The tray of zinnias that has been going outside during the day and coming inside at night had been looking good (definitely behind the indoor zinnias but that's to be expected). But then, over the past week or so, they've been dying! When I pluck them out, they have almost zero roots. I wonder if it's something with my mix -- maybe too much or too little lime or something like that?
Looks like a few shorts will survive -- hopefully....
Yikes, tons of small flying insects!! I had noticed one a week or two ago, didn't think anything of it. Came back from camping and now there are so many!
So, moved all three indoor stevia outside permanently.
I wonder if they came in on the stevia that I bought -- that's my theory. (Two of the indoors stevia were mine, one was from the store.)
The plants look happy, but no way in heck do I want to risk insects for the winter, so putting a stop to this now.
Wow, this is the absolute worst beet germination situation I've ever had, like, ever, I'm pretty sure. There were MAYBE 3 or 4 max that germinated. No idea why. I had covered them with a light mix of vermiculate and soil, and watered frequently.
So, today I started round 2. I did them a couple of different ways.
Both ways I started by soaking the seeds overnight.
Then, one batch I put directly into the garden, sprinkled around rather than measured/spaced out, and placed a piece of floating row cover over top.
The other batch, I sowed inside, in my homemade potting mix, using the tray that has .... 36? little compartments (that I use for lettuce for example_). These I'll wait until they pop up and have grown a wee bit, then will transplant them the typical way. I put 2 seeds per compartment.
Alas, my 100% failure record at growing an actual onion remains. Figured it was worth a try at the allotment as I think it gets more sun than my yard. But the onion sets hardly doubled in size, despite the tops being mostly all gone now. So, plucked some of them, left a few more for now.
The potted zucchini in the big terra-cotta-coloured container by the a/c, which had been doing really well and producing nicely, slowed down in recent days (as have all the other zukes -- I'm guessing it's generally because I have't done a mid-season amendment) -- and a few days ago I noticed it was all floppy. At first I was sure it would be due to a SVB making it in under the tulle because I hadn't secured it all that well -- there were definitely gaps. But -- in looking at the plant more closely, suddenly the main growing part broke right off. I dissected it and didn't see any trace of SVB. I think the stem broke either from me / people damaging it, or potentially from the weight of hanging down from the container.
So, removed the whole plant and will use it for the leftover bush beans -- 4 left over still in the little seedling pots from several weeks ago.
What the heck, I have the worst success rate with getting beans started!! ~30% of the July 23rd bush bean sowings have popped up. What happened to the rest of them? Your guess is as good as mine. They were covered with a layer of tulle for protection...
So, today started yet more bush beans (both kinds: brown-speckled and white) -- however, these I started INSIDE in the 9-trays, in pure ProMix (didn't bother doing my home-made mix for this small amount). Soaked them in water for just a few hours before putting into the ProMix.
Pulled them all, though in retrospect should have left some go to seed for the flowers and to see what the pods are like.
Yeah, that one last plant was definitely getting nibbled at by something and was totally failing to thrive. So, pulled it and instead sowed a bunch of buckwheat, straight from the jar, then covered lightly in soil and then with a plastic sheet.
Next year for a fall broccoli, start then in containers (with a way to also cover with floating row cover, or tulle since at that point would be small / not touching the tulle), then transplant to ground once nice and sturdy.
