[Gardeners] when do you start your cool-season vegetable seeds? (Raleigh: food, rapes)

[greenie72]

Last year I was too late starting seeds and had no harvest in fall. I just saw someone I follow on Instagram started her seeds already.


I was thinking of putting Carrot and Purple-Top Turnip seeds down mid-August but this chart says I could have started the Carrots already: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/central...uits-and-herbs


Time to clean up the veggie bed and get planting I guess!

[RaleighSentinel]

I’ve been putting down the carrot seeds in the same bed I use for summer squash. The squash lasted longer this year (fewer borers), but will probably be ready to pull them up by next weekend—still trying to eek out 1-2 more. Over the years I’ve found planting in early August I can have smaller carrots by Thanksgiving. If I wait until mid-late August, they’re not ready until Xmas.

[greenie72]

Originally Posted by RaleighSentinel

I’ve been putting down the carrot seeds in the same bed I use for summer squash. The squash lasted longer this year (fewer borers), but will probably be ready to pull them up by next weekend—still trying to eek out 1-2 more. Over the years I’ve found planting in early August I can have smaller carrots by Thanksgiving. If I wait until mid-late August, they’re not ready until Xmas.

I had teeny tiny baby carrots this spring, even though I waited two weeks past what it said on the packets. It was my first time planting them.


I'll clean up my bed and get them planted by the weekend. For me, the whole point of this is to have food by Thanksgiving. The turnips I'll plant every week so I have a continual harvest though.

[wheelsup]

Has anyone had success growing tomatoes in the fall?

Also, our tomato pants always seem to get yellow and die. The plants themselves grow like gang busters and produce a ton of cherry tomatoes until halfway through the season.

[greenie72]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

Has anyone had success growing tomatoes in the fall?

Also, our tomato pants always seem to get yellow and die. The plants themselves grow like gang busters and produce a ton of cherry tomatoes until halfway through the season.

What kind of fertilizer do you use?


I'm growing Sun Gold cherry tomatoes and they did great last year and this year so far. I use a balanced granular fertilizer mixed in with soil and compost when I plant but otherwise, I don't add any more because they perform so well.


If I was growing bigger tomatoes like plum or beefsteak, I'd probably go heavier on fertilizer and calcium.

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by greenie72

What kind of fertilizer do you use?


I'm growing Sun Gold cherry tomatoes and they did great last year and this year so far. I use a balanced granular fertilizer mixed in with soil and compost when I plant but otherwise, I don't add any more because they perform so well.

If I was growing bigger tomatoes like plum or beefsteak, I'd probably go heavier on fertilizer and calcium.

We used to use 10-10-10 but found it just made the plants leafy. A few years ago we started using a little fert after replanting (maybe two weeks after) and then nothing and they grow prolifically but about this time start dying out. I don't believe it's lack of nitrogen as I'm familiar with that. The top of the plant is ok right now, it starts at the base from what I can tell and works it's way up. It's only the cherry tomatoes. We did grapes this year as well and they've kept their leaves. I wonder if it's some sort of disease.

Top pic is cherry. Bottom is grape.

https://imgur.com/a/ZTgZquI

They are kinda piled on top of each other because the storms a few days ago blew them down. But last year I went to great pains to keep them trimmed and not touching each other or the ground, and only growing straight up, and the cherries still got sick. I also only water on the ground and do not spray them.

I have read about Fusarium Wilt and wondered if it was something like that.

[RaleighSentinel]

It looks like Early Blight but may be another fungal disease. You could try a fungicide spray, but it is likely a bit late. The plants will likely still produce and ripen, just at a slower pace. We do both Sweet 100s and true Cherry’s. It hits one, but not the other. Our larger tomatoes seem unaffected as well.

The first frost will invariably kill off the tomato plants outside.

[greenie72]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

We used to use 10-10-10 but found it just made the plants leafy. A few years ago we started using a little fert after replanting (maybe two weeks after) and then nothing and they grow prolifically but about this time start dying out. I don't believe it's lack of nitrogen as I'm familiar with that. The top of the plant is ok right now, it starts at the base from what I can tell and works it's way up. It's only the cherry tomatoes. We did grapes this year as well and they've kept their leaves. I wonder if it's some sort of disease.

Top pic is cherry. Bottom is grape.

https://imgur.com/a/ZTgZquI

They are kinda piled on top of each other because the storms a few days ago blew them down. But last year I went to great pains to keep them trimmed and not touching each other or the ground, and only growing straight up, and the cherries still got sick. I also only water on the ground and do not spray them.

I have read about Fusarium Wilt and wondered if it was something like that.

Do you prune off new suckers as it grows? I tend not to, but I grow them pretty far apart from each other to make sure they have tons of room for air exchange, and I cage them until about 4 feet up. I don't use mulch. I do use soaker hoses and have schedules that automatically skip watering if there has been rain in the forecast.


Maybe Septoria leaf spot? The leaves in your pic do look similar.

[wheelsup]

It's just weird that every year it happens. This year we tried grape tomatoes and they are, from what I can tell, doing exceptionally.

Last year I was extremely diligent about letting air in and keeping the plants from touching, and they all got it as we well.

As for your soak hose, I actually made my own inground watering system. It worked really well. I put it on a timer so I never had to water.

https://imgur.com/a/VLnNHtR