New gardener, vegetable garden questions

17 years ago

I've been piddling around with a garden in our tiny backyard for a few years now and am finally getting serious about it. So far my garden journal is mostly a recounting of what failed/died, but this year if I can figure out something's not working early enough to change it, I want to.

My questions:

1. I planted potatoes on April 23 per directions. These were fully sprouted supermarket potatoes. I figured that even if they had a sprout inhibitor on them, it obviously hadn't worked, so they should be fine. But here it is May 9, 16 days later, and the potato parts look exactly as they did when I put them in the ground. I haven't actually dug any of them up, but I can see the sprout tops that were poking out for a couple. They've been watered and it's rained... Are they dead? Should I get something else to plant there? Or are potatoes just real slow to do anything obvious?

2. This year I tried starting some corn indoors. Having never done that before, I used about half compost and half potting soil. Only about 25% of the corn has come up and that took quite a while (though I'm not using gro-lights and they're on an enclosed back porch with southern exposure). The seed was new and fresh. Is this normal? Will the rest come up soon? I seem to be having a lot of trouble keeping the starter cups consistently moist but not wet. I water them in the morning and by the time I get back from work they're bone dry and dusty (at least on top, for the first 1/2 inch - I don't dig around deeper than that). Should I just chuck the starter cup stuff and seed into the ground with the other half of the seed pack I have left?

3. I couldn't stand it - I had to buy and plant tomatoes, basil and peppers even though it's probably too early. If it turns off chilly (under 50) in the next few days, what's the best way for me to protect the plants? They're already in the ground. Five tomatoes, three peppers and two basil plants.

4. I had a soil analysis done by the U of MN extension. They said my soil pH was 7.4. I took the samples and sent them in before I amended with compost this spring. I put about 12 cubic feet of compost onto 100 square feet of vegetable garden space. How likely is it that I need to add sulfur or work in pine needle mulch to get good growth? Last year the only thing I changed from the year before was adding compost and it made a huge difference.

5. Does anyone have any suggestions for rotating crops in a really small garden, like 100' square feet? Until recently, I didn't know it was a problem to put the same crop in the same place year after year and so I have been putting tomatoes in the same place for five years now, figuring I'd found a "good spot" for them since they were doing well. Now of course I've planted my potatoes in the best place to rotate the tomatoes into and I also read that tomatoes shouldn't follow potatoes. Other than simply not growing one or the other next year, does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking I might just expand the garden a lot and put tomatoes into the new part, but that will be an expensive and difficult undertaking.

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Comments (11)

jel48
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi gamebird. I'm sure you'll get lots of helpful responses to your post. And probably a variety of answers.

1) I'd wait and not worry too much unless the eyes start rotting.

2) Plant your corn in the ground. There's no need to start it indoors. You could put some out about mid-May (although there's the chance it will get frosted - it could get you some earlier corn) and then the rest about Memorial Day. You can plant some later, for a late crop too, if you want.

3)If the forecast is, say, 36 or below for the low temp, cover the plants. You can use things like ice cream buckets, milk jugs, the pots you've bought perennials and other large plants in, buckets, and so on. No need to spend money on the fancy stuff. In a pinch, a little tent made of newspaper will usually even do the trick.

4) I couldn't see adding sulfur or pine needles for most garden crops. But, I'm ashamed to admit, I've never had a PH test done. Compost is good stuff though.. really, really good stuff :-)

5) I just swap my garden end for end. One part I put the cool weather crops in (radish, lettuce, endive, onions, peas and so on) and the other part I plant tomatos and peppers and so on. Then the next year, I do it the opposite way around. I don't know about the tomato/potato thing. I'd never read that and I haven't grown potatoes in years. I just don't have enough room.

Good luck with your veggies! I hope they all turn out well for you.
gamebird
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the answer. I hope others chime in too!
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gamebird
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Oh, I've got a question back - you say go ahead and plant the corn in the soil. I think that's a good idea, now that you mention it, so I'll get successive harvests. But at what point do I give up on the seedlings I'm trying to start indoors? They're doing very poorly. They've just gotten up to a tiny bit to an inch high and now they seem to have stopped growing. When I buy them in packs from the nursery, they're three or four inches tall. One of mine even seems to be withering up and dying! Is the compost mix too rich? Am I watering too much or too little? Or are they just cold and not getting enough light?
karenn3
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I"ll only tackle the crop rotation part. I used to grow my tomatoes in the only sunny spot I had, the same place the previous owner did for 30 years. What I did was remove some soil and each year I would heavily amend or cover the old soil with 3 inches of compost-soil blend. Then it's is necessary to mulch well to prevent the soil from splashing your fruits as alot of soil-borne diseases do the most damage to fruits. I didn't remove soil every year, just occasionally. Not perfect, I'm sure, but it seemed to work. You might try square foot gardening, there are books on it. It might make it easier to rotate.
Julie
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
For the corn- it is probably not warm enough for them- in your house or outdoors just yet.They also like hot feet and sunny bodies- so probably not bright enough either- both of those factors can stress a plant/seedling- and compounding it with damp- on an already stressed system seems to bring discouraging results.
I have made these observations with many of the seedlings I have started indoors- it does seem if I can get them warm enough- the other two factors don't matter as much- the same goes with if I can get them bright enough.
I usually start sweet corn in the garden bed when the soil is warmer- but I do start ornamentals such as the variegated japanese and the indian corn indoors to have them ready to sell to others to grow on-
Maybe if you put them out on bright sunny days and brought them in in the evening- or protected them some how in the evenings they might improve-
loodean
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi Gamebird.

I have a one-page illustration on how to rotate in a small plot from my book, "Your Minnesota Kitchen Garden", but dont know how to post it. Let me know, how to get it to you.

Luddene
althea_gw
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
There was a thread about rotation on the Organic Forum recently that surprised me. I thought rotation was essential, but the people who posted on the thread disagree. Here's a link to the thread.
gamebird
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You can email me something at game_bird AT hotmail.com

I suppose I'll put grow lights on my "wish list", but I likely won't be buying any of that stuff until next year (the garden has a budget and it's nearly there). Hm... maybe the husband will buy me one for Mother's Day? :)

I'm really worried about this cold snap we're having. I've put milk jugs with the bottom cut off over the two basil plants, but I haven't covered anything else. I guess tonight I'll put planting pots over the tomatoes and peppers. I read that if they're exposed to too cold of weather it stunts them. Is that true?
jel48
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I think they grow slower in cold weather, but I've never noticed that it stunted them once it had warmed up. Maybe someone else knows for sure.
loodean
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hey, shoplights at Menards are only about $10 a pop and they work just fine!
sallym
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hi gamebird,
I'll just address #3: and I hope it's not redundant, but I don't see anyone addressing it directly. I hope your peppers and other plants that are already in the ground do okay, but for next year, peppers, especially, like the warm weather. I plant my tomatoes around the last weekend of May if I can, but I don't put my peppers (or eggplant) in until the first or even second week of June until it really warms up and weather is "stable". If your pepper plants make it, yes, they could be stunted because I'm sure they are so stressed out right now because they are cold. Experience is our teacher though, right? I know it's hard to wait with the spring planting sometimes -- we all get so excited. Keep covering them with milk jugs or buckets. And hey, if you've never had anything fail/die in your garden, you're not gardening!
Sally

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