Rivmage
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Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:12 am
Location: Centennial,Co

New to gardening

Hello all,

Moved into my house last fall and I'm looking forward to starting my new garden. I plan to do raised bed gardening. In my excitement, I went out and bought seeds and a couple of seed starters. The seeds that I purchased are peppers (hot, sweet mixes and pablano), basil, carrots, onions, butternut squash and bush beans.

No research was done before purchase...hoping I didnt make a mistake.

Next week, I tackle the building of the raised beds.....

Thank you,
Scott

gumbo2176
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Location: New Orleans

From what I see, everything you bought can be put in the ground or starter trays to get a jump while you prepare the raised beds.

This time of year you can grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, many varieties of squash, swiss chard, beans(pole and bush), cucumbers, beets, carrots, onions, etc. If you want to know what else you can put in, check with a local nursery or do an on-line search for what to plant and when to plant it in your growing zone.


Good luck with your project. Eating fresh out the garden is one of the best things about growing your own. That and they taste much better than most anything you can get in the market.

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rainbowgardener
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Congratulations on your new house and garden! You will love it.

Re: peppers (hot, sweet mixes and pablano), basil, carrots, onions, butternut squash and bush beans.

Onions are very slow from seed. I usually plant onion seed in the fall, let it winter over and harvest it the next summer. If you want to plant onions now, you would do better to look for sets.

Carrots should be planted as soon as you can get the ground ready for them (they need very nice loose soil at least 6" deep), but they need to be planted directly in the ground, they do not transplant well.

The basil, squash, and beans could be started in your seed starter, but the squash and beans will do just as well planted directly in the ground once the soil has warmed up (the beans can be planted earlier than the squash, which needs really nice warm soil, 75 degrees or more). The basil is the main one that will definitely benefit from being started ahead in the seed starter.

The pepper would also benefit from being started ahead in the seed starter, except to my way of thinking, it's actually a bit late to start them. They are very slow growing. I plant my pepper seeds in late January to have nice sized pepper plants to put out in mid-April. If you want to be really happy with the results, once all danger of frost is past and the nights aren't too cold, buy a few well started peppler plants at a good nursery.

Next year with all the raised beds built and a year of experience, you will be in a better position to start more from seed. There's a lot to learn, but you will love it!

Rivmage
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:12 am
Location: Centennial,Co

Seems the girlfriend and I should have done a bit of research.....as we had fun yesterday with our seeds and rhe starters. We'll see what happens and next year, we'll have a better idea about when to plant/start what.

Thank you,
Scott

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jal_ut
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Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Right now you can start the peppers and basil in the seed starter kits. The onions and carrots can be seeded outside directly where they will grow as soon as your beds are ready. The squash and beans are warm weather crops and should not be planted until May in Colorado. You will want to wait until May to plant out the peppers too.

My guess is that you are just fine to start the peppers now and plan to move them into the raised beds in late May.

What is your elevation there?

Welcome to the forum.

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tremuloides
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:19 am
Location: Colorado

Hi Scott :D

I am just to the south of you near Monument Hill....

We just moved here a few months ago and I too have purchased a bunch of seeds. All of them are flower types Columbine, Lupine, Pansy types....we also got in the mail today a bunch of Delosperma varieties (about 3000 seeds worth...not a typo). They should do well in our xeriscaping. I have spent the past 10 days digging up all the rock beds and literally washing them...LOL...to get all the dirt and pine needles out of them.

We are going to go the raised bed route as we are at 7300' and I think due to us being in the woods, we can control the soil better and have it warm up a bit sooner than the ground itself.

We want to plant tomatoes, cucumbers (if possible), lettuce, spinach....

Still in the initial stages of research but we are going to start all the seeds inside in a couple of days. I was told that May 15 is the day to plant things but with our unusually warm weather the past couple of weeks I am getting the "itch" to plant things sooner.

Since this is our first year here I will be holding off though....going to get them started inside and then go from there!

Best of luck to you as well!

Cheers!

:)



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