When to Plant - Some Seeds Must Wait!

Q. over three weeks ago I planted several vegetable seeds: Onion,
carrot, radish, pumpkin, cucumber, squash, sunflower, corn and green
beans. I planted them all according to the instructions, (I think).
The only thing that has sprouted great are the radishes. The
sunflowers have few sprouts, but they look really weak. Do you have
any advice on how long I should wait to replant or what I can do
differently?

A. On warm days in early spring we are often enticed to plant things
that require warm temperatures to grow. Then we are sorely
disappointed when cold temperatures return and the seeds rot in the
cold ground or die trying to grow in the too-cold environment.

Your onion, carrot, and radish seeds may be able to live in early
spring temperatures, but onion and carrot will be slow to germinate
and grow, so don't give up on them just yet.

As for all the others you mentioned, they must have warm soil
conditions to germinate and grow, and any frost would kill them if
they did come up.

Just wait until after all danger of frost is past before planting. Alternatively, you can plant them in a greenhouse
or under grow-lights 3 or 4 weeks earlier. Remember to give them maximum light immediately upon emergence, and plant in 6-paks or pots, to minimize transplanting shock, because everything you named does very poorly as a bare-root transplant.

Sweet Potatoes - Storage

First, avoid breaking whenever possible, and clean broken ends with a hydrogen peroxide solution, then dry for 2 to 3 hours. Next, place them in a dry area holding the temperature at 85 F and 90 to 95% relative humidity for 4 to 7 days. Curing helps prevent the entrance of decay organisms by healing cuts and other injuries received in harvesting and handling. After this curing period, place them where the temperatures will range from 55 degrees to 60 degrees F. with a relative humidity of about 85 percent. Immediately remove any roots that show signs of deterioration or decay.

Cross Polination

Cucumbers & Melons, Zucchini & Pumpkin

Hopefully, we can all learn from Joe s question. I will assume
that the answer is not a very over-ripe zucchini and a very under-ripe
watermelon, although those may have been factors in either or both
situations.

In talking with Dr. Mittleider about this, he said he never says never about
these things. Although the research I have been able to read all says
plants won't cross pollinate between different genus's, sometimes we see
some strange things, such as Joe Mandell just mentioned.

The only thing I have been able to find that may be a partial explanation
for this phenomenon is the following: In talking about the fruit growth of
seedless watermelons, researchers Beste et al. (1999) found that fruit
enlargement is stimulated by growth-promoting hormones provided by the
pollen placed on the stigmas of the seedless watermelons. Perhaps it's
possible that growth-promoting hormones from an adjacent cucumber plant
could influence more than just the growth (?)

It may have nothing to do with it, but at least it's a thought. Does anyone
else have more wisdom or experience in this matter?

When to Transplant Celery - and Other Crops

The section called Preview Plants in the Garden Master and Garden Wizard CD's is a terrific resource for learning when to plant almost all common vegetables. Many of you have one or the other of the CD's and perhaps haven't even noticed that large illustrated database of helpful information.

I highly recommend everyone consider one of these. The Garden Wizard has the complete Garden Designer Software, and is only about $10. When added to the Mittleider Gardening Library, you have a very comprehensive library of vegetable production knowledge that many Agriculture Universities and County Extension Agents around the USA and in other countries own and use.

There are 5 categories for every plant, including Planting, Fertilizing, Watering, Weeding, and Other Notes. Here is a part of what the Garden Designer says in Preview Plants for Celery - Planting: "Celery is a cool-season plant that is frost tolerant. Transplant seedlings 3 to 4 weeks before the last frost of spring, 2 rows per bed, 6" apart".