I started some 'starts' for fall planting

spinach should do fine from now till when it freezes for more than 24 hrs straight same for lettuces. for me it is not a great idea to plant with out row covers after oct because every thing will go dormant or freeze solid, nothing grows well in snow and ice with out allot of help. I do have one raised bed with a way to cover it for winter. Don't think I am going to do any thing this winter though need to top dress my beds for spring planting.

yeah definitely gets too wet up there by october time. I can recall many halloweens where we are still in shorts and sweatshirts, so i'm hoping this fall will be like that with cooler nights but still around 70's in the day. i think lettuce/spinach might work during that time. I just hate going back to buying lettuce in the stores and having to eat it all in a few days or it gets all wilted or slimed. My homegrown lettuce has lasted up to 4 wks in the fridge.

yes fresh does last so much longer had it this year because I did the cover the lettuce thing threw winter so it would survive. I was getting fresh lettuce up till late june here then it bolted.

I too planted romaine and spinach seeds a few weeks ago. They are doing great so far!

Glad to hear others enjoying the second season already. I started broccoli, beets, carrots, and butter crunch lettuce. I'll start my spinach this weekend since the weather has been at a consistent mid to high 70.

Im going to put gutters inside my greenhouse for lettuce or spinach,stephanie or tammy what do you suggest

Tomato

Ok heres a question some body must know,,i have a great amount of blossoms on 4 of my tomato plants ,the blossoms dry up and dont produce a tomato because its still to dam hot in my greenhouse,over 100 degrees ,should i pinch off the blossom when it blooms to make my plant stronger or just leave it alone and let it dry up,,ty

I'm sorry John - I don't know the answer to either question. I've never used gutters for planting before, and I had such bad luck with tomatos this year. I also had blossoms that would just dry up and never turn into fruit, but I assumed it had to do with pollination, rather than heat.

My guess is that if you see thats it's starting to dry up go ahead and pinch it that way you're giving the plant more strength to
use elsewhere .... I'm far from a professional though, just my thought.

Ok thanks a bunch,i will do the pinch thing,lol. I think it will make the plant stonger,until it bares fruit,,i hope,,did you happen to see the pics i posted,,

I have fans for pollination, didnt really think it was that until you mentioned it,,geez now i dont know,lol,lol,im going to fertilize these plants,,have you seen my pics i posted,,im not sure they posted,,human error,lol

sorry no help here, never planted in gutters but have seen pictures of it being done. I do know spinach does very well in cool climate conditions.

John, when the temp reaches above the 90 degree mark, the blossoms will drop off, also the same if temps fall down in the 50's. If you can control the temps in your greenhouse in the 70's or low 80's you will be ok. At 70's-low 80's the vine will produce blooms again. your idea of using gutters (with drain holes) sounds like a great idea. they would be deep enough for lettuce and spinach. In the winter I grow lettuce, radishes, carrots in cold frames. I have 5 cold frames that I use for this. They are about 16" deep so I just put in about 6-8 inches of compost, horse manure and rotted sawdust/sand, Also cabbage is a good fall crop, even into early winter. A couple light frost's makes cabbage, broccoli, and Kale somewhat sweeter. Kale can even go through the whole winter. I have sown peas in october, and with a row cover, I had really early spring peas when most people were just started sowing spring peas!

Errol thanks for the info,sounds like you got it going on,im new at all of this,,but im not buying store tomatos for that price anymore,,lol have a great day...im going to buy shade cloth and put it on the roof of greenhouse,,did you see my pics by chance,

I read that if you wet down the greenhouse floor, it will help cool it down. I also have two floor fans running in opposite directions to increase air flow.

John, no I did not get a chance to see your pictures, I do want to see...You are lucky, as I don't have a greenhouse, but I do the next best thing with row covers, cold frames and I "winter sow" in gallon plastic water/milk jugs and 2 litter pop bottles. If anyone has never wintersown,in plastic containers you should look into it...wintersown.org
good gardening

Hi roni,,thanks for the info,,ive got fans in there and the floor gets wet when i water in the morning,,but you know its still was 100 degrees in there yesterday at 4.30 pm,,im going after shade cloth to put on the roof,,