That's a lot, haha, I transplanted ~8 peppers on Monday and that's about all the more I can handle at a time.

But we've got those peppers, sweets and hots and the tomatoes just popped up yesterday. Then the kid got a packet of lettuce seeds and some mickey mouse plant tags with a movie and so we did those ones indoors too, but they haven't come up yet.

(The only picture I can get to upload. First time trying, haven't quite figured out the whole pictures thing on this website.)

That's a good picture, ZachS.

With this new tablet, I worry that what I may upload will be a selfie of me tapping on the dang screen!

Steve

I've been lurking⦠got a new puppy this winter so scaling way back on planting for now. Just had to get some seeds going for containers. I didn't set up the lights since there are so few of them so they are reeeeaaaaching for the window. Believe it or not this is the only window that gets any sun at all in my house.
Steviewonder

Hi Stevie!

So few? Looks like you could populate a pretty good size garden with what you have there!

Steve :o)

Haha, Steve! I'm not so hot with the technology stuff. If it doesn't work, I just stick to old reliable: power off, power on.

Yeah Stevie, lookin good! What all do you have going on there?

Right to left:
lettuces, and a few pimiento peppers off to a late start

herbs: lemon basil, lime basil, genovese basil, dill, anise, marjoram and a couple stray Bloomsdale spinach

tomatoes: Cosmonaut Volkov, Cherokee Purple, yellow pear, Amish Paste, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Sungold, Super Sweet 100s, Sweet Treats, Peacevine

Wintersown outside in containers: marigolds and cilantro

Today I also picked up some bleeding heart and lily of the valley pips. I just had to! They were calling to me.

It is the root of their treachery to beguile the unsuspecting and bleeding heart into gilding the lily.

Steve's digits
hahaha . . . kof . . . ahem

Looking great, guys!

Potted up the peppers, petunias and patio tomatoes this weekend and got a lot of prep work done. I will sow the mater seeds later this week.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year ..."

potted peppers petunias patio-tomatoes prep⦠pomaters?

The shelve is beginning to fill up. Peppers, celery, onions, herb cuttings, leeks, tomatoes are just popping up.

A closer look at the peppers

I usually keep the reflectix sheets rolled down.

Well yes, Greg.

There is the privacy issue also with the reflectix sheets.

No good to have people attracted to the window and left trying to see thru the jungle glare. I wonder how often passersby really come up with the wrong notion when they see plants growing indoors! Mistakes are probably more likely in some areas of the country than others.

Steve

We have had deputies stop by several times in the past and ask to see the plants in the house. Lots of tomatoes and peppers and such and my husband would explain that since we did Farmers Market we needed to get a head start on plants. They could see the florescent lights in the 2 windows. They could see the 2 hoop houses out front. Guess they were doing their jobs.

When I worked as a wholesale florist there was a large plant department and the opportunity for me to bring houseplants home (& kill them slowly :o(.

One such plant was a false aralia. If they wanted to call it a "false" anything, "aralia" made little sense to me. I decided I was just going to get my family in trouble and the plant paid the price for that decision.

The marigolds will be showing up in the South Window, soon.

It doesn't seem to me that "not doing anything wrong" should have to be what is told very often to public servants.

Steve

Margaret, if deputies came to my house asking to see my plants I'd ask to see a warrant.

Then again I live in Colorado so that wouldn't be an issue these days. The wife is a different story.

I've got starts of broccoli, brussels sprouts, chinese cabbage, peppers, green onions, and genovese basil plugs. No true leaves from any of em yet but we're getting close.

My eggplants never germinated.

I probably wouldn't let a cop in either without a warrant.

goldenguy, did you use fresh seed for the eggplant. In my experience eggplant seed is only good for a couple years.

Your responses, goldenguy & Greg, prompted me to exercise some brain cells. Which is difficult right now because I am just about 5 days into a late winter cold. (I'm not calling this "spring" !)

Anyway, I planted the eggplant seed at the same time as the 2nd sowing of pepper seed. All of those peppers are up! The University of Minnesota says 13 days for both at 70 degrees! It was all old seed . . . nice assortment, but olde.

I went off to see what the garden center had. Figured it would be 5 companies, each offering Black Beauty. Nope, they had one from Ed Hume - Eclipse! It is a 65 day variety! Got it planted, now maybe all the others will show up. (That would be better than okay. :o)

Steve

Shoot. Seed for that Italian bell went into the soil mix yesterday afternoon . . . there are sprouts everywhere in the eggplant seed sown weeks ago, this morning!

(I am okay with that. :o)

Happy to see both the green and purple Asians showing up, led by Shoya. Showed me!

