Re: If you grow your own Ig food...../kinda long

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Posted by Ig Chick on February 20, 2001 at 13:33:20:

In Reply to: If you grow your own Ig food..... posted by Dennis on February 20, 2001 at 10:22:18:

This is the first year I am growing an "ig garden" in our new location but not the first year I am planting things. Since I do not buy plants but rather start everything from seed, I start the majority of seeds indoors in early March. Some plants, like bell peppers, need to be started 4-6 weeks before the last frost, petunias need to be started 6-8 weeks before. I also use the average days to harvest to figure out when to plant (in other words, I'll start my zucchini indoors because they take 50-60 days until they are ready to harvest from the time they are planted).

We live up north (zone 4) as well and the ground doesn't get warm enough to plant until Mid-April if we're lucky, more often we have to wait until May. So, I use the palette type containers so that on warm sunny days I can move the seedlings out to the porch and be able to bring them in at night when the temp drops with a fair amount of ease.

As far as picking what to grow / how to pick what to grow -read the seed packets or talk to the person running the garden center. With most plants having multiple varieties there's almost always one that will grow better in an area than another. There are a few exceptions to this (mainly citrus fruits and certain "tropical" flowers) but sometimes it's worth trying unless the plant is very expensive because you really never know. I was very surprised by how well my bougainvillea did up here a few years ago, especially after having several garden shops tell me it wouldn't thrive!

The other tip/trick I can offer is this -if you "jump the gun" and plant too eartly and we get hit with frost, if you know in advance that this is going to happen -you can cover the seedlings with a tarp over night to keep them warm. Just make sure you take it off when the sun starts shining the next day so you don't burn the plants.

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: This is the first year I am growing an "ig garden" in our new location but not the first year I am planting things. Since I do not buy plants but rather start everything from seed, I start the majority of seeds indoors in early March. Some plants, like bell peppers, need to be started 4-6 weeks before the last frost, petunias need to be started 6-8 weeks before. I also use the average days to harvest to figure out when to plant (in other words, I'll start my zucchini indoors because they take 50-60 days until they are ready to harvest from the time they are planted). : We live up north (zone 4) as well and the ground doesn't get warm enough to plant until Mid-April if we're lucky, more often we have to wait until May. So, I use the palette type containers so that on warm sunny days I can move the seedlings out to the porch and be able to bring them in at night when the temp drops with a fair amount of ease. : As far as picking what to grow / how to pick what to grow -read the seed packets or talk to the person running the garden center. With most plants having multiple varieties there's almost always one that will grow better in an area than another. There are a few exceptions to this (mainly citrus fruits and certain "tropical" flowers) but sometimes it's worth trying unless the plant is very expensive because you really never know. I was very surprised by how well my bougainvillea did up here a few years ago, especially after having several garden shops tell me it wouldn't thrive! : The other tip/trick I can offer is this -if you "jump the gun" and plant too eartly and we get hit with frost, if you know in advance that this is going to happen -you can cover the seedlings with a tarp over night to keep them warm. Just make sure you take it off when the sun starts shining the next day so you don't burn the plants.

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