A few of those words are accurate vgkg. it is stainless steel and it is a sink. Not sure about the very nice part, and it definitely does is not 'working' per say. Right now its a shiny potting bench (was free to me though!). I do put buckets under the drains so any spills are fully contained.

Ok, no working plumbing, I get ya. Still a nice set up for starting seedlings with the growlites.

Great plans. You look organized!

Does anyone has a good source for inexpensive shade cloth?

I've bought shade cloth from Amazon a few times. Whether it's "inexpensive" or not is subjective (just have to compare), but the few I've bought from them have been decent quality and effective.

My challenge right now is emptying the soil from dozens of fabric grow bags I bought last season to grow my tomatoes, peppers, and a few other things. My ground garden is only about 70 sf and I wanted to grow more, so I tried using grow bags for a bunch of it. Worked pretty well, although the in-ground stuff still seemed to do better.

Anyway, I'm trying to get an early start on prep for this season by emptying all the soil from the bags into trash cans and revitalizing it for this season. Learning that I have to wet it all first as they're like bricks when dry. Even getting the soil out of the grow bags can be a challenge when it's dry. But dumping it into a trash can and using a pitch fork to break it all up and mix it around is working fairly well.

Here's the grow rack I recently built for seed starts and indoor winter growing (lettuce, spinach, herbs). I had enough space in my furnace room for 24"x18"x6' rack. I used Reflectix (fairly cheap at Home Depot) to surround it all and reflect the light around so I didn't need as many lights. I just attached it in a few spots on top with packing tape, and the roll on top just unrolls up/down the front when I need to get into it. Works pretty well.

Cool idea, Tim! I've been trying to figure out if it makes sense to get some reflective grow tents for my seedlings* — that looks like a much more reasonable solution!

* veggies and herbs. I feel the need to clarify these days...

I love your setup Tim! Are the shelves adjustable so you can keep the young seedlings up close to the lights? If not you can always use things like scrap lumber or old books to raise up the seedlings. I use some reflective material behind my grow area to improve the lighting as well but mine is not surrounded. You can see it in this picture of my leek seedlings. The stuff I used has adhesive backing.

It's a standard baker's rack, where you can set the shelf heights wherever you want (I set the lowest shelf a little taller for bigger plants, and the top shelf a little shorter), but once you get it all built it's not practical to change them. However the lights are. They came with cable loops about 10" long to hang them. I just crafted some "S" hooks out of bailing wire for the ends. To hang the lights I simply looped the cables over the rack rung and hooked the "S" hooks laterally to whichever rungs give me the height I want. So it's super simple to raise/lower the light height.

Thanks for the tip on using scrap wood/books just to raise the trays. I'd thought about that, and for "mixed" racks I may still do that. But when I opened the package for the lights (got them on Amazon) and saw the thin hanging cables they came with, I thought about just using the rack itself as an easy "loop over and hook to a rung" way to adjust the height.

I'd never even heard of Reflectix before but I LOVE this stuff for this purpose. It's sturdy enough and stiff enough that it doesn't need gluing or stapling, but flexible enough to roll it up. A few pieces of packing tape keep it in place (and the front "door" just hangs freely). I think being able to enclose all 4 sides helps raise the light level significantly. While I know it's not an ideal measure for plants, I used a lux meter app on my phone to test it with the front flap open and closed. Got a 5100 reading with the flap open and 5500 with it closed. I forgot to check it before I enclosed the other 3 sides, but I'd guess it was probably 4000 or so. And that was from setting the phone on the rack (actual plants will be a few inches closer).

Here are the lights I used (18w LED, 1800 lum, 5000k). I like that they're "naked" (no reflector) so they take up less space. The Reflectix is really the reflector anyway giving plants light from all directions/angles.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QN4HPN/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tim, have you done any checking on temperature differences with the Reflectix? My only concern with it is that it might raise the temps too much in there.

Jack, I’m starting my leek seedlings this weekend. Any tips?

It's only running about 2 degrees warmer inside the rack than outside it. In part because I'm not sealing it tightly (by design, since I wanted air to flow through). There's some gaps around the edges, and the front flap just lays flat with small gaps around the edges. And the bottom is open. If it did get too warm, I'd just move the front flap forward some. I have it taped to the back top now (so it drapes over the top and the front), but I could always just tape it to the front edge instead and leave the top totally open (or in between so part of the top remains open.

