jmhagans
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Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 6:06 pm
Location: north Florida

Planting schedule?

Hi, I am fairly new to gardening edible items. I have had some success with some spinachs, tomatoes, and lettuces. I guess what I am asking would be I would like to grow these on a regular basis so I can have fresh salads 4-5 times a week. I feed 2 at every meal. What would be a good schedule to stagger these so I can have a steady supply. I would also like to add carrots and radishes to this mix. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

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nes
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Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:20 am
Location: Rural Ottawa, ON

Depends on how much time you have to plant/etc. as well as heat & your zone.

I would plant lettuce 2 weeks apart for a bib or romain, 1 for a mesclun.

jmhagans
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Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 6:06 pm
Location: north Florida

Thanks Nes for the reply, I have about an hour a day or so. I live in North Florida on the edge of zone 8-9. I guess I should have stated the varieties since that plays a large factor. I am growing greenleaf, bib, mescalin mix, and some sort of Chinese spinach (local guy has been growing this type for years and cannot remember the name). I am also growing cherry belle radishes, dwarf daveneer carrots, and green scallions. I have harvested the first batch of spinach and radishes the other night and it was so good it got me really excited. Now I am stuck waiting for the next batch, therefore the query.

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nes
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Location: Rural Ottawa, ON

Lettuce seeds are cheap and the ones that do bolt I leave to go to seed themselves, so I always plant a lot more then I think I'm going to eat.

In the heat of summer, if you can still grow lettuce at all, you're probably going to want to be planting more & closer together since you'll be harvesting more baby leaves.

For carrots I space them apart more, a month is good, but carrots store really easily so if you've got the space you can grow more :). (especially danvers)

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Especially in Florida, it will be difficult for you to grow lettuce and spinach through the heat of summer. Try planting some summer ones in a shady area and keep them well watered. For summer greens, plant swiss chard which will keep growing all summer.

For carrots, I just plant a whole bunch all at once. Then you can thin by eating them. They will just keep getting bigger all season.

RickRS
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Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:27 am
Location: Northwest Florida

Here in north Florida, summer heat will stop tomatoes from setting fruit and entire beds of lettuce to bolt, which will ruin plans for salads thru the year.

Your tomatoes will drop blossoms when night time temperatures get into the 70's. That means around July you will be picking the last of the ripe tomatoes and won't see any more until October, if the vines can survive the attack of insects and diseases. My county agriculture agent has been advising us to forget indeterminate tomatoes and stick with determinate types only, to ensure maximum garden production in our deep south summer conditions. I'm trying both types this year after alway going with indeterminate types in the past to decide for myself.

Flip side of this is you can replant tomatoes in August-Sept. to try for a second crop before first frost.

I'm trying swiss chard for the first time. It is recommended by the forum members here and by Florida's agriculture extension as the one green leaf crop that will handle our heat.

Suggest you check https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 for the Agriculture Extension's gardening guide.



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