Working on next years garden plan

[nachoqtpie]

So far, I think I've got most things figured out!

I went to SproutRobot and it says that I should start my broccoli indoors on 12-28, and transplant 2-1. Our average last frost is 15March.
Now, Burpee says that I should start it the end of Feb and transplant 15March.
I'm not sure which to follow. :-/

Another thing... we are going to try our hand at growing eggplant this year and wondered if we could grow it with peppers. Our hot peppers are going to go on the other side of they yard to try and cut any cross pollination, but can the peppers and eggplant grow together??

 

[digitS']

Oh, I like easy questions like this, qt!

Eggplant is Solanum melongena. Most garden peppers are Capsicum annuum. There are few others but they are all of the genus Capsicum. So, eggplants & peppers are separate genus & species that can't cross.

Still, they have similar needs and wants. I think having them close together is a good idea .

Broccoli? I wouldn't plan on sowing the seed earlier than 8 weeks before setting out. Six weeks would be better. And, I wouldn't want them to have more than a few light frosts so setting them out, at most, a couple weeks before last frost would be tuff enuf for them.

. . . my 2 and I hope it helps.

Steve

 

[nachoqtpie]

Thanks Steve!
When you say sow... meaning indoors or out? Are we SUPPOSED to start broccoli outdoors or is it an okay thing to start indoors and transplant? (We're hoping to keep them in a peat pot until transplant.)

Now what about Carrots and lettuce? SproutRobot has them being direct sow 2-1 as well. That's a full 6 weeks before the last frost date! Do you think I should wait till a bit closer to the date before we put those in?

I'm just trying to "nail down" times in advance so we're not going "I wonder when we were supposed to put that in..." in the middle of April like we were this year!

We want to also get some asparagus and rhubarb in this year as well. I know that neither of those we will be able to EAT this year, but, we're okay with that. I just hope that all of our fruit trees and bushes make it thru the winter! Our raspberries weren't looking so good at the end... but.. I don't know when they're supposed to start "looking dead" either! :/

 

[wsmoak]

Thanks Steve!
When you say sow... meaning indoors or out? Are we SUPPOSED to start broccoli outdoors or is it an okay thing to start indoors and transplant? (We're hoping to keep them in a peat pot until transplant.)

You can definitely start broccoli indoors. (I didn't have good luck with it this year as a spring crop but I'll try one more time with the Packman variety that does so well for me in the fall.) Broccoli wants lots of room -- try growing one in a container and see how the head size compares! I would peel the peat pot away when planting it to make absolutely sure those roots can spread.

-Wendy

 

[nachoqtpie]

Broccoli wants lots of room -- try growing one in a container and see how the head size compares!

So, in our 4'x8' raised beds, how many do you think we could fit in a half bed (4x4)? We want to plant onions in the other half. The bed beside that we're going to plant carrots. I figure we can freeze the ones that we don't immediately use, and I will probably do a bit of freezing for the onions as well.

I'm at a point where I've got most of everything planned, but, if it works out the way I plan for it to, I will be super surprised! LOL The only crop that's staying in the same place as it did last year is the corn, but we're working a lot of compost into the soil as well.

 

[digitS']

Qt, I looked on the "about" page of SproutRobot - which I'd never heard of before today. There are 3 links to the SR people. Unless I missed it, there was not 1 word about garden or horticulture or agriculture on those pages. They are designers of webpages and probably a lot more with regards to technology than I've got no clue about . . .

February 1st seems awfully early to plant carrot or lettuce seed, but maybe. Here is what NCSU says:

carrots Feb 15-Mar 1
lettuce (leaf) Mar 1-Apr 1
Broccoli is listed at Mar 15-31 but I'm fairly sure they are talking about setting out plants not direct-sowing in the garden.

"In eastern NC plant 7 to 14 days earlier in spring and 7 to 14 days later in fall."

You can find the NCSU calendar here: Home Vegetable Gardening. And, there is information about starting seed indoors for transplants.

The calendar can also be found here and since it's the only thing on the webpage it may be easier for you to print it:

http://www.wqseeds.com/planting.html

Hope that helps.

Steve
edited: here's a pdf file for that calendar. that will be real easy to print:

http://www.wqseeds.com/documents/WQVegPlantGuide-revised.pdf

 

[nachoqtpie]

Ooooh!!! Thanks for that Steve!! That helps a TON!! That's def going in my bookmarks!! LOL

 

[wsmoak]

Broccoli wants lots of room -- try growing one in a container and see how the head size compares!

So, in our 4'x8' raised beds, how many do you think we could fit in a half bed (4x4)? We want to plant onions in the other half.

Ideally, probably only four. I'd probably squeeze in five or six. Here are the details for the Packman I mentioned: http://parkseed.com/product.aspx?p=05056-PK-P1 (18" apart in rows 2' apart). You can space them closer and they will still grow, the heads just won't get as big.

Which direction do your beds run? If the long edge runs east-west, you might want to put the broccoli along the top half (a 2x8 area rather than 4x4) so that the onions get more sun. (Unless you want the broccoli to shade them for part of the day -- it does get pretty tall!)

-Wendy

 

[nachoqtpie]

Oh golly Wendy!! LOL

Long sides run north south-ish. We got a bunch of heirloom seeds and the bad thing about them is they don't say anything other than "Broccoli" and the seed company name. No type or anything... just simply broccoli.

I guess I could TRY to do 5. One in each corner and one in the center. Only 2 family members like broccoli... which would be my husband and my daughter. I loooooove cauliflower, but I'm not a fan of broccoli. I guess that's why we're okay with only doing a few plants. We may do one in a container just so we can get seeds back. Or do you harvest after it seeds?? Haha! I don't even know that much... sheesh!

We've still got a lot of learning to do before we get a larger plot and try to do a bigger area!!

 

[nachoqtpie]

Here's another question.... what about putting broccoli and cauliflower together? Yes? No? Maybe so?