The lights are LED so they only get slightly warm.

Since I have the rack in the furnace/water heater room where there's a 10" vent pipe open to the outside, it does get down to about 55 degrees at night when the lights are off (I have the timer running 6am-10pm), which I think is probably a good nighttime temp for lettuce anyway. Stays around 73-75 during the day. But that's in winter. During summer that room gets too hot, but that's OK because I'll be growing outside then. The rack does have wheels on it though so I could always roll it to another room if I wanted.

Tim- that’s an awesome setup! You just reminded me I have some reflectix sitting in the garage. I’m going to get it up in my lettuce planting box and drape it over the front of the lower lights. Will look like a full blown illegal grow room then ;-)

Looks like you could line that whole cubby hole with it pretty well. Not sure how tall that space is. I know our HD had both 16" and 24" widths in stock (and I think 48").

Those grow lights you have in there look pretty focused though. Looks like if there's much to be gained, it would be by lining the back wall where the lights actually shine on it. And maybe a front flap too.

Love reading everyone post! What and how many are you planting this year?

Spring, summer and fall?

I'm in the south and keep changing my mind on amount,

Peas (never grew any)

Green Beauty Pea
Kelvedon Wonder Garden Pea
Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Pea
Sugar Snap Pea
Wando Garden Pea
Beans:

Calima Bean

10 Asparigus Bean (planted 5 last year)

Purple King Pole bean

20' Pink eye purple hull(planted 10' last year)

20 Rattle Snake (10 last year)

Okra:

8 Burmese (love this okra as it doesnt get hard)

Tomato:
3 Berkeley Tie-Dye Green Tomato
3 Jersey Giant Tomato

1 Principe Borghese Tomato

(want to find a couple other tomatos to plant)

Cucmber:

1 Tenergreen Burpless

1 Dar

Yea I’ll see how far the roll I have gets me. Anything is better than nothing! Thanks for the idea!

Karen - have fun starting your leeks this weekend. I posted my method for starting leeks and onions in the below thread on the Allium forum.

Starting leeks and onions

I've had good luck in Central MS with Little Marvel and Extra Early Alaska. Sugar Snap and Sugar Ann do well, too. I'm also planting Mammoth Melting as it is stringless.. Adding some bonemeal provides needed phosphorus and seems to boost production.

BTW Cherokee Purple was a very flavorful tomato as was Brandywine. I'm also trying Black Krim this year in addition to Stupice and Siberian which are early cool weather varieties. Because of our extreme heat, straw bales help pur plants survive the heat and heavy mulch of pine straw when I can't find straw bales.

Blue Lake pole bean was prolific last year and excellent tasting!

Started onions and peppermint this weekend!

Not sure how well this will look, but here are my current spring and fall garden plans. Still working out a couple kinks (plant timing and whether I will have enough frost free days for it all). The beds along the outside edge are 2ft wide for reference. Total garden area is around 24 wide by 20 long.

Oh wow that's nice! Kevin

Does anyone have a recommendation for a really sweet carrot? Central Mississippi Zone 8A

I tried Scarlet Nantes carrots last year, and really liked them. They seemed to be fairly sweet, although my experience is very limited.

Kevin - you are really on top of it this year! I can't quite make out everything but I'm impressed never-the-less.

Swety Bear - Are you planning to sow the carrots in the spring or in late summer for a fall/winter harvest. Any carrot is going to be much sweeter if harvested in the fall/winter after a few frosts. If sowing this spring, and they should probably be sown pretty soon in your area, you might want to select one of the early maturing varieties that will root up before your summer heat arrives.

I've not grown it but Mokum looks like it may be a good one to try for a sweet and early variety.

I'm doing a Spring planting within a very few weeks. I have sandy loose soil in the main garden and will use raised beds for the rest.

We've found it almost impossible to get straw bales in our area. Seems like everyone has hay, BUT not straw.

Does anyone have experience using that compressed packaged straw for straw bale gardening? I've read mixed reviews about a abundance of hay seeds in the straw.

I posted this over on the veggie tales thread but wanted to share here too.

Here's my generalized (and a bit easier to read) garden plans for the spring and fall. Plant dates and DTMs are a little aggressive like my normal "push the boundary" tendency.

