PNW, when do you guys start?
 

Hey everyone, anyone who lives in the pacific north west and has similar last frost dates to me, when do you start your seeds?
For my hoophouse, I will start them in February sometime, and for outside I will start them in March. How about you?

Thanks,
Taryn

I start Tomato seeds in an upstairs bedroom in February. Other plants mostly beans and squash I start outside in April.

January..onions, leeks and shallotts,in trays for pricking out later or in modules 3 seeds to a cell.
February (in cold greenhouse) broad beans in starter pots or trays,,early peas in guttering,tomatoes, eggplant (inside) Early carrotts and radishes under cloches in raised beds if it iis reasonably mild.
March,spinach, and chard with protection,celery (inside) chitted potatoes,fall Brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, salad greens .peppers and chillies inside
April,winter cabbage, broccolli,late Brussel sprouts, green beans in pots in greenhouse,corn in pots,and squash in pots.
May, later peas direct in garden,lima beans in pots,more carrotts, beets etc etc

After then I top up carrotts, beets, lettuce etc and start planting potted stuff out, then have a bit of a break till fall planting.

Last year was a disaster to my usual plans due to the terrible rain but the above has served me good in most years here.



XX Jeannine

late December - January: peppers, lettuce, onion, some dwarf tomatoes
February- early March: tomatoes, eggplants, tomatillo
March-April: cukes, melons, beans, squash

I start all these inside and bring the plants out into cold frames on warm sunny days.

More than 5 year old tomato seeds or seeds that failed to sprout
last year, I start in mid-February on moist coffee filters in open
plastic sandwich bags. (They may take a few weeks to sprout.)
Newer tomato seeds and ground cherry seeds, around the first
of March to middle of March.

Perennials (not veggies) I put out in late fall, "wintersown style", and
let them come up whenever they feel like it. If it is still before last
frost, I move them to where they will not freeze and pot them up
into 3" pots when they get big enough.

Zucchini I wait until mid-April to first of May and sprout them on moist
coffee filters. (I want to transplant them into their final locations in
the garden before the taproot bottoms out in a pot.)

Peas, beans, etc, I just follow the instructions on the packet. (Ed Hume
packets usually have appropriate timings for Pacific NW plantings.)

I find the West Coast Seed Chart helpful

[URL]http://www.westcoastseeds.com/admin/files/2011PlantingChart.pdf[/URL]

Oh I forgot, parsnips are started in early February too. I start them in cardboard toilet tissue tubes filled with mix as they germinate better inside , then when they are little plants they go out, tubes and all and they do very well like that.The tubes allow the long tap root to get going before they go out so they are undisturbed.

West Coast is a very good source..but..ignore it when it comes to parsnips, totally too late!!

XX Jeannine

Well, I guess tonight I'll start my container tomato seeds! :D Exciting, exciting. I'll post pics of the seedlings in a week or two.

Here's what I'm sowing:

[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Black Cherry [/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Flamme[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Gardeners Delight[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Green Zebra[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Grub’s Mystery Green[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Isis Candy[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Kimberly[/SIZE]
[/FONT][SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Large Barred Boar[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Lime Green Salad[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Moravsky Div[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Orange Russian 117[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Pink Berkely Tie Dye[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Stupice[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Super sweet 100[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Taryn :)[/SIZE]
[/FONT]

I will start SOME tomatoes and all my sweet and hot peppers in early March, and those will go out into Walls O'Water in early May.

I will start the rest of the tomatoes in April for planting out directly in the garden in early to mid-June (depending on the weather). The last two years, we've gotten snow in early June.

For pole beans, I direct sow them in late May.

I start potatoes from seed tonight. I got them late, so we'll see what happens. I suspect that I am too late with these.

Squash and melons will be started in pots in May to plant out in the garden in June.

I already have lettuce, chard, spinach, broccoli Raab and kohlrabi going in a cold frame.

We're having such nice weather (65 degrees today!) I think I'll start some dwarf tomatoes tonight too and put them in pots on the porch so that they can come inside at night. Night temperatures are still in the 20s for a while. Sigh.

[SIZE="5"][SIZE="6"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]OK, Taryn, You're on, girl. I'll plant some of the same ones in the morning, and we'll see.:yes:[/FONT][/SIZE][/SIZE]



[SIZE="4"][FONT="System"](grumble, grumble, I gotta go find the bleach[/SIZE] [SIZE="3"]and wash out some pots,[/SIZE] [SIZE="2"]and go get the non-soil mix out of the car, and I gotta [/SIZE][SIZE="1"]find the seeds, and I gotta go .....grumble.....[/FONT][/SIZE]

[QUOTE=RobinB;257098]I will start SOME tomatoes and all my sweet and hot peppers in early March, and those will go out into Walls O'Water in early May.

