First SFG and so far the radishes, beets and carrots are duds

14 years ago

I am hoping it's got something to do with getting a bit of a late start (beginning of April) and not something nutty with my SFG soil.

I did a search on 'dud' radishes and know it can be a variety of things. Aside from Mel's mix the amendments I've made are some low numbered organic fertilizer (about a week ago) and some Sevin (I know, *gasp*!) on my squash stems hoping to deter any borer beetles. The squash both have blossoms so that's good.

My lettuce was just ok. I picked the leaf lettuce but it really hasn't had time to replenish so I'm not waiting to see if it will keep going since spring is actually supposed to be here (yeah, what's with this cold weather!) and I want to use the squares for some other crops. So I can't really comment on how well anything else has done so far.

Please. Anyone. Tell me your first root crops failed but you went on to a successful garden!

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Comments (11)

ribbit32004
14 years ago
My carrots stunk.

Beets were just as bad.

I'm waiting to try again in fall.
momma_s
14 years ago
The only carrots that are doing well so far are the ones that I didn't presprout, and I remembered to add vermiculite to.

I started radishes 4 days ago, and they sprouted today--totally the wrong time for them too, but so far so good. I shade them from ~11am-6:30pm.

Here is a link that might be useful: my blog
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momma_s
14 years ago
Oh, and none of my lettuce made it to harvest (started early april--too late), but broccoli is doing well with being shaded too.
anniesgranny
14 years ago
Well, some had a good laugh when I glued carrot seeds, one by one, to a sheet of newspaper and then planted it in the garden...but guess what.

I had almost 100% germination with three of the four varieties, slightly less with the fourth which was older seed. The carrots are 1" apart in all directions, but next time I'll possibly do a 2" spacing. I will begin pulling every other one in this bed as soon as they reach an edible size, and let the rest of them mature. Anyway, the method worked so well, and was much less time consuming than seeding them directly into the garden, it will be my preferred method of planting from now on.

For those of you who are impatient, these were planted 60 days ago and they still have a long way to go before they are big enough to eat. There are approximately 300 carrots in this bed.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden
greenbean08_gw
14 years ago
Granny,
I'm glad it worked well for you b/c I took your suggestion and glued my carrot seeds last week. I spaced them at 1" but I was sort of thinking I should have done 2". When I plant the other half I'll probably try 2".

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener
gardener_sandy
14 years ago
When you say the crops failed, what do you mean? Did they germinate and not produce or did they just not come up? How did you sow them? How deep? Did you keep the surface of the soil damp for a couple of weeks without letting it dry out in between waterings? Did they come up and make lush growth but no enlarged root? Tell us more.

Sandy
anniesgranny
14 years ago
"I spaced them at 1" but I was sort of thinking I should have done 2"."

Who knew they were all going to grow! Although I did have the same rate of germination last year when I glued them to the Kleenex ;-) It's a good thing we love baby carrots.

For those who would like to try this method, here is what I did:

I used Elmer's Glue...the white kind, which is water soluble. I just laid out the 12-inch square sheet of newspaper, grabbed a Sharpie pen and made the dots an inch apart in all directions, then put the dots of glue on the marks. I took a pencil and moistened (licked) the tip and picked up one carrot seed at a time and nudged it into the glue. It only took a few minutes, at the table while having my morning coffee! I let them dry over night before planting. I laid the sheets of seeds on top of the bed (damp ground....water the area before hand) and just barely covered them with some sifted soil. Then I laid boards over them until they began to emerge (check daily after the first week...when you see green remove the boards). After they were up a couple of inches, I could still see some of the newspaper poking out above the surface so I just took a few handfuls of soil and sifted a bit more over the top. I ended up with 336 seeds in a 1'x4' area, but I'd suggest cutting that amount in half. I've also made carrot seed tapes with 2" strips of newspaper, and I glued that seed with slightly farther spacing.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden
greenbean08_gw
14 years ago
If you don't want to lick a pencil, you can also wet the end of a round toothpick ;-)
angela12345
14 years ago
Did you put the sheets seed side up or newspaper side up ?
anniesgranny
14 years ago
Seed side up.
rj_hythloday
14 years ago
seed side up, doh! I made papers w/ brown paper towels w/ the kids a few months back. I have lots of extras and gave a few away. I only see one green in the three squares I planted.

Did you water to keep them moist? Or just count on the board to keep moisture?

I reseeded all of my lettuce and wild flower squares w/ a new mix of seed starting mix and have been misting daily. I've been misting the carrot papers too, but they are pretty old. I think I'll give it a few more days and put a new carrot sheets out.