Key changes and notes from last year:

1. Lots of succession planting. Carrots, Lettuce, Peas, Beans, Zukes, Cukes all will be broken up into two or three plantings.
2. Give tomatoes more room – last year I planted at 1 per 1 square foot and heavily pruned. Great production but battled septoria all year plus the pruning took up a ton of time. This year I am going to 1 plant per 4 square feet.
3. Plant peppers later. They really don't do much until the night temps warm up. Hoping I can squeeze out broccoli and cauliflower before then.
4. Similarly - Zucchini, Squash, Cukes will be planted out later to allow more spring crops (spinach, lettuce, peas, broccoli, cauliflower). Also hoping to avoid squash vine borers by planting a few zukes in mid to late june.
5. Diligent disease control of tomatoes. I will be spraying copper and serenade right from the start. At very first sign of septoria, the daconil and possibly mancozeb will get broken out.
6. Find places outside the garden to ‘tuck’ veggies into. I want to do a couple garden
   towers out of 55 gallon plastic drum to plant strawberries, herbs, lettuces, etc. Onions and herbs will be grown in half wine barrels on the deck. I’ll probably throw a couple 5 gallon buckets with peppers in the back yard. I might plant some pumpkin in our compost pile.

Got my first onion sprouts today... after planting them on 1/21!

Now I really do have to finish getting my lights set up...

Oladon - congrats! That is some pretty fast germination. Did you have them on a heating pad? My leeks and onions usually take at least 5 days if not 6 or 7 to sprout without bottom heat.

Get the lights up ASAP, onions can get leggy very quickly.

Nope, no heating pad... though the guest bedroom that I use as my indoor veggie starting room stays fairly warm (70s).

Should be able to get the lights and timer plugged in tonight.

I've never done spinach indoors (I imagine it'd be similar to lettuce), but I've started beans... they did well, but grew REALLY fast and ended up getting leggy before I knew it... we're talking a few inches a day.

I think as long as you're prepared for that and ready to move your lights as needed to keep them close but not burn the sprouts, you should be okay!

I just started pole beans and they seem to be doing well. They'll get moved outside on the warm days ahead. Spinach is started too, but growing very slowly. Haven't done peas, but lettuce starts well indoors in flats. We'll probably plant peas within the next week or so. (Central MS Zone 8)

I've never grown peas or beans indoors myself and would be hesitant to do so just because I would not want to have to transplant them. I believe a lot of people do pre-sprout them before planting though. I've never done that either.

My plans for my 2018 garden:

ASPARAGUS (established beds)

Mary Washington (4)

Jersey Knight (8)

Jersey Supreme (18)

Purple Passion (26)

Pacific Purple (26)

BROCCOLI

Bay Meadows (26)

Early Dividend (20)

Aspabroc (6)

BASIL

Sweet

Genovese

BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Jade Cross E (6)

CAULIFLOWER

Cheddar (3)

Snow Crown (3)

CARROTS

Bolero (80)

Purple Haze (40)

Yellowbunch (80)

CUCUMBER

Vertina (10)

Sweet Success (4)

EGGPLANT

Calliope (2)

Orient Express (2)

GARLIC

German White (48)

Chesnok Red (30)

Spanish Roja (30)

Russian Red (6)

Siberian (12)

Purple Glazer (24)

Estonia Red (18)

GREEN BEANS

Maxibel bush fillet (~100)

Provider bush (~80)

Rattlesnake pole (12)

HORSERADISH

Unknown variety (~20)

LEEKS

King Richard (38)

Megaton (38)

Gevaria (19)

LETTUCE

Dragoon (12)

Breen (12)

Sparx (6)

Ridgeline (6)

ONIONS

Evergreen Hardy White bunching (~200)

Copra (70)

Candy (60)

Red Candy (35)

Superstar (35)

PEPPERS

El Jefe Jalapeno (2)

Escamillo (2)

Ace (1)

Big Bertha (1)

Orange Blaze (2)

Flavorburst (2)

Carmen (2)

Baron Poblano (2)

POTATOES

Austrian Crescent (14)

German Butterball (22)

French Fingerling (14)

Yukon Gold or another fingerling (18)

PUMPKINS

Tom Fox (4)

Rock Star (4)

RADISH

French Breakfast (~100)

Easter Egg (~100)

Cherry Bell (~100)

SUMMER SQUASH

Multipik yellow straightneck (1)

Elite Zucchini (1)

