Hi Canokie,

As of yesterday I only have Prudens Purple tomatoes and some snap pas in pots. This is my first time to start seed so I built a light stand out of PVC and have a florescent shop light set up. I sure hope it works! The seeds I ordered from Bakers arrived yesterday soooo I hope to have more tomatoes and my pepper plants going by this evening. I have my onion set ordered and they should be here by the 16th and I am looking for seed potatoes. Any advise on the best place to get them?

Sometimes all the things that you have to consider before planting gets so overwhelming, I guess I'll get it all together someday.

Using seeds, I have planted leeks, onions, chinese cabbage (of several types), broccoli, and a little califlower. Just checked my potatoes and eyes are just beginning to form. Onion plants will probably come in the mail today and I have one outside raised bed ready for those, but still have to prepare ground beds for the rest.

I still have half a truck load of compost to add to my garden, but DH unloaded half for me yesterday and we put it directly in the raised beds and some large containers. Then he moved the truck to the carport to keep off last nights misty rain. It is heavy enough without getting more moisture in it.

It's 35 right now and wet, so a little to cool to be a garden prep day. Plan to run some errands instead and get ready to put onions in on Monday. No warm season things started though.

In our part of the State, I find Atwood's to be the best source for potatoes.

I have some onions from George, 2 bundles from the Co-op and some I started from seed planted, I have a few still growing in the window. I have 10 lbs of seed potatoes in the pantry waiting for eye to form and I have some Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage started, they are very small, planted on the 4th and up on the 6 th. I hope to pot them up today because they are still in the starting mix. I have more seeds to start but have to be careful because I have little space and it is easy for me to get more plants than I can easily deal with.

Larry

I have several tomatoes on the front porch under lights that I started a month ago. This coming week I will start everything else--broccoli, peas, peppers, more tomatoes, a few flowers. Last year I started my peas in toilet paper tubes and it worked very well as the plants were only in them for 2-3 weeks. (I don't think it would work for anything else; the tubes would disintegrate.) This year I will also be starting my cucumbers, squash and melons inside for a head start. And perhaps some okra. I'll wait a month to start those though. I think like peas they will only need 2-3 weeks.
Dh hooked the electricity up to the greenhouse and set up another bottom-heated germination bench, so this year I will have plenty of room to start seeds. I turned the cables on a couple days ago and the benches have warmed up nicely. I'm going to wait for this cold snap to get over before I start though.

Hi SGM,

Thanks for the info on Atwoods.

Dixon onions recommended I order mine for delivery around the 16th - is that too late for our location?

JanyceLee - I think the recommended date is around the 22nd but since I ordered with the group order mine are here a little early. I think you could go ahead and order anytime now and plant as soon as they come. I was just going to wait for this cold weekend to pass, but saw that the forecast for Monday is freezing drizzle, so guess I will wait until that also passes. The plants I received today look really good.

I started broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, Chinese cabbage and one little artichoke plant....

I am thinking of starting up my peas and spinach, but I usually direct sow those...

I need to check my dates for the tomatoes and peppers and all the rest....

I've started the following inside under lights on seed-starting shelves in the spare room:

Tomatoes and Peppers: I've started some, but not all, of the varieties that I'm going to grow this spring. I've probably started 75% of the varieties so far. I am getting ready to sow the third round today after I finish potting up the last dozen varieties of the ones I started three weeks ago.

Cabbage--2 varieties
Kale--1 variety
Rhubarb--1 variety
Broccoli--2 varieties
Mustard--1 variety
Lettuce--9 varieties, though one of them is a 14-variety mix
Mesclun Mix--14 varieties in this mix too
Green Onions (scallions): 3 varieties

Sometime in the next week, I'll start snap peas, flowering sweet peas, additional varieties of mustard, and Swiss chard. Late next week I may direct-sow spinach and carrot seeds into the ground if the soil temperatures are in the right range for them.

I'll probably sow some herb seeds and flower seeds into flats today too, but with the large number of flats of tomato plants and pepper plants on the light shelves, I have to be careful not to start more flats of seeds than the light shelf will hold once everything is potted up.

I've planted some onions and have more to plant, but am waiting for the cold weekend to pass before I put any more of them in the ground.

I have seed potatoes sprouting in the pantry.

Here's the OSU-recommended planting dates for winter/spring crops. Remember that the specific range of dates works like this: the earliest dates are for southeastern OK and the latest dates are for northwestern OK. The rest of us can pick some date within that range that is best for our area.

FEB 15-MAR 10:
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Chard, Swiss
Kohlrabi
Lettuce, Head
Lettuce, Leaf
Onions (from plants)
Onions (from sets)
Peas (Shelling, Snap, Snow Pea)
Potatoes, Irish
Spinach
Turnip

MARCH:
Beet
Broccoli

MARCH 1 to APRIL 15:
Radish

SPRING OR FALL:
Asparagus

MARCH 25-APRIL 30:
Sweet Corn

APRIL 10-30:
Beans (Green or Wax)
Beans (pole)
Eggplant
Tomato

APRIL 10-30 OR LATER:
Cucumber
Okra
Pepper
Pumpkin
Squash, Summer

APRIL 15-30:
Bean (Lima)

MAY 1-20:
Cantaloupe
Watermelon

MAY 1 - JUNE 10:
Southern Pea
Sweet Potato

MAY 15 - JUNE 15:
Winter Squash

Dawn,
Thank you for including the OSU recommended planting dates. I was thinking about them the other day and remembered that you had posted them previously and was going to do a search. You saved me the trouble of searching!

