Posted on 08/21/2021 6:12:14 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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Never got to planting carrots this spring before it got too hot/dry.
If I plant them now I’m fairly certain they’ll survive the winter, but will they continue growing normally next year?
Southwest Michigan, USDA Zone 5/6.
Most gardeners I know plant in late spring and then sit back and watch their gardens grow. Our family, on the other hand, keeps planting and planting and planting. As a result, while others complain about the price of lettuce, we're enjoying virtually free salads. While others are using up the last of the season's green tomatoes, our family is still slicing into juicy, ripe, freshly picked tomatoes.
No, we aren't gardening geniuses. We just happen to prefer fresh vegetables, so we take advantage of every trick in the book to keep our veggies growing. Here are 14 ways you too can extend your growing season.
1. Know Your Garden’s Microclimate
Most climate maps cover areas that are too broad to be useful for any specific garden. The latest USDA map is better than the old one but still isn't truly accurate. The only way to know your garden's microclimate is to keep your own records over the years. But, since the weather is never the same two years in a row, even your own records will, at best, provide averages.
Not only does the weather change from year to year, but mini areas within your garden may differ significantly from one another. Is part of your garden shaded by trees or buildings? Is some area shielded from cold or drying wind by a fence or shrubs? Are there low spots where cold air and frost readily settle?
Select vegetables described as growing best in your general climate. If your garden has more than one microclimate, try different varieties in different spots. Some may do better than others in certain spots; some may do better one year than in the next.
2. Plant Often
Successive planting is the best way to stretch the harvest over a period of time. One successive planting method is to simultaneously sow seeds and set out started seedlings of the same variety. The transplants will be ready for harvest before the direct-seeded veggies are.
Another successive planting method is to replant at periodic intervals. Sow radishes and spinach once a week; sow beans, beets, carrots, scallions, and salad greens every two weeks; sow cucumbers and summer squash once a month. Since you can't tell in advance just how warm or cool the season will be, keep planting until seeds stop sprouting well.
A third method for ensuring a successive harvest is to sow seeds of several different varieties that mature at different rates. Planting rows of different varieties is an easy way to extend the harvest of corn and peas. For carrots, radishes, and salad greens, you have the option of mixing the seeds of different varieties together and planting them all in the same row.
In our garden we get the greatest variety of salad greens over the longest period of time by both mixing different kinds of lettuce seed together and planting the mix every two weeks. We do the same with radishes. When our weather suddenly turns hot (as it does every year), some varieties will run for cover, while others continue supplying us with fresh salads for a few weeks longer.
Continue successive planting as the weather warms, replacing spring crops with summer crops and summer crops with fall veggies. Besides extending the harvest, successive planting has an additional advantage — it keeps the soil productive and thereby discourages weeds.
More ideas at the link below from Mother Earth News:
Looks like it can be done if you get the min and growing and mature before the freeze. I don’t grow carrots because they’re so inexpensive where I live. Wisconsin grows onions, carrots and potatoes in the entire middle of our state where the glaciers ground the soil into a lovely sandy loam. ;)
The TOPS won’t survive the winter, so carrots won’t ‘perk up’ again come spring, but storing them and digging them as needed through the winter months can be done.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/carrot/overwintering-carrots.htm
(The resource area is posted at the end of the the July 3-6 Gardening Thread beginning after post 112!)
Diana in the Driftless, good morning and thank you for this great gardening thread!
Cukes!
You want cukes?
Have I got cukes.
Bkmk
Greetings from southern New Hampshire!
Tomatoes and peppers are coming in! Beautiful jalapeños, Anaheim and Poblanos. Fencing seems to be doing the job.
My new garden toy arrived…a YardMax power barrow with dump. Full track laying…steers like a M-577 command post carrie…lock track. It is going to be very helpful in maneuvering compost and such to the raised beds.
Household Six has decided to move our proposed 20’ by 10’ cattle panel hoop/green house up the priority chain. She has ordered the landscaping fabric, and I will be ordering the lumber and when I get back from my “Thunder Run” to Dallas, GA via my sister’s in Punxsutawney, PA, we will begin construction. Definitely need to extend the growing season.
Household Six said that she learned a lot from going organic, this year. Next year, she will apply what she learned and do better.
She just ordered a Viparspectrum XS4000 grow light for the basement gardening center. I need to get the plumbing and sink installation completed so we can consider hydroponic efforts for this winter.
Buttoning up the place against Henri!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq4JxN8nJcs
or
http://www.ecosnippets.com/gardening/4-day-carrot-growing-technique/
For his plastic mulch method you only need to water one time, when you plant and before you put the plastic down, and gets the carrots sprouted within 4 days, so if water is an issue it might be worth considering.
**Old gardeners/farmers method, boards on the rows!**
When I have grown carrots I tried to get them to germinate as quickly as possible by covering the watered seeded row with some old boards. It conserves moisture and protects from drying sunlight. Water over and around the board daily and in about 4-5 days you should be able to move the boards off and see the germinating carrots. Move some mulch... I used e-z straw, few seeds...around the row and keep watering. Diana might be able to suggest some fast growing carrots and appropriate fertilizer. (Kuroda? Napoli?) Be aware that if you have soil temperatures over 80 degrees Fahrenheit the seeds might not germinate!
(Since I live on a clay soil hilltop with limited space and loam is limited I had to build a box and fill it with soil to grow anything but short type carrots, Chantaray, royal Chantaray. Did for several years and decided to buy my carrots from the store and focus on other vegtables.)
Now you need some Pita Bread and Falafel!
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/232393/easy-tzatziki-sauce/
Good Morning, Pete! Thank you for adding the links. It adds so much to our threads each week! :)
For those who don't know about 'The Driftless Area' of Wisconsin:
Driftless Area
"The Driftless Area is a region in southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois, of the American Midwest. The region escaped the flattening effects of glaciation during the last ice age and is consequently characterized by steep, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and karst geology characterized by spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams.
Ecologically, the Driftless Area's flora and fauna are more closely related to those of the Great Lakes region and New England than those of the broader Midwest and central Plains regions. Colloquially, the term includes the incised Paleozoic Plateau of southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa. The region includes elevations ranging from 603 to 1,719 feet at Blue Mound State Park, and covers 24,000 square miles."
Diana here: I live a stone's throw from Blue Mound. I can see it from the top of my driveway. It's not like living in the mountains, but it's still a pretty awesome sight!
Yep. My 'neighborhood' IS this pretty! Crops are planted in sections to stop erosion; a Pretty Big Deal when you're in Hill Country! Also, once you've lived here a while, one of your legs will become shorter from walking on nothing but hillsides all the time, LOL!
New England's got NOTHING on us, come Fall:
^View from the Ranger Tower at Blue Mound State Park. ^
Henri is going to be one for the record books! Stay safe and keep us updated, Please!
Jimmy Nardello's peppers (left) Cucumber Jibai Shimoshirazu (top) Rosemary and Genovese basil middle bottom
Yellow summer squash..(Smooth Criminal IIRC) Center, 10 Fingers of Naples and Principe Borgese tomatoes (in gardening bags bottom left) Strung up tomatoes Trifle, Black Crimean, and Stupice, Upper left.
Jimmy Nardello peppers on top of basket of tomatoes.
Heavy Hitter Okra and Giant Mussleburgh Leeks (Harvested the Jaune d Poivre leeks!)
Ripening Trifle, Black Crimean, and Carbon tomatoes. (Juice tomatoe in the center!)
Diana! Stop it! You are making me jealous! :)
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