Zinnias started

 Random assortment of talls, and yellow shorts.

Mystery: A bunch of outside zinnias gradually died -- piddly roots!

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....

Started tomatoes (many varieties), ground cherries, and zinnias -- MEANT TO DO BASIL TOO BUT FORGOT UNTIL APRIL 12TH

Zinnia:  The usual mix of short and tall, and the last of the yellow store-bought.

Ground cherries:  The packet bought a few years ago.

Tomatoes:  All the varities I have except for Scotia. So this includes, by memory:  

- Damsel

- Big Tofu Plus

- Mortgage Lifter

- San Marzano (my first time trying these)

- Jasper

- can't remember what else

Tomatoes, ground cherries, basil, and zinnias started in PT

Tomato:

- Damsel -- new to me this year

- Tofusteak

- Big Tofu Plus

- Mortgage Lifter

Ground cherry:

- Collected from a past plant that self-sowed and grew amazingly in very poor conditions

Basil:

- Prospera

Zinnias:

- Short yellow, short orange

- Tall variety

- Tall Lemon

Cukes, zukes, and zinnias transplanted -- including 2 zukes in pots

For the cukes (all Eureka, 6 of them, consisting of 4 from round 1 and 2 from round 2 for staggering the harvest),  and zukes (7 in ground (3 8 Ball and 6 Golden Glory) and 2 in big pots*), amended with lots of mrp, semi-lots of azomite, and some kelp.  Oh and for a few of the zukes I did add some alfalfa but not a lot.  Also put some of the freezer rabbit poop in with most of the zukes, but not the pair... oh which pair.... I think not the SW-most pair.  Or was it not the pair in the central bed.... Ah well.

Didn't amend the zinnias with anything.

* 2 of the zukes (both Golden Glory) are in big pots.  The soil in these consisted of a mix of garden bed soil and a mix of my potting mix (peat, ProMix, lime, kelp, mrp, azomite, and a small amount of alfalfa).  I've never had success with potted zucchinis before -- the plants have always been wimpy and never produced anything -- so I'm curious for this year, now that I have bigger pots and lots of mrp and azomite in there.

Mulched most of the things with the last of last fall's basement mulched leaves.

Undecided which of the zukes I won't tulle.  For sure I'll tulle at least 6 of the 7 in ground.  I may also try tulling the potted ones and the hydro bed one while they're relatively small at least.

Mulch: Wins from last year! Overwintered chopped leaves in basement garbage bag; overwintered hollyhock and zinnia

The garbage bag of chopped leaves that I put in the basement last fall to use this spring is great!!  Looks like it has started to mold (but no bad smell)!  Used half of it to mulch various things; saving the rest to mulch the other things that will be transplanted soon.

And, the hollyhock stems and zinnias that I had overwintered in the yard for the birds -- were mostly a fail birdwise (saw birds eating their seeds only a couple of times) -- but are coming in very handy as a woody mulch for established plants.

I'm also using cut grass from the yard, letting it dry out before applying it as a mulch.

Allotment: Planted most things!

Here's what I did/planted today at the allotment, roughly from the north end to the south:

- 5 zinnias (tall) along the north end)

- 4 peppers (yellow sweet banana, from Ritchie's)

- 4 squares of bush beans with 9 per square (Taylor Horticultural in the north two squares (brown spotted beans), Carson in the south two squares (white beans)) -- pre-soaked seeds, and placed clear plastic on top after watering, to keep in water while germinating and hopefully keep out squirrels

- 2.5ish squares of yellow onion (sets, from Ritchie's)

- 16ish potatoes (Superior, from Ritchie's), nicely spaced out so I'm excited to see what kind of harvest might result.

- 1 stevia in SW corner (my seedling)

Amended with kelp, mrp, and azomite (won't use alfalfa here).

Still have 4 squares remaining.  Planning to put a ground cherry, though my veryyyy late-start seedlings are itty bitty, still at home under the lights to get a good start.

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.

Started in PT (bowl for peas): Peas, zinnias, callaloo(/amaranth), basil, tomatox3

Peas:  Sugar Snap

Zinnias:  My usual mix -- this time all from 2018-collected seeds (to start using up the older seeds)

Basil:  Prospera (same as last year)

Tomato:  Mortgage Lifter (my first time growing this -- from La Ferme de l'Aube), Big Tofu Plus, and Jasper

Callaloo(/amaranth):  From the person at work.

Zinnia seeds being eaten! (probably the house sparrows since those are the only birds this winter)

^^^

Shade success: Potted short zinnias

The potted short zinnias (in the fake terracotta pots) did great in the shade along the fence.  Would definitely do this again.

Hummingbird!!

While refilling the bird bath this afternoon, what did I see but a hummingbird swoop in on the zinnia patch next to the fence, then immediately swoop out of the yard when they saw I was there.  So, very fleeting, but neat!

Experiment result: Short zinnias do equally well in shade

The potted short zinnias against the fence (full shade) are doing equally as well as (and actually a bit better than) the potted short zinnias in the sunny part of the yard.  Lots of flowers on both.

Some zinnias transplanted

 They've been out full time and in the sun for a while now.

Hardening update: Zinnias and tomatoes

Zinnias:  Started hardening a few days ago.  Outside all day (has been nice and warm) in shade, some sun.  Inside at night.

Tomatoes:  Started hardening today.  Just because they look so sad.  In shade in afternoon.

Basil, peas, and zinnias started in PT/bowl

New-to-me type of basil that's supposed to be downy mildew resistant, started in PT.

Zinnias of various sorts started in PT.

Peas (x80) soaking in a bowl, to start inside tomorrow until germinated.

Aphids on ground cherries and a zinnia!!!!!

The aphids on the ground cherries are multi-colour -- some are green, some red, some yellow.  Not a big infestation yet, but all the ground cherries have some -- even the volunteer at the south end of the central bed.  Removed a few leaves with many red aphids on them but otherwise didn't do anything.

Also a bunch of aphids on one stem of the zinnia behind the cucumbers.  My guess is the aphids that were on the cucumbers (I occasionally still see some on the cukes but not many/often) shifted over to the zinnia.  I cut off that stem.

Tall zinnias are still kind of sparse

The tall ones are being slow to take off, both the ones in front and in the yard.  The plants look healthy, just, still sparse if that makes sense.  They're all still on only their second opened flower (or still their first in some cases).  Maybe it's still early...

The short zinnias in containers look great though, lots of flowers.

Tall zinnias from collected seeds are all yellow/orange/reddish!

This year I started the tall zinnias from only the following 3 baggies of collected seeds.  Interesting that so far, every single one is on the orange/red/yellow spectrum (varying shades, especially some pure oranges) -- none in the pink/purple/peach range!

- "neat special orange/red, I love it!" collected 2018

- "nice orange red by living room door" collected 2020 from previous year's collected seed

- "yellow" collected 2020 from previous year's collected seed

Oriental poppies in front of fence majorly stalled out, so removed/replaced

... replaced them with a few of the last winter-sowed oriental poppies, and also put a few zinnias in there too, just in case.