Too late to grow stuff from seed?

14 years ago

Hello, I currently live in Florida. Very soon (in about a week) I'll be relocating to Michigan. Where I'll be living is in the northern part of the lower peninsula.

I'll be living in Charlevoix county in a city called Boyne City.

I plan to make a 10 x 16 plot. The plot will consist of eleven rows, each row being about 10 ft. in length; these rows will each be spaced 6" (1/2 a foot) apart. This plot will consist of 11 rows and I plan to grow these veggies in it:

*Bush green beans

*tomatoes

*cucumbers

*lettuce

*sweet bell peppers

*Beets

*zucchini and/or summer squash

*cabbage

*carrots

*Radish

I would like to grow the stuff from the above list from seed. My questions are these; is it too late to grow stuff from seed? I realize Michigan has a very short growing season. Is soil in Michigan suitable for gardening as is? The reason I'm asking this is because soil in Florida is horrible for gardening, and you have to add soil and fertilizer for anything to grow here because the native soil is horrible. By this I mean, do you have to add anything to the soil to

assist what will be growing in the soil (fertilizer, lime, mulch, etc.) If so, in what quantities?

Also my other questions are is it too soon to start planting stuff or can I plant stuff now? Is now the time to plant cool weather veggies (lettuce, radishes, cabbage, onion, broccoli, sugar snap peas) or warm weather veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers, any kind of melon, summer squash, pumpkins, zucchini, cucumbers, bell peppers, green beans, okra, eggplant). The reason I ask is because the growing season in Michigan is completely opposite of Florida's growing season.

The best time to start planting stuff in Florida is about September or October. If you try to plant stuff in the summer months here, it's too hot and anything you try to grow in May thorough about August or July is liable to up and die on you cause it's too hot.

Are there any people on this forum who live in this area of Michigan? I could really use help with gardening, as I'm new with it, and don't have any experience in growing stuff. Basically what I would need help with is creating the plot itself and measuring the dimensions for it.

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Comments (5)

puzzlefan
14 years ago
Zucchini and summer squash will depend upon the variety. Most need a longer period than may be available this year. For tomatoes and peppers find nice sized plants. Same for eggplant. We are expecting another freeze tonight (about 50 miles from your MI location) so all hot weather plants had to be put under cover in the storage shed. I usually have my tomatoes and peppers in the ground or close to being planted by now but the weather is not cooperating. Hot weather crops suffer from blossom drop if the temps don't hold above 50 degrees at night even though the day time temps are okay. The predictions are for a cooler than normal summer and earlier than normal frost so that may help you decide what to grow. Good Luck
kawaiineko_gardener
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, based upon what you've told me it seems like
planting warm weather crops from seed at the moment is out.

I don't mind doing a cool weather vegetable garden. Is this in the cards? It seems like this would be ideal weather for
cool weather crops.

Cool weather crops I would do would be:

*carrots
*turnips
*sugar snap peas
*broccoli
*spinach
*cabbage
*lettuce
*beets
*radish

Oh I do have a question, is an icicle radish considered a daikon? I don't like red radishes, but daikons I have
no issue with.

