I have about seven trays of heat-loving summer veggies waiting to be transplanted out into the garden. With the weather working against me, I'm getting anxious about getting everything amended, turned, planted and weeded this week - even if I have to do it in the pouring rain.
I'm really happy about my pepper and chili plants this year. They have grown to a size perfect for transplanting.
My tomatoes are looking good too. Part of me is REALLY annoyed that they are not in the ground yet. (I feel behind my fellow Massachusetts gardeners in this respect!) This year, I'm only growing 20 tomato plants, which is about half the amount I grew last year. For a family of three, this is more than enough I think. We are still consuming pasta sauce and salsa from last year's crop and we'll have enough to get us by until the first tomatoes come in. My goal is to grow enough so that we never have to buy jarred pasta sauce again!
My corn on the other hand is growing comfortably inside. They will have their first taste of the outdoors tomorrow. I'm growing a lot of corn this year and two varieties. This just the first sowing. I have two more to go.
I've also started a tray of long beans. I had really good germination rates from pre-sprouting the seeds in a paper napkin first before sowing them in cells. However, I had awful results last year planting pre-sprouted seeds directly in the garden.
In addition to these, I also have more Asian greens, a 2nd sowing of broccoli and cauliflower, cantaloupe, french melon, watermelon, strawberry, cucumber, zucchini, acorn squash and herb plants waiting to be dealt with. Needless to say, this will be a busy weekend.
Looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, I can't help but to wonder whether or not we're in for a repeat of 2009. Starting plants from seeds yourself definitely helps to mitigate the risk of blight and other plant diseases. So what do you guys think? Will this be a good year for farmers and veggie gardeners on the East coast?
I am so envious of your long beans. I started my indoors too but when i transplanted them, more than half died. :( Where did you get the seeds? I need to get more seeds so I can direct sow them. Everything looks great. The weather is so weird this year. This time last year, I had many tomatoes and so on... but this year, its still cold and rainy!
ReplyDeleteI won't worry about your tom's. Better to keep them dry and warm until it is nice enough for outdoor planting. The weather guy is calling for a cool, damp summer here....
ReplyDeleteI want to try long beans but I worry about not having enough heat for them.
ReplyDeleteYour peppers look perfect! I hope you get everything you want to get done done this weekend- lets keep our fingers crossed that we get a dry spell with a wee bit of sun this weekend. And I sure hope this sin't a year like 2009, but in some aspects it may already be. Poor pollination for fruit is well underway, and it that aspect it is already a bad year. They all can't be winners I guess.
(We are still drooling over the strawberry season of 2010- what a year it was for berries.)
I have the same fear. Will there be a late blight redux? Don't worry about falling behind on the tomatoes. Even though ours are in the ground they're not doing much with all this rain. At least temps are going to be a bit higher next week and we'll be seeing some sun in between thunder storms. It might make sense to stock up on some more cool weather crop seeds just in case though.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.media-organic.com/garden-week-in-review-6
I know how you feel. But the blight from 2009 was also a result of the big box stores importing infected plants up here. Usually the spores don't get up here until later in the year. But it will cause disease issues. I'm thinking maybe I should buy a bottle of Serenade this year if it continues and alternate that and my worm tea and aspirin sprays.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a feeling it is not going to be a good year for tomatoes but hope I am wrong. Your week ahead sounds similar to ours although I did put four tomato plants in and they are doing okay. As for the beans, trying it your way this year...mice seem to love the new sprouted seeds ;-)
ReplyDeleteCannot weigh in on the east coast summer predictions - too focused on the west coast scenarios! Your peppers, tomatoes, and corn seedlings look beautiful and ready to be planted. I hope you catch a break in the weather so you can get them in. I always do tomatoes and peppers even if it is a bit cool and damp (not cold though) but I always give them cover until the weather moderates substantially. Yesterday and today are the first full days that I have had the covers off of the tomatoes in fact - we got a few days of more normal weather for us and I wanted them to enjoy sun and light breezes. Tonight the covers go back on though as the forecast is calling for chances of showers over the weekend and more cloudy conditions. I don't want the plant vegetation on the tomatoes to get wet - so the cover goes on.
ReplyDeleteAmazing looking transplants! I hope the weather cooperates and you are able to get those in the ground this weekend, here they are saying we are losing the nice, cool temps and going back to the yucky heat starting Sunday. So far this year my tomatoes are the best I've ever had in the garden, BUT I'm worried about any effects from the past 2 weeks of clouds and rain, wondering if I'll have any mold or rot/disease crop up.
ReplyDeleteKelly - those long beans will grow anywhere, seriously! I have family in Alaska that grow them :)
ReplyDeleteI think we're all hurting this year. I really hope it's not like 2009 again.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, my tomato seedlings are tiny. They are WAY smaller than they were at this point last year. I hope they get big enough in the next two weeks to plant them out (not to mention that I wanted to sell some of the...and they look pretty pitiful right now).
Your peppers and tomatoes and corn look fantastic! We're just a tad bit warmer down here in Brooklyn and I managed to get my seedlings in the ground / container homes literally the day before our monsoon season began. Wish we knew what to expect this summer! Hoping you can get those plants in the ground real soon. How wonderful that you can put up so much food to feed your family! So jealous!
ReplyDeleteA repeat of 2009 is exactly what I am also afraid of. It was my first year gardening; and after such an amazing growing season last year, it would be hard dealing with a wet/cool summer. Fingers crossed that the weather takes a turn for the better - SOON!
ReplyDeleteGosh, I know you're just about to bust from the anticipation...Everything looks absolutely wonderful..
ReplyDeleteAt least your seedlings have grown to a good size! My tomatoes are struggling this year: they are a third of the size they were this time last year. I've even had to keep the heat on in my seedling room, and have held off on the hardening off as it has been much too cool to risk putting out the little weaklings out!
ReplyDeleteThomas, I was wondering how starting your corn from seed indoors and then transplanting compares to direct sowing? Does it have any advantages?
ReplyDeleteWe're in the same predicament here. It eventually will all get in the ground, I hope...
Wet in the Northwest too. Everytime we get a sunny day I can almost watch the vegetables charging out of the ground. Then it gets chilly and rains. I hope hope hope it's not going to be like last summer. Enjoying your blog!
ReplyDelete