Hardening day 2 -- and now living downstairs full time (hardies only)

Today the hardies went out in full shade for 2.5 hours.

And I decided I'm done with lugging them up/down stairs, under / out from the lights -- so they'll live on the kitchen table when not outside.

Hardening off started today! Shade only, ~+5 to +8

Today I finally started hardening off!  Everything except the peppers and stevia.

So, here's what's getting hardened:

- broccoli

- parsley

- celery

- chard

- kale

- onions

- lettuce

- forget-me-nots

- coreopsis

(I think that's it?)

Today was after work, so it was all shade, and it was cool but above zero, somewhere around +5 to +8.  They were out for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The next couple of days will be too cold, and a couple of days next week look to be too cold, but other than that these babies are going to get used to outside (gradually, of course).

Bad weather -- delayed in starting to harden off -- no room left under lights!!

Argh, the three main shelves are completely full so I desperately want to start hardening things off so that there will be space next week when the next batch of seed-starting is due.

I'm hopeful that the weather will cooperate this week, to get started.  But first, I want to finish placing the chicken wire, to hopefully be sure that the local rabbit(s) can't come in and have a feast!

Last year's potatoes are sprouting (most of them)

I'll use them to grow some of this year's potatoes.

Thawed peppers great in hash browns!

This worked great!  Definitely do again!

Thawed the peppers that had been frozen raw/whole last year -- 2 green peppers, and several banana/hot peppers.  Thawed them by putting them in a bowl of hot water.  They thawed quickly.

Then sliced them open, removed the seeds, and squeezed them to get most of the liquid out.  Then chopped them and put them in to cook with the hash browns.  

Great!

Zero space available in shelves unless use top-most ceiling level ---- must get things hardened before April seed-starting!!!

Topped hot peppers (the bigger ones) and accidentally one hungarian sweet pepper; and pruned biggest stevia

Uppotted the bigger broccoli -- they're too big with 2 months before can plant at GA!!!

Argh, 2 more months of growth at home before they can go out at GA!!!  

Started lettuce: romaine, BSS, and ruby

Direct in big communal "pot".

Started sweet bell peppers, coreopsis, and forget-me-not

The bell peppers are all California Wonder -- some from my old tin foil set, some newer.

The coreopsis are all from the seeds I collected last year from a GA.

Forget-me-not are all from 2021.

Tuberous begonia update: Zero signs of insects (phew!)

(Also zero signs of begonia yet, but that's normal at this stage.)

I'm still keeping it in the kitchen though rather than the plant room, just in case.

Started kale and chard

Kale:  The same as last year -- Vates Blue Curled -- but mostly using seeds collected last year, and a few of the bought seeds separately.

Chard:  Good old Fordhook as always.

Started some peppers, and more celery and stevia

Peppers started:

- Witch Stick (bought last year but I can't remember if it gave the too-hot little ones or the decent long ones or if it gave nothing at all)

- Jalapeno

- Hungarian Yellow Sweet (oops, forgot to not start the sweet peppers until later)

Also started more celery and stevia to fill in the gaps.

Tuberous begonia update: NOT eggs after all I don't think

I unbagged the pot a couple of days ago (keeping it in the kitchen) -- what looked like eggs no longer look like anything.  I'm guessing it was some type of fungus maybe?  But everything looks decent now.  Will leave downstairs in the kitchen though for a while longer, just in case.

Started celery round 2 (bec most of R1 seedlings flopped, only 4 good ones)

Started stevia round 2 and New York onions round ~3 or 4

(To fill in gaps.)

OH NONONONONO!!!!! EGGS ON TOP OF THE TUBEROUSO BEGONIA SOIL!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I happened to notice what looks like hundreds of small white eggs throughout on top of the soil of the tuberous begonia!!!!! WTF!??!?  This has never happened before.  I can only guess that if these are in fact eggs, some critter came in with the bulb when I brought in inside in the fall, and despite being in a paper bag with no water or anything for several months, somehow the critter survived and laid all these eggs!?!?!?   Maybe if there's only one, the eggs won't be viable?  Wow, what a mystery.

So I immediately took the pot downstairs and double-bagged it to make sure everything stays inside.  Will see if anything emerges from the "eggs"....   I sure hope these aren't critters because if so, obviously I'll have to toss the whole thing, and TB has been around for quite a few years, has been a nice tradition.

Not seeing sign of any eggs etc. on anything else.... fingers crossed.

~~~~~~  See updated posted Feb 12th:  Doesn't look like they were eggs after all... (fingers crossed)

Started stevia

Started round 3 New York Early onions -- directly in mix

(To fill in some gaps in round 2.)

Started cauliflower, and round 2 of leeks and green onions

Cauliflower = Early Snowball.  First time really trying cauliflower.

And more leeks and green onions because the green onions had bad germination rate and not enough leeks.