Only the lettuce is growing?

[megany]

Hi!

I finished all of my garden beds, and planted my 'cold weather' crops a little over two weeks ago. The weather had been nice for a solid two weeks, so I thought it'd be a good time to plant.

I planted sugar snap peas, lettuce, spinach, and carrots. And my strawberry plants, which are doing fine.

Only the lettuce has popped up. I know carrots take ages, so I'm not worried about those. But shouldn't the peas and spinach have sprouted by now?

We had probably 3 or 4 days out of the last two weeks where there literally was zero sun (and therefore super cold), so that might have slowed things down.

I just wanted to see if you all think there's still a chance that things might pop up. I think next time I plant the peas, I'm going to try this method instead: http://www.dontveter.com/howtogrow/sugarsnaps.html

Appreciate your experienced insight! Thanks!

[applestar]

They'll come up when they're ready -- i.e. When the soil has warmed up enough. Two weeks wait for extra early spring seeds, I think, is normal.

I think the pre sprouting method is good after the spring thaw, but possibly not as good if there is any chance of ground freezing. This is also the recommended method for sowing fall harvesting peas in the summer heat.

[digitS']

Megan, if you look at this chart from the University of Minnesota you will see that lettuce is absolutely the earliest in a cool, 41°F soil. Lettuce will sprout in 15 days but even spinach takes a week longer.

It seems to me that there is this common misconception that peas, peas, peas -- should be planted in cold soil. But notice, peas take 36 days at 41°F! And realize that peas are planted deeper than lettuce or spinach where the soil takes more days to warm in the early spring. When I see how early some folks sow pea seed I often ask myself why they don't plant later when something like a month wait won't be required.

The link you post has the guy saying that sowing without pre-sprouting pea seed results in 15% germination with the remainder rotting. That must be an entirely different gardening environment to what I am used to .

Steve

[applestar]

DigitS, that is a great link! I had a similar chart with less numbers of crops listed and a line graph from another site, but this one is very easy to read. Thanks for posting it!

I'm printing it out and putting it in my seed storage box.
Now to study it and see why else I can sow today....

[jal_ut]

digits', Thanks for the link. That is useful info.

Some types of seed will lie in the ground for a long time until conditions are right for germination, then it will germinate. Lettuce and spinach are examples.

Other types of seed will rot if the temperature is not warm enough. Corn, beans, cukes and melons are examples of seed that should never be planted in cool soil.

megany, I think your seed will come up. Carrots usually take 3 weeks when planted early. One of the problems I have here in Dry Utah with small seed, is that the seed is not very deep and if we get a warm day and a breeze the ground will dry out and leave the seed without water. If it has started to germinate, but hasn't got a root down to moisture, it will die. Think about this and do what is necessary to keep moisture at the seed depth.

[megany]

Thanks everyone -- it looks you all were right! Some of the peas have started sprouting now, at least in one of the beds. Unfortunately, the spring has been off to a horrible start here, very little sun. But I'm hoping it gets sunny eventually.

Meanwhile, I started a few pepper, tomato, and eggplant seeds indoors. I just sat them in my window sill to see if they'd grow with basically very little heat (we keep our thermostat at 62) and whatever light the sun provides. Almost all of them have sprouted, and a few are getting too big too fast.

I'm still really struggling to figure out what to plant when (I'm trying to do succession planting, and am hoping to use cold frames to extend the growing season), but hopefully I'll get that figured out here eventually.

DigitS -- thanks for sharing the link, it's very useful!