Just do it, Alison! I plan on starting to pre-sprout some sugar snap peas tonight and plant them out this weekend. Peas can handle temps below freezing, right? As long as it's not for multiple days and they don't get into the low twenties?

In other news, the bed I covered with frost cloth is growing! I planted about 20 spinach seeds and some sugar Ann peas two weeks ago, and they're up and going. I'll put an extra blanket or sheet over the frost cloth tomorrow night when we're supposed to get down to 23 degrees. Even more of a surprise... there is some leaf lettuce and cilantro that seems to have overwintered in that bed!

At the end of last fall I must have just cut off all of the leaves to eat and not pulled out the plants. We had such a mild winter that the plants survived, woke back up and are pushing new growth!

Allison - do you know what your soil temperature is? If it is around 45 or higher you can plant the peas as long as you are able to protect them from severe cold as Sunflowers mentioned.

Every day this week it seems like they lower the predicted temperature for overnight Friday - Saturday morning. I'll be throwing some frost cloth and clear plastic over my peas that I planted last weekend. They haven't sprouted yet but I want to retain the soil temperature as much as I can.

That cool that you have stuff growing Sunflowers! Maybe the lettuce and cilantro went to seed last year and self seeded? Good luck this weekend with the cold...at least it won't last long!

LoneJack - clocked in at 59! Peas are in. Parsnips are out. It's going to feel like forever until Spring really arrives after this.

Idk about you southern folks, but up here I'm seeing temps get cold again late next week. Maybe even some snow. This warm weather really gets the green thumb itching!

Yeah Chris don't plant anything!!...I looked at the forecast for your area it looks like a nasty spell between March 2 and 9 with some lows in the teens and several days with chances of snow. Hang in there and scratch the itch by planting some lettuce or something inside that you can stick in containers in a few weeks.

How did this thread get over 400 posts already?

I'm not ready to start stuff early anyway haha. I'm going to stick with the usual planting times. I will live vicariously through you all for now. Actually I think I'll be coming home to artichoke seedlings later. I noticed the "soil" was raised a little this morning, which means they are probably pushing up. I removed the plastic and gave them all a spritz of water to make their ascent a little easier.

Jack, the crazy thing is that a majority of those posts are done by a handful of people!

I don't claim more than 150 of them!! Maybe going forward we should make a new monthly thread. i.e. 'Garden Chat - March 2017'.

We actually got a bit of rain overnight! I heard thunder a couple times in the wee hours or maybe I was dreaming :-). At least we aren't getting the blizzard that is moving thru a few hundred miles north.

Did your chokes sprout yesterday Chris? I didn't see any broccoli or lettuce sprouts last night and I didn't look this morning. My grow lights don't come on until 5:00 am and I leave for work about 4:30. I don't have anything that I need to start this weekend but I bought 7 lbs. of nice fresh Asparagus on sale for $1.49/lb. last night and plan to pickle a batch tomorrow.

Yeah doing a monthly garden chat sounds like a great idea! Or maybe 'Gardenweb Community Chat'? That might encourage more posters.

I don't have chokes yet, but my early brassicas are up. I hope I don't regret this ;)

How about 'Veggie Tales' :-) My son used to love watching those!

So have any of you ever hear of successfully rooting Asparagus? Taking some fresh from the super market, using rootone and getting them to grow?

That's a new one on me but doing a quick search it does not appear viable to root Asparagus the veggie....Asparagus ferns yes but the vegetable no.

If you are wanting to start a gus patch I would suggest purchasing 2 year old crowns either locally or online. Debruyn seed has the best prices I have seen online but they only offer Jersey Knight and Purple Passion. Nourse farms has more variety but they are a little more pricey. I put in 25 Purple Passion and 25 Pacific Purple last year purchased from Nourse. They did well even though I was battling Asparagus Beetles most of the summer.

