Garden Plans

Apparently I need forgiveness too.  My reply on Y2k was very off-topic.
and should
have been directed only to julianne, with the appropriate smiley faces
of course....
:-)


Anyway Pat's vegetable plans, problems and questions:

I'm in New England.  Ground may be workable as early as March 1  or as late
as April 15.  What can I get away with?

1.  order seeds by 1/1/2000. Is it ok to name or talk about seed
suppliers on this list?

2.  do I really need "grow lights" to start seeds indoors, or do
ordinary flourescent bulbs work as well?  How about some kind of warming
cables or trays.  Are those necessary?

3.  Plant lettuce in the basement by 1/1   I'm told this works and you can
harvest all winter long.  Has anyone tried this?

4.  Start seeds for lettuce, broccoli, tomato, cucumber, and zuchinni 
indoors at the appropriate time using advice in seed catalogs.  Plan to
transplant small but healthy plants about May 1, May 15 and May 30.  Is
May 30 too late?  May 1 too early?

4a.  Start seeds for lettuce & peas outside as early as march 1  (is
that crazy?)
     Start seeds for cucumber outside as early as April 1 
     mark the ends of rows with radish seeds.
     Replant early at two week intervals in case frost or cold got the
early stuff.

5.  Build a cold frame in the garden.  Anyone got any ideas for doing
this on
the cheap?



Crops:  Lettuce, Carrots, Peas, Beets Pole & Bush Beans, Kohlrabi,
Broccoli, Cucumber, Zuchinni

Lettuce:  Mass plantings of Mesclun Mix and Red Sails.  2 4x4 foot beds
kept us in salads for most of last summer we finished picking the last
of it on Thanksgiving weekend.  

Swiss Chard.  Last picking on Thanksgiving weekend.  we had some in a
salad the day after Christmas.  What a year!

Carrots didn't do too well.  Some got shaded by the tomatoes. and were
kind of small even where they were'nt shaded.   

Cukes, wilted and died off midsummer before I got very many. The cukes I
got were small and had a curly tip.   Anyone have any suggestions?  The
cukes that did the best were planted later in the summer and next to the
pole beans where they got some shade.  They still died back.  

Pumkin: a disaster.  The lumina set fruit and then failed.  I think the
problem here might be the insects that colonized the leaves.  One plant 
climbed a fence while I was on vacation. so it lost its fruit too. 
there was some rot at the root as well.
I don't use pesticides.

Cherry Tomatoes did ok.  Goliath was a disappointment.

Kohlrabi is just plain fun.  I had a couple of plants left over in 1998
and they managed to winter over.  In the spring, the plants took off and
branched multiple times with woody stalks ending with several perfectly
good bulbs.  I had to stake the plants.

The beets didn't grow much but what I did get tasted great.  They were
small, no more than an inch in diameter after growing the whole season
but very sweet.
  
For Bush beans- Royal burgundy has worked really well for me.  Freshly
picked, with their unusual deep purple color, they're wonderful for
sharing with neighbors.
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