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gixxerific
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Re: Let's get this garden started!

Alright fine I am dropping seed today, now you see what you did. :mrgreen:

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Cola82
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Haha, glad I could help!

Sun golds and serrano peppers.

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Indigo Rose and orange peppers, worrying me. The IR leaves are yellowed in places and I don't know if I should be concerned. Also, you can see I planted a seed that was actually two seeds stuck together, and they came up intertwined. :/

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Leeks and basil.

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Oh, and love lies bleeding amaranths... maybe I shouldn't have followed the instructions to drop a pinch of seeds in each cell so closely.

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Cola82
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Broccoli Romanesco popped up this morning!

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Cola82
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Put the tomatoes in paper cups, which are color coded this year, making it easy to tell at a glance what is what. Although I wish I'd saved the blue for Indigo Rose instead of the Sun Golds. That's gonna throw me. :/

Orange peppers finally sprouts, and broccoli is looking healthy. I hope it's not too leggy, the light is very close to it. Eggplants sprouted, too. They look a lot like the IR seedlings at this stage. I also put the serranos in my little square plastic nursery pots, and put them on a shorter stand so they're farther from the light. I think I'm supposed to do this to give me more stem to work with when I start the praxxus method.

Now that everything has broken through the soil, I can turn off the space heater and let it be a little cooler in here, which is nice. I don't like having it on when I'm not in the room.

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Cola82
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I finally got a timer for my lights. It's so nice not to stress out because I didn't remember what my alarm at 7 a.m. was for and now it's 10 and oh my god!

Sweet and Thai Basil, Broccoli Romanesco, Love Lies Bleeding, Mangan Eggplant, and orange bell peppers:
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Indigo Rose and Sun Gold tomatoes:
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Serrano peppers, Leeks:
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The exiles, Golden Nugget cherry tomatoes and a couple extras for which there was no room under the shop light:
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Edit to Add: My daffodils are coming up, and the Brass Buttons that were destroyed by a frost last November appear to be recovering, but it's been below 30 degrees at night lately (probably because it's been clear and sunny). I covered them last night, and I'm wondering if I should keep doing that. Not just for the buttons, but for the daffodils.

Photos:
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rainbowgardener
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Looking good, every thing very tidy and organized! The color coded planting cups is a nice idea.

Daffodil is very cold hardy, you don't need to worry about covering it. The only time to worry is if the daffodil has actually bloomed. A frost at that point will kill the blossoms. I don't know anything about brass buttons, so can't answer re their hardiness.

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Cola82
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It's native to New Zealand, which is a good sign, I think, but this website describes it as evergreen in zones 9-10, so not quite my 8b.

I really like this stuff. It's adorable, and I love dense, short ground cover type plants. It really took off last summer, and I was heartbroken when the frost reduced it to a solid brown mat last November.

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Cola82
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It finally snowed here! A good few days of being trapped in the house. We haven't that in a couple years. I covered the barrel in the yard with the daffodils and the brass buttons with plastic and weighted it down with snow. I finally took it off today and everything looked fine underneath. Several plants desperately needed water, though, which I didn't want to do while everything was frozen.

I repotted most of the seedlings and now I have a little glade type thing happening in my office.
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Here's our yard at the height of the snow earlier this week. The prints on the left are mine when I took my cat out there and dropped her in the snow (she ran right back inside). The prints on the right are Third Cat, the stray we take care of.
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Bird friends! They were coming up to our door, probably hoping for water or suet that isn't frozen.
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Unfortunately, I caught several starlings mobbing the suet yesterday, which means it's probably time to take it down. :(

Here's video of Azul watching the snow.

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applestar
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Here's video of Azul watching the snow.
That was great! What a difference from the jaded, bored "expressions" on our cats' backsides when it's snowing for the umpteenth time here (another big one expected tomorrow night). :roll:

Your little babies are looking good. Mine are just poking out of the growing media. :D

... Dropping your poor kitty in the snow :twisted: I've done that to our indoor cats as well ...

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Cola82
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Haha, if we didn't mess with them from time to time, what would be the fun in having cats at all!? It came up to her chin, and she bounded back to the door with back legs as rigid as a wishbone. Hilariously, she came back to the door and let me pick her up again just seconds later, but I decided to give her a break and just took her back in.

I need that to foster trust so that I can take advantage of it. ;p

Also, booo. Image shack is no longer free. Curses. Guess I'll be hosting more images on my Tumblr blog.

Roots were poking out of the bottom of the cups, like, a lot. So I spent a bunch of time repotting them. Stop growing so fast, tomatoes.
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Properly labeling this year, so I don't just get stuck with two plants of the same type like last time.
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I've been keeping the soil in the garage and just carting up what I need in a bowl moistened in the bathroom sink. This has been 100% effective against fungus gnats and I couldn't be happier.
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Completely out of room, though. :(
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rainbowgardener
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Wow! Looking great! I'm still about a week away from planting tomato seed....

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Cola82
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Well the weather is improving rapidly here. It's raining a lot, but I'm really hoping I can get the raised bed set up soon. I can see the day they go out approaching.

I finally got a double wide shop light fixture. Hooray! Here are some photos from today.

I was admiring the purple freckles on my Indigo Rose.
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I have a tomato orchard, really.
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Sun golds are really sending out their branches very far.
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Peppers are finally acquiring some size. I should probably up-pot them soon, but there is no room on the table for them.
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Put the warm lights in the middle.
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Fun times.
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applestar
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I think "burgeoning" is the word.... :>

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Cola82
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Yes, I agree. I need to get rid of some of these plants, and soon. :/

But for now, I figured out how to get everything covered.