Jack, glad to hear you got some rain! My chokes have sprouted, but haven't stretched their legs yet. I'm cool with anything involving garden chat :-) Monthly works for me. With growing season almost here, I'm sure we can run those posts up pretty quickly in a month's time.

Jack did you ever hear from DeBruyn about when they are planning to ship seed potatoes?

No Hokie, Debruyn never responded. Their website on the general potatoes page says they begin shipping in mid March but then if you look at the German Butterball page specifically it just says 'we will begin shipping these in March 2017, as weather permits'.

Hopefully I will get mine by March 20. I will have the beds prepped and ready by early March. I doubt I will have time to chit them so hopefully they will have some eye development already. Potatoes don't do well if planted too late here because it gets too hot for good tuber formation in July. I have the German Butterball planned for a bed that will be somewhat shaded in the afternoon by an Asparagus bed in late June so that should help.

This guy has been hanging around my starts since day 1.

Peter, that looks like a box elder bug. That is a good close up picture of the bug. They come and hang out near the warmth of our house during cold weather. They aren't usually a problem for veggies, though. Sometimes a lot of them swarm around our house in the fall and I'll take action....but if it's just a few I'll leave them alone. I saw a couple of them last week on our storm door when the weather was unseasonable warm.

Update on soil temp since I put the plastic over my beds.

So this was last week, 34 degrees

Ok, so I couldn't resist I started some of my early season plants.

Off to the races! That's a fair amount of broccoli, how big is your garden Steve? I know you posted a pic I will have to go take another look.

I am still holding off 1 week to start more brassicas and at least 2 for my peppers.

Here's my current state.

Just got a haircut and watering. The seed leaves are almost all gone. I snipped off the few I saw left.

Broccoli, cauliflower, and lavender.

My first peeking artichoke.

I got one 10x10 patch, a 4x8ft raised bed and two 24x4ft raised beds. Planning on adding another 24x4ft bed this year. That's only 20 of the 48 Broccoli I'm planning on planting.

Peter, those artichokes sure do take their time coming up, huh? Mine haven't advanced much since emerging on Thursday. I guess it's focusing on root development at this point?

Yes, they are slow to start. They have a large taproot root system. They will eventually get pretty big. But slowly.

Looking good everyone!

48 broccoli!! I thought I grew a lot. I might grow that many total between spring and fall. Will you be freezing a lot of it?

Somehow last weekend when I was sowing my broccoli I managed to not put any seeds in one cell pack of the 3. I got 100% germination in the other 2 by Friday and wondered if my 2015 Early Dividend seeds were bad. Nope! I poked around in the cells and there were no seeds. I re-started some on Saturday.

Our weather looks good for the potatoes to be planted next weekend. I had to take the Yukon Gold and French Fingerlings out from under the lights because they were sprouting pretty well already and I didn't want them to get too long. The Red Thumb fingerlings not so much so I left them under the light.

I'll be starting to harden off my onions this week with plans to plant them on March 11 weather permitting. I'll hold off on the leeks until the following weekend.

Another friend came by Saturday and asked me to buy him some seed potatoes so I have to go to Planters seed again this week and pick some up. I was going there anyway to buy my Dixondale onion starts that are supposed to be delivered sometime this week. He never has put in a garden before so he wants me to come over and till it up for him. He has some physical disabilities so I'm glad to help. I told him to go pick up a pickup load of compost to add in.

@LoneJack , yes I will be freezing a ton of it. The reason for me growing so much is that, that bed will be the home of my sweet potatoes once the Broccoli is harvested. Also good for you giving support for someone looking to get into growing.

It took one day for a couple of Bok Choy to germinate. I was really kinda hoping that it would be more like 7 buy we adapt and overcome like all other challenges.

