OT - My Garden and a History paper
Ok so my first question is for the gardeners out there. This is my first time growing veggies and about 2 weeks ago I bought some plants that had already started growing and put them into bigger pots of my own. Unfortunately the ground hog lied to all of us and last week here in Georgia we had freeze warning twice so I brought them inside. Well the weather has gotten warm again so I think everything will be ok. I bought the already started plants but they didnt have yellow or green squash so I bought some seeds and planted them in a little pots ( i plan to put them into bigger ones) Anyways I was just wondering how long it should take before I see some growth on the ones I planted from seeds myself? I really want the squash and zuchinin so I need to know if i should keep waiting for these or if I should plant some new ones. Im not sure if maybe they got damaged from the freeze. Also should I use some kind of plant food miracle grow type stuff on them?
Ok now another subject entirely. As part of my history final I had to pick a subject from a huge long list my teacher gave us and write a 5 page paper on it. I picked Pearl Harbor. I am a history major and love any kind of war history. I am not a great writer and was just wondering if there were any English teachers that would be willing to look over my paper and edit it for grammatical mistakes.
Amber, good for you for starting a garden!! It's def a learning process and you learn more every year. You are in a much different growing zone than I (I have 3.5 feet of snow on my 20 raised beds still!), but if your starts did not freeze and drop leaves you may have rescued them in time. You want to harden them off before you put them in the ground though. There are some good on-line sites that tell you how to do that (http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/vege003/vege003.htm but basically, you put the started plants outdoors and let them gradually get used to being out. Bring them in again for the night; next day leave them a bit longer (out of full sun and wind). Do that a few days and then you can plant in your prepared ground. I imagine you have garden experts who write columns in your paper, that is a good place to learn for growing in your zone.
As for seeds that you want to start yourself, the seed packets should tell you how long it takes for them to germinate & transplant. Here is a good site for growing squash: http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-grow-butternut-squash-from-seed.html
My favorite site has a small annual fee but I like using it for planning my garden during our 8-month winter: http://www.growveg.com/Default.aspx
Good luck!!
I'm the gardener. NOT the English major. Different plants need different climates and amount of sun to germinate. You can start them indoors but they will be stronger if you directly sow them outside after the danger of frost. You can make little tents or convert milk containers into covers to use for cold nights. It is loads of fun to grow your own veggies but it can be a struggle for the first year or two. You should check out Master Gardeners classes or find a Master Gardener in your community and they will probably share with you. They are always very generous and enthusiastic about growing plants and will give you good advice for your region.
