First time Gardener

[gumbo2176]

Also, tomorrow is Day 14 and no signs of Cabbage Seedlings. Temps have been 40-75 degree weather.

Exciting news: for Christmas Santa brought me a 3 ft taller tripod sprinkler!! No more water hose watering, now I can leave it on for a bit. My soil before would be damp but hr later it was very dry and sandy below the top

I do something similar to water my garden, but I'm cheap. I took a couple of 2x4's and sunk them into the soil about 2 ft. and let 4 ft. stick up. On top of the end of the 2x4 I screwed on a small platform and that is where I mount my sprinklers and secure them with some twine. I run a hose with a splitter and supply both sprinklers to water my garden and that relieves me from having to water the main vegetable garden, which can be time consuming and I can concentrate on hand watering my raised bed, flower pots on the front and back porches and front yard flower garden. This still takes me between 30-45 minutes, depending on how dry it is.

[imafan26]

You can also run a sprinkler on a hose to the garden and put a timer on the hose bib to water automatically. You just have to have the right sprinkler so it will cover the garden evenly.

[rainbowgardener]

Carrots can be slow, but yes the cabbages should have sprouted long since, if they are going to.

Your ground does not look very well prepared for seeds. For rough, clumpy ground like that, you are much better off, as applestar suggested, to plant your seeds in a tray of potting soil. Grow them out to transplant size and then put them in the ground.

Ideally a seed bed looks something like this, dark, soft, loose, crumbly:



it can take a few years of working your soil thoroughly and keeping adding compost and other organic matter to it, to get it to that point.

[SpringWaterGrower]

It's been a busy day in the garden! I came home to the results of a rabbit ambush. 7 BROCCOLI PLANTS MISSING!!!! Ahhhhh

So. What did I do? I put up a fence, and put 7 transplants back in the ground. At a total of 29 again


Also weeded today, worked the ground some, and made the entire garden look much better!

ALSO, I came home to Cabbage and Carrot Sprouts!! I'm so EXCITED!!!

If you click on the photos they are right side up

Carrots

Cabbage

[imafan26]

Your soil looks sandy? Sandy soil is usually on the alkaline side so cabbages like that, and carrots do like sandy loams. However, sandy soils dry very fast. You should water long enough and deep enough so that you can feel the moisture down a couple of inches. You can test that by using a trowel and dig a small hole and see how far down the soil is damp. Sandy soils lose water more rapidly than clay so in the future you should add more compost to help it hold on to the moisture longer. Seedlings should stay evenly moist since the surface will dry out first and the tiny roots are on the surface. Mulching the cabbages will help hold moisture later.

[jal_ut]

Like I said, cabbage is a favorite of the bugs. You about have to plant and powder it immediately. The bugs will grab it as soon as it comes up. You may do well to start cabbage indoors and in six ounce plastic cups, then transplant it out when it is 4 or 5 inches tall.