Is Anyone Else Planting Yet?

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Don Alaska, Mar 28, 2019.

  1. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I know most of you live in warmer climes, but you probably would still have to start a few things indoors by now if you garden. I have several hundred tomato plants of about 20 varieties going, quite a number of peppers--both hot and sweet--as well as onions, leeks and herbs of all kinds. I have 144 cabbages going, 216 broccoli, 144 cauliflower plants, 72 Brussels sprouts that I just planted today. I have yet to start squash, cucumbers or corn. My wife has hundreds of flowers growing, the bulk of which I don't know. It is wonderful to pull out of winter. Planting stuff was a form of rehab for me when I was injured, but I have always grown plants and had a garden of some sort except when I was in the military and could not.
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    We've started some stuff indoors. Not as much as you have, though. I'm going to have to rebuild my above-ground gardens because the plow guy made a mess of things this year. We still have a few feet of snow on the ground right now. Although it hasn't snowed lately, we haven't had a lot of days above freezing.
     
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  3. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    No garden for us this year, though it's time to start planting in the Houston area.
     
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  4. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    We are having a really early spring...about a month ahead of usual. We started out just selling our extra plants in the spring, but found the demand for varieties good for this area and not found in local nurseries or box stores to be great, although it varies a good bit from year to year. We now make a good supplement to our spring income from plant sales, and we sell produce later in the season.
     
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  5. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Gosh Don...that a lot of plants. :) Do y'all sell at Farmer's Markets, etc?

    My Honey and I usually grew a couple of bell pepper and tomato plants...but the birds have been eating my tomatoes for the last couple of years so I just lost interest in trying to grow some this year. We do enjoy fresh veggies though which are really easy to get over here because we have about 4 Farmer's Markets and none of them are very far from us. My Honey is more into growing his plants which grow beautifully for him...and we both like growing flowers although I haven't picked up any yet to plant this year.
     
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Yes ,@Babs Hunt we sell at a plant sale and at local farmwer's markets if there are any open in May. We also sell at church and donate the proceeds to something at the church, either the youth program, food for the poor, or the building fund.
     
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  7. Tom Galty

    Tom Galty Veteran Member
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    OK in Southern England

    Garlic and onions planted as well as winter lettuce in November.

    Feb planted Parsnips.
    End Feb planted Potatoes(Very deep) and early for England
    March planted Beetroot and Carrots.

    Weather turning colder so will wait to plant French/Runner beans till next couple of weeks

    Chilis Sweet corn and Cucumbers will wait to end of June but planted out in seed trays at home

    PS the Winter Lettuce are ready to be picked
     
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  8. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I am still thinking about lettuce in the greenhouse, but spinach is up (finally) in one of the beds even though it is still below freezing many nights. We sometimes overwinter parsnips, @Tom Galty but we cannot yet plant anything outside at this location yet. Have you ever sprouted leftover beet(root) or turnips? You can pull old roots out of storage that are withered and not much good to eat, pop them into a pot of dirt (pack them in) and water. Most times they will sprout and give you delicious greens that can be cooked or used fresh in a salad...just a way to use food that would otherwise go to waste.:)
     
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  9. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I now have lettuce and spinach up in one greenhouse (Lettuce in two), and I have 75 flats of plants under lights and on shelves, but I still have to start most of the cucumbers and squash. Those are usually the last crops started indoors, although I sometimes start sweet corn inside as well, or "chit" it prior to planting outside. I am experimenting with starting cucumbers in soil blocks for our own use. I won't be able to sell anything in blocks, as transporting them doesn't go well, but I will be able to use them for my own us if the experiment is successful. If it goes well, I may start more in blocks and transfer them into pots for transport.
     
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  10. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    @Don Alaska -
    It has been "many moons" since we have had a veggie garden.

    The sheer size & numbers of your "Green-Project" boggle my mind. How do you manage growing indoors, with the natural light being what it is in Alaska? With your physical problems, is this helping or hurting you? Like the pot-growers, are your electric bills sky-high? Maybe I'm "off" on my questions....just surprised and mystified by the scale of it all.:confused:;)

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    We have had a large garden since we moved into this house, but it got much larger while we had children at home. Now there are just two of us living here, and we sell most of our surplus, both in bedding plants and produce. Our electric bills rise in the spring due to the lights, and the addition of some heat to keep greenhouses above freezing on cold nights, but nothing like the pot growers here, who use large sodium vapor or plasma lights. We use standard shoplights with some LED bulbs and place them close to the plants. Messing with the plants are actually a therapy for me, and helped greatly when I was really impaired and in pain, as it got me moving every morning, especially the first year after the accident. Now I am able to all but the heaviest things without pain, and when I get tired, I can stop and rest...in front of the SO Forum.
     
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  12. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Thanks for the answers, Don! Sounds like you have a good system. Good luck!
     
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  13. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    It has been many moon since we have attempted or grown a vege garden. My thinking and efforts about veges have moved on to the grocery markets. I no longer think about planting. My good wife still attempts a flower garden albeit a small one. I enjoy the fruits of her labor although she like myself find it difficult to tend a garden properly or as she would like. I sometime offer advice as what to plant but she ignores me, knowing she is far mor knowledgable in what to do and how to do it. But it does bring back pleasant memories of yesteryear.
     
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  14. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    When my MIL was in a nursing home, we had an elevated bed built for her so she could garden from a chair or even a wheelchair. She always had some kind of garden and never grew a lot once she left her house, but she had a couple of tomato plants in the window of her room and she would plant those into the bed, along with lettuce, radishes, and onions. I think we discussed this concept in a thread a while ago. I use the planting table idea in my greenhouses, as I cannot crawl around on the ground any longer...although me wife still does.
     
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  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I found some sawhorses on sale last year so I bought a bunch of them. I'm going to build some elevated beds that I'll place on sawhorses. I figure that'll be easier on my knees and also reduce the number of insects that find their way in. Since we're scheduled for another snowstorm in the next day or two, I don't know how much I'll get ready in time to plant this year, however.
     
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