"William Wagner" wrote in message
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In article ,
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
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"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
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"Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal dot com nospam wrote in message
news I planted a bunch of stuff over the last 4 weeks or so. I am wondering
if
I planted beans too soon? I have squash, cukes, and tomatoes in the
ground doing well, but my beans either germinated poorly, or died
after
germinating. I have them in seperate plots also, and all of them did
poorly. I'm in the mid Willamette Valley, Lebanon, Oregon. Is it too
early to plant beans?


Dig up some of the seeds and see if they rotted. They want the soil to
be
quite warm when they're planted, or they can rot before they
germinate.


Hm, I can't really tell. However, it's not been that warm. Mostly
cloudy
and rainy. We had a dry spell where the soil *finally* dried to the
point
where I could dig it, but it wasn't that warm. So I'm thinking I just
planted too early. Can I expect my corn to do the same? I risked a
small
plot of corn, 3 rows, 8 feet long, to see if it would grow.

I gather squash and tomatoes can tolerate cooler weather? My squash and
tomatoes are doing well (I thought I'd risk a half dozen squash and
cukes
to see if I could get an early start with them). Well - actually, we
had a
late surprise frost, before the squash/cukes/beans had germinated, and
I
lost 3 tomatoes. Everything else I have is cold weather stuff that is
growing just fine.


If the other stuff is growing, then you're lucky. Next year, if you want
to
get a jump on the season, put down some clear plastic a couple of weeks
ahead. Stick your hand down in the soil from time to time and see if it
feels better than soil nearby without plastic on it. And, you might
consider
getting a copy of an old book called "Crockett's Victory Garden", by
James
Crockett. Each chapter represents a month, and his planting advice is
quite
accurate. He worked in Boston, which may be ahead of or behind your
planting
zone. But, it's easy to use his advice, and make adjustments based on the
planting zone map.

www.powells.com usually has copies of this book in decent condition.

Good advice and a great book. I have it in front of me as I was looking
for an ISBN #. Doesn't have one.

I forgot to mention that Crockett's advice on chemicals should be avoided
completely. The guy was over the top! I wonder if that's what killed him.