Like this ? That's a repurposed strawberry container half filled with seed starter with the seeds planted in rows. Pretty much shoulder to shoulder in the row but they do all right. I never had much luck with bulb starts. Too many go to seed and far too many never bulb up. I'm careful not to plant them too deep too.
This is true. Last year in particular I had more go to seed than usual. I noticed when planting them, many were soft at planting time. Out of 300 I had enough for my bare minimum needs. So this topic is getting me thinking. Do you just put them in a sunny window sill 3-4 weeks from planting out?
I start the seeds 12 weeks before last frost. I'll plant them sooner than that if the soil has warmed up and the weather looks good. The seeds can sprout in 5 days but the seedlings are slow growing, even under cfl or LED lights for 14 +/- hours. They pull apart fairly easy for planting the way I do it. Some places sell bunches done the same way but they are kinda pricey but that's what 10-12 weeks of care is worth. It's real easy to plant seedlings and bulbs too deep. They don't like it. Lots of water like getting lawn seed going.
The first year I started my own onions from seed I grew short, intermediate and long day onions and they all did very well. The short days started flopping over first, the intermediate about a week or two after those and the long day a week or two after those. I got onions up the ying-yang that year. It took water, water, water, water, water to grow big green healthy tops. Forget everything you might do to grow flower bulbs. I used to stick sets too deep in the ground and forget about them. Duh. Personally I think you can grow any kind of onion north of 35º but that may not be true south of 35º. I don't prune tops. I don't prune peppers either. I have tried waiting to start onion seeds until later and had poor results. Could have just been a bad year too. Sometimes you never know.
When I was building this greenhouse, I had in my mind, the images of stuff growing all over the place. It was hoping for the best. So far, it has gone far beyond what I imagined. The Pink Ladys have reached the sun. Picked the first vine ripe tomato yesterday. Many more on the way. The third generation Ladys are ready for the their buckets. They are going to go wild when they are put out in the garden in a couple months. Hope I can manage them until then.
I used a couple of the paper and wax milk cartons for cheap tomato pots last year. They were a good size and they stood up better than I thought they would. I just punched a couple holes in the bottom edges with a screwdriver. In larger pots I didn't have to water them as often and they were less stressed.
It has just been too much fun taking care of this and watching it grow all winter. This week I will get all the stuff for the garden started. Once it is all sprouted and transplanted, I will move it all to the greenhouse. No more moving plants everyday hardening and getting used to sun light. A lot of it is the light diffusion properties of the Lexan Softlite poly panels. Plants love that light.
I've tried 5 gallon buckets for tomatoes and for a regular tomato plant they are just too small. I'd have to water them three times a day in hot weather. Plus the wind would blow them over . Plus the tomatoes would be small. For some of these dwarf hybrid plants 5 gallon buckets are nice.
You might try these buckets. You can never over water them and they are self feeding. These are some pics from today. There are two plants in each bucket. They seem to be doing pretty well.
Hope my 4th time trying strawberries here is a charm 1st year was bummer, I bought 2 25 packs (different strains) to share as a kind act with a neighbor and she gave them away to her son . 2nd and 3rd year I ordered from Gurney's and another big company, their shipping policy (ya, I called for an exception, no dice) is late May based on my growing zone. Both years they were dry upon arrival and did not make it, getting a starter going here June 1st in a 3 month summer is a joke. This year I ordered off Amazon, they are here. Going to get them going inside til the ground warms up then into yard. 16oz plastic cup? I have 12" plastic pots I could put several starts in per pot. Any opinions? Eta pics
I know there was some talk a month or so back about asparagus. Finally got my patch mowed and raked this morning. Gonna try and get some weed preventer on before the rain this afternoon. It's the long brown strip out the middle of the first pic. The second pic is my small patch with 3 rows in it.
Nice work! We thought about starting a small patch but not in the works this year. Were even looking at the year old stuff but was very expensive. I've read that bulbs or seeds take 2-3 years until fruiting out? Does the asparagus keep spreading like say, rubarb?
I posted this on another thread, but will hop on here with some pics. Started earlier inside this year, lettuce, cucumber, spaghetti squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, lunchbox mini assorted sweet peppers, bell peppers, early girl, cherry, and beefsteak tomatoes, beets,and watermelon. Direct show 1st of June, corn, different pole beans and peas, and some other stuff I can't think of. So far under the grow lights......
It spreads a little.maybe 2 feet max from the original plant. You can buy seeds from some places. I used Twilley seed co. 100 seeds are about $8.00. Jersey giant are an all male plant that's produces better. The seeds are slow to germinate. I plant mine in 6 pack trays. You can harvest the first year after planting for 2 weeks and after that for 1-2 months depending on vigor. My big patch is 20 years old.
