March is ideal to get going on begonia tubers
Dear Helen: When should begonia tubers be started into growth? Is it too early?
S.B. I’d do it as soon as possible. My time preference for starting up newly purchased or stored tubers is early March.
I store my tubers in a deep plant tray or newspaper-lined shallow box, nestled in and lightly covered by vermiculite. In March, I simply bring the box or tray into moderate warmth in the house, spray-mist the surface, and wait for tiny pink nubs of growth to appear. Once those nubs develop into a set of leaves, I pot the tubers in planting mix, barely covering the tuber tops with the mix, and place the containers in cool room temperatures and bright light short of direct, hot sun.
Transfer the plants to the garden or outdoor containers in the warmth of late spring. Dear Helen: As I check my seeded flats for germination each morning, I’ve been surprised at how fast some seeds have sprouted. Does rapid germination also indicate fast growth and early harvesting?P.S.
In my experience, yes. The first tomato varieties to germinate, for example, are usually the first to yield ripe tomatoes in the garden.
Some seeds, especially among the greens, germinate quickly. Caraflex, a popular pointed cabbage, germinated for me this year in four days.
Seed packets and catalogue listings usually note the number of days from planting to maturity.
These are not precise predictions, because growing conditions can vary considerably, but they give comparative values that are useful when seeking varieties that will mature at a desired extra early time or later in the season.
For vegetables that are commonly transplanted (tomatoes, peppers) the days to maturity are counted form the time of transplanting.
For vegetables seeded directly into the garden, such as carrots and beets, the number of days given are counted from the time of seeding.
Dear Helen: Our Honey Crisp apple produces fruit only every other year. Is there a remedy for this?
O.A. Some apple varieties tend to be biennial bearers of fruit; that is, they will carry a large crop one year and hardly any or no apples the next. For a satisfactory crop each year, the remedy is to thin the fruit. Do this after the “June drop,” when the tree sheds excess fruit naturally.
If, after the June drop, the tree still carries a heavy load of fruit, thin by first removing any deformed or otherwise suspect fruit. Where there are several fruit clusters along a branch, thin to leave just one fruit to a cluster. If a branch carries just one fruit cluster, thin to leave two apples in that cluster.