Where are my Illinois Gardeners at?

[WindyCityMom]

Or anyone also in the same zone with similar temps

When are you planning on planting in the ground, and what plants are you planning on planting?

I got too.. um.. anxious with starting seeds and now *really* need to transpant sunflowers and cucumbers. I knew that I should have gotten small pots and just started the seeds in there... they're running out of room to grow. I also have some herbs (Basil!! Oregano!!) that really need to be moved.

My sunflowers aren't very strong, I have them propped up, though they're getting leaves now and seem to be getting stronger. I need to move them because their roots have nowhere else to go.

When are you planting? I know that many people plant on May 15th, and according to a few blogs I follow some gardeners in the area have already done so. I'm hoping for a raised bed and am going to get some organic garden soil and just put that in.

I have the following seeds already started:
Sunflowers
Cucumbers
Oregano
Tomatoes
Basil
Cilantro (not yet sprouted)
a salad variety
bell peppers (not yet sprouted)
Summer squash, which I know I'm not supposed to start indoors but I still have seeds left in case these get messed up. Only 1 of them has started sprouting and it started yesterday.

I also have to plant carrots and beans- when can I sow those seeds?

Sorry for the huge lump of questions. Can someone keep me sane while I'm waiting to plant?

[pbjmama]

I've got 2 tomatoes, 2 jalapenos and a basil in. Was planning to do more but then this crazy weekend weather hit. I covered everything and it seems fine. Inside I have 2 tomatoes and a cilantro ready. I've never had luck with the cilantro, it always gets woody but maybe this is my lucky year? Not sure what else I will do...probably hit the farmers market for so small plants this weekend if the weather looks like it will turn.

[WindyCityMom]

Thanks. I think it's supposed to warm up a little by next weekend but who knows! How big are your plants? Did you sow them directly or transplant them? I think cucumbers need warmer soil than tomatoes do (or so I've heard) and they're really the only ones ready to transplant. I'd much rather just plop them in the ground than transplant to bigger pots... but I might have to!

[SamiPolizzi]

So far I've planted carrots, peas, and potatoes in my raised beds. I'm planning on planting a lot more, but I need to get the rest of my beds built first.

Carrots like cool weather, so you can plant them now if you want to.

[kittywitty]

Well, I'm in IL but in a totally different climate zone. I'm assuming you mean Chicago area.

I planted my sunflowers outside a few weeks ago, so yours should be ok outside now if you've hardened them off or start them by seed outside. Cucumbers, basil, and peppers I'd wait on. The tomatoes I have that self-seeded outside are vigorously growing, but otherwise I'm still waiting to put the hot weather things out. We did plant our beans (doing really well despite cold week), melons, and corn, so I'd say next week you all should be fine.

If your sunflowers are weak, maybe put a fan on them to encourage stem strength or pet them frequently?

[WindyCityMom]

Thanks! I'm probably going to put the carrot seeds in asap.

I was going to give up on the sunflowers but they're getting alot stronger! (Maybe my 2yos singing encouraged them ) I think I'm going to plant those outside after hardening them off and also plant some seeds with them directly as well.

We're pretty busy this weekend with a garage sale, so hopefully by next week everything will be in.

And my peppers and cilantro started sprouting today

[SamiPolizzi]

Ugh. What's with this weather? I really want to get out and work on the garden, but it's so cold and gray out there!

[Owen'nZoe]

I'm not an Illinois gardener, but I'm only about 40 minutes north of Rockford, so similar climate. I was tempted to start planting my warm weather crops out last weekend - but then this week hit, and it's feeling too early again.

Right now, I have in:
Lettuce
Spinach
Garlic
Parsley
Snap Peas
Broccoli
Turnips
Radishes
Beets
Stem Lettuce
Parsnips
Fava Beans
Potatoes
Onions

In the house, I have started:
Tomatoes
Sage
Sunflowers
Watermelon
Cardoon
Snap beans
Cucumbers

I usually don't start anything indoors, as I'm horrid at hardening things off, but we'll see how it goes...

[WindyCityMom]

It's May 15th!!

and I think it's going to be nice this week.. and hopefully stay that way

[cschick]

Originally Posted by WindyCityMom

It's May 15th!!

and I think it's going to be nice this week.. and hopefully stay that way

Yeah, I'm out in the northwest suburbs and I'm probably putting my tomatoes out today. They're just getting too leggy and big for their pots.

Unfortunately, none of my cool weather crops have grown this year. Normally, I'd already be headed toward a nice crop of greens and radish, and I've got nothing. Nothing has even sprouted. I'm considering heading out to pick up another package of radish, because I'm all out of seed.

[WindyCityMom]

Funny.. my greens (well, lettuce or whatever, ) sprouted a ton outside (I could make a dollhouse family a salad dinner!) in a random 5gal bucket but only sprouted a teeny bit (small sprouts) indoors. I still have more seeds and that was pretty much an experiment to see if it would grow Anyways- thought it was strange that they only sprouted outdoors in a random bucket full of weeds.

