Michigan Gardeners

[KLorentz]

Ok we are going into March now and with that in mind I was wondering when all you Michiganders are starting maters and peppers in earnest.I am strongly considering starting in a couple weeks but may try a small early seeding of a couple varieties. Was thinking of Al-Kuffa and maybe one other. Any thoughts? The rest I am going for mid March so they will all be ready for plant out from mid May on.I got a nice A team list forming in my head which goes like this.Then I will have a lot to trial.Some I grew last year are still going to be trial growing because even though I got nice maters I got them out to late to give a real good evaluation.


Al-Kuffa
Abe Lincoln
Rose
Black Krim
Thessaloníki
Cowlicks Brandywine
Costoluto Genovese
Marglobe
Rutgers
Italian Giant Paste
Cosmonaut Volkov

The pepper list is a lot smaller cuz well the bells (varieties) I have never really grown and my experience with them is mainly with hybrids like Big Bertha,Lady Bell and Golden Summer except for Orange Sun.Also got a bunch of new hot peppers.

The A team list for peppers is

King Arthur (bell)
Jalapeño
Serrano
Habanero
Cayenne

I have other bells and hot peppers I am trying this year which is the first year I will have Bhut Jalokia in production.Gonna be fun.


Kevin

[HoosierDaddy]

I guess it depends on what part of Michigan you are in. I am east of Lansing and I have my first batch of tomatoes and peppers started already. The tomatoes will be tranplanted outdoors around April 23rd (using Walls O Water aka Kozy Coats). and the peppers May 1st or 8th.

I will start a second batch of tomatoes and peppers March 26th as insurance in case something goes horribly cold and kills off my early transplants.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

I am not in Michigan but am in Zone 4 and shoot for a May 15th plant out as well and I am thinking of starting 2 dwarf Frosty lines and New Big Dwarf this weekend and then starting the rest of my indet. tomatoes 1-2 weeks after that. Last year by 8 weeks the tomato plants were getting to big and un managable.

Craig

[KLorentz]

Originally Posted by HoosierDaddy

I guess it depends on what part of Michigan you are in. I am east of Lansing and I have my first batch of tomatoes and peppers started already. The tomatoes will be transplanted outdoors around April 23rd (using Walls O Water aka Kozy Coats). and the peppers May 1st or 8th.

I will start a second batch of tomatoes and peppers March 26th as insurance in case something goes horribly cold and kills off my early transplants.

I am down in Hillsdale County about 10 min from the Ohio state line. I try to shoot for May 15th but the weather and other unforeseen complications have not let me do that the last two seasons.Gonna try that again.Hope the weather will be kinder to me in that respect.

Originally Posted by Gobig_or_Gohome_toms

I am not in Michigan but am in Zone 4 and shot for a May 15th plant out as well and I am thinking of starting 2 dwarf Frosty lines and New Big Dwarf this weekend and then starting the rest of my indet. tomatoes 1-2 weeks after that. Last year by 8 weeks the tomato plants were getting to big and un manageable.

Craig

That's what I try to do with my plant out dates.Gives me a good time frame for everything. As for dwarf tomatoes the only one I have is Al-Kuffa.It produces real well. I also have Siletz which I found to be very compact but not quite dwarf.I got it out late last year so it did not do as good as it should.What fruit it did have where not bad so I think it deserves a second shot.

Kevin

[farmall]

Kevin

We are about 30 minutes from you it looks like and my hot peppers have been going for about 2 weeks now and we are starting the sweet peppers and egglants now. Also starting a few varieties of tomatoes to transplant in the dirt of the greenhouse for early tomatoes. The rest of the tomatoes will be started in about 2 weeks till the end of the month. Depending on the weather we usualy put plants outside around May 10 sometimes earlier. When I watch the news though Hillsdale usualy posts the coldest night time temps.

Adam

[KLorentz]

That's true about Hillsdale.I use to live in Bryan O and had a little easier time with putting out my plants.since I moved here in 2009 it has been anyones guess when my plants will be going out.


Kevin

[rxkeith]

i might be back in the U.P. by june in that case its gonna take some work to reclaim the garden left behind for 2 years. replacing the fencing to keep the deer out. prolly wont be able to plant out until the second week of june. things are kind of up in the air right now.
i did plant my pepper seeds today, 15 varieties, and 3 varieties of egg plant. early june is often early in the U.P. anyway. tomato seeds won't get planted until april 1st. still evaluating, but am going to have to go with some earlier varieties due to uncertainty about place and time of plant out.


keith