Nope - nothing for Spring yet - that starts around February, right? 😄

My tomatoes are now really starting to take off, and my pole beans are almost done with the first flush, and will have another in a couple of weeks or so.

I have greens and broccoli that won't be ready for a few more weeks.

I envy you your tomatoes. I have a bunch I froze for sauces etc but for right now we are eating gross fresh store tomatoes.

I am starting a little early this year because if I wait till late December with the holidays etc it ends up being late or I don't feel like doing it till late Jan. The years where I've started early have been more productive.

Some recao came up.

Recao, that is similar to cilantro or culantro? I hadn't heard of it and had to look it up lol. Said similar to cilantro or culantro in Puerto Rico.

How interesting! Do you use it just like cilantro or do you have special dishes you use it for?

Are the seeds easy to start?

The only seeds I've grown form Puerto Rico were Cacao seeds.

Recao is culantro. It /they erroneously is /are called cilantro more oftent than correctly. Similar to cilantro in flavorr and odor, dissimilar in appearance. Their seasoning role in cooking is same, except that culantro is so strong that it must be used in smaller amount, and eaters often discard the leaves if leaves are whole or in large pieces instead of chopped. If used fresh in food, surely it would be in very small amount and finely chopped.

Seed-starting is variable.

I love Cilantro and it of course, struggles with our heat and humidity. I can usually grow it in the winter. I think I will try some Culantro.

Thanks for the info. I love learning about new foods and plants!

I plan to start my tomatoes and peppers in the next couple of weeks. Last year I didn’t have to start peppers because my plants didn’t die last winter. But this freeze we had a week ago killed them.

It's hard to find fresh beets in the stores so I plan to grow those this year. I know they like cool-ish weather. Has anyone grown them this time of year or do I need to wait till fall?

We had two freezes so far. Not super heavy but killed the leaves on many things. I was hoping for a warmer winter. I got lazy after last winter lol.

Bea I started my beets earlier, then they died from the heat lol. Now its cold but I think they can take some frost. Maybe if you covered them while they were little.

I too love fresh beets

Hopefully someone can chime in with some better advice.

I am tempted to build a small cold frame to start some stuff here. Then I could just shut the lid at night lol.

I recently saw a raised bed that someone made a hinged hoop top for lol. Wouldn't be too bad..as long as the top could be completely unscrewed and removed for most of the year here.

I think I just want a couple huge High Tunnels. One for a greenhouse and one to grow stuff in raises beds..I can dream can't I? lol

I try to follow the recommended planting dates from the Univ. of FL...

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021

Nothing. In fact, I'm thinking seriously of giving away all but my zinnia, marigold and cosmos seeds. I'm just worn out from trying to grow veggies here. It's impossible. The only area where I have enough sun is so full of nematodes, nothing lasts long there.

I would like to know the things that participants in this thread do in order to optimize their success rate in germinating tiny, naturally slow-to-germinate, seeds of any kind.

Dirty, is there any community veggie gardens near you? Its been years since I was in Gainesville but there used to be a nice one. I go to Ocala and Newberry sometimes but not Gainesville so not sure what's there nowdays.

Four are you talking about winter seeds or warmer season seeds? I like to start a lot of my seeds indoors in the lite peat pod greenhouse things, on a heat mat. My heat mat is actually a ZooMed Reptile heat mat that I've had forever, since my dd sold her Kingsnake lol. I just use regular shop lights.

Last year I got some l.e.d colored plants lights..I didnt like them because it made everything look brown and I had to turn the lights off to assess my seedlings true color LoL! I dont think my seedlings really did any better with those either.

I just keep the shop lights close to the seedlings with chains.

Sometimes I soak hard to start seeds in a little H2O2 mixed into warm water to kinda give them a little jumpstart/wake up and kill any fungi that might be on the seeds.

Thank you, SJasmine.

> "ights close to the seedlings" --- What about the seeds?

Yes, I do put the light over the seeds but the seeds are planted in the peat pellet withpeat over them, so I suppose thry are in darkness but the light is available the second they sprout lol.

Here is something I found about seedling germination and light. It also talks about some seeds taking longer to germinate than others in a group which is a kind of defense mechanism in nature. Interesting!

https://extension.psu.edu/seed-and-seedling-biology#:~:text=Most%20seeds%20germinate%20best%20under,All%20seedlings%20require%20sunlight.

"Most seeds... might even be inhibited by light.... some species... need light to germinate"

Sigh. As though we needed more testing of our resolve to continue in this pursuit. :-)

oldmangroot, if they're still alive, they'll start growing again once it gets cooler. Plus, at first, they start putting on a root, then the leaves grow to feed the root, so be patient. <3

Sultry, there is a community garden near me, but it's not the best. The University of FL has one that I was a member of, but I didn't like it. If I had a car, I'd definitely go back to the one I was in on the other side of town. Maybe one day, but not right now.