Steve

My eggplant seeds were brand new. Not sure if they were not warm enough?

You can see where I cut down radishes, broccoli, brussells sprouts, and chinese cabbage that got leggy in a windowsill before I got these under a light. Looks like there's some more seeds germinating in all or most of those cells, though.

Signs of life from everything but the eggplant in the fifth row from the left. The peppers, radishes, lettuce and green onion seeds are all over 10 years old. I love it.

What should I do? I planted tomatoes, broccoli, and a few annual flowers in one flat. I had the heat mat on and placed a tent of clear plastic over all. I checked one morning and there were no seeds sprouting. Then I got busy and 2 days later I have thin leggy (2 inch tall) broccoli and tomatoes with tiny seed leaves on top. Uncovered them and turned off the heat mat and lowered the light and turned it on. Will they be okay or should I clip them off and re-seed?

Two inches tall is probably too tall. I wouldn't risk it. These seeds germinate so fast that I'd just do them again.

I had great luck last season planting my tomato seeds in mid-April with a heat mat and dome. Set out date is the first week of June. I think I'll do the same this year.

I knew the past 3 sheriffs by first name and worked down the hall from them. If I had said anything I can see any of them just smiling and saying their just doing their job and they must have been new to the force.

I did the "stevedoring" of plants in&out for about a week. No more! The heater was turned back on this evening and I just left all of the plants in the greenhouse!

Years ago, pre-heater, I would fill the table in the South Window, cover the washer and dryer, and have so many plants on the utility room floor that we would have to cling to the walls to get to the backdoor! I had 1 on the floor last night and would have had 2 or 3 flats there tonight. Enuf. Wall-clinging wasn't fun and I never installed the rope swing like I'd said I would . . .

Besides, there are some happy onions out there right now! With this company of tomatoes and peppers and such, the onions are having the warmest night this year.

Steve
saving energy yesterday, hoping for a bright tomorrow . . .

Steve, when you start leaving your onion starts out overnight, how low does the temp get?

I'm still down to 25 at night, but I'm pretty sure my onions, leeks, and shallot starts would benefit if they were outside all the time.

Out in the garden, the garlic is thriving and the assorted ornamental alliums in the flower beds are all going gangbusters.

The onion and leek seed sprouted during February while the outdoor temperatures were still in the teens. Even last week, when the lows were 21ð , water left in a basin froze. It is only about 6 or 7ð warmer in the greenhouse after a night of late winter darkness. They can certainly take the cold.

I will begin moving them outdoors to harden-off soon but, with all that coolness, they are gonna need a couple more weeks to grow a little more. Then, there seems like there are too many plants to get out there quickly and I will just try to keep them as cool as possible while they wait, here in the yard. About all I am concerned about is that their roots don't freeze. There will be 6 or 8 more frosts for the very earliest ones we transplant out into the garden.

I guess I can make the point to new gardeners here that hardening-off isn't just about becoming adjusted to cool temperatures but also to fluctuations in temperature and sunlight that is not filtering thru plastic or glass. Wind, also.

Steve

This post was edited by digit on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 15:34

I started hardening some off my onions and leeks this week. Almost full shade during the day and into the cold frames at night. After a few days then part sun. They seem relatively happy under the grow lights but I need the room for other plants and I'm sure they will be good in the coldframe for a couple more weeks until planting out time. Also direct sowed bunch onions and shallot bulbs today.

I've had (half) my onions in the ground for a week now, more as a test to see how they do setting them out so early. Keeping them covered at night, but they are still doin alright, we'll see how badly they got beat up by this God forsaken wind today though.

I've planted rhubarb outside, along with some seeds just to see how they would do (although I intended to cover them with makeshift row covers and I need to do a better job constructing the covers because so far they keep blowing away). Anyway, butter crunch lettuce and a salad mix are coming up in the outdoor bed.

Inside I've got peppers (sweet and bell) and eggplant that seem to be doing well and tomatoes that have just germinated. And a few other random things - cabbage, kohlrabi, parsley, chives, Swiss chard, thyme and some ice plant "cuttings" that my toddler helpfully pulled from the yard when I wasn't close enough to stop her.

My first year starting things from seed and I'm crossing my fingers.

Ah, yes, hardening off isn't just temperature and sun. We're in for 60 mph wind gusts this weekend, and a "dust on snow event" - to quote the NOAA guy.

I have a sheltered spot on a south-facing exterior wall where I can leave the allium trays for a few weeks.

My "sweet spot" wouldn't even be half enuf to deal with 60mph winds!!

