Hardening - Group A (zinnias) ~ 30 minutes (rest of datime in shade)

 ~30 minutes (11:50am to ~12:40pm, but actually it was cloudy at times)

Tulle!

Received my order of tulle today.  Excited to use it over the broccoli instead of the Lee Valley cover that's currently there, for improved visibility and more air flow.

I first heard the tulle tip from Susan Mulvihill's new book.

Additionally, here's a great article outlining many uses of tulle in the garden:  https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/row-covers-zmaz08fmzmcc

And a video that suggests using duct tape to outline the edges:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NccXePsZ-Vg

Basil not happy, sighhh -- and have pruned several of them

All the Genovese basils don't look great -- some of their leaves are brownish or otherwise not vibrant green, some dry, as though they suffered from cold or sunburn but they've been inside under lights the whole time.  I wonder if the room got TOO hot for them and maybe the lights were too close, so a week ago or so I rearranged them to give them more headspace, but now they look leggy too, sigh.

I've also pruned a bunch of them hoping for a fresh start for the new leaves that will come in.  Plus I started new Genovese basils May 2nd so even though it's late hopefully it's a backup.

So far the Thai and purples look good (though the purple is green!), though much smaller still since they were much later to germinate.  The Thai especially look nice and stout, they'll surely be good busy plants.

Floating row cover placed over central broccoli

Used the Lee Valley floating row cover, placed over "hoops" created by tall metal fencing, weighed down by rocks.  I love the idea of worm-free broccoli so really want to give this a try.

I'd like to use tulle instead, but this will do for now.

All zinnias now spending days outside, to free up room under lights

 Shuffled things around inside today and in so doing decided the rest of the zinnias need to start going outside.

Zucchinis round 2 into Pt

Started 3 more zucchinis in paper towel today because I don't feel like I have enough, especially because only 1 ronde has germinated so far.  (All but one of the round 1 zucchinis germinated.)

Some zinnias sunburnt (oops)

Dang, after hardening off over two cloudy days, today I completely forgot to ease a zinnia try into sun, and looks like some got quite burnt/unhappy.  Hopefully most will recover.

Basil round 2 started in PT

Backup plan in due to the issue with the current basil.  Started Genovese only, from the organic / paper packet.

2 Evening Sun sunflowers potted up

2 of the 3 Evening Sun sunflowers have germinated already.  Just the very tip appearing, but figured to pot them up now.  It's the light striped one that almost looks like a mini-Mammoth seed, and the deep red/brownish one.  The black one hasn't yet germinated.

Oh no! Basil (Genovese) not looking good! Too hot/close under lights?

Oh no!  The more advanced basil is looking bad, like as though either burned or cold damage.   Definitely not cold because have been inside 100%. But I wonder if I had them too close to the lights, too hot.  So, moved them to the top shelf where it's a bit cooler, and raised the lights quite high.

So far it's only the Genovese with this issue, but that might be because the Thai and Purple are further behind due to their slower germination.

Sorrel looking sad, and nibbled?

Hmmm, today I noticed the sorrel (the original one in north bed) is droopy-looking, and some of the leaves are bare to the stem.  And the taste is a bit wimpy, less pungent that normal.  We had a lot of rain recently, maybe that has something to do with it.

Last year's beets still good in the fridge

 Almost done now, another batch or two and they'll be all gone.

Potatoes sowed; leftover put into book case bottom shelf

 Today these went into the big containers:

- "Banana" (bought from Ritchie's this year) -- two containers, one with 3 and one with 4

- "Bintji" (from last year's harvest, which sprouted in the fridge) -- two containers, with I think 3 in each (written on the tag)

- "Cherry Red" (from last year's harvest, which sprouted in the fridge) -- one container with the sole 3 leftovers.

Placed in the bottom shelf of the bookcase, still in their plastic bags but with open top, are the left-over Banana and Bintji, and the other types of last year's potatoes (Eramosa and I can't remember what else) that look way too sprouted / long gone but if there's room in a bed I'll plunk them in later to see what happens.

Powdery mildew and horsetails

Definitely want to try this this year, given the complete lack of success with last year's powdery mildew battle.  The silica content of the plant makes a natural fungicide.

It needs to be applied frequently as a preventative, before signs of trouble.

https://laidbackgardener.blog/2015/07/18/using-a-weed-to-your-advantage/

https://www.nature-and-garden.com/gardening/fermented-horsetail-tea.html

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=32884


https://swisshomegarden.com/blogpost/homemade-horsetail-plant-fungicide-recipe/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0sBkE4i8h4

https://permies.com/t/5865/Blight-Mildew-squash-Horsetail-Equisetum


https://growingspaces.com/powdery-mildew/


https://nodighome.com/2017/06/17/horsetail-potions/#:~:text=Horsetail%20is%20a%20beautiful%2C%20highly,resilient%20plant%3B%20a%20great%20survivor.&text=A%20natural%20fungicide%2C%20horsetail%20'tea,and%20as%20a%20soil%20feed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PArv0-Wb2H8

- harvest when the frilly leaves are out

- chop into small pieces

- boil in water

- simmer for 20 minutes

- let it cool

- next day strain it, run it through a coffee filter or something like that 

Nasturtiums into bowl of water to soak overnight, will sow direct tomorrow

 These are the new seeds I bought this year, Peach Melba.

nasturtium x 3 (one of which is a huge seed, the other two normal size)

Cucumber, cushaw, butternut, zucchini, and ronde started in PT

 Trying to limit the number of seeds, not leaving much buffer for poor germination but figure there's lots of time to start more later to fill in gaps as needed.

Cucumber x ~6-8

Cushaw x 2

Butternut x 2

Zucchini x ~6-8

Ronde x ~5

More sunflowers started: Evening Sun (bought) and last year's collected Mammoth

 Exciting!  The 3 daycare sunflowers are growing well inside.  Today started 3 of the Mammoth seeds collected last year, and 3 of the Evening Sun package bought this year.  For the Evening Sun, I chose one striped seed, one black seed, and one lighter seed.  Can't wait to see what they'll look like!

More tomatoes started (Rainbow Blend)

Realized I'm a little short on tomato plants when factoring giving in some to Ray.  So, started some more today, but only the Rainbow Blend, in PT.

More broccoli and kale transplanted today

Transplanted the best-looking remaining broccolis (and they do look good!  no wimpy leftovers transplanted today!) with two behind the peas, two in front of the peas, and one to the right of the peas by my chair.

Transplanted the best-looking remaining kales (and again, they do look good!) into the east part of the central bed (see other post from today) and also in the north bed behind my chair.

So, now the only remaining broccoli and kale not yet transplanted are ones that I'll probably give away but for now keeping as back-up.  Some of these I re-potted today from good containers I don't want to part with into ones I'm ok with giving away, and some of these were from WS jugs previously.

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.