Zone 5, check in

[garden5]

Yeah, your peppers look great, RD680! Can you tell me when you planted them or when they sprouted? Mine are about half that size.

[RyanDe680]

Ryan looking good there. Everythign is nice and green, healthy looking.

Good luck

Thanks. Rumor has it 70s next week in our area. I might take everything outside for an hour or two. We'll see. Sometimes the weather man gets excited when it warms up and over-forecasts....

Yeah, your peppers look great, RD680! Can you tell me when you planted them or when they sprouted? Mine are about half that size.

Thanks. In my online journal/blog, I described the peppers as the three stage peppers. For some reason, some are big, some are average and some are small. There are some late comers to the game, as some just sprouted last week.

I planted all peppers on February 27th. Each variety sprouted at a different time, but each variety ranged from March 7th to 10th (I keep record of this for future use).

After about 7-10 days after they sprouted, I transplanted them into their own pots (my cups) so that they had more room to grow.

I also use a 40% soil/compost, 25% peat, 25% worm casing and 10% perlite mix for my transplant soil. The worm casing really helps them plants grow past the transplant stage....

I top and bottom water, both on separate days once a week. The peppers don't need that much water right now it seems.

[nes]

Any one else having the issue of their seedlings getting too big? I moved my guys out into our porch so they are getting sheltered outdoor conditions & everything is out-growing it's pot!!!

Loving the weather I just hope it's going to last because I've started having to put things outside under cover .

My tulips & iris are all growing like mad! Should have flowers in a couple weeks .

[GardenJester]

Just up potted first batch of brandywine toms into a 4" pot yesterday. eggplants coming along rather slowly, only couple of them have a hint of true leaf and I seeded them at the same time with the tomatoes.

Peppers I seeded last week still napping, but the 2nd batch of tomatoes and eggplants I seeded at the same time have sprouted. Don't know if they will be ready in time.

moved my seedling operations into the patio enclosure, It's serving as my greenhouse ATM. the weather have just been wonderful, hoping it's not mother nature's april fools joke.

[RyanDe680]

I'm having a size issue with the broccoli and the peppers. They are both growing much faster than I had anticipated, which isn't a bad thing necessarily.

I stopped by the home depot yesterday and wandered through the garden area to buy mulch for some bushes in the front of my house and happened to pass the tomato plants. They are much larger than mine are, so perhaps it's not a bad thing necessarily.

It was 83 here yesterday and supposed to be 82 here today. I've had the plants outside starting yesterday morning and they are still out.

I'll bring them in tonight but really wanted to take advantage of the fact that it got so warm so quick. Back into the 60's and 70's next week and breezy, so I'll bring them back in but man, it's going to be hard working on them inside after being outside in this great weather!

[RyanDe680]

Some updates.... We recently had two straight 80+ degree days in Chicago and several 70 degree days, which has been great for the plants. I put them all outside in the shade to experience both some natural wind (other than my fan) and some great temps.

Apparantly all of the plants loved it, because this past week's growth has been crazy.

I don't plan on fertilizing chemically, but rather naturally (fish emulsion). I have set up two rain barrels (thanks to a visit to Menards) and have been using that to water everything (I'm gardening organically and withy hybrid seeds).

Basil is doing great. I really enjoy the way this smells.....



My tomatoes have really grown. They were outside for two 80 degree days which came early this year and really exploded their growth. I have not fertilized them at all. There are about 5 varities here and this represents about half of my tomato plant population.





My pepper plants are growing like ridiculous. I have not fertilized these either. It's about time for them to get planted - in about 2-3 weeks or so. There are 4 varities in here as well (banana, bell, golden bell, cayenne).





I transplanted lettuce to their own "pots" recently and their growth just exploded as well. This is a combination of both Baby Star and Romaine. No fertilizer here either.





Broccoli continues to do great. I also have started marigolds and some sunflowers.

I received my Helpful Gardener Tomato seeds as well (thanks Roger) and have those planted as well!

[Zapatay]

What seeds have the Zone 5'ers placed outside?
What plants?

[JennyO]

I've planted lettuce, spinach and snow pea seeds outside so far. Nothing has really popped up yet, but of course its been pretty cold and rainy. Probably see some growth this weekend, we're suppose to get some sunshine.

Jenny

[GardenJester]

It actually snowed today(no cool at all), no dubt there will be frost tonight. Good thing I don't have anything in the ground right now. putting a space heater in patio enclosure to keep the seedling from freezing, hope they survive the night.