I put 12 dozen cabbage seeds, 5 dozen pepper seeds, and 1 dozen Brussels Sprout seeds in the germination chamber yesterday. Pretty well on track for getting early items started and set date of around Memorial Day weekend. Not getting too excited as I was reminded of the old saying "When it thunders in February, there will be a frost on the same day in April." We had a thunderstorm here on Feb. 29th, so guess we'll see. I know we've had 2 killing frosts the 3rd week of May in the last 10 years.
Had some friends those years giving me grief because I hadn't started much except Cole crops & peas. My one buddy had sweet corn up in the 4 leaf stage, ragging on me how far ahead he was. I planted my sweet corn and several other items the day before we got that frost. His got burned to the ground while mine came up 5-6 days later. No way he could catch up at that point.
Pays to be patient on some things, I don't need to be first, I need something to put up for winter, without having to replant. The ground here usually doesn't warm up until Memorial Day anyway. No use setting out tomato plants until the ground reaches 70º, or they'll just set there with little growth.
My buddy who grows for Market Garden planted 50 lbs. of potatoes about 10 days ago, and it's done nothing but rain here. I'll be surprised if they make it. I know a lot of people swear by planting potatoes on Good Friday, but I've seen more rot from wet weather than actually make it.
Again this year playing around using the Moon Calander to start plants Gardening%20Moon%20Calendar%20-%20April%202024,%20Lunar%20Calendar%20Gardening%20Guide%202024%20April.mhtml so got my leaf plants started at the right time, but peppers are early. Calander says Apr. 16th is the starting day for fruit plants, so will start my tomatoes next week, maybe even a few more peppers to see if there is a difference. Around May 1, I'll start my Beet transplants. Kind of excited on how fast they will germinate in the chamber, and how they do afterwards. Takes about 4 weeks from what I've read to get to the 2 leaf stage to be large enough to transplant. I'm liking the idea of thinning them in the trays, and possibly re-setting the "thinning's" to see if they continue to grow. I'm thinking with a little patience re-setting they'll keep right on growing. We'll see.