So I sowed a half row of shelling peas yesterday, a short variety called 'Green Arrow'. I had totally forgotten about peas while I was planning for this season so I was at the mercy of the local garden centers selection. It is not the variety I had my eye on for this year, but I have grown it in the past and it was sufficient. My records have me sowing spring peas between Feb 20-Mar 10 but this year has been abnormally warm, so we'll see how they do going forward. In my rush to acquire seeds and get them into the ground I also forgot to soak and inoculate, so again, we will see how they do. I don't foresee much of a difference but maybe you other guys have noticed differences or specifically trialed for this?

@Hokie I have never Inoculated Beans/Peas. If you don't mind, what is the benefit and how do you do it?

1 day to germinate Bok Choy? That's amazing! I thought lettuce germinated fast but it is still at least 2-2.5 days for me.

I didn't inoculate my peas this year either. Planters seed did not have any for sale at the time so I just soaked them overnight and planted thickly.

Steve - basically inoculant will provide beans and peas the specific bacteria needed for the plants to efficiently intake nitrogen from the air and to form the root nodules to store the nitrogen. It is not required especially if you have grown beans or peas in the same bed before and the bacteria is already present but yield is often increased. The shelf life is pretty short so it needs to be purchased every year.

Do you have any website that you would recommend and a brand of inoculate?

I've seen it a Lowes, Ace Hardware, Walmart, and Home Depot for about $5 a bag so you should not have to order it online. I think most online seed vendors offer it too. Not sure on the brand though.

Is it just me or is this forum not sorting the threads by the most recent activity?

They sell innoculant packets on all the major Burpee racks. You can get it at Home Depot.

I picked up Burpee innoculant yesterday for like $3-$4 at Home Depot. Package says it treats a 40 ft row.

I noticed the same thing, Jack. I don't know why they changed it.

Any of you guys/gals use Diatomaceous Earth for pest control successfully?

None of the forums are sorting by latest activity. I assume someone has probably reported it already.

I use DE in my Chicken's nest boxes and the areas that they dust bathe in to control mites. I've never used it in the garden though since it loses it's effectiveness when it gets wet.

I am thinking I hit the beds with the DE a couple of times when the bugs first pop up and then a couple more later in the season just to keep them from overwhelming me.

Steve - DE is only effective on soft bodied pests. It can also kill some of the good guys so use with caution.

Looks like they fixed the issue with the latest activity bubbling to the top of the forum.

The 15 day forecast here looks great for planting some cool weather stuff early. A couple nights this week will dip down into the upper 20s but then no lows are showing below 39 with highs in the 60s and 70s. We are supposed to get some rain tonight which is very much needed. I fertilized my asparagus beds last night and it needs to be watered in one way or another.

Potatoes will be planted Saturday. I sure wish I had my Debruyn potato order to plant as well. I started hardening off my onions last night but I don't think I will try to plant them this weekend. I might go ahead and plant the Dixondale onion plants that I will buy this week and then plant my starts over the course of next week. I still have some bed prep to do for the early stuff. I'll direct seed the first couple rows of radishes too. I need to drag the 300' of hoses out to water this weekend as well.

I'm very tempted to start the peppers this weekend rather than the following. We'll see if I can hold off on that temptation. Very doubtful!!!

Good morning, yeah asparagus is one thing on my list, probably going to have to wait for next year for me.

300 ft of hose, I am guessing you only have to do it once a year so that's not bad.

Some more guys spouting

Yep, I drag the hoses out in March and put them away in November. It is actually 4 hoses. Most of my gardens are 300+' from the house. I have about a dozen soaker hoses as well that I need to test for leaks before they are deployed.

Right now I am regretting having not put soaker hoses on the garlic beds last fall because it looks like it may be a hot and dry summer. The last 2 years I have had soaker hoses on the garlic and I don't think I used them more than once or twice total over the 2 years. Garlic is a pita to water when planted intensely in a raised bed. I guess it's not too late to add them but I better do it soon before the garlic gets much bigger.

