do you start cucumbers and squash inside, or direct seed?
michelelc
12 years ago
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rjs55555
12 years agotcstoehr
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Starting cucumbers from seed
Comments (23)Very important is to get a planting calendar that's suitable to your area. You should be able to find them by going to Google and searching "Vegetable planting calendar for [insert your town or county]". They will tell you when to plant, when your last frost date is, things like that. Typically, summer vegetables are planted after the last frost date (you can search that term also to get the date). Cucumbers, zucchini and beans should really be started in ground outdoors. You don't gain much by starting early indoors (I only start tomatoes and peppers inside before the start of the season). They don't like to be transplanted, and they are such fast-growing plants, you don't gain time by starting early inside. How often to water new seeds? Planted in ground outdoors I check them daily. Give them a good soaking (assuming you have good draining soil). Go out the next morning. If the top of your soil looks dry, you'll want to water. If your soil looks dark and moist, let them go and check again the next day. I check my new seedlings daily, watering when the top of the soil starts looking light and dry. Once the plants have come up and start sprouting true leaves (the leaves you get after the first two), you can start backing off on watering. At that time, you'll want to start poking your finger in the soil an inch or so down to see if the plants need watering. Hope that helps!...See MoreSquash and Cucumber - Started Too Early
Comments (5)Normally, I agree with every common sense word digdirt writes and I also agree that it is probably best to start again with your plants. However, this bit: "they don't tolerate transplanting well even under ideal conditions. If transplanted it needs to be before the 3rd true leaf develops" is not imo strictly accurate under all circumstances. In cooler climates, like mine, squash are routinely transplanted. If direct sown it would well into June before the ground was anywhere near warm enough for them to germinate and even then they'd need sowing under a jam jar or cloche. As it is I will put mine out in mid May with some fleece protection, having started them in my glass porch 2 weeks ago. At the moment they are being hardened off. And they are often well past 3 true leaves before they get set out. You could cover all bases by starting new ones and setting out the old ones, just to see how they do....See Moresquash seed starting
Comments (3)Diane, If you choose to start squash and cucumbers indoors I wouldn't recommend more than, at most, a three week head start. They grow so quickly and are not the easiest to transplant. If you do start them indoors they will need the same intensity lighting as your tomato plants. Your greenhouse conditions sound very good. Remember, if you start anything indoors, under lights, or under glass, it will have to be hardened off to UV light, or else it will burn, and probably die, when you put it out. I suspect, if you have a greenhouse you know all about this : ) I'm personally contemplating starting just one such vine crop (and at that, just one plant) under lights, just to try to get a week or two head start on the harvest. But, as a rule, I don't mess with this, since it takes up space and time, and these crops grow so quickly when direct seeded. Our last frost date is April 15. I'm just now thinking of starting something indoors like a watermelon or a squash. So my recommendation to you is to count back about 2 1/2 weeks, three at most, and start your seeds. George Tahlequah, OK...See MoreMetro Atlanta Vegetable Gardeners Unite! Seed Starting/Direct Planting
Comments (1)I am a new-ish gardener and planted tomatoes in cups today to be transplanted to containers. I know I am getting a late start for transplanting but I did not have the tools to do indoor sowing. I would have probably planted 2 weeks ago but I saw the forecast for the cold front week and then there was the actual cold front. Even though I just planted tomatoes and will be planting peppers, eggplants, basil and cucumbers soon I have been quite busy with gardening related activities for cold weather crops like peas, lettuce, spinach, chard, brussels sprouts and other plants. The plants themselves are doing so-so, I don't know if I they are just slow because of the cooler weather or if I did something wrong. Since the weather is supposed to be mild for the next couple weeks hopefully the plants will take off and if they don't then my conclusion is going to be that something went wrong with the plants....See Morehp_MA6b
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