Planting Peas into a Raised Bed from Your Peat Pots and Cups: The Next Step!

Planting Peas into a Raised Bed 

from Your Peat Pots and Cups: The Next Step!

Hopefully you started some peas indoors or in your greenhouse, or as I did a combination of both. Peas love the cold weather and can take a frost, but they don't germinate well in cold wet soil. In fact, it often leads to the seeds rotting in the ground. The best way to get a 3 or 4 week jump on the season is to start your peas indoors. They transplant perfectly well to garden beds. Don't believe that garden myth you can't seed start peas. I showed you how to get them started in peat trays and cups in other videos. This is how you get them into the garden.





Peas Like the Cold - My First Vegetable Garden

 
When you start them in peat trays you have very little starting mix. You should start them about 3 weeks before you would get them into the ground. That is so they don't become root bound. You can see in my videos I had to hold them past 3 weeks because of bad weather. It still worked out fine. I also show you how to prepare the garden soil, protect peas from rabbits and trellis them with tree branches.

If your peas are growing in a greenhouse they are used to the sun. If they have been indoors you need to slowly introduce them to the outdoors over a period of several days. This is called plant acclimation.
You can plant 2 seeds to a cup and leave them outside during the day if it is above freezing and bring them in at night. This way you are seed starting them but also protecting them from the cold nights.

There are many ways to do it. In about 3 weeks your cup planted peas will be ready to grow in the ground. You can see in the video how the extra week lead to the roots getting bound. I also show you away of simply laying chicken wire over the peas to protect them from the rabbits. Simple and effective!

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Planting and Preparing Strawberry Root Starts: Don't Bury the Crown

Planting and Preparing Strawberry Root Starts: Don't Bury the Crown

Strawberry plants are very rewarding to grow. However, they are a bit of challenge to start as seeds and they are fairly expensive to buy as pint sized plants. Strawberry seeds take a very long time to germinate, germinate poorly for most of us and take a long time to get to producing size. A great way to save money over the pint sized strawberries that can cost $2-$4 a plant is using strawberry root starts.

Strawberry root starts are older plants that are removed from the ground and stored it a mostly dry medium. You typically get 10 plants (roots and crown) for $3-$5 a bag. I found mine at Walmart for $2.98.  The benefits are cost and established plants. The root systems are strong and the crowns are established. The root sets will leaf up quickly once planted. They will bear strawberries the first year but the second year will bring a full crop... unless of course you get jump to the season. Here is how I do that.

I show you how to soak the roots and plant the strawberries in containers. Always keep the crown above the ground. Planting them this way will get you bigger and stronger transplants when planted in your beds. You can use any similar sized container. The key is to know where the roots end and the crown begins. You have to keep the crown above the  ground. That is were the leaves will sprout from as you can see in the video still above.

You can get a good 8 week start by planting your roots in containers and starting them in the house, garage (move them in and out of the sun during the day) or in a greenhouse.  Strawberries can tolerate the cold. You just don't want them sitting outside in 30 degree weather, they will basically hibernate. The goal is to get them growing.

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Planting Spring Peas in Peat Trays/Pots and Transplanting Peas to Containers

 Planting Spring Peas in Peat Trays/Pots 

& Transplanting Peas to Containers

The most important thing to know about peas is they like cool weather and they don't like soggy ground. They can take a frost and a freeze but starting them in cold wet soil is a recipe for rotting seeds. The best way to get a jump on your gardening season is to start peas in cups or seed trays. I use to think you could not start peas in seed cells and transplant them. The rumor was they don't like having their roots disturbed. Just be careful with them! I was wrong and have been doing it for years.

There are many many ways to seed start peas. I will certainly be trying out different methods and making videos on all of them. I bought a bunch of peat trays and I hate them for most things but not for peas. Peas can be grown in the peat trays and transplanted directly to your containers or ground beds without removing them from the peat trays. Peas are very easy to seed start. This is one way to avoid disturbing their roots.

They will germinate anywhere between 7 and 14 days depending on where you are starting them. If I start them indoors in a nice 75 degree grow  light closet they come up in about 7 days. In my greenhouse, with fluctuating temperatures and low lows, it takes about 14 days. Once they come up, they grow quickly and you don't want to hold them to long. After germination in about 7-10 days you will see the roots coming through the peat trays or pots. It is about that time you need to get them into the ground. If the ground is still frozen or too wet... try 5 gallon containers like in the video.