@LoneJack I just water my crops over head with 2 simple sprinklers 2 times a week heavily at around 4am (I use a programmable timer) unless it rains that day (foretasted to rain) or the day before. Basically one goes for about 1.5 hours than the other goes for 1.5 hours.

How long do you guys have your lights on (duration of light) for your seedlings you start indoors? I have mine on from 6am - 12am. Do you guys think 18 hrs is too long?

@Steve I don't like to water everything on the same schedule with the same amount for various reasons. Some plants need water more often then others and some need a longer/deeper watering then others. Then there are things like garlic, onions, and potatoes that you want to stop watering for a period of time prior to harvest. Another con of watering with a sprinkler is that is can invite fungal diseases on susceptible plants like tomatoes. It will also wash applied pesticides like BT and fungicides off of the leaves. Lastly, I don't want to water the paths between my raised beds.

I leave my lights on 16 hours a day and my fan runs 2 hours off/one hour on 24/7.

I hear you about the fungus thats why I do it early in the morning, by 9am they are dry already. I also have it broken up in to two zones with the 2 sprinklers to also let my Garlic dry out for the last couple of weeks before harvest. I used to use soaker hoses but it was such a Pain in the butt. I have really high water pressure and they kept on blowing out on me even with the little washer inside of them so I gave up and just went back to basics. I have been debating trying out drip irrigation. You ever use drip irrigation?

Better late than never. I finally hooked up my lights and started my onion seed this past weekend. Picked up a new starting mix from Country Max "Warrier"? Was very impressed using it so far. Thinking about the hot peppers next weekend? If it all goes well, I do have medium weight frost blankets to make a tunnel over the pepper bed if the plants are big enough to bring out early May.

Was so nice last Saturday for me, I turned a huge compost bin and started cleaning up what I didn't finish last fall in the garden. Noticed my garlic was poking threw also. I so missed being outside.

@Steve - sounds like your method is working well for you. Since I have 300' of hose and I just barely turn on the water I don't have any problems with blowing out the soaker hoses. My gardener has on occasion poked holes in them though when stapling them down. Can't get good help these days! One of these days I will try drip irrigation on a bed or 3 to see how is works but it seems to work best in long row type gardens.

@Melissa - Isn't it great getting out in the garden the first time after a long winter? Hot peppers are a little slower to grow then sweet peppers so you should be OK starting them in the next week or 2.

@Melissa, I also had great weather on Sat last weekend. It really is nice to get back out and working in the beds.

LoneJack, are you really starting peppers this weekend? I'm SO tempted, but I wrote a note to my 2017 self on my 2016 garden spreadsheet that said "DO NOT start peppers too early. They are a pain in the butt when they get too big." Do I listen to past Chelsea?

Sunflowers, did you notate when you started peppers in 2016 so you can base this year off of that? Good garden notes are priceless to me. I still don't understand why everyone waits so long to sow peppers? They probably all grow differently for each person, but mine take awhile to germinate, even with bottom heat. I started mine last weekend and this was even after pushing back my usual date by 5 days. 2016 peppers did get a little big on me, but we had a late cold snap which kept them inside past usual transplant date. Every year is a new adventure.

Yeah, I note when I start everything. Last year I started the majority of my peppers on March 10th, but it looks like I started two peppers on February 20th (guess I had trouble waiting). Those were probably the early ones I mentioned. I also noted that the peppers I started on the 20th actually started producing fruit later than the ones I started on time. Very odd!

Last year I started Peppers on March 1 and in my notes I wrote to start on March 11 this year with a transplant date of May 6. I am betting on a early transition to summer like weather this year so I'm bumping the starting and planned transplant dates up a week for everything.

A small gamble yes but holding peppers an extra week is much easier than holding Tomatoes IME. Last year transplanting tomatoes early on April 23 really paid off because when we had a heat wave in early June it shut down fruit set for at least 3 weeks.

I am going to start a new thread called 'Gardenweb Chat - March 2017' for the new month to replace this one since it is getting pretty long.

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