WINTER SQUASH

Honey Bear Acorn

SWEET CORN

Ambrosia (120)

SWEET POTATOES

Vardaman (3)

Betty's (6)

Bush Porto Rico (6)

TOMATO

Big Beef (2)

Sungold (1)

Black Cherry (1)

Orange Jazz (1)

BKX (1)

Pork Chop (1)

Carbon (1)

Rebel Yell (1)

JD's Special C-Tex (1)

Indian Stripe (1)

Girl Girl's Weird Thing (1)

TOMATILLO

Tomayo R (2)

WATERMELON

Crimson Sweet (4)

Sugar Baby (4)

I use www.sfgplanner.com to set up my garden each year. Nice free online garden design program. I usually start in December and order my seeds by the end of December. Start growing my seeds for onions, celery, and celeriac by the end of January. The rest gets started at the appropriate times for my zone 5 Wisconsin garden.

the sfgp you linked wont go past jan 1 2017, ?

Etta, I just use 2016.

go back to 2012 and it will have the days of year falling with this years days. I'm going to check it out.. seems like it might be a good one.

I have used it for a few years. It works great for keeping track of how many plants to buy or start from seed, when to start them, and when you can succession plant. Also to plan on how much you will be harvesting and when so you can either try to have a continuous supply or a bunch at one time to can.

Lettuce (planted on Sunday night) sprouted this morning! :)

Basil (planted on Sunday night) sprouted this morning (and all day)!

Rosemary and lavender sprouted yesterday (only one each... worst germination rates of anything I've planted)!

Edit to add: more of them sprouted during the day, but still not very many!

Stupice and Siberian tomatoes have sprouted and been transplanted to larger pots . Damp killed some seedlings so apparently it really ISN'T good to start them too early.

Still having issues planning garden crop rotation. We like fruit bearing crops (tomatoes, corn, melons) more than leafy, root and legume types. Our garden space is allocated more than 5:1 in this ratio. How then can I easily accomplish a 4 year crop rotation and still get the quantifies we want? Anyone else have this issue?

Are you planning your rotation by plant family? Or, is it perhaps more aligned to type of crop (ie... root, fruit, leaf)?

Many people do use the root/fruit/leaf method. Some who have problems with that method will instead use a pest and disease issue rotation... that is... rotation by plant family.

Plant family rotation sometimes offers more options. Using this method will still present opportunities to rotate heavy users of particular nutrients. For example, I like to follow legumes with leafy greens, or other heavier N feeders.

Many people who garden in smaller spaces can't really worry about rotation, but because there are a lot of commercial tomato farms in my area, and thus... a lot of tomato diseases... I try to do my best to rotate. And since I don't use 'cides, rotation by plant family helps a little to control pests.

I was using Root, Leaf, Fruit, but I think I'll use the plant family method. Thank you so much for your help!

I was using Root, Leaf, Fruit, but I think I'll use the plant family method.

I think you have to rotate by plant families. By the root-leaf-fruit method, your main crops are all in the same category.

On the other hand, they're in different families and thus largely prone to different diseases. If it were my garden I'd add bush or pole beans to the rotation, and probably also brassicas (but I'm in a different climate).

My own plans are dictated by growing space--I mean, lack thereof. My property is small, and because it was filled to make it level and the fill seems to be mostly rock, the soil is thin. All my vegetables, as well as annual flowers, have to grow in raised beds or containers, and all edibles, furthermore, have to be fenced, even those that deer don't like, because fawns will try everything and often pull the plant completely out.

This year will be my first try with peas, in the largest raised bed. I'm going to be away in the middle of the time seedlings would be growing on indoors, so everything will have to be direct-sown or purchased as plants just before planting time.

My garden has two (slightly ridiculous) parallel raised beds, built by the previous owner, that are each just a foot wide, with about a foot of space between them. It would probably make sense to fill in the gap and have a 3-foot raised bed, accessible from both sides, but this year I'm going to use the gap for pots of annual flowers. The narrow raised beds are gradually being replanted with herbs and a few medicinal plants (echinacea grows stunningly well here). I'm also adding large containers to the front of a south-facing patio that gets little use.

Stupice Tomatoes

Not sure this is where to put this but I thought it was worth passing on.....I had Stupice Tomatoes that were put in the ground February 15 and had been covering them on nights in frosted. Last night it was 32 degrees And I left one plan on covered, but it seems to be doing just fine!