Things that are still going strong

Wow, October 24th and so many things still to harvest in the garden.

Big tomatoes:  Several large tomatoes still on the plant, some ripening, some still green. No frost yet and probably not for another week at least, so will leave them on the plant for now.

Cherry tomatoes:  The plant I bought late-season and planted I think on July 22nd has done amazingly well.  Have harvested ~a dozen or so ripe ones so far, and there are tons of green ones as well as more ripening.  Will leave on plant until frost comes.  The Tiny Tim plant has been long dormant.

Chard:  Tons of huge leaves.  Haven't been doing much with them lately, all cooked out I guess, plus my basement freezer is already almost full.  Really should get back to eating all this healthy free food.

Celery:  Still quite a bit of celery left too.

Peas:  See other post.

Carrots:  Still a few sizable ones left, and quite a few immature ones that who knows, might get a chance to grow to good size yet.

Green onions:  The ones in the onion bed had a resurgence starting a few weeks ago, very handy.

Potatoes:  One little patch left that I haven't dug up yet, although with the pathetic harvest from what I've dug so far, not holding out hope that there's much in there.

Tomatoes are in!

Planted the big tomato yesterday; planted the little tomato today.

A spare of each is still kicking around for a little while, just in case... then will go to my dad's.

Outdoor updates

Beets:  Of first two sowings, only 1 sprouted!!!  Sowed 2 more rows.

Carrots:  sowed more, all the way to the lettuce.  Carrot bed now full, other than some un-sprouted gaps to fill in.

Spinach:  FLOP!  Not one of the seeds sprouted.  Oh well.

Celery, bok choy, and rest of swiss chard:  Transplanted after about a week of living outside full time.

Bok choy seeds:  Just for fun, tossed some seeds in the defunct spinach bed.  Curious how outdoor-sown will compare to indoor-sown.

Lettuce:  Coming along.  Still way too tiny to harvest any yet.

Petunias from round one:  Living outside full time.  Will transplant soon.

Onions:  The ones I started from seed are coming along, some more quickly than others.  The multiplying onion bulbs though -- wow!  Love them!  Wayyyy more productive than "normal" onions that only send up one green thing.

Tomatoes -- big:  Living outside full time.  Will transplant 1 soon and keep the other as backup/give-away.

Tomatoes -- small:  Started hardening off today.

Peas:  Transplanted the rest of the indoor starts.  And, put plastic crow to guard the outdoor starts of which there are some new ones to the scene.  Crow seems to be working -- nothing nibbling on them since I put it out!  Knock on wood but it looks like I may get some actual peas this spring!

Cabbage / Brussels sprouts / kale / chard (which were transplanted several weeks ago):  Looking ok, haven't lost any, although not thriving, maybe due to the very cloudy and cool weather we've had.  The best one is the cabbage in the tiny "bed" near the patio door -- it looks great.



Grass:  Seeded half of the bare areas 1 or 2 weeks ago.  Seeded the more south spots today.

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.

Tomatoes: repotted, and, flowers already

The big tomatoes looked desperate to be repotted, so I did that today, and figured may as well repot the tinies too.  Oh, and yes, no doubt now about which is which!  Also noticed that the tinies were both starting to flower, which Google tells me is way too early and that I should cut off the flower stems to encourage more leaf growth, so I did that.

Before repotting:



After repotting:

Seedling update

I think the accidentally unlabelled tomatoes have made it clear which two are the Tiny Tims and which two are the beefsteak!



Very happy with some of the older Brussels, kale, chard, and onions -- they look great.



Generally, the other things are coming along too:



However, the cabbages aren't looking too great in general.  Seems some are just failing to thrive... but maybe they will rally.  Worse comes to worse, off to the garden store I will go for some good healthy transplants.  Loved harvesting the cabbage last year, hope to do it again this year one way or the other!

March 18th sowing update: Slow peppers and celery

All of the tomatoes and swiss chard germinated several days ago, no problem.

However, the peppers and celery are nowhere to be seen.  Might be too cool for the peppers?  A factor may be that for this sowing, I had placed the dome on a higher shelf which doesn't get much sun to assist in heating up the mini greenhouse.

Will sow some more peppers and celery today, with the dome on a lower, sunnier shelf.  If they don't work, I'll buy plants this year, and next year consider picking up a seed heating mat.

Oh!  And somewhere along the lines I took the tag out of my tomatoes, so now I don't know which is the Tiny Tim and which is the Beefsteak!  D'oh!  I'm hoping it's as easy as the shorter ones being the Tiny Tim, but don't know for sure.

March 18th sowing: Celery, tomatoes big and small, peppers, and round 2 of swiss chard

Things are hopping in the garden room these days!

Today, sowed the following:

• Peppers (sweet):  5 pots, 2 seeds each
• Celery:  3 pots, sprinkling of seeds since they're so tiny, hard to handle -- will thin later
• Tomato - Tiny Tim:  1 small pot, 3 seeds (will transplant to bigger pot later so can plant it deeper at same time)
• Tomato - big:  ditto

And, planted round 2 of swiss chard (3 joined-pots, 1 or 2 seeds each (can't remember)).

Before putting the new sowings under a dome: