Garden Help

[Flatrock]

How's everybody's garden doing so far this year? I don't know why, but I planted mine around May 20 and hardly anything came up. Last year, everything came up just great. Obviously it's really dry and I've been watering it every 2-3 days. I wonder if I should be watering it everyday and keeping it a little more wet? Need some help from the old timers here.

 

[espringers]

Warm and wet if u got seed in the ground.

 

[Kurtr]

I had same problem but I was over watering I cut back and it has all started to come up

 

[LBrandt]

Too much water will cool the soil temp and slow germination. If the ground is moist where your seeds are that is enough water.

 

[Davey Crockett]

For me this has been a tough year to get small seeds germinated. I just planted last weekend so early to tell but the top 3/4'' is dry dirt and the carrots and other small seeds are 1/4'' deep sitting in dry dirt. The corn, peas and other stuff seems to be coming ok , A little spotty but it usually seems to catch up in the end. If your ground is so dry that you need to water then keeping it wet is important for germination , Other wise your seeds get wet and then dry out before the next watering, I don't think they can take much of that but once out of the ground they are ok drying out between watering. I covered a couple rows with cardboard and a couple with carpet just to experiment . I'd replant some of it or keep planting if you have room just to learn what works and what doesn't. There is still plenty of time. I'll still be planting a little here and there for a couple more weeks.

 

[LBrandt]

Carrots are damed tough to get going right now. My first planting I only got about 10% germination. Plenty of time for a lot of stuff to get growing yet.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Been a funny year moisture wise , With all that snow we should be lush and green but We have only had 3/10ths of an inch of rain since spring thaw and one tenth of that fell out of the sky just yesterday. First time ever in all my years that I can remember brown lawns the first week in June.

 

[Flatrock]

Carrots are damed tough to get going right now. My first planting I only got about 10% germination. Plenty of time for a lot of stuff to get growing yet.

Yea I didn't have 1 single carrot come up. Sounds like I maybe need to water some more. Had maybe 10% of my beans and beets come up. Corn came up good and then a pheasant ate the whole damn row.

Also planted some asparagus and strawberry roots and not a single one came up. I've been watering them every 3-4 days. Maybe I should water more?

 

[LBrandt]

I am going too try a small patch of carrots by covering with a heavy white plastic to hold moisture and see if that works.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Another thing that gets overlooked is seed quality, I've had packets of seed that had 10% germination in perfect soil conditions. I should store them in a dry airtight container.

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I am going too try a small patch of carrots by covering with a heavy white plastic to hold moisture and see if that works.

You won't believe the difference. For the fun of it I planted half a bag of bird seed , I have a set of sample screens that I used to separate the seeds and I planted the peanuts and Nyger separate and the safflower /sunflower and what ever else was in there and just raked it in and threw a 4x5 chunk of carpet down and watered the crap out of it . Two days later I peeked under the carpet and everything except for the peanuts had sprouts growing already. I am scouting for long strips of old jute back carpet , The cardboard worked good but carpet worked better. wind was the culprit.

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everything that isn't under carpet is sitting in dry dirt

 

[PrairieGhost]

Grass or garden I just throw a bag on the mower and sift grass clippings over the seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Water penetrates it, the plants grow up through it, and you don't have to remove it.

 

[AR-15]

My Roma tomatoes are wilting up, would it be from over watering with the hose? ever had it happen before

 

[LBrandt]

If you get the leaves wet in this heat it will cook the leaves. Once your tomatoes are in the ground the people at the nursery told me to water at the base of the plant so as not to spread disease. I guess the rain is different somehow or because it is natural soft water. ?????

 

[Ristorapper]

Grass or garden I just throw a bag on the mower and sift grass clippings over the seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Water penetrates it, the plants grow up through it, and you don't have to remove it.

Just a FYI for those that do not know, do not do this if you just put weed killer in you lawn. Garden won't like the weed killer in the grass clippings

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Same problem with carrots here. Maybe less than 50% germination and little seedlings are up but not growing much. Do water almost daily and do understand the cooling of the soil with the watering. But gotta keep that seed bed wet!! what do you do..thatching me thinks would help in my situation. Would keep the moisture in the soil longer and water (keep from cooling the soil) less.

Oh cucumbers look awesome from seed. Need to thin those out abit. third leaf up already. Gonna go vertical trellis again this year and did plant some in pots (bush cucumbers). Pot (bush) cucumbers will be stacked along either side of an unused dog kennel and climb that fence with a little helping hand!

 

[Glass]

Where did you get your seed from? I know faulkner's in Mandan is notorious for having faulty seed. I once bought new seeds from them and in 4 different varieties I had 10-20% germination.

A lot of people will go to their local landfill and get the compost they make from lawn clippings. This is NOT GOOD. Like state previously people put weed and feed or weed killer (24D) on their lawns. This takes anywhere from 3-7 years to break down. Some plants are more susceptible to it then others (beans, tomatoes, peas). Carrot seed should be kept wet. I try to water mine 2-3 times a day until they are an inch tall, same with lettuce and all surface sow seeds.

 

[PrairieGhost]

Just a FYI for those that do not know, do not do this if you just put weed killer in you lawn. Garden won't like the weed killer in the grass clippings

Excellent point Ristorapper.

 

[Lycanthrope]

My carrots 1 week ago. I have had good luck planting seeds and then covering with promix or peat moss instead of garden dirt. It doesnt crust over and is easier for seeds to poke through. I do this with almost all the seeds I plant... Also drip irrigation is a godsend, Im watering 3x a week, 20 minutes at a time right now, use exclusively drip line with built in emitters every 6 inches now, easier than individual emitters.

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Where did you get your seed from? I know faulkner's in Mandan is notorious for having faulty seed. I once bought new seeds from them and in 4 different varieties I had 10-20% germination.

A lot of people will go to their local landfill and get the compost they make from lawn clippings. This is NOT GOOD. Like state previously people put weed and feed or weed killer (24D) on their lawns. This takes anywhere from 3-7 years to break down. Some plants are more susceptible to it then others (beans, tomatoes, peas). Carrot seed should be kept wet. I try to water mine 2-3 times a day until they are an inch tall, same with lettuce and all surface sow seeds.

ost. Killed several plants like this. Some do fine and love it but others cannot tolerate the chemicals in it unfortunately. It looks really nice but isnt worth the risk imo. I do still use wood chips from the dump tho and havent had any issues around my fruit trees and bushes.
I can attest to not using landfill comp

 

[Flatrock]

Thanks for all the input fellas.