Killed almost all short yellow zinnias due to not watering enough!!!

OOPS

Lesson learned:  Don't put other plants on the same shelf as the drought-loving basils, unless those other plants are in front and not tucked behind out of sight.

There's only one short zinnia that's alive, and it looks very puny with not much root system, but we shall see.

Up-potted tomatoes -- wimpy root systems! Dills also looking similarly lanky and somewhat floppy

With the tomatoes' lanky upper growth and wimpy root systems, my best guess is too much nitrogen and enough of whatever the thing that roots want.  Anyway, repotted them today nice and deep, so hopefully the stems will grow lot of roots.

I think the similar thing is happening with the dills... hopefully they'll be ok though.

Lesson learned: Start/grow all kale and chard inside -- WS not needed

The WS ones are wayyyyyyyyyy smaller than the indoor-raised ones, and all were started in PT the same day.  As long as I don't start the seeds too early, the kale can spend days outside on warmer days and come in at night.

And start kale and chard earlier -- curious to see if the Vates kale can tolerate the warm indoors.

Next year: Don't prune basil's main stem too early

This year (several weeks ago), I pruned the main stem of most basils at the first junction.  I don't like how this resulted.  Next year, start basil a smidge later to avoid running out of height room too early, then can prune after there are at least two junctions.

Next year, start zinnias earlier

Only just now starting to see a flower bud starting to form on the most developed zinnias.  Sowed on April 22nd.  Next year, try sowing ~3 weeks earlier, around April 1st.

Chard and kale vs. Choi vs. baby choi

Ding ding ding!  There is a clear winner to this match-up, this year anyway.

Baby bok choi went to seed a few weeks ago after hardly any harvesting.

The other choi (which I could swear the package said was also a baby version but is pretty normal-looking in size) has not yet gone to seed, but the vast majority of the leaves are full of holes (slugs I believe).

And then, there's the chard!  The glorious, bountiful chard!  And the kale, too!  Wow.  Both are going strong with no sign of bolting yet, and the slugs have hardly touched them at all!

Lesson learned:  Probably won't try baby bok choi again.  Will probably grow regular bok choi again just for some variety, but will definitely grow swiss chard and kale again.

Please oh please, may I have som peas?

Man, these peas are sooooo troublesome!

Since my last pea update:

- The original outdoor planted seeds, the few that are still around, are so short and scrawny.  It's like they're the "tiny tim" of the pea world.  They just seem stunted and not growing well at all. 

- The second round of outdoor planted seeds:  Not much sign from them yet.

- The first round of indoor planted seeds (planted in toilet paper tubes):  Only those first ~8 peas took and were all transplanted a few weeks ago.  ~6 of them are still going, much taller than the out-door sowed ones.

- I then sowed a second round in indoor seeds a week or two ago, this time in 3"x3" peat pots, two seeds in each pot, one of which then had a toilet paper tube poked around it (for protection against nibblers once they go outside).  Didn't put these under any plastic greenhouse or bag, in the hopes of avoiding the moldy white stuff that overtook most of the first indoor seeds.  Better germination rate from these for sure.  However, the moldy white stuff still eventually became a factor which I think prevented the late bloomers from blooming, so only about 2/3 success with this round.  I'm hoping the moldy stuff can be avoided next year by not using paper tubes at all.   Lesson learned:  Next time (such as for the fall crop!), start peas indoors again, but this time try just peat pots, no paper tubes and no plastic covering. 

- Today I transplanted most of the second round of indoor peas outside (by just setting the peat pot into the soil to avoid disturbing the roots)-- no hardening off as there's no time, they're getting too tall now for the lights and I'm hoping being frost-hardy and with minimal root disturbance they'll be ok with just being put out suddenly like this. 

- There are a few more of the second round of indoor peas, inside -- will give them another day or two to grow so that they hopefully won't succumb to whatever is tending to eat my outdoor-sown peas.

So, at this point, I am hopeful that I will get some peas yet!

Fingers crossed!

Indoor plants -- various updates

Woops -- haven't posted in a while!

Here are some updates.

- Petunias:  The original petunias sowed on February 18th finally went tall and leggy... started them about 3 weeks too early, I'd say.  The petunias that I started on April 8th are looking good, nowhere near flowering yet but I think the timing will be good for setting out late May.  Lesson learned:  Don't start petunias as early as February 18th!  I think mid-March would be the best time to start petunias.

- Tomatoes:  I've started hardening off the two big ones, if for no other reason than they're just too tall to put under lights anymore!  Lesson learned:  March 18th is a little too early to start big tomatoes!  The little tomatoes are looking good and fit in well under the lights, being the same size as the pepper plants; pinched off a few more flowers to encourage more busy growth.

- Peppers:  Looking great!  They continue to be safe and warm inside, with the only "hardening off" being the oscillating fan a few hours every day

- Bok choy, celery, and the rest of the chard:  Started hardening these off as well about a week ago, just because I needed more room under the lights for my peas.  See separate post about the peas.

- Tuberous begonias:  Wow!  The three that "took" have really taken off!  The foliage  look great.  The other three, one of them looks like it's trying to start having leaves -- I see those little pink nubbins, but they've been there a while with no more action yet.

- Cucumber:  Wow, I think 100% germination rate.  They're looking good. 

- Zucchini:  Hmmm, only 1 of the 3 pots germinated, although both seeds took.  So, I transplanted the smaller one into its own pot.  Started another set of seeds earlier this week but no sign of anything yet.