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.

Wow! Outdoor WS sproutlings still alive despite cold nights near -10!

Very neat -- the paper-towel-germinated kale and chards that I then put outdoor in WS jugs, which popped above ground a week or two ago, are somehow still alive despite staying outside overnight, uncovered, during several cold nights nearing minus 10.

Wow -- the March 12th seeds are all a-popping! Potted up, including WS some kales and chards

So yeah, for the WS-style, I potted up some of the kales and chards into the outdoor WS containers and taped them up.  I'll put them outside when it's not much colder than around zero, and will either bring them in or put them under a blanket when it's colder than zero.

WS-potted up sprouted chard and round 2 Waltham broccoli

So, for the Waltham broccoli, there is round 1 indoors which continues to all look horrible (while the indoor piracicaba still looks all great) -- and now this PT-sprouted-then-directly-potted-up-for-WS round 2.

When more of the chard sprouts I'll do up some for indoors.

WS-potted up sprouted kale: White Russian & Premier Forge

Now that they all sprouted in PT, transferred them all into various WS jugs.  Will keep them inside overnight when it goes down below zero (eg tonight and tomorrow night), but daytime temps this coming week are in the +3 to +14 range so should be good to be outside.

Also potted up 3 White Russian kales for inside, to see how they do inside since it's a new-to-me variety.

Transplanted hollyhocks, forget-me-nots, and poppies (Oriental and Flanders' Fields)

Hollyhocks:  x5, front bed against house wall.  They're quite small because there were raised mostly outside.  I'm sure if they had stayed inside under lights they'd be a lot further along.  But, they look healthy even though small.

Forget-me-nots:  x5 front bed, and x2 in yard next to compost bin.  Were definitely getting root-bound.  Hopefully will be happier to be in the ground.

Poppies:  Front-fence bed, mini patch of Oriental x ~8 or so, and one mini patch of Flanders' Fields x ~8 or so, and east-house-wall bed mini patch there too, can't remember which kind.  But it's really easy to tell because FF has deeply lobed leaves whereas Oriental's are pretty smooth-edged.  Winter sowing worked fairly well; they're ~2" high and look like they should do ok.  Trimmed the bleeding heart back a ton to open up the bed.

Kale update: Inter-grown ones doing poorly; separate-potted ones doing amazing, transplanted those today

All of the kales I transplanted into the west of the central bed a few weeks ago look pretty pathetic.  I think they'll make it (including the ones I wrote on April 23rd looked dead), but definitely looking wimpy and beat up.  These ones had been growing all interplanted among WS jugs so my theory is their roots took a kicking when being transplanted.

On the other hand, the WS kales that I moved into separate pots on April 4th (and have continued to grow outside WS-style) look fantastic still in their pots.  Transplanted them today into the east of the central bed.

Winter sowed sprouted ground cherry and tomato seeds

Really running out of room under the lights, so put some of today's newly germinated ground cherry and tomato seeds into proper WS containers (one seed per container).  Will bring them in when chilly but otherwise leave outside to see what happens.

WS'd germinated tomato, ground cherry, and hollyhock seeds

 As an experiment, after germinating in paper towels I moved 1 tomato (Rainbow Blend), 2 ground cherries, and 1 hollyhock seed into their own individual WS containers and put them outside for 24/7 except I will bring them in for really cold temps.

WS: All jugs have germinated except the lupins

 No sign of the lupins, but all other WS jugs have had germination now.  (with variable rates)

WS comparison: Indoor chard WAY more advanced even though sowed a week later

Huge difference so far between the WS chard March 7th, and the indoor-raised chard March 13th.  The WS chard started appearing a week or so ago, still tiny, just starting to get first true leaves.  The indoor-raised chard is lush and thriving with 1"-2" leaves.  I've taken to re-hardening off the indoor-raised chard lately.

Will be interesting to see if the WS chard catches up.

Kale transplanted from WS into pots

 The Premier Forge kale that was WS'd March 20th has now been potted.  I had sowed them way too thickly, and they were leggy (maybe because of blue plastic container?), some are just starting to get their first true leaf but I decided they needed to be moved now.  

I'll continue to treat them as WS, that is, they'll continue living outside full time except when too cold.

Broccoli transplanted from semi-WS into pots

 Transplanted the semi-WS broccoli (that had been sprouted on paper towels then moved to WS) into pots (with the Pro-mix mixture).  6 of them are the "round 3" broccoli, which was Sprouting Green, and 6 of them are from the unlabelled salad container, which I believe is Waltham based on my March 7th post.

Their roots looked good, nice development.  They pretty much all have at least one true leaf.

I'll continue to treat them as WS, that is, they'll continue living outside full time except when too cold.

Their WS containers still have some seedlings, I'll leave them to keep doing their thing.  (I chose the best ones to transplant).

WS'd broccoli appearing! And update on the "cheated WS" broccoli

Two of the "old" broccoli seeds, that were 100% winter sowed on March 7th (not pre-started on paper towels; were left outside 24/7) have appeared!

(The cheated WS broccoli which I started inside with paper towel / baggies, then once germinated moved outside WS style, came up a week or so ago and are about 1" high, no true leaves yet.  Been bringing them inside overnight due to the freezing temps.)

No sign of the WS chards or lupins yet.

Poppies winter sowed

Winter sowed both kinds of poppies that I bought a few weeks ago:  Flander's Fields, and Oriental.

So tiny!  Sprinkled them on top, didn't cover.

Temps go below freezing tonight and tomorrow night, but then it's a warm spell with overnight temps above zero...  not sure if these seeds wanted to go through more freezing, but, will give this a try anyway, and see.

Round 2 broccoli moved outside (winter sowing-style)

At least some of the round 2 broccoli seeds survived the night on the laptop, as some have germinated.  So I moved all of the round 2 broccoli seeds into the PC spinach container outside.  Almost zero headroom in this container, but just to get them started to buy me time to find more suitable containers.

Winter sowed (first time!): lupins (seeds), broccoli (seeds and seedlings), chard (seeds), onion (seedlings)

 Fun!  After googling for a while last night, today I used my handy new drill to put holes into a bunch of plastic containers.  (After struggling with scissors and knife.  The drill was wayyy better.)

I figure maybe my broccoli seedlings just find it too warm inside under the lights.  So, why not try winter sowing!

Winter sowed these:

• Lupin:  A container with the three seeds I started February 13th, which still haven't germinated, and three fresh seeds.  (All from the nice two-shade seeds I collected from BH last year.)
• Chard:  A container with a scattering of Fordhook seeds.
• Onion:  A small container with three onion seedlings, just as an experiment.
• Broccoli:  A container with a scattering of the old seeds (Waltham). --> with no ink label (oops, I labelled the wrong one)
• Broccoli:  A container with a scattering of the new seeds (Green Sprouting).
• Broccoli:  3 smaller  containers each with one of the struggling Waltham transplants that I started February 13th.  Even if they die, so be it, they're doing horribly inside anyway.

I set out the seeds today.  As for the seedlings, the broccolis went out today in the sun for an hour or so, then brought inside overnight because we have one more cold night tonight (-18) before a warmer spell.  Will put them out tomorrow.