Hello Again, My eagerness and naivety got the best of me and I transferred all of my vegetables from indoors to outdoors. Some that I know I should not have for sure - tomatoes, zucchini, peppers. Other include pole beans, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, carrots, radish, beets, lettuce and a variety of herbs. Unfortunately I did not add bone meal to the soil upon transferring the plants - infact I just planted them. About 3 days into my project, the veggies started to look very lethargic and yellow. We had some frost during this time as well. I added bone meal about a week ago and plan on adding an organic fertilizer that is higher in nitrogen (to stimulte root growth). So far, the plants do look much better. The tomatoes still are a concern for me (although I can see new growth that has a dark green foliage) as are the zucchini and pole beans. The peppers actually look pretty good. Anyway, my question is what can I do to help my veggies - I put so much effort into this project and want to save my garden. I do not want to use chemicals as I am working towards an organic garden. My compost is just about ready (which is organic) so perhaps I can incorporate this into the garden.
The weather was certainly disappointingly cold for a few weeks there. roots do establish quite nicely in cooler weather. Nitrogen fertizers stimulate the vegetative growth, good for the green crops. One suggestion to help growth would be to use black material between the rows to help warm the soil. Landscape fabric could be used for this, and would also keep weeds from growing. In cold weather, cloches may be used to protect plants , particularly at night. Hoops covered with polythene work well. It is quite labour intensive, requiring attention night and morning. At this time of year, if the clouds roll away unexpectedly, it can get really hot quickly. The cloche suyggestion is really for NEXT year! I hope your veg. crop gets going! Good luck!