chard, mustard, turnips (especially salad types) radishes all come to mind as fast crops you can plant now and have in June/July.

If you don't cover your berries you will lose them to frost. This is where row cover on #9 hoops saves farmers thousands of dollars and makes it worth every penny one pays for the stuff

Couldn't find row cover locally, so I put straw/hay back over the berries and tarps over the hoops (see post on covering berries). They got through last night all right (pulled back some of the mulch today) so should survive tonight, just wasn't sure if I should put tarps back over (see other thread) or just leave the mulch since it's not supposed to be quite as cold tonight (though I don't think it got to 32 last night).

Don't have turnip seed, but I'll get out there and start seeding chard, mustard, carrots and radishes. Too late for lettuce, arugula, tatsoi, maruba santoh - even for baby greens?

Thanks

I'd get some early green beans in, since they always sell well. 5 weeks might be pushing it, but it's close. I usually plan on 6 weeks from seed.

'Mei Qing Choi' grows super fast, you can pick it at any size, and always sells well for me. 'Hakurei" salad turnips come to mind also. Maybe plan for some small starts to fill out the tables?

Kohlrabi?

Soil's still too cold for beans, I do plan on pole beans and bush beans plus edamame once it's warm enough. Last year I sold lettuce and greens through June but put starts in rather than seed, and it was bolting by July. I guess I could spend the money on starts instead of putting in the seed I bought if you think that's better, but I thought maybe starting from seed, varieties ranging from 35 days (Burpee's mesclun mix, Baby's Leaf spinach?) to 45-50 (BS Simpson, Lolla Rossa) to 65 days (Tom Thumb mini-heads) might give me baby greens before bolting? Not planning on romaine or other head lettuce, might throw in some old Salad Bowl seed I have. Maruba Santoh is supposed to be heat tolerant, 35 DTM so if Mei Qing Choi would work then it should too - it shouldn't bolt as long as temps stay over 50 from now on? 1 planting of tatsoi for early market/baby greens?

I also sold a lot of jam last June but since I didn't have the blackberries last summer (drought) the only thing I have is grape jelly - though I do have some frozen blueberries I could make into preserves.

I can bring some tomato starts to fill out the tables but mid-late June is a little late to be planting, by that time last year I just donated my leftovers to the church plant sale. Maybe bring strawberry plants when I renovate the bed in July? As soon as I have room on my shelves (get the tomatoes outside at night next week) I can start squash and cukes - but local nursery sells their starts fairly cheap ($1.19 for 3" tomato, I didn't see squash etc a few weeks ago but know they're coming) so I don't know if I can compete.

I've got people selling their tomato and pepper plants for 75 cents each, and they look good.

Can you put some black plastic down to help warm that soil up? Takes less than 2 weeks for warm it quite a bit.

Be sure you are planting dark seed, not the white seed beans. They tolerate cool soils better.

Kentucky Wonder is dark, but Bush Blue Lake is white. At least the beds I was going to plant them in are raised and on a south-facing slope in an open area (where I had potatoes last year) so should warm up pretty soon - sooner than the flatter area near the house and the woods where all the greens are going. I'll check the soil temp this weekend - couldn't see doing it now with the past couple of cold nights. Even before last night, I can tell you that the soil near the house was cold, since we just dug it up to make mounded beds rather than flat area we keep changing the layout of (I never remembered exactly where the rows were the year before, so we'd walk all over the entire thing, so this year dug raised beds and lowered paths - I still have to mulch the paths - so I can make them permanent and not compact them).

I plant Contender and Provider, one of these are dark. both are shorter time to harvest.

soil temps aren't affected by air temps as much, you can have a few cold nights and warmer days, and the soil temps will stay up. Get the thermometer out.

Didn't get out back to measure temp where I plan on planting the beans before it started raining, but stuck the thermometer in the raised beds by the house while I was pulling all the mulch off the strawberries. 55 degrees (2 places, not in the shadier spot where I planted kale, but overcast today so thermometer wasn't in the sun either). So maybe the other beds are (almost) 60 - I'll test tomorrow when it's sunny (but stand there so thermometer is in my shadow). Could maybe plant the pole beans (which I wanted to go in first anyway)? Kentucky Wonder says it's 65 DTM so won't have them for June markets but might have them before the end of July.

Next year I'll order Provider from Fedco (50 DTM). Though for bush beans, Bush Blue Lake is 55 DTM (Burpee) to 57 DTM (Fedco) so how much earlier can you get the dark beans in? We like the taste (and productivity) of BBL.

Royal Burgundy sounds fun to try - "magic beans" start out purple and turn green when you cook them!

I love my royal Burgundy, they are SO easy to pick and very pretty. Their blooms are even different colored than regular green beans. The purple and yellow beans are the ones that I let the younger grandkids pick.

The purple beans are harder to sell since people aren't aware of them. They expect the beans to remain purple and they don't. I call them 'greenbeans for dummies' when they turn green, you can eat them. Purple beans also have dark seeds.

I've canned them for several years now and will continue, they are better tasting and more tender.

Beans germinate at 50-55, so you should be OK.

I thought beans needed 60?

I did some research before posting that. 1 page said 60, but several others stated 50-55. I've planted lower than that with success. Like I said before, I plant the dark seeded beans before the white seeded ones.

I've NOT planted pole beans, never had enough time to get trellising for them.