Things going on early this morning in the greenhouse; everything is at a fairly slow pace:

The tomatoes are still a little topsy-turvy from their recent move to the 4-packs. It looks like we may have sun for a little bit of the day - Yay! I don't think I will have to hide them under the bench from its strong (if brief) rays but I'd better watch to see how they do. The little community packs of Anaheim & Jalapeno peppers (kind of in the center) have to get my attention out there, also. They are the next ones needing to go in the 4-packs. No great hurry except I've got to go thru more tomato transplanting soon and had better not let things back up!

Meanwhile, in the South Window:

I moved that nearest tomato box closer to the window after shooting this. Those things got a little stretched looking for light the last few days! I hate to move them into the only slightly-better-lit greenhouse from this warmer South Window but might. Marigolds and zinnias are gonna be showing up here soon. Well, maybe they can ALL go into better spring sunlight by then!!

Steve

Thank you, David52, for the advice about the tomato seedlings. I cut back the taller ones and reseeded. I have a flat of onions coming up now. As soon as they reach 2 inches tall I'll start hardening them off in the greenhouse.

Yeah, gotta love these springtime Chinooks rolling off the mountains. Here in Denver, the weather man keeps saying "breezy," just a bit of an understatement I think.

Back to the topic of starts, I found a volunteer squash/melon/cucmber seedling coming up in the garden today, he wont survive, I don't think. I'm just shocked it popped up at all with night temps hovering at or under freezing lol.

This post was edited by ZachS on Sun, Mar 30, 14 at 15:40

The South Window, this morning:

Good job Steve!

I've got all of my cold tolerant plants out of the nursery area. Still loaded with peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, basil etc. I'm considering getting a small electric greenhouse heater for one of my mid tunnels so I can start getting somethings out.

Greens are coming along nicely in a mid tunnel

The cold frame plants are still chugging along. I wish the red lettuces would grow a bit faster.

My little, passive 800w heater is just barely up to the job of heating the shed-attached hoop house. Surely, it wasn't worth the anxiety it put me through last spring.

Electric isn't all that exciting to me because it will have to come by way of an extension cord and an old outlet in the carport. Maybe, I should say it IS exciting! Is there a safer way to go?

Steve
who has that hoop house set up and ready to go!

Here's most of what I got growing so far in my balcony garden...
Couple of tomatoes, Early Girl and Park's Whopper
and a Jalapeno in the top picture.

Middle picture we have some sunflowers, cabbage, and a few lettuces poking their heads up.

Then some basil and chives chilling on the porch rail. I will have all of the pots this size tied to the rail as a vertical gardening type thing once the threat of snow if gone for good.

And at the bottom,
Some lovely cold hardy Fort Laramie Strawberries.
As well as some spinach, sugar snap peas, and freshly sprouted Cilantro.

Almost all of these plants have been brought in tonight for the coming weather. Snow in the a.m., oh, Colorado, how you love to keep us on our toes. I have a few other things growing on, but figured this would work as a little sampling. :) Happy gardening everyone.

Real leaves are just starting to form on the main tomato crop.

They grow!

In early morning light several weeks ago.

Same tomatoes, now in pots and in early morning light moments ago. (pictures with my tablet camera. not very easy to use but maybe better than the phone!)

Steve

Steve, I took your advice for now and didn't put the "milk house heater" out into one of the tunnels though I'm still considering it. So plan B it is.

Started with moving all the rosemary and lavender into the new tunnel which freed up lots of room in the frames. I harvested everything growing in one of the coldframes and dug it down to one of the sprinkler lines.

Next I added a couple inches of shredded leaves if for no other reason I always take the opportunity to add organic matter. Then I layered newspaper in and watered it down. The thinking being that it would prevent the starts from rooting into the garden. Then I added the potted up tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. One tray was not potted up yet.

I have the Christmas lights still ready to go if it gets below ~20F though I'm mostly going to rely on covering the "lights" at night with a space blanket tarp and a sleeping bag.. The box has a remote thermometer so I can monitor the inside temps from the kitchen.

I didn't want to move the soil too far so I piled it close to the frame. Then I put the rest of the bag of shredded leaves on top of the excavated soil, wet it down and then secured an old sheet on top. Mostly to keep the earthworms happy.

Happy Gardening,
Greg

Here's what has been occupying my early morning hours.

The picture was taken a few days ago. My "heating system" for the shed-attached hoop house is a small electric heater and a fan. There has been frost on the shed roof several mornings and since I once killed tomato starts at 37ú, I've been doing my best to keep things comfortable for the plants.

Despite this extra protected-growing space, the greenhouse is beginning to load up again. I'm really hoping that our severe frosts have passed because I've got plant starts away from that big greenhouse furnace and in much more vulnerable locations now!

Steve