Like I said there are so many ways to start peas. The bottom line is... grow some. You have never tasted peas before if you haven't had a fresh picked pea off the plant. The sweetness is amazing and can't be found in any store bought peas.

Good Luck in Your Gardens
Gary

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Setting Up a Spring Garden Greenhouse: Set-up, Securing, and Passive Heat Sources

Setting Up a Spring Garden Greenhouse: 

Set-up, Securing, and Passive Heat Sources

This is my new model greenhouse that is made by Stafford. It is a collapsible greenhouse that retails for about $170. I got mine on sale for $130. It is my second collapsible greenhouse. With the first one, I tried to do some fall and winter gardening in it.  While I got lots of greens, it was destroyed by the wind, the plastic tore, the seams tore and the zipper broke. While it was bigger than this model.... don't by the large size Village Green greenhouse. It is made cheaply.

A collapsible greenhouse, now that I have some experience is best used in the spring for about a 60 day period. Enough time to start seedlings, mature transplants and harden off any indoor vegetables you may have started. I don't recommend them for the fall. They aren't really meant to be outside for more than 2-3 months at a time.  I am in Maryland Zone 7. The late December, January and early February temperatures and weather are too brutal for collapsible greenhouses.

What is the difference between spring and fall... spring is a winning battle. The temperature and day light hours are on the rise. In the fall you are in a losing battle to cold and shorter days.

This model was very easy to put together. It is a better quality plastic. The seams are better stitched, the zipper is stronger and the plastic shell is supported by a tent like fabric. Inside the frame is not built with insert Tube A into Corner Joint B. It actually has a solid single piece frame that rises and collapses.  There are extra internal places to secure the plastic shell to the frame. A huge benefit!

The most important thing you can do for a collapsible greenhouse is to secure it to the ground, or deck in my case. The greenhouse plastic shell will act like a parachute to wind and it can be flipped with winds that get over 25 miles per hour. The second video talks about ways to secure greenhouses and some basic passive heat sources that double as weights.

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2 Ways to Grow Basil and Cilantro on Your Windowsills: They Like Water!

2 Ways to Grow Basil and Cilantro on Your Windowsills: 

They Like Water!

You are primarily growing indoor herbs for their leaves and not worrying if a plant gets to full size as it would in the garden. Indoor windowsill herb containers are best planted a bit over crowded... more leaves. The key to the windowsill plants is getting them established nicely at germination and then moving them to the windowsill. My herbs are grown under grow lights for 14 hours a day until established as in the video.

Once they make it to the windowsill you want to water them as needed or planned with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer at each watering. You want to keep them fed on the windowsill. In this case I don't recommend organic products, as I think the smell indoors and the man made fertilizers tend to have a higher nitrogen component as well as many micro-nutrients. I believe micro nutrients help with indoor herbs and vegetable flavor.

You can go solely organic but remember plants can not tell the difference. I've made indoor organic solutions before with a beet product and kelp extract (as you will see). It works but I found  Miracle Gro to be effective and easier. I also understand we all don't have large selections of fertilizer at our finger tips. Use what is available in your area and don't stress. Gardening is meant to be fun.



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Thank You For Visiting My Blog and Spreading the Word on Your Social Media

Thank You for Visiting My First Vegetable Garden! 
and Spreading the Word

I really enjoy gardening and have several garden YouTube Channels and blogs. This blog and associated channel are for new and relatively new gardeners. The videos are shot with more detail and explanation of each step. I plan to video my entire vegetable garden for 2014. Seed starting is now. Soon it will be setting up the  greenhouse.

Today, I noticed 1700 page visits. I typically only get 75. So that means people are kindly helping me out by spreading my blog existence through their social media. I thank you greatly!

I really enjoy making the video and answering questions about gardening. Feel free to ask questions about anything related to gardening. The hardest part about gardening is just getting started. Seeds want to grow and people want the help you learn.

THANK YOU! for sharing

Gary

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Great Herbs! How to Start Cilantro Indoors: Keep It Sowing!

Great Herbs! How to Start Cilantro Indoors: Keep It Sowing!

Cilantro is an outstanding garden herb. It loves cool weather and it grows tasty leaves, tasty seeds (coriander) and great flowers for attracting bees and predatory wasps. Although many people suggest not starting cilantro indoors because it won't mature to a full sized plant... I say you will still get leaves even if the transplant doesn't fully mature to a 2 foot plant.

You can start it indoors to get some quick early leaves in the spring. When you plant your transplants also drops some seeds into your vegetable garden beds. I recommend seeding cilantro every 3 weeks for a continued harvest.

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