Seeding, pricking, and more seeding

Things are getting hot and heavy in my little basement greenhouse.  I had an excellent weekend of outdoor gardening so the indoor seeding waited for another couple days.  I hope I don't regret putting it off with plants too small to transplant later.  I was able to prick out my peppers, Celosia, and Heliotrope.  I had to make decisions about only keeping what I need instead of saving every plant.  Sometimes it is hard to toss some things on the compost pile, but I make myself feel better that I saved the best of them for planting.  My last batch of coleus is also almost fully rooted.  The first batch is ready to be nipped back to promote side shoots.  This makes a better plant over having a single stem heading up.  Try it, you'll like it!  Tomatoes are almost ready to be upgraded, too.

I have also had to make some decisions about what stays in and what goes out.  The violas are small but hardy.  A few of the seeds I am sowing now also like it cooler so outside they go.  I have a rolling rack that can move in and out of the garage for night time protection.  I think the petunias are next as they are also a hardy plant once they get hardened off.  The geraniums, jasmine and potted mandevilla vines are already on their way to complete outdoor happiness.

The garden beds are filling up with early crops as well.  I put in seeds for carrots, beets, chard, kale, radicchio, and pak choy.  I also put in my baby cabbages (an actual variety, not a size descriptor), romaine lettuce, onions, and radicchio plants.  All have been given a row cover to help them acclimate to the conditions.  With temps around 80 today, they are also going to be ready for water.  Time to break out the hoses until the rain barrels get their first fill.  I did not turn them until this weekend as we still had nights in the 30's when we were getting all that rain.

I dug in my asparagus roots on Sunday with compost from last year.  I used some of the soil from the trench to pot up my honey berries and kiwi vines as they came bare root.  The areas that they are to be planted in are in prep stage.  The plants were starting to leaf out, so holding them in pots is better for the health of the plants.  The chicken-in-the-woods mushroom plugs are also going into the same area.  These can wait in the frig for longer.