Do you grow vegetables from seed or starter plants ,What do you grow ?

[Ed of all trades]

We buy tomato, broccoli, cabbage and onion plants and onion sets. We plant peas, green bean, okra, field peas, lima beans, water mellon, ect. from bought seed. We plant our peas and green beans in blocks, rows 6 to 8 in apart. We got 22 5 gal. buckets of green peas off of a 30 ft x 20 ft patch. Green beans the same way.

 

[charlz]

I have started tomatoes and peppers indoors under lights before when planting large quantities. Anymore I just buy a few already started. The rest of what I grow I plant seed. If I had a green house I would definitely grow starts but under lights is a pain with having to harden off etc.

The last couple years I have noticed if there are any squash seeds etc that made it to my finished compost pile they will start growing much earlier than I can plant in the garden proper. Maybe I will get to it this year but I am thinking of planting seeds in pots and having them buried to the top in the compost pile. This way they get the heat of the dark compost and I can later pull the pots and transplant to the main garden. If it works I would get early starts without having to worry about running lights, watering, hardening off etc. I would particularly like to do this with winter squash as my season is a little short and they sometimes get frosted before they are fully ripe. Since I like to grow a lot of them it is too expensive to purchase starts.

 

[DABSGT]

I bought onion, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli plants in the Spring to set out in the garden. The rest of the garden, potatoes, corn, green beans, squash, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, etc. was just seeds in the garden.

I'm with Bird. Shorter season here in Connecticut and works well for me. Guess it depends on your location.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

If I had a green house I would definitely grow starts but under lights is a pain with having to harden off etc.
The last couple years I have noticed if there are any squash seeds etc that made it to my finished compost pile they will start growing much earlier than I can plant in the garden proper. Maybe I will get to it this year but I am thinking of planting seeds in pots and having them buried to the top in the compost pile. This way they get the heat of the dark compost and I can later pull the pots and transplant to the main garden. /QUOTE]

Charlz,

My FIL use to take an old metal wash tub, some had a bottom and others did not, fill them with compost and plant his seeds. He would cover the tubs with clear plastic and watch them grow. If the sun waas hot one day he would remove the plastic and let them get some sun and in turn they would start the hardening off process. When it came time to plant in the garden he would pull them out and plant. So he got the best of both worlds, greenhouse and plants harden at the same time.

 

[Car Doc]

We start some every year in our koi pond we set trays out on the bridge it gets lots of early sun and keeps temps up nicely and the water is rich with nutrients. Here is pics of all I could find of some we were just getting started.

I dont even know when this was taken or what it was probably squash and peppers? Tomatoes do well also when I start my own, beans do real good but I usually just directly seed them with an earthway.

 

[forgeblast]

My dream set up would be a solar thermal green house 24x12 with solar panels running an aquaponic (fish and plant) system inside. (I have a smaller 8x8 greenhouse that I use to harden off plants).
I am thinking that I may begin the foundation this year or next and then build as I can.
Solar thermal greenhouses are glazed on the south side only and run e-w. The north side is insulated.

Could you tell us a bit more about your koy pond? how deep/wide and what type of liner?

 

[Car Doc]

Hey Forgeblast its a epdm (sp?) heavy duty rubber liner with an under liner and its 48" deep all over. All except the kiddy pool area where the big fish are kept out of so the lillys and hyacinths etc can survive. I built it with steep sides so predators cant wade in and its 20x23 9600 gallons roughly. (measured)

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I admire anyone with a green thumb that can start their own plants indoors. I have never had any success with that; my stuff all shrivels up and dies young. The one thing that I have had some luck with, is sweet potato slips. Just set them in a fruit jar full of water, held halfway in with tooth picks. Put them up in a South window, and they seem to do well. Trick is starting them early enough to be able to plant the slips at the right time.

 

[sam5570]

We have never had the time to get anything set up to raise our own plant's so we buy all our plant's from local produce store. they allway's do good if the weather is good. we have been getting discusted with planting and taking care of everything and it turn's dry and stuff just swivels up.lat year i had a great crop of everything but i planted early.last year was the first time in my life i could plant my potatoes on good friday i had i think 36 bushel

 

[troutsqueezer]

They always get that splindly look when I start them inside, even when having them moved by a fan.

The fan is good to stiffen up the stems but if they are long and spindly they are not getting enough light. Regular florescent bulbs work well at 17-18 hrs/day, placed four inches above the plant.

You really don't even need the fan, just brush your hand across them a couple of times each day and they'll be fine.