HEY!!!

Whatch'all planting this year?

I figure it's close enough to growing season to have seed trays started, and it might be a helpful thread to have in each chapter...

It's a prime time to get seedlings up and going in Memphis. It's been above 60 several weeks, and the farmers almanac (among others) claimed the third week in march would be the last of the bad cold for plants...

I already have one corn sprout (I was testing the seed packet) almost eight inches tall! But I have trays and trays laid out with seeds in them... I have a lot of seed starter trays from Ferry-Morse that I like to use for seedlings - each holds eight trays just like the ninepack seedlings come in at an arboretum or store. Right now I have five of them full, plans for three more, and potted plants starting besides.

I'm going to grow my tomatos on the back porch/deck in containers this year so that the vines can be strung over the deck rail, and a biggy this year is going to be lots of rows of corn...

The list so far:
Corn
Pumpkin (!)
Cayenne peppers
Habernero peppers
Anahiem Chili ("Relleno's" )
Hungarian Wax peppers
Beefsteak tomatos
@Weeks Seeds Giant Variety tomatos
~Some others I can't recall at the moment

This could be a fun thread, and may even be filled with "BS" (which is not a bad thing), but we could also swap pictures and advice here...

~Wolfie


PS: I don't know the dangdest least thing about how to cultivate "PUNKIN'S", so any help will be desperately appreciated...

 

If you like the hotter peppers try to grow Chiltepins(only grow them from seeds in this area, not enough demand for plants). I had one plant that was 5 yrs old before it finally died. I would bring it in to the greenhouse during the winter. It wouldn't bare fruit in the winter, but it would when it hit summer again. Peppers are perenials if taking care of in this area. I try to grow some from seeds to bare during this time and then some from seeds in the fall so I have fresh peppers in the greenhouse for winter.

Anyway, I got off subject. If you like the hotter stuff try to grow the chiltepins and take a bite of those babies. Most don't think of anything hotter then the habenero or the scotch bonnett and for culinary purposes they are right, but if your using peppers as a meat preservative than that's when you will be dealling with the hotter chiltepin. It is good in chili too, but it's size prevents it to be used in some ways that bigger peppers are. Still worth trying to grow if you like the hotter peppers.

 

Chiltepins are a small heart shaped pepper, aren't they? I had some years ago... I think...

Never found any seeds for them again, the ones I had were brought back from Guatemala by a friend of mine.

 

Some are, some look like peas, but they are all very small. They are also known as "bird peppers" due to their size.


Online is where you'll find the best selection of them. I actually did one year find seed packs at Home Depot of all places.

 

I haven't started my garden yet. I need to spray roundup on my beds before I plant.

 

I've had terrible luck with johnson grass and weeds in years past - so one of my plans is to treat whole areas just like commercial corn fields (with the exception of spraying them). My hope there is that the corn will BURY the weeds, being much taller. It will also be planted 4 inches apart to make it grow thick like in a real field. I've never yet seen anyone out hoeing a full acre or more of it, and those fields tend to stay pretty much weed free.

I stretch a rope out for a 'row guide' and do about a row every week or so. That way it should produce throughout the summer without having tons of it laying around in baskets...

Howard? If you swing out this way - I think I'm going to have a lot more pumpkin sprouts than I can use. You're welcome to a flat of them if interested. I give it a week or two weeks and they should be about six or eight inches tall.

Suprisingly, the corn seeds I got at the "DG" across the road seem to sprout in about four days (!) if the temperature is right. The brand name is "Bentley Seeds" if that means anything. I've never heard of them before - but what do you expect from a dollar store?

One major ordeal I had to go through was to go through all the leftover seed packets and throw away any that were real old. More than a year is a risk, and new seed is best. I plan to save seeds from what grows this year because it will adjust to this area and probably grow better in following years.

It's a lot of fun! I have more houseplants right now than I've had in years, and am really curious about the punkin's... I just might keep one on a window sill until it gets big enough to be a nuisance

They say a punkin vine will spread and cover a fifteen foot plot, if I'm lucky this year I hope to see that. Just imagine: "EDIBLE GROUND COVER"

 

How many rows of corn are you going to do?

3 yrs is the general rule of thumb for the viability of seeds(atleast with peppers), after 3 yrs it's 50/50 at best that they'll make.

 

I have no idea - the idea is to have enough to get some seed corn, but also stock the grill. You tell me - how many ears is that?

It's an experiment this year, but if the worst happens my neighbors will love me, or there won't be a lot

Whoopee ding...

One row after another, so I think.

I did put some seed from '07 in the trays, I hope they pop up. If they don't though I have more trays....

(I'll post up some pictures if I don't get lame about it)

I did have a lot of '07 seed for peppers. I couldn't help but plant them. I have no faith in bell peppers though, so the trays are heavily weighted towards habernero and long peppers that can be stuffed on a grill.

I really do like the idea of seed trays though, you can watch them indoors until it's time to set them out. I hope I have a regular forest of things out at my front window.

ALL of the long red Cayenne's are '09 seed though (same company), and I will be watching for those sprouts closely (not happened yet - five or six days) I'll guage the rest of the seeds by the sprouting of these two breeds. (corn/cayenne)

 

Well ears are dependant on the type of corn that you grow, but the general rule is that at min. your going to want 3 rows of corn. This is due to the fact that corn is heavily dependant on pollinators in order to have full ears. So however long one row is going to be for you, you'll need two more. Depending on how long those rows are will depend on rather or not you'll have enough for both the grill and seedstock for next year. The three row rule is just so you'll have a good shot at getting full ears of corn.

 

-that particular row is about 75 foot long or more...

But that's a good point, will they do better in "BLOCKS" than they might in "Stretches"

It looks like they will be all the same brand of seed.


What you're telling me then - is that I need to run a few more rows (AT LEAST!)

 

At least 2 more rows of the same length of your first one. If your first one is 75 ft, need two more of equal length.

I would say that they do better in blocks moreso then stretches.

What is the spacing between each plant for that 75 ft?

 

I'm still thinking about "SHOULDER WIDTH" to walk between rows, but I have observed "FARM CROP" spacing of as little as two inches - with four to six inches being the average.

*These observations come from looking at crops along the road as opposed to my pitiful failures in the past...

In other words, they are spaced very close in a row - but the rows are the width of the "HARVESTER/COMBINE"....

So leave room to walk between rows, but space them very closely.....
(MUCH more closely than the seed pack directions)

I have said this many times:

"If you want to know how a professional who gets results goes about getting those results - YOU NEED TO ASK A PROFESSIONAL!"

Nothing else, and NO ONE else.

THE SOURCE IS IMPORTANT!


So I watched how people who grew corn for a living did it....

THAT is what they do. That is how far apart they plant it.




I really did, I even stopped along the road on the way home and looked. My Poppa would have, so I did too. He was a good man

*Always cherish "CURIOUSITY" It's the best thing we have going for us.... Children are full of it!
We should listen more to kids - because they are not full of what we seem to be when we get too old...

 

I need these cold spells off my back - or my sprouts are never getting outside...
40degrees yesterday in Drummonds, where did that come from? This is getting old.

 

I heard that. It's playing hell with me. I was sick all day today.

 

I hear that, somehow I messed my foot up, but I get on it anyhow and call it therapy!

i WILL have a vegetable garden/groceries in my yard this year - nothing is going to stop me. NEVER QUIT!!!