As far as the vining crops, I would be doing intedeterminate
varieties of tomatoes, bush type cucumbers, and bush type
green beans.
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What did you mean by Burpee? That was the brand of seed you used, or you used the Burpee seed starting system? I started plants from seeds for the first time this year. I used the Burpee seed starting kit (tray of 72 soil pellets on a capillary mat, with a water reservoir beneath, no heat lamp, just set next to a window) and had great luck with zinnia (of course), shasta daisy Alaska, and hollyhock. At first, I thought the kit was a huge disappointment, as I got great germination rates but it was almost impossible to remove the seedlings without killing them. What ended up happening, though, was that after mid-late spring, I ran out of steam planting stuff outside, and I just left my seed tray outside, watering regularly. The seedlings continued to grow. Then, I went on vacation for 10 days and so I set the seed tray on the ground in a sunny area where it would get watered by our sprinklers which were on a timer. The plants grew like wildfire! That was early July. I finally got up the energy to plant the plants - the hollyhock seedlings are huge (I never thought they'd finally get big), and I repotted each shasta daisy in a 6" plastic pot leftover from other perennials I bought at a garden center. I now have about 16 plants in such pots - they're growing rapidly and I will plant them in the ground in early August. No, I won't get blooms this year, but I should get them this year. Delayed gratification. The zinnia, it goes without saying, are doing fantastically - if only they were perennials. I've also just planted purple coneflower seeds directly in the ground per the seed packet instructions, and hope they will come up, as it's very warm out and I am keeping them moist. I know that my other experience won't help you this season, but it's an approach you might want to take next year. When I transplanted seedlings into the ground in spring when the were very small, almost none lived. Now that they are much larger they're thriving after transplant. I wouldn't have thought seedlings would do well growing for 3.5 months in a 1" cell, but they did. I've got over $100 worth of shasta daisies for about $1. Worth it? In the end, yes. Of course $100 isn't all that much and it might have been easier to just buy the plants, but now that the plants are larger and look like they'll survive just fine, I'm satisfied with the effort I put in. I think I'll try it next year. It's an ongoing process. I'm not basing my entire garden on seeds, but since I'm in it for a fairly long haul, I figure I can help fill out my garden cheaply doing some stuff from seed.
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I am not answering a, b, c, etc. because I just have some general points to make. First off - we are lucky over here in that our seasons are very elastic. If you look at the backs of seed packets there is often a period of 3 months over which you can sow seeds. So don't count your delay from the first possible sowing date. It is often far too cold and wet to start sowing in March. Count it from the end and you are only a couple of weeks out. 2. You can't reliably grow apples from seed - are you sure that's what you meant? (You can grow apple trees from seed but there is no way of knowing if they will have fruit worth eating and you won't find that out for years.) 2. What sort of Broccoli is it? Summer or Winter? I haven't sown my Purple Sprouting or Kale yet. I should have done but I know from experience that it really doesn't matter that much. I'll just get the crop a bit later next year. I'm still picking last year's. 3. Celery is very tricky for a beginner. You can certainly try sowing it now. Spring has been quite cool so give it a go. I don't even try to grow it now. It's such a faff and we don't eat that much so it isn't worth it to me. 4. Cucumbers are touch and go outdoors. You can still sow inside and transplant into the ground. Or you can sow outside under a jam jar or plastic bottle. 5. There are cabbages for all seasons so you need to follow the instructions for the ones you have. I suggest you Google each of your vegetables and 'RHS' to get instructions for each type. Here's an example: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/cucumbers I would also suggest you direct sow some easy stuff like Peas, Runner Beans and Lettuce because you have picked some challenging types for your first attempts and it would be nice to get some successes. You can also start some Courgettes under a jar or indoors. People are only just planting them out now so you are not too late. p.s. note that most people on this forum are in the US. Many of their seasons are much more sharply delineated than ours. Many of them have far hotter summers than we do and far colder winters. For example, you cannot germinate Aubergines outdoors here, at least not until about mid July, under a jar, when it will be too late to get any fruit. In fact you can't really grow them outdoors at all with any degree of success. When US posters talk about 'cool weather crops' they are talking about stuff we can grow throughout the summer. UK seed packets don't give days to maturity. Given our weather that could easily be 100% out. I still have my central heating on and am still sowing peas.
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ninamarie
14 years ago
Hi there
It is not too late to direct seed most of the things on your list, except for peppers or tomatoes. There, it will be more economical at this point to buy started plants to ensure harvest before frost.
kawaiineko_gardener
Original Author
14 years ago
Okay, that is all I really wanted to know. Thank you for clarifying regarding this, I appreciate it.

I would also like to grow bush type cucumbers, and
bush type green beans. Will it be feasible to grow these from seed before the frost sets in?

I realize that based upon what others have told me, it won't be feasible to plant them now, because it's too cool.
Can you give a recommendation of when to plant them?
(July, August, etc.)
whynotmi
14 years ago
Welcome to Michigan. I've attached a link to the MSU extension that might be helpful.

Find out when your area usually has the first frost then count backward from there the days to maturity to find out the LAST planting date for various veggies.

Have fun with your garden and if I may be so bold, start conservatively and increase the size once you get a handle on what it'll take for you to succeed. Check with your county or township to see if there is a public source for compost. It's usually pretty reasonable. Just make sure it's properly cooked so you don't get any unhappy surprises.

Wish I was close enough to be of more help.

Good gardening to you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Michigan State Univ planting chart

Too late to grow stuff from seed?

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puzzlefan

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Too late to grow stuff from seed?

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puzzlefan

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ninamarie

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