Thursday, August 20, 2009

Cabbage Crazy, but Who's Got the Beets?

Do all beets have such a low germination rate? I tried to grow beets this spring to no avail and I've planted them again now. They're sprouting about one per 10 seeds planted, but at least the ones that are sprouting are growing well. I didn't know if this was common with beets or just with the seed packet I bought at the end of the season last year. They've been stored well, but they are last year's seeds. I wonder if that's got a lot to do with it as well. The kohlrabi isn't germinating either. I planted a 2x3 space of them earlier this month, but only two have germinated.

Not that I've ever tried beets or kohlrabi; Granny just makes the beets look and sound so good and Dan mentioned he liked kohlrabi so it was worth a shot. If they don't pan out soon, I can plant something else there that will mature quick enough to avoid the frosts.

The square from the liberated cabbage seedling was replanted along with an additional four squares that the okra was removed from. This will be my third season trying to grow cabbage. I haven't been successful yet, but now I've got cabbage in each of the three gardens so something is bound to produce. It's just a matter of finding the right conditions, I'm thinking.

The Alaska peas are flowering nicely and a few pods are thickening up. I replanted some lettuce in cell packs that never germinated and thinned some radish seedlings today. The yellow pear tomato was chopped back yesterday. Sadly, most of it had to go for once I started removing the fallen branches, others came crashing down as well, but it does allow there to be more light on the beans, so it's not such a bad thing. I'm also getting 1-2 tomatoes a day off of the celebrity and heatwave plants. It seems like the tomatoes planted in July are producing so much more than the ones I planted in late April (and already removed). It's such a shame that the pests are greater now as well. Maybe I should look into planting the toms in May/June instead and riding the fence of production and bugs. Sounds like a plan to me!!

The tomatoes are nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm really looking forward to getting food from the garden again. I forgot how nice it was for meals to be dictated by the harvest!

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

3 comments:

  1. I have not had problems with beet germination before. Each seed is a cluster of multiply seeds so they should germinate well. Probably bad seed I would guess. The kohlrabi should germinate in a few days, maybe it is to hot for them to germinate. You could try seeding them in cell packs indoors and place out once they sprout, trick the little buggers!

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  2. Really? My packet says 15-21 days for germination. I thought that was a bit nuts. The cell packs sound like a good idea. I might set that up tonight.

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  3. Can't help you on the beet thing, but I know I have much better luck with kohlrabi started in packs in the house (like Dan said-duh-I oughta try reading a bit!)....

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