I have some lettuce plants growing happily in 6-cell packs,
also some bok choy and choy sum (another Chinese green in
the cabbage family). I've been putting these outdoors
whenever the sun is shining, so they're pretty well hardened
off.

They'll be planted in containers outdoors - so I don't have
to wait 'until the soil can be worked' (until the garden can
be tilled) to plant them. Our garden is heavy clay, and
very soggy in spring - it really can't be tilled until
mid-to-late May. (This is the major reason I'm working on
getting raised beds.)

The information I've seen on lettuce says 'plant outside
four weeks before last frost' ... which strikes me as rather
un adventuresome. For bok choy and the choy sum, I've no
information as to when they go outside.

When to plant the lettuce and Chinese greens outdoors,
relative to the last frost date? When do you plant them
out?

I can cover them at night if need be.

Pat


--
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Lettuce and greens are fairly frost resistant but might be damaged in a
heavy freeze. If you get a freeze warning you can always cover them so I
would move them to your outside containers before they start crowding
your starter packs.

George

Pat Meadows wrote:

I have some lettuce plants growing happily in 6-cell packs,
also some bok choy and choy sum (another Chinese green in
the cabbage family). I've been putting these outdoors
whenever the sun is shining, so they're pretty well hardened
off.

They'll be planted in containers outdoors - so I don't have
to wait 'until the soil can be worked' (until the garden can
be tilled) to plant them. Our garden is heavy clay, and
very soggy in spring - it really can't be tilled until
mid-to-late May. (This is the major reason I'm working on
getting raised beds.)

The information I've seen on lettuce says 'plant outside
four weeks before last frost' ... which strikes me as rather
un adventuresome. For bok choy and the choy sum, I've no
information as to when they go outside.

When to plant the lettuce and Chinese greens outdoors,
relative to the last frost date? When do you plant them
out?

I can cover them at night if need be.

Pat

--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

Try contacting your local extension office. For about a dollar you can
purchase a planting guide for your specific area.

Pat Meadows wrote:

I have some lettuce plants growing happily in 6-cell packs,
also some bok choy and choy sum (another Chinese green in
the cabbage family). I've been putting these outdoors
whenever the sun is shining, so they're pretty well hardened
off.

They'll be planted in containers outdoors - so I don't have
to wait 'until the soil can be worked' (until the garden can
be tilled) to plant them. Our garden is heavy clay, and
very soggy in spring - it really can't be tilled until
mid-to-late May. (This is the major reason I'm working on
getting raised beds.)

The information I've seen on lettuce says 'plant outside
four weeks before last frost' ... which strikes me as rather
un adventuresome. For bok choy and the choy sum, I've no
information as to when they go outside.

When to plant the lettuce and Chinese greens outdoors,
relative to the last frost date? When do you plant them
out?

I can cover them at night if need be.

Pat

--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

George Shirley wrote in message ...
Lettuce and greens are fairly frost resistant but might be damaged in a
heavy freeze. If you get a freeze warning you can always cover them so I
would move them to your outside containers before they start crowding
your starter packs.

Yes, seedlings harden in a week or so. I have had 72 spinach, 12 each
collard and red cabbage, and 6 cardoons out for ten days now. I had to
make little manure mounds because the heavily mulched bed was still
frozen. Ten days later, one cardoon has succumbed to night frost (it
went down to 28 for two nights running). The rest is fine, the spinach
are clearly growing and all seedlings should now withstand nights in
the low 20s.

I took this bet because I saw two saturdays ago that the 5-day
forecast had no freezing nights. Also I have plenty of overwintering
lettuce that I can transplant in the bed if I lose the bet. That can
withstand single digit nights by now.


George

Pat Meadows wrote:

I have some lettuce plants growing happily in 6-cell packs,
also some bok choy and choy sum (another Chinese green in
the cabbage family). I've been putting these outdoors
whenever the sun is shining, so they're pretty well hardened
off.

