing it.
OH, by the way my neighbor gave me a seed/plant catalog she got in the mail and their rhubarb is a lot less pricy than the ones I bought locally, even considering shipping.
I'm working up an order now.

THANX RICH

 

[flowerbug]

bug
Today I did just as ordered, the biggest thing with potting them up was going out to the green house and bringing in the potting soil
We'll see what happens!!
Whatever happens will have to be better than the way I was doing it.

THANX RICH

let us know how the babies do! i think they are beautiful plants with those huge leaves.

what variety of rhubarb did you get?