Growing Vegetables Part II Handouts: MontGuide Can I Grow That Here? MontGuide Planting a Successful Home Vegetable Garden MontGuide Hotbeds and Cold Frames for Montana Gardeners Tomato Trenching Diagram MontGuide Heirloom Vegetables To Direct Seed or to Transplant? Why Use Transplants? Extend short growing season Eliminates thinning and subsequent damages to crop Crop uniformity i Extend the harvest 1
Transplants Starting Seeds Indoors Transplants Peat pots Jiffy pellets Soil blocks In flats Starting Seeds Indoors Media Use a soil free media Most peat based bags of potting mix are soilless Soilless media is usually pest and disease free Mix your own: 50% vermiculite or perlite 50% fine sphagnum peat Starting Seeds Indoors Sow 1 2 seeds/pot or container Thin to one seedling per pot or container Peat pots, peat pellets, soil blocks and paper pots may be planted directly in the garden Watch for wicking Transplant into larger pots if necessary, when there are 2 3 true leaves showing Bottom Water 2
Starting Seeds Indoors Light Requirements Sunny room or back porch Supplemental lights Fluorescent fixture One warm (hard to find) and one cool white bulb Grow lights more expensive May require bottom heat Characteristics of a Good Transplant Stocky, not stretched Not rootbound No insects Not too old No fruiting structures Tip: If your are buying transplants from a garden center, always grab the inside pots (they are usually watered better) and give a bit of a shake (see what insects fly off) Relative Ease of Transplanting Vegetables Roots of transplants can easily be damaged Because of their speedy regeneration of the root system, some species are more easily transplanted Easy to transplant tomato, pepper, brassicas, lettuce, onions, eggplant Harder to transplant beets, carrots, cucurbits Mostly unsuccessful in transplanting corn, peas, spinach, turnips 3
Helps in Transplanting Difficult Vegetables Jiffy Pellets Soil Blocks Jiffy Pots Hardening Transplants Reduce growth rate Thicken cuticle Make em tough Generally, 7 14 days prior to transplanting ti Withhold moisture Acclimate Not biennials! May promote premature flowering Beet, Broccoli, Carrot, Cauliflower, Chard, Leek, Onion, Parsnip, Turnip Do not withhold nutrients This may reduce rate of photosynthesis Transplanting Success Factors Clipping or pruning Size control NO Flower or bud removal YES Transplant early in am a.m. or late in p.m. Mid day temps detrimental Starter fertilizer High P (10 50 10) Water immediately! 4
Classification by Temperature Requirement and Hardiness Cool Season Warm Season Hardy Half Hardy Tender Very Tender Cool Season Hardy Vegetables Cool Season Half Hardy Vegetables 5
Warm Season Tender Vegetables Warm Season Very Tender Vegetables Asparagus Perennial Try to buy all male plants Plant 8 in the ground Don t harvest until year 3 3 6 mulch works good to control weeds/hold moisture Asparagus Rhizome Trench Planting 6
Beans Days to maturity Snap beans 50 60 days Bush limas 65 75 days Pole beans 60 110 days Pole limas 85 110 days Pole beans need trellising, but yield more in the same amount of space Snap beans are the most popular due to no trellising and early maturity Bamboo String Fencing Chicken wire Hog wire 2X2 s You get the picture Trellises Brassicas are in the mustard family Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower They like it cool 60 65 o F Brassicas 7
Days to maturity 60 100 days from transplanting Broccoli Two types Heading Sprouting The broccoli head is the flower, must be harvested before the flower opens Brussels Sprouts 80 100 days after transplanting Can reach 2 3 feet tall Lowest gems mature first harvest when firm Cabbage Days to maturity 70 100 days from transplanting Spacing affects head size Heads can crack if too much water is applied at maturity Give them a twist (break) roots to stop maturation Smooth leaf and Savoy cabbage 8
Cauliflower 55 120 days from transplanting Keep moist but not waterlogged in welldrained high soil with high OM May have to be blanched Some are self blanching Blanch cauliflower by tying up the leaves and reducing light Imported Cabbage Worm Major Pest of Brassicas 9
Cabbage Looper and Imported Cabbage Worm Damage Days to maturity 63 100 days Likes it warm Self pollinating Always plant in a block Sweet Corn 10
Poorly filled ears Heat Drought Caution Isolate Super Sweet Corn Super Sweets are approximately twice as high as in sugar content as other corn Plan to separate small plantings of Super Sweets by distance; 25 feet minimum i A minimum of100 feet from non Super Sweet varieties Extensive crossing with non Super Sweets will result in tough, starchy kernels in both types Cucumbers Days to maturity 50 70 Slicing and pickling cultivars Needswarm soil to germinate and grow around 80 o F Select disease resistant cultivars when possible 11
Lettuce Days to maturity 40 80 days after seeding Withstands light frosts Transplants well One of the easiest garden plants to grow Best planted in succession Start harvesting leaf lettuce when 5 6 tall Melons Days to maturity 70 130 from seed Melons like it hot 70 85 o F Require a lot of room and benefit from mulching (mostly to help with weeding) Harvest at full slip when the stem separates from the melon Onions Days to maturity 40 (green) to 130 (mature bulbs) days Dime sized onion sets perform best Harvest green onions when tops are 6 tall, bulbs when 2/3 the tops fall over Dry bulbs on screens for 1 2 days and hang out of direct sun for 1 2 weeks to cure 12
Peppers Days to maturity 100 120 days from seed 70 85 from transplant Likes it hot 75 o F during the day, 62 o F at night Cool weather really slows growth Entire plants can be hung upside down to complete ripening same as tomatoes Tomato Days to maturity 55 105 days from transplant Determinate tomatoes are more compact, set fruit, then decline (mostly what we grow) Indeterminate tomatoes vine until frost or disease kills them Should be caged Planting Tomatoes Extend season using transplants Leggy transplants can be trench planted 13
Tomatoes (and peppers) Benefit from Mulch Tomatoes and peppers like consistent watering Mulch holds moisture more consistent Blossom end rot Calcium deficiency Mostly caused by inconsistent watering Occurs more often than not in pots Heirloom Tomatoes 14
Potatoes Days to maturity 100 120 days Only use certified seed potatoes Harvest potatoes when tubers are big enough to eat Harvest for storage 2 weeks after top has died Potato scab Water potatoes well (keep moist) for first eight weeks to reduce scab. Don t forget to rotate crops! Squash Summer (patty pan, zucchini, etc) Winter (hubbard, buttercup, butternut) Days to maturity 50 65+ from transplants Harvest summer squash when immature Harvest winter squash when the rind is hard (a finger nail won t penetrate easily) 15
Pumpkins and squash need lots of room Peas Days to maturity 55 90 days after seeding Garden or shelling peas Snap/Snow peas Peas should be trellised Spinach Days to maturity 40 60 days after seeding Plant in succession Spinach may bolt (flower) when it gets hot Plant in succession for extended harvest 16
Days to maturity 60 80 days after seeding Thinning is important (oruse strips!) Harvest when young or mature Sweeten after freezing Carrots Beets Days to maturity 55 80 days after seeding Beet greens and roots can be harvested Beet greens can be affected by leaf miner 17
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