Based upon the last three posts, you’d think you drop some seeds in the ground, wait a few weeks, and food is on the table. Not that growing your own vegetables is very hard, but there is a little more work than that.
About three weeks ago, I turned over the soil and cleaned up the plots.
Early spring clean garden plot
I’ve used raised beds before and frankly the weeds get stuck in the edges of the raised beds, so I’ve opted for a new method this year. Plain ole’ garden stakes. Anything not used for planting is covered in an organic (not chemically treated) weed tarp as you can see from the edges. We’ll have to see how the new system works.
Then I start to plant the cold weather starts — spinach, radish, and peas. Lettuces coming soon too.
Early planting of radish seeds
I’m not a scientific guy so the spacing isn’t perfect. But I have to imagine that back in the early 1800s, they didn’t pull out a tape measure to make sure the spacing was really 3″ apart. It’s hard to tell the depth from these pictures, but the radish seeds don’t go much deeper than a 1/2″ into the soil.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (inside on the floor), I’ve started tomatoes and peppers. 6 different varieties of tomatoes plus 1 variety of peppers (more on those in coming weeks). I use a small grow lamp along with an indoor growing system from Gardeners.com. Tomatoes only grow in warm soil (about 75 degrees) so if I wanted to start them from seed outside, I’d have to start pretty late in the summer. Instead, we start them inside in a warm corner of the house.
Tomato plants growing inside under a grow lamp
These plants are about two weeks old. It should be another three weeks or so until they go outside during the day to adjust to the colder weather and then a week after that — into the ground! I’m planting early, mid and late summer tomatoes so we’ll start getting tomatoes in about 2 1/2 months from now and then will continue until the first frost.
Remember, the tomato you eat on July 4th started growing about now.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It seems that i started my tomato plants too early, This year is the first time trying to grow anything and well i trial and error i suppose, i planted my tomatoes around the middle of March and now…they are ready to be Transplanted outdoors even though it is still to cold.
Can Sugar Snap Peas be planted out doors right now?…not really too sure about that one..i knew about beets radishes onions and lettuces..but i was afraid about the peas
…great site by the way
I would suggest grabbing a couple of large plastic cups to transplant them in (assuming you don’t have too many). It will give them some extra room to grow and allow you to wait until the last frost (another 3 weeks or so). It has happened to me before – especially when we’ve had a very cold spell the last weeks of April.
Sugar snap peas can go in the ground now. They are cold tolerant. My regular peas went in the ground about 2 weeks ago. They are just starting to sprout.
Thank you, i will start to harden the peas off, so i can add them into the ground by next week, good to know.