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Post by ottawagardener on May 10, 2011 7:51:20 GMT -5
I was asked this simple question: When do you plant out your tomatoes?
I answered and then answered again because actually it depends on a lot including long term weather forecasts, temperature of the soil, recent rain, size of transplants etc... I was wondering if people wanted to elaborate on when they plant out crops and why. What are your most important considerations?
For me, with predominantly sandy soil, number one criterea is thawed soil, ambient air temperature/risk of frost and soil moisture. For hardy crops, I either fall sow or plant in as soon as the ground is dry which is shortly after the snow melts. If it can self sow, I ignore frost dates. For transplants that are biennial, I transplant after hard frosts and tender transplants, I wait until a week or so after average last frost with an eye on the long term forecast. I also try to plant out just before a period of rain especially for transplants.
However, if I had heavier soil, different rain patterns, was in a frost pocket (I'm on a slight hill), etc... I would probably plant out later.
I suppose insect and disease pressures would feature too.
Thoughts? Experiences?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 10, 2011 11:25:26 GMT -5
I was wondering if people wanted to elaborate on when they plant out crops and why. What are your most important considerations? Occasionally I'll put out some brassicas early. My strategy with brassicas is to plant some seeds as soon as the snow melts, and then put out the transplants after the seeds germinate. They pretty much survive any weather, so even if all the leaves freeze off the stem usually survives. I grow most of my brassicas from seed with a few plants chasing that extra early harvest. If they freeze the direct sown seeds will do fine. I haven't noticed any advantage by using transplants for melons or squash. They don't grow until it gets really hot anyway. The three main crops that I transplant into the garden are potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers. I have 6-10 weeks of labor into them, and if they freeze it's a major problem for me, so I'm very cautious, targeting 10 days after average last frost date for them to go into the garden. I might plant out a little earlier than that if the long term forecast looks favorable. I try not to wait any longer than that (weather permitting). I may also plant out a few sacrificial plants, again chasing that extra early harvest. I will generally not plant out if we are expecting rainy weather, because it might actually turn out to be snow, and we generally get radiative cooling frost for a night or two after it clears up after a rain storm. (Welcome to the desert.) Oh Duh!!! The start of our dry season generally corresponds with when I plant out tomatoes. When the spring rains stop it warms up 20 degrees in a few days, and then I plant tomatoes. Can't always see into the future though to predict when the dry season has started.
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1066
gopher
Posts: 38
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Post by 1066 on May 10, 2011 11:57:27 GMT -5
I'm interested to hear about your early sowings of brassicas. Here, on heavy clay I find the slugs a major problem for early sowings, particularly anything in the brassica family. So I guess other than the factors you both mentioned already - frost, wet, soil types, it's pests that I would add to the list.
I tend to hold back on early plantings due to local weather factors, although warmer and sunnier than other parts of the UK, and not living in a frost pocket (sea air is a real help here) we can get storms (coastal living) which a lot of young tender plants can't stand up to - like french beans.
I have been trying to extend the seasons with salads, which I'm finding some successes from very early sowings, but have found it easier to do as I've found a few good hardy varieties to sow.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 10, 2011 12:20:11 GMT -5
I put mine out when I get a chance to do it. Somewhere between baking bread, cleaning out the baby chickens, "schooling" the kids, cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry, and gazing at the stunned expression that seems permanently affixed to my face when I pass the mirror...
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on May 10, 2011 12:25:52 GMT -5
Out here in the desert mountains I don't have the slightest problem with wet loving bugs like slugs or snail. It's so cold here in winter that almost the entire population freezes, and by the time they get going again it's too dry for them to thrive... However first thing in the spring we have a tiny little beetle maybe 2 mm, that chews lots of holes in seedlings. It especially favors newly germinated brassicas, but doesn't bother transplanted brassicas much.
Then we have a cabbage worm that travels here from the south on the wind. Planting cabbage transplants of an early variety can help to mature the crop before the south winds arrive.
For the earliest greens I really like biennials: I think turnip greens are nasty the first growing season during the heat of the summer, but they are lovely early in the spring after overwintering in the ground. Kale is a great early spring biennial green.
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Post by ottawagardener on May 10, 2011 17:04:12 GMT -5
Joseph: I think I have leaf hopper damage in some of my seedlings that sounds similar. Annoying but I think they'll all survive.
1066: Sea air can ravage crops so say my coastal friends. My mother lives in a nestled little pocket which gives her a wind break that helps. I know people who use copper tape around cutworm collars to keep off slugs. Again, because of the dryness I don't have much slug/snail damage but the ants can really stir things up.
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Post by steev on May 10, 2011 19:38:00 GMT -5
I recommend a frequently renewed dusting of wood ash around plants to deter snails and slugs; it will burn them and as it seeps into the soil, it's good P, K, and Ca ferts.
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1066
gopher
Posts: 38
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Post by 1066 on May 11, 2011 7:59:25 GMT -5
I haven't heard about wood ash deterring slugs and snails, I'll have to remember that one for next year (after winter fires), I tend to use it as a soil conditioner/fertiliser around the garlic crop or on the blueberries. I can't imagine gardening without slugs and snails, but then others have different pests (the squash borer sounds a particularly nasty one!) so I guess we all have our own crosses to bear (so to speak) while all trying to beat them at their game!
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 11, 2011 19:49:06 GMT -5
I've got a bucket of wood ash sitting on the front porch. I think I'll give that a shot. Maybe it'll help against the squash borer and yea, nasty is being very mild AND self-controlled. Those things make my gray hairs stand on end!!!!
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