2011 Garden started

[rus_geek]

I've still got snowbanks, but my early seeds are started. Using fluorescent lights last year made all of my plants less leggy, but my arrangement of hanging shop lights over the card table was kludgy and difficult to move around.

This year I built a new light rack to hang some recycled four-bulb fixtures (the two-foot by four-foot ones you see in ceiling tile installations). With three shelves, I can fit twelve 1020 flats, although I only have six planted this year. Each end of the lights is hung with an S-hook into a vertical chain, so I can adjust the height of the lights about an inch at at time.

I'm also experimenting with three types of growing media, so I have all of my seed varieties spread across three trays. This results in way more seeds planted then I'll need, but just in case only one of the three flats actually germinate and grow decent...

24 Big Boy Hybrid tomato
24 Summer Choice tomato
36 Super Sweet 100 Hybrid cherry tomato
36 Yellow Pear tomato
48 California Wonder pepper
63 Gigante Verde tomatillo
48 Early Treviso radicchio
18 Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin

And now, we wait...

-rus-

 

[keegs]

Morning Rus,

Nice setup you've got.

I'm in Jersey and just got my garden turned over this past weekend. Got some seeds in the ground as well. Peas, carrots, beets, radish, spinach and some lettuce.

http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz215/keegsbucket/_041011_1155a.jpg
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/zz215/keegsbucket/_041011_1103a.jpg

Have you considered a cold frame? There were six of us growing up together and so we always kept a big veg garden. We often used a cold frame to get a head start. Not sure how effective they'd be in Wisconsin though.

 

[rus_geek]

I've thought about cold frames, but don't have any experience with them. Usually by the time the snow is gone and the mud is dried up, I have enough time to get the soil tilled, the fresh crop of rocks picked, and then it's time to plant outside anyway.

We are thinking about using tunnels or cold frames to give some melons a head-start, since our season is too short, but that will be next year's experiment.

-rus-

 

[keegs]

Speaking of short seasons...any problems with getting in a good crop of tomatoes up there? We have a place in Northern Maine and word has it the season up there is just too short for tomatoes.

I sometimes wonder if it's really that or if it's that the locals haven't experienced a fresh tomato sandwich with some crispy lettuce and mayo..... if you know what I mean...

 

[bp fick]

We have just about the lower 48's shortest season. Still, plenty of time for green beans, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, etc.

Yes, I can still grow tomatoes. But I planted them indoors March 5th. They will get "potted" into 5" pots and then again into 8" pots before finally being put into the ground around Memorial Day.

My wife is a good sport, as I have just about south/west facing window plugged with plants.

150 tomatoes Manitoba Cold Set, yellow heritage
250 onions, red and yellow
200 green peppers

 

[rus_geek]

No problems with tomatoes, as long as you start them indoors early, or buy plants from one of the local greenhouses. Even setting them Memorial weekend, I'll be covering them a few times for frost in the first couple of weeks.

BP - you're just a titch further south than me. I sit almost exactly on the 45th. I'm wondering if you get some lake-effect cooling that shortens your season a little more?

-r-

 

[keegs]

We have just about the lower 48's shortest season. Still, plenty of time for green beans, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, etc.

Yes, I can still grow tomatoes. But I planted them indoors March 5th. They will get "potted" into 5" pots and then again into 8" pots before finally being put into the ground around Memorial Day.

My wife is a good sport, as I have just about south/west facing window plugged with plants.

150 tomatoes Manitoba Cold Set, yellow heritage
250 onions, red and yellow
200 green peppers

I didn't know that there were tomato varieties bred for the more northern climes. I'm wondering about their taste?

Tomato Family - Prairie Garden Seeds

 

[jinman]

I would think you northern tomato growers would have success with Early Girls. They produce with just 50 days growth and the plants never get too big like other varieties.

 

[rus_geek]

Here's the details on my growing media. Last year, I had really good results with Schultz Seed Starter plus, which includes an extended release plant food. Nutrient analysis is 0.07-0.05-0.04. This year, in an attempt to purchase larger quantities than the eight quart bags of Schultz, Internet research led me to Pro-Mix BX with Mycorise. BX comes in a compressed 3.8cf bale, which expands to roughly seven cubic feet of material. (A 1020 seed flat holds about 0.12cf). Both of these products are peat-based growing media. Since the BX doesn't have a fertilizer added, I'm comparing growth with and without a liquid fertilizer added. Watch Us Grow is a 8-8-8 (plus B, Cu, Fe, mn, Zn) liquid concentrate added at the rate of 2T per gallon of water used to initially moisten the growing media. Subsequent waterings have been straight well water.

Each seed variety was planted in a tray with the Schultz mix, BX, and BX with WUG added. There is a very noticeable difference in the tomatoes, with notable but less-pronounced differences for peppers, radicchio, pumpkins, tomatillos and peppers.

The first photo is a comparison of BX WUG, BX and Schultz for the Summer Choice Hybrids. Difference in height, stem thickness and leaf size are noticeable. Note that germination times for these trays were virtually identical.

The second photo is a comparison of BX WUG and Schultz for my two salad tomato varieties. Note the difference in germination rates as well as growth rates.