Suzie

Suzie,

You're welcome.

I try to post them early and often at this time of year.

Dawn

I live in New Mexico and there is no state specific site but I am in zone 7. Dawn do you think your schedule would work for here?

Tell me which part of New Mexico you're in. You don't have to be specific about which city you're in, but could you at least tell us your county, or your region? Then we can tell you if we think these dates would work for you.

Also, do you know your last average frost date? I am in southcentral Oklahoma, and my last frost date is March 28th, so I usually plant my earliest plantings about 7-10 days after the earliest dates listed above, which are from the OSU Garden Planning Guide. I could plant on the first date, but leave that for the counties to my east that warm up slightly ahead of me. I will make an exception for onions and plant them earlier in a warm winter like this one.

If you look at the dates above, I could start planting cool-season seeds and plants in the ground tomorrow, but I'll likely pre-sprout my snap peas indoors this week and put them out in the ground next week. By pre-sprouting indoors, I don't have to worry the peas will rot in the cold soil before they sprout.

And, I need to make this clear: I do not plant by the calendar and use it for planning purposes only. I plant when my air temps and soil temps are in the right range to support seed germination and plant growth. Cool-season seeds don't germinate and grow because the calendar says it is time to do so, they grow when the soil temperatures are in the right range for them to do so. Transplants are the same way. If you put something like cabbage or broccoli transplants in the ground when the soil is still too cold for them, they just sit there and sulk until the soil temps and air temps are warm enough. It is just that the dates listed above tell us when our soil and air temperatures "should" be in the right range for those specific vegetable seeds and plants.

I use an everyday kitchen meat thermometer with a metal probe to check my soil temps at planting depth (and I keep that thermometer with my gardening tools in the potting shed, and not inside the house where a family member might use it in the kitchen!) and don't put seeds in the ground until the ground is warm enough for good germination. So, while the dates are a nice general guide, they aren't the sole determining factor.

This winter has been rare in that my soil temperatures have been higher than usual almost the whole winter, so this year it probably would be easy to plant by the calendar without checking soil temps, but I'll check them anyway.

Dawn

Jamestrix,

Click on the link below to see the NMSU home garden guide. It gives recommended planting dates for your state. You can compare those dates to the ones I listed above from OSU to see if your planting dates are similar to ours---or if they run either a little ahead of ours or a little behind them.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: NMSU Garden Guide/Planting Dates

I stated most of the early cool season crops such as
Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli, Mustard, Lettuce, Mesclun Mix, Italian Salad mix, Spring Onions, Spinach, Garlic chives. Most of the cole crop in 72 cells, and all salad green in a half gallon pots. Cilantro and Fenugreek are growing in light trays as well in Green house. Fall sown cilantro are doing pretty good in outdoor beds.

Sweet/Snap Peas: I have already transplanted 2 weeks old SSN seedling to raised beds 2 weeks ago, then covered wit frost blanket, last cold blast seems to be not affected them due to thick frost blanket. As an experiment also sown seeds in Greenhouse beds, some in outside beds, some still growing in aluminum trays. I am going direct seeding some of the sweet peas varieties this week.

All types of tomatoes (30 types) are in 2 true leaf stages, peppers about to germinate (12 types), eggplants (10 types) started 3 days ago only.

-Chandra

Jamestrix,
Having been born and raised early in my life in NM I will add a few thoughts. Dawn gave and provided some very good info. The first thing about NM is micro climates are even more prevalent and extreme than here in SW KS where I live and I imagine in most of OK. Elevation levels change so dramatically in a mile. Like mentioned in the article she linked which side of the valley or mountain you are located on if you are will affect your climate dramatically. We had a pasture on the caprock 2 miles from our house that received a freeze 2 weeks before we did on average and was almost that much later greening up every spring. I highly suggest you find some growers in your immediate area if you can. I looked at the suggested dates on the link. To me the dates are on the early side in the areas I'm familiar with. I would sure use a soil thermometer like Dawn does. The other thing is too remember even though your soil temps are warm enough the cool/extremely cool mornings much of NM has just like I do here. This will affect certain crops. I glance at the charts but usually plant by my past experience, soil temps and my gut feeling about what the weather will do in a certain year. Gardening is like farming. Nothing ventured is nothing gained. Instead of rolling the dice though I try to take calculated risks. And many of the growers I know in NM use hot kaps, row covers ect early in the season because of the early morning temps. Not knowing your location makes it impossible to know if you experience these or not. Jay

