📌 In this diary:
Shelkovnitsa said on Dec 20, 2021:
Amazing! In another diary, a grower from northern Tomsk is constantly complaining about the harsh Siberian conditions))) And here you are, in the same Tomsk, harvesting radishes by mid-April 🙏 You are the one who should be writing guides, well done, Katerina!
🌱 Early Greens & The Tea Wrapper Hack
I had to smile at that. My greenhouse is right next to the house, so we just get a jump start on the eating season. From May 1st to the 10th, temperatures here can drop to 19°F (-7°C). Having a third layer of row cover inside really helps. But every year is different.
The radishes aren’t quite ready yet, but the dill and lettuce are doing great by early May. I thin out the radishes and use the spicy greens in salads. This year, I’m going to test growing early radishes inside empty foil tea wrappers! But they need lots of light. Photo is from April 23rd.
Lyuda, the success with the dill and Napa cabbage is all thanks to you 🙏. This year, I had dill and lettuce growing right between the tomato plants (a 13-foot / 4m row) and we ate them until mid-June. I also transplanted them from little cups outside into the cucumber frame.
Photo from April 27th: Early tomatoes growing in construction utility buckets. Though I actually prefer growing dwarf (tree-type) tomatoes 2-per-box in tall slatted crates. Dahlias in the background bags will start blooming in mid-June.
Tanya, it’s pretty useless to argue about weather and conditions. Everything is so hyper-local. My village is in a valley, so during a frost, the temperature difference between us and the neighboring villages situated on higher ground can be 7-10°F (4-6°C). Meaning they might be at 32°F (0°C), while we are down to 23°F (-5°C). The snow in the nearby city melts long before ours does; we still have snowbanks. But that doesn’t mean much, things can flip in 3 days, and the greenhouse can heat up from 46°F (+8°C) to 59°F (+15°C) by mid-April.
I still don’t plant out my main seedlings that early. If I do put anything out early, it’s literally just 4 to 6 determinates on the south-facing side of the center bed. But a lot of people in the Moscow region do plant out in April, including members of our forum.
📅 Sowing Dates & Topping for Early Yields
Lyuda, our sowing dates match up. You mentioned this germinating method before, but it’s only now that I really feel the itch to try it. Are the ones in the photo already ready to transplant? Nothing but paper towels and melted snow water?
For my early crop, I’m planning to grow Alsu, Lentyayka, and Elisey, sowing them in mid-February. They grow a bit spindly, but they are the earliest of the truly tasty varieties. Severyuga produces a sturdier bush. I’ll top both Alsu and Severyuga after just 3 trusses. I’ll sow some early, short determinates too. By mid-April, I have the ability to give them 3-liter pots. I’m definitely testing your method.
Basically, I’ll start messing around with seeds on February 6th. I’ll organize my stash 🤯🍅, and start serious sowing on the 17th. We’ll fine-tune the dates.
As for peppers, I want to hold off until early March. When I sow them in February, I end up planting them out when they already have fruit on them; the bushes look fantastic, but then they just stall and there’s no real benefit. I read that their roots stop growing once they set fruit. Peppers have been a bust for me so far. I’m studying my mistakes.
I never transplant anything into the greenhouse before May 10th. We wait until the bird cherry trees finish blooming (a local sign that the last cold snap has passed).
Good day, everyone!
Looking at these photos makes me crave spring so much!! Ekaterina, could you share more details about growing radishes in tea wrappers, or point me to where I can read about it? I also wanted to ask about the tomatoes in the construction buckets. How do you eventually plant them in the ground? You must have to dig a massive hole! 🙂 Or do they just grow in those buckets all summer long?
🪣 The Bucket Method: Ripe Tomatoes by June
Clever said on Dec 20, 2021:
I also wanted to ask about the tomatoes in the construction buckets. How do you eventually plant them in the ground?
Irina, the tomatoes stay and fruit right inside the buckets. For all my early varieties, I only let them set a few trusses. That forces them to ripen much faster. I only need them to tide us over until mid-July, because by then, the really tasty heart-shaped varieties will be ripening in the ground. I place the buckets right next to the polycarbonate walls, nestled between the main in-ground plants.
By late June, I harvest all the remaining fruit at the “breaker” stage (just starting to turn color). I drag the buckets outside, and some of the plants just get thrown in the compost. Though Antoshka usually manages to set more fruit, and we snack on its sweet, starchy little tomatoes until autumn. I plant Alsu and Severyuga right along the pathway and only let them set their bottom 3 trusses.
Here are some photos. First one is from 2019, probably the variety Iyunskiy on June 2nd. The cold winds were still blowing, hadn’t even brought the petunias out yet. Everything was much earlier this year. The other photos are from 2021: Dana, the first ones ripening on the bush.
First photo below is from June 16th. Mostly counter-ripened indoors. Second photo shows: Alsu, Black Pear, Severyuga, Krasa Lyubvi, Dana, Iyunskiy, Bochata, Elisey, Alpatyevskiy.
Third photo is June 26th. By early July, I ripped the early plants out. I had already underplanted late dwarf varieties at their feet. I mixed up the tags though. I meant to limit Moegi to just 3 trusses, but I missed it, and it set so much fruit I felt bad cutting it. The first trusses from all of them have been picked. That massive Moegi is sitting in the crate. It’s incredibly productive and kept fruiting right until autumn.
Last photo is June 28th. All counter-ripening on the windowsill.
My greenhouse has 2 beds, lots of room. This year I mostly planted my early varieties directly in the ground. Growing in buckets is heavy lifting, but honestly, the bucket results were better. We started snacking on tomatoes in early June.
Oh, and about the radishes! I save those single-use foil tea wrappers. I snip both ends off, fill them with loose potting soil, and plant a pre-sprouted radish seed inside. I’m going to test sowing 3 arugula seeds in them too, since growing arugula as a standard transplant didn’t work out for me. I just crave fresh greens so badly in the spring, and I’m too lazy to roll little custom soil blocks out of foam underlayment.