I will start the rest of the tomatoes in April for planting out directly in the garden in early to mid-June (depending on the weather). The last two years, we've gotten snow in early June.

For pole beans, I direct sow them in late May.

I start potatoes from seed tonight. I got them late, so we'll see what happens. I suspect that I am too late with these.

Squash and melons will be started in pots in May to plant out in the garden in June.

I already have lettuce, chard, spinach, broccoli Raab and kohlrabi going in a cold frame.

We're having such nice weather (65 degrees today!) I think I'll start some dwarf tomatoes tonight too and put them in pots on the porch so that they can come inside at night. Night temperatures are still in the 20s for a while. Sigh.[/QUOTE]

Snow in June? :surprised: Wow! And I thought it was weird to have snow in march here.... have you ever used wall o waters before?

Taryn

[QUOTE=janezee;257103][SIZE=5][SIZE=6][FONT=Comic Sans MS]OK, Taryn, You're on, girl. I'll plant some of the same ones in the morning, and we'll see.:yes:[/FONT][/SIZE][/SIZE]



[SIZE=4][FONT=System](grumble, grumble, I gotta go find the bleach[/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=System] [SIZE=3]and wash out some pots,[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]and go get the non-soil mix out of the car, and I gotta [/SIZE][SIZE=1]find the seeds, and I gotta go .....grumble.....[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

:lol: Gardening can be lots of trouble sometimes, but I suppose it's worth it or else we wouldn't do it. :) For example, I've been having a very tough time figuring out my grow light situation! I thought the bulb was burnt out, but all the various replacement bulbs didn't work, and I only just now realized the fixture is broken! So now, I gotta go get me a whole new set up. Actually... I'm going to get two new grow lights.8-) Because I don't think one two foot fluorescent light can handle thirty tomato seedlings! Yikes.

I'm excited to grow seedlings at the same time as you, Jane! Now we can compare our seedlings and their growth rate. I've always thought that my tomato seedlings grow very slowly... maybe it seems like it because I check on them so often. :love:

Taryn

Reno is high desert, and a freakin' WIND TUNNEL. It's a challenge to keep loaded tomatoes upright some years. We use lots of rebar and bracing. I'm above the valley floor at about 4800 feet elevation.

Wall O' Waters really help. Last year, I got tomatoes in the ground in early May and the water froze but the plants were safe. A couple of the plants grew out the top and got nipped by frost, but I just cut them back and it all turned out well in the end. Those that started out life in the WOWs had more extensive root systems IMHO. I had one variety of tomato that I planted in a WOW in May and also started another later and planted in the garden in mid-June. The one in the WOW was bigger and had 2-3 times the number of tomatoes. I'm sold.

I'm glad the WOWs work for you! Wow, it's surprising that there was a freeze and the tomatoes were still safe! I guess they really DO work. I'll admit, it seemed pretty far fetched for a little WOW to save a tomato in freezing temperatures... For me, it is a big pain to fill them. :roll: I'm lazy, I know. :lol:


Taryn

[QUOTE=tgplp;257076]Well, I guess tonight I'll start my container tomato seeds! :D Exciting, exciting. I'll post pics of the seedlings in a week or two.

Here's what I'm sowing:

[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Black Cherry [/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Flamme[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Gardeners Delight[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Green Zebra[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Grub’s Mystery Green[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Isis Candy[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Kimberly[/SIZE][/FONT]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Large Barred Boar[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Lime Green Salad[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Moravsky Div[/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Orange Russian 117[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Pink Berkely Tie Dye[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Stupice[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Super sweet 100[/SIZE][/FONT]


[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Taryn :)[/SIZE][/FONT]
[/QUOTE]

Taryn,

Have you grown Orange Russion 117 before? If so I'd love to know how it performed for you. My better half requires me to plant Pineapple. It is good but late and not terribly productive so I am on the lookout for a substitute. This year I plan to grow several bicolors to trial to see if any will be earlier, more productive, comparable in flavor.

I grew Northern Lights last year and it produced a ripe tomato 2 or maybe 3 weeks before the Pineapple and it was good. But that was the only ripe tomato from NL the entire season. There were several more greenies that wouldn't ripen and Pineapple ended up being more productive (but still low). I am trying NL again since last year was a horrible year.

I plan to try Gold Medal, Golden Cherokee, Little Lucky, Northern Lights (again) and Rhodes Heirloom. I won't get my hopes up but I am hoping that they will all be as good as Pineapple and maybe a little earlier and more productive.