Cabbage S-2/15 PÂ3/22
Eggplant S-4/3 P-5/8
Peppers S-3/15 P-5/8
Tomatoes S-3/15 P-4/22 coir pots in W-O-W

I donÂt bother starting cukes or squash. Just plant seeds when the soil is good and warm. This year 5/8 was when I planted cukes, squash, corn, scarlet runner beans, etc.

I used to start the tomatoes the last week of January and aim at a mid march planting in W-O-WÂs but they just sat without growing. I do not think I will get the "earliest tomato" doing it this way but I get enough.

I donÂt plant broccoli or Brussels sprouts in the spring. I prefer a later start so I am harvesting in late fall. My spring Brussels sprouts that mature in the summer and early fall are bitter.

Hope this helps.

Jim

I plant my peppers around when Jim plants his, but I find I don't need to plant my tomatoes that early. Mine get too leggy if I plant them that early. I planted my tomatoes the end of March this year and they were ready to plant out the first part of May. It also helps if you transplant/divide the seedling into bigger containers. I planted mine in the large cottage cheese and yogurt containers, and the ones I planted to give away in the 6 packs and small cups. Mine were 3 times the size, even though they were potted up at the same time. Tomatoes benefit from being divided/potted up at least once and their stems buried deeply almost up to the leaves. I divide/transplant once they get their first set of leaves into their own individual pots. I sow 4-6 seeds per little cell and then divide them.

Hope this helps.

Tyffanie

Thanks for the information. Another question: this was the first year I tried peas but they did not do well at all. I think it warmed up to early for them. Have you ever tried a fall planting in September for peas? What others can I do fall plantings with? If starting from seed, should I start them indoors and when should I transplant to outdoors?

Jim, when do you start your fall brussell sprouts, peas, salad fixins?

For fall plantings try broccoli, short season cabbage, carrots, beets, turnips, and of course greens. You will have to get the seeds from a mail order house to make sure the varieties are designed for fall plantings. The local growers do not target this market so the nurseryÂs donÂt have plants. You could also check the farmers markets but I donÂt think much is available.

This year I am trying a carrot from Territorial Seed that over winters for spring harvest. I tried a regular variety last year and it over wintered OK but then bolted in the spring. I am also going to over winter spinach for spring harvest.

Gardening is a series of never ending experiments. Good luck.

Thanks for the great advice on when to start the seedlings for tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. I will start the tomatoes inside soon! :)

I am a first time gardener, but my lovely bride and I finally have a house with a huge yard and are excited to get started!

Any advice on when to start seedlings for:
lettuce,
strawberries,
dill,
basil,
oregano,
carrots

Also, if I LOVE broccoli and want to get a head start, should I do seedlings ahead of time?

I am thinking of buying asparagus and raspberry plants that are starters. Do these tiny transplants that they sell yield in the first year, or do they take a while?

We are on draft 4 of our garden lay-out and ran into another question. We were thinking of doing 12 feet long by 3 feet wide garden boxes, but not truly a box, really just a wood border above ground between the grass and the gardens. We wanted to plant different things in 1.5' X 3' sections. Are these sections to dedicate each plant to too small?

Dan,

lettuce sow in March transplant outside in April.
Buy strawberries plants at Rudys or Anderson seed.
dill sow mid March plant outside in May
basil sow mid April plant outside 1st June after frost
oregano buy a few plants it spreads.
carrots direct seed in April.
broccoli sow now plant outside end March 1st part of April.

I will have some of those plants at the Cache Valley Gardeners Market in May. Also tons produce. I am at the south end of the valley.

Bryan

Nobody answered your question regarding spacing. All my beds have a 3' dimension. 3X4, 3X6, and 3X8. it is very hard to generalize because so much depends on the variety and size of the plants. I grow 5 indeterminate tomatoes in cages in a 3X8 bed. I grow 6 peppers in cages in a 4X3 bed. I grow 4 cabbages in a 3X4 bed. I grow one hill of summer squash in a 4X6 bed.

