Vegetables

[Twincreekfarm]

I grow an abundance of veggies in the summer. I get my starter plants for $0.50 each so I'm able to have 80 plants for $40.00! I lost only a handful of items this past summer but we had one heck of a garden. This is only my second year gardening and I am hooked!

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

luck for you!

every time I plant vegies, they always turn out to die because I plant them at the wrong time.

 

[silkiechicken]

You really should look into starting from seed. I grow about 80 tomato plants from seed and it costs... oh. 10 bucks for a bag of good quality dirt with no weeds, and 4 bucks for two packets of seeds? More tomatoes than you know what to do with!

Here's a hint at getting to grow stronger and less lanky in the house, since I have to start them about 8-10 weeks early inside because our average last frost date is may 25 or something. Put them real close to a grow light and have a fan blowing over them for a few hours every day. Really stiffens them out. Don't forget to harden them off too by doing one hour in the sun, two hours and so on or cloudy days for the last three weeks...

Maybe that is a lot of work though... I just have too much fun doing it!

To give an idea of season here, this past summer, albet a cool one, took 100+ days for 64 day corn to ripen...

 

[Twincreekfarm]

I have tried starting from seed, but I get so distracted that i end up killing them. However, with the 80 plants I bought last year (I get them from a local mom & pop from their home with 3 greenhouses) I had tomatoes (4 varieties), broccoili, cabbage, brussel sprouts, half runners, bell peppers, cauliflower, corn, and onions. I didn't lose much and they wer all very abundant! I have 6 kids and like zero patience at this point i my life, so the starters are great for me. I used to think i had no freen thumb at all cause I kill all house plants but I do really well with an outdoor garden, go figure!

 

[henrietta23]

You really should look into starting from seed. I grow about 80 tomato plants from seed and it costs... oh. 10 bucks for a bag of good quality dirt with no weeds, and 4 bucks for two packets of seeds? More tomatoes than you know what to do with!

Here's a hint at getting to grow stronger and less lanky in the house, since I have to start them about 8-10 weeks early inside because our average last frost date is may 25 or something. Put them real close to a grow light and have a fan blowing over them for a few hours every day. Really stiffens them out. Don't forget to harden them off too by doing one hour in the sun, two hours and so on or cloudy days for the last three weeks...

Maybe that is a lot of work though... I just have too much fun doing it!

To give an idea of season here, this past summer, albet a cool one, took 100+ days for 64 day corn to ripen...

I've done all of that with some success in past years, except that I've never heard of using a fan before. It makes a lot of sense! I can't wait to try it.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, it is a bit time intensive. A fan does well, it will blow all the plants to one side, but just rotate them and they will be stronger in the end... then again though, I do tomatoes this way, and when they are about 6-8 inches tall and weather makes it ready for transplant, I burry them into the ground so only about 2 inches show up. Helps with the rooting and keeps the need for watering down. It's really wet here anyways, but I usually water maybe twice a week in the summer, or just once if it's cloudy all week.

 

[henrietta23]

Yeah, it is a bit time intensive. A fan does well, it will blow all the plants to one side, but just rotate them and they will be stronger in the end... then again though, I do tomatoes this way, and when they are about 6-8 inches tall and weather makes it ready for transplant, I burry them into the ground so only about 2 inches show up. Helps with the rooting and keeps the need for watering down. It's really wet here anyways, but I usually water maybe twice a week in the summer, or just once if it's cloudy all week.

LOL, the first time I planted tomatoes up to their first leaves my DH thought I was nuts! I had to pull out my old gardening books to show him why because he thought I was making it up.

 

[897tgigvib]

I like that method for starting plants. Light and fan. They call that Rapid Transpiration, and that's a good thing.