With that said.. we had a garage sale today, so I'm hopefully going to be building our raised bed on monday and transplanting my stuff as soon as it's hardened off.

[wetcement101]

I'm so jealous! My garden was so unsuccessful last year I'm scaling back to herbs & tomatoes in containers. But the &$^%# strawberry plant that produced ONE single berry last summer never died over the Chicago winter. So I have big, big hopes

[SamiPolizzi]

On Friday my friend (who is gardening with me because she doesn't have a yard) came over to help me build the rest of our beds and trellises for two of them. Then yesterday I planted tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and spaghetti squash.

[WindyCityMom]

Yay! KMP on how it goes. Did you start from seed or did you buy plants? If you started from seed, how did hardening them off go?

[cschick]

Originally Posted by WindyCityMom

Funny.. my greens (well, lettuce or whatever, ) sprouted a ton outside (I could make a dollhouse family a salad dinner!) in a random 5gal bucket but only sprouted a teeny bit (small sprouts) indoors. I still have more seeds and that was pretty much an experiment to see if it would grow Anyways- thought it was strange that they only sprouted outdoors in a random bucket full of weeds.

With that said.. we had a garage sale today, so I'm hopefully going to be building our raised bed on monday and transplanting my stuff as soon as it's hardened off.

I've never successfully sprouted greens inside. (I tend to grow a loose green leaf lettuce, spinach, some loose red leaf varieties). I think that places in my house where there's enough sun to grow plants, heat up too much in the middle of the day. My south-facing rooms get quite warm in the middle of the day even in the early spring.

Of course, now that I've given up, I think that my spinach outdoors suddenly sprouted this past weekend (I planted the seeds over a month ago). I tossed out some more green leaf lettuce last weekend and it seems to have finally spouted. Carrots and radishes are still missing in action.

I planted my vine plants (pumpkins, cantaloupe) behind the greens area this weekend, to give the greens a couple of more weeks to sprout and mature. It can stay cool enough around here until the second or third week of June to prevent the greens from bolting.

Other things I planted this weekend: peas (I plant them later, but in the shade), beans, my tomatoes, 3 hot pepper plants and 1 sweet pepper plant, broccoli (which, for the record, I've never actually succeeded at growing).

What I didn't plant: zucchini and yellow summer squash. Based on the weather forecast the seeds wouldn't sprout yet unless I greenhoused them under a glass jar or something. Also, the sweet pepper seeds I planted indoors the first week of April finally sprouted last week, so I'm waiting to see what they do.

[SamiPolizzi]

I bought plants. This is my first year having a real garden and I did my seed starting research a little too late. Next year!

[lucifugous]

Hi! Far northsider & total gardening noob here. I am thrilled to be growing some things but have also been limited by the cost of organic potting mix. I just started a raspberry cane in a five gallon bucket self-watering container and have another raspberry and a gooseberry that my friend gifted me (the kind from home depot) that I have to get planted. I have four tomato seedlings in pots- two getting big and two pretty wimpy for now. And a couple weeks ago I seeded a bunch of greens (spinach, arugula, & mesclun mix) and radishes in a shallow container- one of those under-they-bed storage types. It might have gotten too much water for the radishes to really develop, but I am excited nonetheless to have homegrown salads soon! I also was going to start snap peas from seed, but was waiting on the owner, and a couple young maples are starting to totally shade the small area where planting would have been viable....

[WindyCityMom]

Awesome Well, you could plant some flowers that like shade in the patch that you could've put veggies. If you have kids, you could create a special spot for them to pick flowers It wouldn't be a total waste of space

SO.. here's where I'm at.

I have raddishes and green onions in a big rubbermaid container.
I've got beans in 5gal buckets.
I have a strawberry plant in a rubbermaid containter.

I *had* cilantro and oregano seedlings in pots until my husband's grandfather put the sprinkler on today and wiped them out Luckly I had some extra cilantro seeds and I stuck them in the corner of the strawberry container (it's huge!). My basil held up rather well though!

I've got cucumber and squash plants also. I had to buy the actual plants from our local garden store because my husband accidentally killed them I have a few tomato seedlings living but not growing- not sure why or why not so we might just end up buying a plant. Oh, & my bell pepper seedlings are thriving but I bought a grown plant just in case!

My husband's grandpa is growing jalapenos and tomatoes of his own. I seriously have to start attemting to get up earlier than him to make sure he doesn't kill everything... like the sprinkler incident today. Our backyard isn't big by any means and that was a crazy sprinkler he had on! It soaked everything. Ok, rant over

Chicagoland, we're hitting the 80s this week!

[lucifugous]

wow, was it hot today!!
I put a couple basil seeds in a small container, threw the gooseberry in what was left of the xl bag of potting mix, and mulched a few things!

[sewingmommy]

northwestsider here...we have potatoes ...herbs that my hubby kept alive during the winter ...garlic, shallots, green onions, and this weekend we are putting in the tomatoes