Doing my plants from seed this year. Already got some Early Girl 'Maters growing.

[Stomata]

The main distributor of commercial plants in my area is Bonnie Plants. The problem is that they don't start delivering vegetable plants till May 15 in my area. Not to mention they're EXPENSIVE. I decided to start my own plants this year.

Put some Early Girl tomato seeds in the dirt about 2 weeks ago and they're looking great. Still in the cab, but I'm gonna start putting them outside in about 14-21 more days. I live on the middle part of the Eastern US and this Winter has been something else... So warm it's insane. Hell you could have put out landrace sativas at the solstice and they'd be doing fine right now.

Anyway, I figure by the first of April, they'll be spending some days outside. By May 1'st, they'll be blooming/setting. They have a 48 day maturity, so by the middle/end of June I'm gonna have 'maters y'all. All those suckers with thier Bonnie plants are gonna be CRYIN'.

Lot's of other shit going too. I've in an urban area and do all container gardening. Been doing it for a few years now with great success. Only downside to container gardening is the need to water CONSTANTLY on hot days. I put my Beefsteaks in 7 gallon containers last year and STILL had to water twice a day some days. Was worth it though, Nothing better than a vine ripe Beefsteak with some heavy mayo on some homemade white bread.

 

[SirLancelot]

hell ya! I live in eastern US and am loving this winter! I started my tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli and peppers a couple weeks ago ready to get a jump. Im just hopin it's not like last spring... rain rain rain rain

 

[Azoned]

My Brandywines are ready to be moved from starting tray to pots. They're on their 3 set of leaves and get outside every day for full strength sunshine. I won't need to harden them before setting them in the garden.

 

[scroglodyte]

Brandywine, Princep Borghese, and Sunburst yellow cherry. transplant, and bury deeper each time, your tomatoes, a couple of times. i go 4" pot to quart milk carton, to gallon milk carton. each time i prune off all the branches 'cept the top 2 or 3, and bury it up to those. ya gotta have tha strong roots for good tomatoes. when they finally go into garden bed, do it again. my holes for planting are about 2' deep.

 

[scroglodyte]

this winter has been creepy. i hope its not a scorching hot summer here on the Eastern seaboard.

 

[PIPBoy2000]

The weather has been whack ever since Fukushima - what with the craziest tornadoes the US has seen for 50+ years since they were seeding clouds with iodine or whatever.
Yeah, the weather is off.
/rant

 

[SirLancelot]

Man hopefully it's like last summer im up in northeast And i don't think it hardly got over 80!

@Scroglodyte I like your mini hoop row covers. I jusr recently built an 8x8x6ft tall pvc hoop greeenhouse! Im waiting for the ground to dry up a bit before I till but it's going next to the garden! pretty stoked to be able to get an earlier start and extend the season a bit.

 

[Rj41]

Hey everyone, I'm in the NE and I'm anxious as hell too, but there's not enough daylight hours.
There won't be for a while yet. Right now, we're only at 12 hours and 6 minutes of daylight today.
That's not long enough for the growth cycle.
Put 'em out too early and it'll delay your harvest.
I put my 'Maters out too early a few years ago and didn't have anything ripen up until mid August.

Just a warning.

 

[Atomizer]

increase the daylength with supplemental lighting, you can fit a good few plants under a light when they`re small.
Getting the jump on the growing season gives you the option of taking cuttings from your strongest plants to put out in the garden.

 

[dannyboy602]

Welcome fellow north easterner. Soil Moist is a synthetic polymer that expands and holds like 20x it's weight in water. It looks like rock salt when you buy it. Mix a small amount into warm water and it hydrates. Then it looks more like crushed ice. You can use a good bit in containers. Mb even up to 20% of the total volume. But don't let the soil ever really dry out because polymers like that create a surface tension with the roots meaning when the product dries out it will pull moisture from the roots to keep hydrated at the expense of the plant. The other tip I wanted to share is you can leave chunks of ice cubes on top of the soil in the pot and let it melt slowly into the soil without worrying about any cold damage. Or put a very tiny hole in a balloon and then fill it up with water. Then put the filled water balloon on top of the pot. It leaks out slowly. You can make a few they don't have to be very big. Anyways I wish you luck and please post pix of your garden.

 

[dannyboy602]

Bump. Sooooohow's them Early Girls? It's friggn Cold now. Yesterday it was summer. Today it's winter. I'm not buying seeds. Tooooo time consuming. But I am planting a veg garden this spring. Wit a few stealthy cannabis bitches meandering somewhere.
I'll cut the middle finger from the fan leaves making it look like something else. And I have to have grape tomatoes. I have enough Rosemary to supply all of north america. Some habenaeros idk. It's still two weeks away.

 

[scroglodyte]

hang little red christmas balls on weed, Dan.....lol. just more tomatoes.

 

[scroglodyte]

i got Brandywine, Borghese, and Sungold yellow cherries. you're welcome to two of each. PM me. they are in 2" pots, going into 4" pots. all organic.

 

[Scabbio]

This weather has been crazy! I hunt morels and this year they popped up MEGA early, but it's been so dry it's turning out to be a crap season. It is still early, let's hope we get some spring rains...
If this summer is anything like last, we had better be ready to water like hell

 

[SirLancelot]

Bump. Sooooohow's them Early Girls? It's friggn Cold now. Yesterday it was summer. Today it's winter. I'm not buying seeds. Tooooo time consuming. But I am planting a veg garden this spring. Wit a few stealthy cannabis bitches meandering somewhere.
I'll cut the middle finger from the fan leaves making it look like something else. And I have to have grape tomatoes. I have enough Rosemary to supply all of north america. Some habenaeros idk. It's still two weeks away.

thats' what I keep my freebie autos for in between the tomatoes and cucumbers

 

[dam612]

weather has been up and down by me, 70 one day, 40 the next, nights go from 50-30. i got my veggies inside at the moment sprouting good. doing a test run on the night time temps with a tray of romain lettuce bc they were free and i dont care much about them, i figure if they can survive a few nights i might be able to start moving everthing outside.

 

[dannyboy602]

yeah i want the warm weather back. so i can ride more. will do scrog on that pm. i'll get at ya and thx for the donation. about 4 weeks i should be ready to plant. had to hire help. so things are gonna get done round here.

 

[SirLancelot]

weather has been up and down by me, 70 one day, 40 the next, nights go from 50-30. i got my veggies inside at the moment sprouting good. doing a test run on the night time temps with a tray of romain lettuce bc they were free and i dont care much about them, i figure if they can survive a few nights i might be able to start moving everthing outside.

your lettuce should be fine outside, they can withstand a frost same as broccoli, spinach, and kale.

My biggest problem is these damn frosts! suppose to get another tonight and the one a couple days ago took out a few of my fruit trees that were in full bloom. Tonight Im going to attempt to leave a sprinkler on them all not to help against the freeze.

 

[RyanTheRhino]

Already planted out side... Corn,peas,cucumbers,carrots,tomatoes, bell peppers, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, as of right now. oh and i am experimenting with blue potatoes in 2 -5 gallon containers for easy harvest.



I am still considering sweet melon, watermelon,squash,eggplant. These plants always bring squash bugs and they destroy everything. ;(

 

[SirLancelot]

Already planted out side... Corn,peas,cucumbers,carrots,tomatoes, bell peppers, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, as of right now. oh and i am experimenting with blue potatoes in 2 -5 gallon containers for easy harvest.



I am still considering sweet melon, watermelon,squash,eggplant. These plants always bring squash bugs and they destroy everything. ;(

you could try planting nasturtiums and marigolds throughout the garden