I will be starting my tomatoes and peppers inside this weekend. Since those are the only plants I'm growing inside, I'm a bit less certain about when I'll be direct sowing all the other cool season crops (snow and shell peas, green leaf lettuce, carrots, chives). I just took a quick glance at one of the long range computer models we use, and the next few weeks look active but relatively warm. Things could obviously change, but there are no signs right now that we'll see another major cold snap soon like we saw this past weekend. Based on that I might feel comfortable planting at least a first round of seeds this weekend and then follow up with more in a week or two, succession-style. I'm planting the onions this afternoon once I get home from work! :)

Heather

I may have a light shelf problem if we have more extreme weather. My set-up has five shelves, but I enclose the top one for germination use, and I only have lights on three shelves. I have seven flats now and all my tomatoes are still in one flat so I hope that the weather will soon be OK for putting the cool crops outside during the day. I haven't planted eggplant and peppers yet, but the peppers will probably be on the germination shelf for awhile. It takes so little space when I first plant, and so much more space when I start potting up, that it is easy to get carried away and plant more than I can handle.

Dawn, What broc did you plant besides Packman? I only planted Packman this year, but I had fairly good luck with Di Cico one Spring, and I can usually find that on a rack. I hope to be able to plant a fall crop also, but I say that every year and never get it done, but I have a pack of Arcadia for Fall planting.

Chandra, It sounds like you're off to a great start already.

Jay, I was hoping you would address NM's mountains and valleys as well as your experiences growing there in terms of planting times.

Heather, Hope you have fun planting your onions. Nothing makes it feel like spring is on the way more than planting something in the ground! I'm glad you currently don't see any major cold spells lurking on the models. I am so ready to get stuff planted into the ground, but have lots of frost blanket row covers if the weather throws some surprisingly cold nights at us.

Carol, My new 'go to' broccoli, other than Packman, is Piricicaba. It does not form big heads. It forms smallish-to-medium sized main heads, but forms side shoots endlessly. It grows more like a typical sprouting broccoli than the ones bred to form large main heads. Last year's broccoli survived until a frost got it in either late December 2011 or early January 2012, and that means it survived on nothing but rainfall (and precious little of it) after July when I stopped watering the garden until consistent rainfall arrived in September. Any broccoli variety that could survive the summer of 2011 and still be producing in the fall and winter is well worth growing.

I originally purchased Piricicaba seed from Bountiful Gardens because they said it survived and produced even when temperatures were in the 90s. It performed even better in our heat than I expected.

I have been moderately happy with Di Cico when I have grown it, but it hasn't produced as well for me as Packman does. I also like Small Miracle because I can cram a lot of those into rows with tight spacing, but Piricicaba produces better/longer than Small Miracle so has replaced it.

For fall I want to plant one of the purple sprouting broccoli varieties that overwinters, but I'll put it in the greenhouse.

I have had a hard time getting any fall gardening done the last two years because of drought/wildfire, and am hoping for a kinder, gentler summer in 2012 so I can have a good fall garden like I did in 2009.

Dawn

Spent the afternoon in the greenhouse planting broccoli, tomatoes, peppers and a few flowers in the germination bench. DH got the trays with the tp tubes filled with soil and warming in the other warm bench. The sugar snap peas will go in there as soon as the seeds sprout.

A few days ago I pulled the bok choy that was flowering and planted lettuce, more bok choy and radishes in the in-ground beds in the greenhouse. I am loving my greenhouse. For years I've tried to raise swiss chard outside only to have the blister beetles eat it up in one day. Now I have a lovely bed of Bright Lights and they are so pretty and delicious. I also planted a bed of beets, but they are very slow to bulb up. I just hope they do make roots and don't bolt to seed as it gets warmer. I'll pick half of them when they are as big as radishes and hopefully the rest will get bigger. Right now a few are as big as marbles

Well, I decided on a whim to try to start some chives and catnip inside along with my tomatoes and peppers. I drilled holes into the bottom of some old ice cube trays I had stowed away in the attic, and that's what I'm using for seed starting trays. Now I'll just have to find a way to keep the cats away from the catnip seedlings once they sprout. Anywho, I got the indoor seeds planted today.

I'm also pre-sprouting about half the peas I intend to plant. I'll start the other half in a week or two.

I have the itch to direct sow the first round of lettuce outside, but it's probably better to wait a week or two I guess.

Just a note on Garlic Chives. I have a patch, and have had to be careful and deadhead the flowers once they begin to set seeds. They self-sow to the point of invasiveness if you don't do this religiously. Once the seedlings gst about 4-6", they are difficult to pull up from the garden. Tenacious roots! That said, I love it, and the blooms attract lots of butterflies. The little Snouts really love them.

Susan

Radishes started in hoop house around Feb 20 are ready to harvest.

I have sown carrots and radishes in same line, carrots seedling are also coming up nice. Long type radishes are not yet formed tuberous roots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Other cool season crops: Photo 16 of 68

Beautiful! I could not get the link to work. Just wonderful pictures. I actually go carrots to germinate and I am tickled pink about it!