They'll be planted in containers outdoors - so I don't have
to wait 'until the soil can be worked' (until the garden can
be tilled) to plant them. Our garden is heavy clay, and
very soggy in spring - it really can't be tilled until
mid-to-late May. (This is the major reason I'm working on
getting raised beds.)

The information I've seen on lettuce says 'plant outside
four weeks before last frost' ... which strikes me as rather
un adventuresome. For bok choy and the choy sum, I've no
information as to when they go outside.

When to plant the lettuce and Chinese greens outdoors,
relative to the last frost date? When do you plant them
out?

I can cover them at night if need be.

Pat

--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

Pat Meadows wrote:

I have some lettuce plants growing happily in 6-cell packs,
also some bok choy and choy sum (another Chinese green in
the cabbage family). I've been putting these outdoors
whenever the sun is shining, so they're pretty well hardened
off.

They'll be planted in containers outdoors - so I don't have
to wait 'until the soil can be worked' (until the garden can
be tilled) to plant them. Our garden is heavy clay, and
very soggy in spring - it really can't be tilled until
mid-to-late May. (This is the major reason I'm working on
getting raised beds.)

The information I've seen on lettuce says 'plant outside
four weeks before last frost' ... which strikes me as rather
un adventuresome. For bok choy and the choy sum, I've no
information as to when they go outside.

When to plant the lettuce and Chinese greens outdoors,
relative to the last frost date? When do you plant them
out?

I can cover them at night if need be.

Pat

--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

If you have a tiller and presuming your soil is not sink-in-up-to-your-
ankles wet, try setting your tiller to its minimum depth and run over
your garden at high speed. This will break up the soil. Exposing it to
the air will help it dry much faster!

Regards,
PZ.

On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 20:26:10 GMT, "Prof.Zooks"
wrote:


If you have a tiller and presuming your soil is not sink-in-up-to-your-
ankles wet, try setting your tiller to its minimum depth and run over
your garden at high speed. This will break up the soil. Exposing it to
the air will help it dry much faster!


Thanks. No tiller: we'll have to rent one this year. We
need to till some areas close to the house also (rhubarb,
gooseberries) and the friend's tractor that generally tills
our garden can't get close enough to the house.

$35 a day tiller rental! Ouch. But necessary this year.

We are also *hoping* to use the tiller to remove the
[Damnable Black Plastic 'Landscaping Fabric'] that some
idiot put in our front flower beds. The stuff does NOT keep
out the weeds but DOES prevent planting anything else. If
the tiller won't chop it up, we'll have to dig out every
inch of the front flower beds...ugh.

I think, though, that I'm going to try covering the garden
with clear plastic to (a) keep off the rain and (b) warm up
the ground.

Pat
--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

Pat Meadows wrote:

On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 20:26:10 GMT, "Prof.Zooks"
wrote:

If you have a tiller and presuming your soil is not sink-in-up-to-your-
ankles wet, try setting your tiller to its minimum depth and run over
your garden at high speed. This will break up the soil. Exposing it to
the air will help it dry much faster!


Thanks. No tiller: we'll have to rent one this year. We
need to till some areas close to the house also (rhubarb,
gooseberries) and the friend's tractor that generally tills
our garden can't get close enough to the house.

$35 a day tiller rental! Ouch. But necessary this year.

We are also *hoping* to use the tiller to remove the
[Damnable Black Plastic 'Landscaping Fabric'] that some
idiot put in our front flower beds. The stuff does NOT keep
out the weeds but DOES prevent planting anything else. If
the tiller won't chop it up, we'll have to dig out every
inch of the front flower beds...ugh.

I think, though, that I'm going to try covering the garden
with clear plastic to (a) keep off the rain and (b) warm up
the ground.

Pat
--
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

I would hesitate to use the tiller on the plastic. It will probably turn
the stuff into the soil and you'll be picking bits & pieces out for
years to come...

Regards,
PZ.