A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Another Newbie! HELP!!

Here are some potassium sources:

Granite powder, Greensand, Langbeinite (Sul-Po-Mag), Kelp meal, and Wood ashes.

Not sure about the potash burning your potato roots. The granite powder and greensand are slow release while the potassium in kelp is in a relatively available form, but I doubt that it would burn. The Sul-Po-Mag is a source of quick release potassium, and some of the nutrients of wood ashes are soluble enough to burn plants. I use greensand myself, and always till it in before planting. 1 application of greensand (and probably the granite too) will last 5 years.

thanks terry! gonna find me some greensand!

Be careful with too much woodash...a little is great, too much makes soil alkaline, and raises salt level.

thanks pepper, i'll watch that.

Speaking of radishes, what am I doing wrong?
All I ever get are red, spicy-tasting strings.
Why won't my radishes make globes?

I'm wondering how compacted your soil is. Also my radishes usually grow down before they begin to fill out could you be picking too soon? Also there are some white radishes that do have more of a carrot shape than round but they are pure white.

My soil here is hard, lots of clay.

I can't till as deep as I would like. So this year I planted my carrots in a big pot, now I don't have to worry about the soil getting hard on them.

Waterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr is one, they need consistant water,
not soggy, just moist!!!!!!

And they grow best when it's cooler temps outside...
*spring and Fall*

And age, the longer they grow, the spicier and tougher they get...

I just had a thought...are you thinning your radishes? They need a little space or they won't develop.

Thanks, Weezie and Dave. Could it be that I planted them too shallowly? Was scared to plant too deeply, and so I'll bet I planted the seeds not deep enough !
I never got to the thinning stage. When they were supposed to be ready to harvest, there, every single time, were the red strings. Nothing formed a globe.
I planted them far apart so that I wouldn't have to thin. Thinning would upset me ! Can't bear to kill anything.
By the way, these were planted in a deep, wide container. I'm a container-only gardener. No yard-just the open spaces of the condominium complex, where planting is not allowed.

No, you can't plant radishes too shallow (don't quote me! )
I'm thinking the recommendation is just to cover the seed...
It could be that your soil isn't rich enough? What all is in your mix?

A good rule of thumb is for planting seeds
is 2 times what the seed size is...

Like a piece of corn, might be to the first joint of your first finger, and some may only get a fine, fine, fine dusting of seed starting soil, or nothing...

I let my radishes go to seed the year before last, and got babies from those flowers/seed pods,
and I obviously didn't even plant them, they just landed on top.. *although they did have a covering of all the radish stems/stalks/flowers over the whole winter...*

I'd be with Dave on that same question,
what was your dirt/soil like???

What was your watering like, they like it moist,
NOT soggy, but moist..

I planted radish seeds today, I think I may have planted them (and my carrots) too deep. like a couple of inches. What should I look for or do?

You planted both carrots and radish's over an inch deep????

Well, it would be up to you.. wait a bit and watch..radish's sprout in days, very quickly...
Carrots, a little bit more...but, if after say 2 weeks, and nothing, replant, scatter seeds on top of soil
and gently shake a hand full of compost or seedstarting mix over the top of the seeds, and I mean a light covering...
You could take a piece of flat wood, and press ever so lightly or pat down, just so seeds have good contact with the soil.
And give the dirt/soil a very light showering of water, so it moistens, but not washes away...

and keep moist...seeds won't sprout when they are toooo dry...

Radish seeds are a little bit bigger than a carrot seed, so they may be planted like to the bottom part of your finger nail....

When I plant carrots, since the seed is so fine, I end up having to always thin them out. I make a humped up dirt row, then take my hoe handle and drag it lightly along the top middle part of the row,sprinkle my seeds along that drag line when that is done, I take my hands and gentle push a little dirt into this slight indention I made, pat it down and water good. growing carrots in a container is a good way, esp if you have hard or rocky soil. I have light and fluffy soil with some small rocks, but have no problems with those few small rocks. I grow the Danvers half long, and over half of them get almost as big as full sized would. Radish is one thing I have never been able to get to grow right either, so gave up years ago. Maybe I'll try again, I have some fresh seed.

Remember, watering is the key, moist but not soggy..
and harvest early...

*My idea of harvesting early is by eatin' them out of the garden while I'm in the garden everday...* hehehehe

I have sandy soil, and radishes do well. I plant them early (should have done that already!) They like cool weather.
Lettuce likes to be sown on the soil surface, or barely dusted with soil...lettuce and some others need some light to reach the seed to germinate. These are just things you learn as you go...

We just had a monsoon! Poured all night, may have washed all the dirt off my seeds even though they were 2 ' deep! may have veggies spread all over the place.

Thanks, all, for your posts about radishes.
The soil is bagged good quality potting soil, called E.B. Stone. So it can't be impacted.
I wait a whole month, cross my fingers, and pull. Sure enough, no globes, just strings.
I water well, and never overwater anything.
I'll try one more time, and after that, hello grocery store radishes forever !

With fine seed like radish and carrot, i get a container, like a glass jar with a lid and drill a 1/2" hole in the top and put very fine very dry sand in it. Tip the packet of seed into the sand. Shake. Make a furrow or drill along the bed and pour into the seed drill. You get pretty reasonable spacing this way. I always cover any seed with dry, seived worm castings. It holds moisture really well and gives the seed a little feed once it sprouts and starts to grow.

You can also buy these small seeds on a tape and just lay the tape on the soil, cover lightly and press down. Perfect spacing every time.

A tip to stop small seed drying out is to cover them with a piece of board, shadecloth, even an old bedsheet for a larger planting. This will prevent the soil from drying out and stop heavy rain or watering from disturbing the small seeds. Check underneath each day and once the first few seeds have sprouted, either remove the cover all together or, in the case of extremely hot weather, lift it and place a brick under each end of the board to allow some light underneath. Gradually move it off altogether.

I got tater sprouts today! Thought I had set them too deep also, still may have, but I've got 4 sprouters... Oh Yea..

make sure the actual taters stay coverd if they turn green they are poisonous. They like to try and grow out of the ground.

Good luck with the taters.

Or for the fine seeds a spray bottle of water...
And mist it good, depending on where you have it,
if it's full sun, a couple times of day..
but that does cut down on the dirt/seed displacement...

I do the worm castings too..
*when my son brings them to me...
he's an awesome finder of those casting..*

But mostly I sprinkle the sifted compost
or the seed starting mix soil..

Gotcha, should I allow them to 4-5" before covering with dirt?

should I allow them to 4-5" before covering with dirt?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A bit taller is OK. Say 10". Hill the soil up around the stem, just enough to leave the top of the shoots exposed. If you don't have enough soil, you can use straw and compost, well rotted manures or mulches. You should bury the growth about 3 times thru the growing season.