Are people reading the title thinking Im going to talk about my plans? I changed the name so people know Im asking for help here........ okies, Ive got some seeds here that I want to plant (duh, what else would I do with em? lol) and I want to know where to plant them in relation to one another for full potential (And which ones don't like each other ) Carrot (Nantes Coreless and Danvers Half Long and Little Finger)(I wanna do purple carrots but cant find seeds for em here) Sweet Corn (SugarPearl and Ruby Queen, red and white, I like interesting colors for veggies) Turnips (Purple Top White Globe)(My bf makes this yummy concoction of mashed turnips and carrots mixed together) Garden Bean (I planted some in a container earlier this year but I want more- Burpee's Stringless Green Pod) Sunflower (Mammoth Russian, Mexican sunflower, and a packet of mixed types) Pumpkin (Jack O'Lantern) I also want to plant watermelon. But I cant decide if I should do seed or get seedlings, as the HD nursery (I work at HD) has only big varieties and I was thinking about doing baby melons. And how do I know when theyre ready to be picked? The beans I did earlier have beans on em, and I saw this morning that one has withered... dunno if I didnt water enough or if I didnt pick soon enough??? I was thinking about putting the garden on the east side of the house, as the north side (the backyard) is overrun by the dogs, the south is the front and the west is full shade. Ok this is a really long post so I'll let ya'll holler advice now *lol*
Hiyah Bips, I'll have a go at your list. It's pretty exciting stuff--having all those seeds and making plans, isn't it? Well, I guess the first thing is to decise if you are going to sow your seeds indoors and plant them out later. --I usually do both, although I prefer to sow my seeds at home or in the greenhouse and then set the plantlets out when they have two sets of leaves. I do this with most all veggies because I feel that I can avoid such things as freezing, rotting in situ, mouse/bird attacks on the planted seeds etc. I'll just go down your list and make a comment here and there, ok? The carrot choices look good. I think that there are a couple of things to think about when doing carrots for the first time: ---Do not use alot of fertilizer in the ground whereyou plan onplanting them because you could get some amazing deformaties. ---Dig the grounf at least 1½ spade deep and work the soil until it is well broken up and fine. Some folks even put sand mixed with the soil where they are to be planted. You don't want any clods of any size because if the root comes to it it will fork or grow in some other difficult to clean shape. Think about carrot fly. This little beastie will lay eggs and the larva will creep doen into the soil to the carrot and burrow into it. It's a commonmg problem here and so I use enviromesh to keep the flies out. They are active until 4-5 in the afternoon, so if you must weed the patch or thin your new carrots plantlets out do it after then so that they don't 'smell' your plants when you disturb them and come flying into your exposed patch. ---Sweet corn can be a difficult primadonna to grow if you believe all the literature. There are lots of things the experts tell you to think about when growing corn, but I'll keep it basic. I plant my seeds in root trainers in 'shifts'. I use root trainers because corn makes deep roots and the don't like having their roots disturbed. Once they green of the new corn shutes are 6 or 7 inches high I plant them out. The same day, I plant the next group...and so on until I have enough. This is so that all the cobs are not ready to harvest at the same time...it sort of stretches it out over a few weks. Polination is a very important aspect of corn growing, so it is recommended to plant your corn plot in a square. Supposedly this gives your plants the best chance for a thorough polination. I'm going to try hand pollinating the ears this year. The silks growing out the end of the 'ear' go to where the kernals will form. One silk for one kernal, so the kernals must be fertilized. Corn needs lots and lots of water, and may need earthing-up at some point. Knowing this, I make furrows and plant my plantlets in the bottom of the furrow. The furrow collects rain water well so that it doesn't run-off, and then I have the two rows of soil either side of the furrow which I use to earth-up the plants from time to time. ---I don't grow turnips, so I can't comment on them. ---Beans are something that I absolutely cannot live without. chuckle. I germinate the seeds in little paper 'pots' in the green hyouse and set them out after they have 2 sets of leaves. I put two plantlets per pole (on tee-pees or on a bean rack). Regular french beans do nopt need water unles there is a real draught. Having said that, runner beans are a whole different story. I don't know of any North Americans that grow runner beans, so I won't comment on these. If you ever decide to try them and want to know how I do it, just give me a call. --Sunflowers I germinate indoors and plant out after allchance of frost. One thing that I have noticed several times is that you should plant them in open ground with no other plants too near. If there is shade on the lower stalk and root area there is a sort of white fungus that can form and will kill your plant at just the moment that it begins to flower. I am growint some red ones and some yellow ones this year that I planted near eachother in a sort of group. ---I do not grow pumpkins, so I can't comment on those either. ---I have grown melons in the past.They can be difficult here, but should do well there. I started them off in paper pots in the greenhouse then planted them outside. They requite lots of water and quite a bit of attention to protect them from mildew. It and be fatal to your plants. I hand polinated the femals flowersby hand just to be sure. ---You asked when you would know when they are ready to be picked., but it wasnýt clear to me what you were asking about, melons or beans. Picking ripe melons is a science that I can't relate to you. It's just experience and the tests are a combinatiopn of things such as smell, thumping sound, appearance of the melon where it is attatched to the vine...and the appearance of the vine at the melon junction. I told you it was difficult to explain. It sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but if you grow enough years, you'll get the hang of it. My grandfather told me to practice in the suipermarket with thumping and sniffing. heh heh. ---It sounds as if there is only one choice for you in terms of where you can place your garden...so I guess that there isn't much you can do about that then. I hope that this all makes some kind of sense to you Bip. I'm wishing you lots of luck with your new enterprize. Keep us posted.
Corn also crosses very easily as it is wind pollinated. So you may want to plant one type a little later. Then they will not flower at the same time.
We grow pumpkins so here is what we do. Hill your earth and add lots of composted manure and other compost. They LOVE this! If you had a pile of manure you could just throw seeds in and they will grow like mad. At the top of the hills, space out 3 seeds. Cover with about an inch of soil. water and watch them grow. Now comes the part where some people differ. If you want just a few large pumpkins, after you have a good one set to about the size of a baseball, remove all other blooms all summer. This allows all the energy of the plant to go to 1 fruit and you get a good sized pumpkin. Some say you can toss dirt over the vines and this will lead to better rooting. We don't do this. We got plenty of pumpkins without doing this. If you are growing for jack o lanterns make sure you sit the pumpkins on their bottoms to ensure a nice body. Have fun!
Hi Bip one thing I would recommend but you probably already know this is to put your corn and bean close to each other. The beans get to climb the corn and the corn get some much needed nitrogen. the carrots and turnips Iwould also put close together. The jackolanterns I am not sure about but I would htink they could go near the sunflowers.
