Segment 4 of S5E4 Garden questions answered from mid March - The Gardening with Joey and Holly radio show

The gardening with Joey and Holly Radio Show heard weekly March - Oct

Email your questions to [email protected] Or call 24/7 leave your
question at 1-800 927-SHOW
https://thewisconsinvegetablegardener.com/

In segment four Joey and Holly answer gardeners questions

Q: Planting shallots I missed planting them in fall. Can you still plant them in Spring? I'm in zone 5 with the last frost date of May 7. When should I plant them? What variety yields good and thrives here? I see recommendations to start in mid-March but i am not sure because the ground may be still frozen and we get snow until the first week of May. I missed planting them in fall. Can you still plant them in Spring?
A: I do not have a specific variety but you can plant them as soon as the ground can be worked they are very hardy and can stand cold
Q: When a plant or seed requires a certain temperature to grow or germinate, is that an average soil temperature or minimum low temperature required?

A: A minimum low temperature for example peas germinate between 40 and 70ﾟF If you plant below the minimum soil temperature then the plant can die because it's too cold or the seeds can potentially rot in the ground and not germinate

Q: Hello Holly and Joey
Where I live there is heavy clay soil and the topsoil was scraped off and sold when the house was built. In-ground gardens have not done very well for vegetables. This spring I am building raised beds out of wood and galvanized corrugated metal. They will be 4 feet wide by 12 feet long and at least 18 inches high. I am looking into the wood sealer advertised on your program for the wood as well. Since the beds will be tall I’d like to use the hugelkultur method to fill the bottom and should be able to find free tree parts and wood chips for that. The top 12 inches of soil I will buy in bulk from a garden supply in my town (Janesville, WI). One offers a veggie and flower mix of top soil, mushroom compost, rice hulls, and peat moss for $60 per cubic yard (in stock) as well as plain mushroom compost (out of stock) and screened topsoil in the mid $40s for prices for the latter two. The premier local garden center recommends mushroom compost for raised beds at $50 per cubic yard and keeps it in stock regularly. What product do you recommend? Should I get mushroom compost and add my own amendments? I am willing to add my own organic fertilizer, although I would think that pure compost should be rich enough for the first year. I want a general veggie garden, but probably will have to plant cool season crops in the fall by the time I finish the beds and fill them. Also, should the soil be full depth for any certain plants? Feel free to edit the length or content of this to make it a question for the program.

Also, I bought a lot of seeds and am planning to buy a few different starts of things that seem tough to grow, like peppers. If I don’t have enough room in my raised beds and decide to start a few straw bales for extra space, are there plants that especially do well in them that would save space in the raised beds?

My desired vegetables are

Pole and bush beans
Radishes
Carrots
Head and leaf lettuce
Beets
Cherry and slicer tomatoes, indeterminates
Zucchinis
Various basil, other herbs
Hot and sweet peppers (I think these might like the straw bales)
Pod and shelling peas
Ground cherries
Sugar baby watermelon

Maybe

Onions
Potatoes

Thank you very much, please let me know if there are any more details I can clarify.
A: Thank you for your question and thank you for listening!
The mushroom compost will be the best for your beds and there will be no need to amend - you can add a little organic fertilizer if you want, but not necessary. 10 inches is the minimum depth you would need. Our raised beds are 10 inches deep and we do just fine.

Watermelon, tomatoes, and peppers will do really well in the raised beds. You can grow the (continued)