Peas round 3 started (to fill in gaps)

^^^

Chipping sparrow and song sparrow are back

 Song sparrow(s) returned a few weeks ago; noticed chipping sparrow(s) yesterday.  And course the house sparrows.  Fun!

Peas round 2 grew so long in vermiculite! Will they survive transplanting?

Wow, this vermiculite method for starting the peas sans peat pots, sans indoor mix seems to be great!  Except when I wait too long to check on them and transplant them!  The roots of this vermiculite batch were SEVERAL inches long in many cases -- some up to maybe up to 4" -- or certainly 3".  So anyway, transplanted them today.  These are the ones on the northmost vertical structure, immediately south of the first batch that was next to the north wall.

Between the first and second batches just about the entire north vertical structure is now occupied.  So I'll start just a few more seeds in the coming days, to add a few more on another easternmost row, and to fill in some gaps.

Peas germinated great in vermiculite! Removed from verm to put into soil!

Here's what I've done so far this year with the peas, using a new approach to thwart the birds/critters (i.e. not using the indoor peat pot method this year)...

- Soaked the pea seeds for 24 hours.

- Then, placed in vermiculite -- multiple layers, treasure hunt style.

- Within a few days, most had nice inch-long roots; so then (today) I planted them outside, directly into the soil.  Didn't cover with anything other than soil.  Will re-use the same vermiculite with the next batch, if this works.

So, now to see if they come up, or if the birds/critters still have a taste for sprouted pea seeds.

Based on the results, I'll start the next batch.

Carrots and beets sowed

Beets:

- The home-collected seeds from a few years ago.

- Presoaked in a bowl for ~24 hours.

- Covered with a mix of vermiculite and garden soil.

Carrots:

- Bolero.

- Straight into the ground as dry seeds, with 2 or more per "hole".

- Covered with a mix of vermiculite and garden soil.

All into the ground, none in containers.

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