Gardening in Canada put out another really useful video today that I just had to share.

Of course, we still need to take into account our individual situations.

Some of these I would have thought were obvious. Root vegetables, for example. I’ve heard you can actually buy root vegetables as transplants in greenhouses (I don’t recall seeing them, myself, but I might just have missed them), and to me, that seems downright unethical.

Only recently have I seen people starting things like peas, beans and spinach indoors, which I found perplexing. Peas and spinach are among those things that need cool temperatures to germinate, and can be planted before last frost. It’s just too warm to start them indoors, isn’t it? Beans germinate and grow so quickly, it seems like extra work to start them indoors. As for lettuces, I do know of people who grow them indoors, not for transplant, but for winter greens, so that’s an option. I do recall seeing lettuces and leafy green transplants in the stores.

With things like melons, cucumbers and squash, winter or summer, I’ve been starting some of them indoors because I only have a 100 day growing season. Last year was the first time I direct sowed summer squash, and they were a magnet for slugs. Some of the ones that survived did well – the G Star patty pans in particular – but I had to resow most of them several times, and still ended up with just a few plants that didn’t produce very well, compared to past years where they were transplanted. This year, I will be direct sowing again, but need to find a better way to protect them from slugs. I just won’t have the space to start them indoors.

As for the winter squash and melons that we transplanted; the melons did well in the kiddie pool raised bed, but needed more time than we had, even though they were supposed to be short season varieties. With the winter squash, the mounds that got full sun suffered more than those that got partial shade. Basically, the full sun ones got baked. The transplants also survived the slugs better than the direct sown summer squash. Because of the growing season, I will probably start winter squash indoors, but this year, we have some shorter season winter squash, so we might be able to get away with direct sowing.

Her comments about luffa is in line with what I had been considering doing myself. I don’t have the seeds to try them again this year, but when I get more seeds, I want to try starting them in a larger pot, and simply taking the pot outside when the time comes. Last year’s transplanted luffa, we got one plant that did remarkably well in the wattle weave bed, so I know it can be done!

As for cucumbers, those were something we tried starting indoors two years in a row. The first year worked fine. The second year, not at all, so we’ve got something else going on there. It could simply be the different varieties.

I have never heard of anyone starting potatoes indoors before! Same with garlic, other than in those silly 5 Minute Craft type content mill videos.

As for corn, we did try starting corn indoors, because we were trying to grow kulli (Maize Morado) corn. We could get away with direct sowing the Montana Morado corn, as it’s a shorter season black corn, but kulli needs 120 days to maturity. Transplanting the kulli corn did result in transplant shock that set them back. Once they started growing, they got huge – but didn’t start developing tassels or cobs before the season ran out. Since we are building covers for our beds, I am thinking that when we try them again in the future, I will make use of those. First, to create a greenhouse situation to warm the soil of a bed earlier, then keeping it warm after sowing. While our last frost date is June 2, we do tend to get nice warm weather before then, so we should be able to get that extra 27-30 days (days to maturity, plus days for germination). Basically, we’d have to find a way to plant them at the beginning of May to give them enough time to fully mature.

Hmmm… I should check the calendar. I’m sure there’s something I can start indoors about now…

The gardening itch is hitting me hard right now!! 😄

The Re-Farmer