Some plants start out small but they must be properly spaced for their mature size. Last year 3 Brussels sprout plants took over a space of 3X4. Full size Broccoli plants take a lot of space.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the tips Jim. We are going to follow your suggestions and go with 4 3X8 boxes. We started our broccoli sprouts last week and then did lettuce yesterday. We will add more garden space if we are successful with our gardens this year.

You are doing this right starting with a few beds. The best source of info is friends and neighbors. Once you get started you will be surprised at the number of acquaintances that share a similar interest. A few things that I do in no particular order:

Diva cukes - they have only female flowers and don't need pollinating. You get more cukes from fewer plants. One hill inside a 5' tall, 1.5' diameter cage will give you and your neighbors all you can eat.

Wire cages - many of us use the wire concrete reinforcing mesh and create various size cages from it. The stuff comes in 5' X 50' rolls. It is expensive but will last for years and it allows you to grow the garden vertically. The great thing is that the opening is 6" X 6" so it is easy to get your hand in it. And it is tough to cut with nips. I use bolt cutters.

Short season cabbage and broccoli - if you can find 65 - 70 day varieties and get it in by April 15th you can use the same bed for 50 day bush beans. And the beans fix nitrogen in the soil so next years crop can be a heavy feeder.

Plant something you like to eat raw so you have instant gratification from the garden. Something that may never make it to the house. For me it is peas & cherry tomatoes. Neighbors and chickens get the cherry tomatoes I don't eat.

Have a couple comfortable places to sit in or next to the garden. For 2 or 3 people. It is a great place to visit, take a break, and visualize future changes. It has to be fun, not work, or you will quickly lose interest in it.

Be prepared for a few failures. I don't know of any gardener that doesn't have some kind of crop failure during the season, be it insects, drought, blight, operator error, etc.

If you plant squash you can increase yield if you help the bees. Get an artist brush and do your own pollinating. It's easy and is one of the every couple days things you do as you look over the garden. And the female flowers don't care who the pollinator is. It is only important if you are saving seeds. Oh - and 1 hill of summer squash is plenty. I plant a combination of light green, dark green, and yellow 8-ball types. They each have a different texture and flavor and are somewhat behaved. I like costada best but one hill requires an area 10 X 10 and doesn't lend itself to trellising.

Ok - enough rambling. Good luck and let us in the forum know how it works out.

asparagus roots take a few years before they produce very good. don't move them around and don't get greedy and take too many of the shoots in their first couple of years.

if you want to grow from seed, now is the time to plant. today i started pole beans, cukes, cantalope, watermelon and squash. should be about right for setting out around mothers day.

Jim, please ramble more! Thanks for all those tips.

I found this forum last summer when I was looking for help with my zucchinni plants.
My husband and I finished our back yard entirely in patio and square foot garden boxes. I am really excited about gardening this summer.
I am huge amatuer gardener mostly it has become a hobby of mine because the four are getting to big. The oldest turns 17 this month, sigh.
Anyway I am going to try some new things this year and giving up on some things that just have never worked for me. Any advice would be helpful.

tomatos, cuccumbers, raddishes, oninons, green beans, summer squash, peppers. last year corn and carrots. new this year potatos and eggplant. (couldn't get melons to work for me.) I want to grow things that will give me the highest yeilds. Also wanting alot of peppers, this year my neighbor has taught me some bosnian cooking and have learned to stuff cabbage, peppers and zucchinni. Yet another use for zucchinni, the main thing I can grow. My family will be so thrilled.

Fourtoomany, I think I gave you a link to my blog in another post so check out that and the USU website. They have all of the correct methods for each vegetable. I have all of the links on my blog for each vegetable that you are interested in.

http://www.vegenag.com/vegetable-fact-sheets-for-utah/

As for peppers and melons, I had great success and I believe it was mainly due to the side dressing of nitrogen that I gave them and watering schedule. Peppers I water every 7-10 days depending on the heat and melons just once every two weeks. Many gardeners make the mistake of overwatering which, in many cases, won't let the plant go to the fruiting stage of growth.

Just follow the recommendations on the fact sheets from USU and you should do well.

Here is a link that might be useful: My vegetable blog