When To Plant Broccoli Transplants...
Howdy all. For my second year of gardening I will be growing my own broccoli transplants from seed. My question: how early can I set the transplants out? I'm in zone 5. The last frost date is generally around the end of May. Would the middle of April be too early to set out broccoli transplants? Should I use hotcaps or anything when setting them out early? Any input appreciated. Chris |
When To Plant Broccoli Transplants...
"C.Swartz" wrote in message ... Howdy all. For my second year of gardening I will be growing my own broccoli transplants from seed. My question: how early can I set the transplants out? I'm in zone 5. The last frost date is generally around the end of May. Would the middle of April be too early to set out broccoli transplants? Should I use hotcaps or anything when setting them out early? Any input appreciated. Chris Properly hardened off Broccoli seedlings can take a light frost or two, but not a heavy one or a freeze. I think your mid-April target is just a bit early. Here in zone 6, I set my Broccoli transplants out about a week to ten days before our last expected frost, but no earlier. Works well for me. Shalom, Bill |
When To Plant Broccoli Transplants...
"C.Swartz" wrote:
Howdy all. For my second year of gardening I will be growing my own broccoli transplants from seed. My question: how early can I set the transplants out? I'm in zone 5. The last frost date is generally around the end of May. Would the middle of April be too early to set out broccoli transplants? Should I use hotcaps or anything when setting them out early? Any input appreciated. Chris Broccoli will withstand some cool weather. It also will produce secondary and tertiary heads after the first cutting. However, this process does not continue indefinitely. I would recommend that you plan on several plantings of broccoli, spaced about 3 weeks apart. If you lose the first one to frost you will still have more coming. You will also not have to put up with the tiny tertiary heads at the end of the productive life of the plant. The middle of April should be OK as long as you have some protection available when the weather turns cold. You need not leave the protection on continuously if the weather warms up, just be ready to put it back. Watch the forecast. On the other hand, Reemay might be useful, if only to protect against flea beetles, which are generally a problem in early crops. The same timing comment applies to many other crops, e.g. lettuce. Most gardeners go through a flurry of planting in the spring and expect the stuff to produce all summer. It doesn't work with all crops. Leaf lettuce can be harvested one leaf at a time, which makes the plant last longer, but there are diminishing returns. With hot weather, the old plants will try to set seed, at which point the lettuce leaves get bitter. Much better to plant lettuce at regular intervals, say two weeks apart, and harvest the entire head at one time. It will keep in the refrigerator for a week if stored properly (and not eaten at once). Lettuce in the field will withstand remarkably low temperatures, down to 25F (don't try that in your refrigerator). My last lettuce seeding is early August, only because my farmstand closes at the beginning of October. If I were open longer, I would probably seed lettuce until early September (for December harvest). In hot weather, plant more lettuce and harvest it smaller, before it bolts. This means that you will have some areas of your garden that appear empty. Live with it. You can take the area that held the lettuce you just harvested, till it up and let it sit for a week or two. Then plant the next lettuce crop. (you may need to add some fertilizer, but maybe not. Try it without and see how it works. If the plants appear to be growing slowly, add fertilizer to half of them [remember which half] and see if it helps.) |
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