Beginner Gardener needs advice on beets, sugar snap peas & seed starts

8 years ago

Hello everyone! I live in South East Texas on the coast. I have always wanted to grow my own food and dove right into it this fall.

I started out with 4, 50 gallon containers filled half way with a mix of compost, top soil, and a couple of other mixes. I planted carrots, kale, spinach, beets, turnips, bunching onions and lettuces. I went by Smart Gardeners planting guidelines of when to sow my seeds, but started them the second to last week in October.

Most of my seedlings are looking good except for the beets. Most of them have fallen over and only a few are left. I planted a golden variety and I wonder what could have made them die so quickly?

I have a few questions. I have been trying to research and read about gardening as much as I can, but reading and doing are definitely two very different things!

When is the best time to start sowing fall crops?
Which method of starting seeds is better, using lights or a small greenhouse?
When can you grow sugar snap peas? In the fall or in the spring for an early summer crop?
Can you do spring crops and what can you plant and grow in the spring starting in February?
Will growing fennel be successful in the spring or should I wait until next fall?

Thanks so much!

Featured Answer

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

8 years ago

First and foremost, you need to be careful about your mix. Container gardens need a very different soil mix than gardens in a regular bed. You'd do well to look here

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/contain and

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/cornucop/

There are many people there who have some conception of southern gardening.

I grow sugar snap peas every winter. I planted mine a month ago, and they'll be done by February or March. I do it that way to make those trellises available for cherry tomatoes. They will resit temperatures down to the low 20s, which won't be any problem for you.

In your climate zone, you should be able to start ALL your summer crops outdoors in February. "Spring crops" are what we plant in the fall.

Lights or a greenhouse are both fine, but next to a window that gets sun will do fine also.

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Comments (7)

Renee S H
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the links to the other forums! I want to eventually have a porch culinary herb container garden and those places will be a big help.

The containers I am using right now is more of an experiment for me to show myself that I can actually grow things. Haha!

For my summer vegetable garden I am thinking of double digging beds with a 6" wooden border around them. For soil amendments, I suppose peat moss and compost will help with the clay soil we have down here. Any suggestions with digging garden beds?

Are potatoes better grown in the summer or fall? I was just looking at ordering some but not sure how they fair in the intense South Texas heat.
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Jennie, I can't help with your climate questions, but snap peas are wonderful fresh. Since you've never grown them before, you could always start small and see what you think before committing a large space to them. But if you've got the space available, definitely go for it. (As for the weather, if you're only talking a couple dollars for a packet of seeds, try it and see what you get -- if they don't grow well, save the rest of the pack for late winter/early spring and see if that works better.) As far as support, I've grown dwarf snap peas in containers with an inexpensive tomato cage (the flimsy WM kind) in the middle to help get them started. They do cling to each other, but they also cling to the wire cage and I think this helps them withstand wind a bit better. For harvesting, snap peas are eaten whole -- you eat both the pod and the peas inside, all at once. The pods are nice and crunchy when raw. You can also add them to stir-frys or just steam them as a side dish. We tend to mostly eat them raw in our house. They are one of those "pick a handful while out in the garden and eat half of them before you get back to the kitchen" kind of veggies. :) Good luck! Kathy
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It was disappointing to see so few plants emerge from 4 oz. pre-germinated Sugar Snap seeds, so I'm on the hunt for better planting methods. Reading on GW about Lathyrus (not edible but fragrant and excellent for cut flowers), I came across this advice from a breeder: **Plant the pea seeds in pots, cover w/mouse-proof screen. Let the pea plants (Lathyrus) grow large enough that the seeds no longer attract mice. Very gingerly transplant lathyrus into the ground.** Though peas (and Lathyrus) resent being transplanted, I'm considering the transplanting approach next year, because the Sugar Snaps were so outrageously delicious, and I want a huge forest of them. === Lately, I planted field peas for winter cover. Covered the bed with some sort of black landscape plastic (it allows water to penetrate). Every pea seed that was exposed on the ground (and not under cover) was gone within a week. Peeking under the covers, the now-germinated peas were left alone by marauders. Though the covers are not mouse proof by any means, they did help in protecting the peas against predation. Also noted that temps under the covers were higher than ambient temps. The plastic covers are held down with re-bars, which prevent air from entering under the covers. I don't know if the covers will protect the germinated pea seeds long-term. I planted very late in the season, and we now have snow and frost, so the peas may not grow into plants any time soon, if at all. But hej, the covers taught me an option with planting Sugar Snaps come spring. Will also note that a generous amount of manure spread on the beds in the fall will increase pea yields considerably. Hope this gives ideas for others to build on.....
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southofsa
8 years ago
Renee- I don't do many vegetables in containers, but what you describe with your beets sounds like damping off- ?fungal thing that can happen when conditions are a little moist. If you look it up and that sounds like what happened, I think they recommend having a fan to keep the air moving around your seedlings can help prevent it.

Here is a link to some recommended fall growing dates for Texas. Your local extension office might be able to give information more tailored to your specific area re: growing dates and the best way to amend your soil. You're right though- the time and effort you put into amending your future vegetable beds now will pay off a lot down the road.

Texas fall vegetable growing dates

Sorry I can't be more help- your area is really different than mine and don't want to lead you down the wrong path.

Lisa

PS I can't tell from your original post if you direct seeded your beets or if you were planning on transplanting, but as a general rule root crops need to be directed seeded. They don't tolerate being moved. I pretty much direct seed all my fall vegetables. Some spring things I transplant if I want to get a jump on getting them going in before it heats up too much. I would assume it would be similar in your area, but that's an assumption on my part.

Lisa
Renee S H thanked southofsa
Renee S H
Original Author
8 years ago
Hey southofsa,
I direct sowed all my seeds outside in the containers around Oct 19. The other seedlings are doing great except for the beets. There are only a few still standing. I put them in a spot where they would have partial shade but I am thinking that I may need to move them into full sun.

Thanks for the link to the growing dates! That's going to be a lot help to me for next year.
mamachile
8 years ago
Hi Renee, I am having the same problem but I would start again. Recently I started using happy frogs garden soil from rainbows nursery and it helps.

Lisa, Southofsa I sent you an email if you would like an olive tree?

Mizan
garybeaumont_gw
8 years ago
I have never had good luck with growing root crops(beets and carrots) in the fall in southeast Texas. PH can be a problem. Beets need a pH of 6.5 or above and many potting soil mixes are around 5.5. I would add Ag lime (about a cup per 5 gallons) and plant again in the late winter/early spring. They also do well in a raised bed as long as the pH is correct.
Renee S H
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the replies! I just started working at a local garden nursery so I am starting to learn a lot more about these plants. I am going to see how things go in the containers while I start digging a few beds for the next growing season.

Beginner Gardener needs advice on beets, sugar snap peas & seed starts

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

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Beginner Gardener needs advice on beets, sugar snap peas & seed starts

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

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