MeggsyGardenGirl
Chillin' In The Garden
Marshall, I never thought of starting beans inside. I always thought they didn't like transplanting, much like cucumbers. But of course, I do transplant cucumbers just to get a jump start on them. Does this work for any bean type like, for instance, flat Italian? Do you figure starting about 1 month prior to planting out? What soil temp would you want before planting the bean seedlings out? Please tell me more!marshallsmyth said:All but one of the first 20 cells of beans are up now, and about 7 of the second 30 bunch of cells are sprouting also.
So this morning I gave them some fresh slightly warm water after taking them off the heat pad and removing the plastic cover, and set them in my garden, and put the plastic top back on. It was 48 degrees in the shade, but I put them in a light spot. They will go outside like this during the days and back in at night for about a month.
If they do become too large for the packed cells I'll split them into 2 flats, separated with soil between them. They will probably be planted outside around the 1st of May.
These are the rare late maturing beans. I packed the best seeds of them to send to Russ Crow, and even these are giving a great germination percentage. Some of these were what I call "premies".
Kind of excited that Blue Gold Star and Night Star should produce a lot more than last year, planting the seeds 5 weeks sooner inside plus having them sprout more than twice as fast as last year. This should give them about 6 more weeks of production this year than last year. Course, last year's season did not completely end until December, but I am prepared to house up a frame and plastic cover for them if the season ends earlier this year.
The kind of thing a gardener can learn to do after gardening in barely zone 4, sometimes zone 3 Montana, where ya learn the importance of season extending at both ends. And oh shoot, coming back to California, wow! Planting peas March 16th!