I've got the fence in place and I'm going to put them where I had the potatoes last year. Since we're not expecting any more rain until mid-end next week, I've got a little while - maybe I'll start soaking them Monday or Tuesday to give them a head start. I don't have any irrigation down there. Thanks

Soil is really warm down there - even under the mulch hay where I had the potatoes it's about 56. The rows where I wanted to plant the edamame (actually more like trenches - where the tomatoes drowned in 2011), with just weed cover is 70!

But I noticed that areas that are normally soggy with poor drainage aren't now. Not that they're dry, the weeds seem to be doing OK in the trenches, but the flatter area across the road from there where the manure pile is isn't squishing as I walk on it. And the deep pit at the end of the trellised trenches I filled with chicken manure and sawdust, where I had all the volunteer tomatoes last year b/c it's glacial till underneath and doesn't drain (I never had to water those volunteers last summer) has only a couple small weeds growing in it.

We've had just over an inch of rain this month (TWC says we had 1.5" last month but Dad didn't mention any the night before we got back from vacation so I'm not sure about that day). We got just 1/100" yesterday (supposedly - my rain gauge broke and I haven't replaced it). We're expecting more next week, but of course it's too far away to tell how much - just a 20-30% chance early in the week and supposedly more later. But it worries me that we're getting 1-1.5" when we should be getting 4.5" a month this time of year - it's been below normal for almost a year now, we didn't even get as much snow as normal. Reservoirs and ponds are still looking OK, but our springs aren't running like they normally do - the one that feeds our pond isn't making it all the way there any more, and the one that runs along our driveway (we had to put in a culvert when we built) disappeared a month ago. The only thing that's keeping things green is the snow melt and that won't last much longer.

I'm wondering if I should scale back (though I've spent money on supplies, incl. lumber for hoophouse) this year, just sell my plants and keep a small garden near the house for us. I haven't sent in my fee for market yet. I just don't want to spend $200 for market, $50 for insurance certificate, and bust my butt (and run the well dry) all summer hauling water out back to keep the beans, edamame, 100+ tomatoes and 50 peppers watered and then find (like I did with peppers and onions last year) that it wasn't enough and I don't harvest (m)any.

This post was edited by ajsmama on Thu, May 16, 13 at 13:17

I'd only grow what grows well for you, and not worry about having everything. You beat yourself up for little profit with items that doesn't grow well.

I've scaled way back and am only attending markets without fees. That way, if I don't make as much, I can walk away. Now this is just a hobby.

I can't find any markets without fees around here. Even the YMCA market that just asked for "donations" last year charges $95 for a 13-week season this year.

Yeah, I won't kill myself with the peppers. I wanted to see if a non-bell sweet would sell here (and DH likes the hot ones so I have to grow a few for salsa) but if they don't grow, they don't grow. The tomatoes and the edamame are more important.

We have several that are free or charge less than $25 for the season. the average season here is from May sometime til Sept/Oct.

It is hard for people who like to grow variety, like me, to sell! I love watching peppers grow, all the colors shapes, varieties. I have finally sucked it up and agreed with the books that bells sell, jalapenos are good and everything else is pretty much a waste. So we have planted over 200 bells inside and another 200-300 outside go out soon. Yes i am growing some other sweets and hots, just a few dozen each. Grow what sells, grow what you eat.

I don't know why I even started 10 cayenne (and of course they all germinated) - I was going to plant 3, but maybe I won't even do that. I have dried cayenne from 2 years ago. But I planned on 3 serrano (just for salsa), 3-4 hot cherries (they do sell - maybe I should plant 5), 3 hot lemons (just for variety), 3 Hot Portugals (maybe not?), 10 jalapenos, 10 ancient sweets, 12 cornu di toro/sweet banana mix (mixed seed packet).

I had started 10 bells (mixed seed) 8 germinated, 1 damped off this week and another doesn't look good. But they never get all that big for me - and people like to compare sizes/prices with the grocery stores - they want huge green bells! I do have some "stuffing peppers" someone gave me I hope are big - can plant 3 or so of those and hope they're bells. He also gave me some Anaheims so I thought I'd plant 3 of those (if only for ourselves - people here think they're hot).

And then I have the 2 Douglah 7-pots, 3 bih jolokias, and 1 purple serrano I overwintered - those are just for kicks, I don't think DH will even eat one (except for the serrano that I'm growing for the flowers)!

I like growing all different kinds of peppers too, not so much for the colors but for the flavors and levels of heat. Just like I like to try different kinds of tomatoes for the flavors even if they're long-season - though I admit I bought "Mark Twain" just for the name - maybe I should have tried "Abraham Lincoln" this year!

I'm trying to make converts - just like with the tomatoes. Though I think I'll have better luck with the tomatoes.

I'm not sure about your climate but the Abe Lincoln tomatoes attracted way too many pests for me to be worth it. The are huge vines with not as many tomatoes and they take forever to ripen.

Thanks, I'll skip Abe then. Hope Mark and Grandma Mary do well for me.

Got the chard, mustard, carrots, lettuce, arugula, tatsoi, maruba santoh and beets in now. A row of dill and some basil sown in the center of cinderblocks next to the overwintered oregano. Netting up around the area where I'm planting edamame, and the tomatoes hardening off. Hot today but looks like storms are holding off til after dinner.

Might seed the cukes and squash tomorrow, still have work to do in the rows for beans (DH weedwhacked but I need to clean it all out and dig out the roots).

I'm also growing edamame. How much do you sell yours for?

Only trialed it last summer, easily got $3/pint and I'm thinking of asking more this year.