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Spotted a gnat crawling around my solo cups this morning. I'm pretty crestfallen. Broke out the cinnamon and started sprinkling, but it's probably too late. Sigh... It was nice while it lasted.

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Cola82
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Azul thought it would be neat if she snipped off all of the leeks, then promptly vomit them back up on the carpet. Such a thoughtful cat. They seem to be recovering just fine from her thoughtfulness.
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I pruned the basil, but I guess it was too soon. All the baby leaves are turning brown and falling off. It's not too late, though, I'll just start over.
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I've had to get creative to cover my tomatoes.
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Trying to get my peppers nice and spindly.
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Eggplant, broccoli, amaranth, some peppers.
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Same, but another angle.
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Oh, and I finally got my driver's license today. :D

I'm only 29. ;p

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Cola82
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Things are looking downright prehistoric. I love it.

Probably ready to prune these peppers.
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Cue the music.
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This needs some dinosaur toys.
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Cola82
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Oh yeah, that's right, I have a ton of dinosaur toys.

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rainbowgardener
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Oh I love it, especially this:

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Dinosaur in the jungle!

And incidentally, your plants are looking great!

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Cola82
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Thanks so much! It's really the amaranth and the broccoli. They just look so cool together.

The boyfriend had a dream he planted the whole backyard in lavender, so he rushed out early this morning and bought these intending to plant them without asking me.

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But he had to ask me what a frost date was. It was adorable.

I don't know that our landlord would approve of replacing the grass with lavender, though. ;p

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Cola82
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I have no idea what's wrong with my Indigo Rose. It sprouted with blotchy cotyledons, and ever since it developed true leaves, they've tended to be very wilty. I don't think it's overwatering. It doesn't seem to matter either way. The only thing I've done differently for these plants as opposed to the others is add the magnesium sulfate to the top of the soil instead of inside (I plum forgot until I was done).

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Stop it, little guys. :(

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applestar
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Your babies are so far along! Mine are moist depressions on the surface of the potting mix. :lol:

Mag. Sulfate as is Epsom salt? Maybe salt concentrating. Perhaps better to flush out and then later on water with weak solution dissolved in water.

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Cola82
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Yes, as in epsom salts. I'll try that.

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Cola82
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The tomatoes look okay for now. I pruned the wilted branches and watered and now I'm just waiting.

In the mean time, the peppers that were pruned are looking pretty good, if I may say so.

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Cola82
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Started moving tomatoes outside just in time for another storm system to move in and dump more rain on us. I'm so done with winter.

We're thinking really hard about moving to another house down the street. It has an amazing South facing deck. Although that means a significant part of the yard will always be in shadow because of the privacy fence, the deck itself would be great for container gardening. It's raised up, on top of a hill, where it will just be drenched in sunlight. And it has huge South facing windows inside, too, which means I could actually have house plants. Can you imagine!? I can't because I live in a coffin. :/

Obviously that means I won't be constructing the raised bed I had planned until I know for sure whether we're moving or not, so between that and the rain I'm going to have to just deal with the crowding for now.

I also discovered watermelon roots smell very strongly of watermelon (I refuse to be judged for starting watermelons! D:).

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Cola82
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The watermelon is sending out little tendrils and I had to free three leeks from its grasp. One of them was grasped in two different places. D:

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Peppers look good.

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Everything got really big really fast to fit into their new containers it seems.

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I finally got a rosemary cutting to root! I'm so excited! I totally don't need another rosemary plant, but yaaaaay!

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The Indigo Rose tomatoes refuse to grow. Most of them have stayed small even though I've repotted them in larger containers. I'm not sure why this is. It could have something to do with the wilting, though. All of the other tomatoes are huge.

And the carrots I planted in the barrel outside sprouted! Finally!

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applestar
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They all look great, Cola. :D

I was thinking those big leaves behind the peppers...
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...they look like some kind of brassica -- kale, broccoli...? Couldn't those go out if the carrots are sprouting?

You garden is really underway. Moving plans with possible move in middle of gardening season is tough, but it sounds like lovely improvement for you. Good luck!

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I love seeing the green leaves of those vegetable plants!

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Cola82
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Yeah, you're right about the broccoli. I'll take them out tomorrow. The last week was very cold and windy and rainy and made me nervous about taking the tomatoes out because they're so tall already.

Well, everything except the Indigo Rose which won't seem to grow at all. :/

Anyway, I did a bunch of yard work today including putting together a garden cart I got for Christmas. I'm using it to take the tomatoes out into the yard to get into the one tiny patch of sunlight out at the end of the yard. :/

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Baby tomato on the early cherry.

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Carrot sprouts!

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Kale babies

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Daffodils are finally putting on buds. This is the middle of my yard, but it still just doesn't get enough light. Want to move so bad...

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I don't know if it was the freeze in November (when a brief warm spell that preceded it caused them to sprout) or the freeze in February that stunted these little guys, but their leaves are falling off at the base (it's mush, not cut or eaten). I hope they make it.

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Hyacinth coming up! I'm so glad it survived from last year. I was sure it was goner after it got so wet last autumn.

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Brass buttons survived the freeze and are popping up everywhere! I love them so much.

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My hydrangea look so sad after going through two really hard freezes in November and February... They just turned to mush. It looks like one of them is going to make a comeback, but they're a fraction of the size they were last summer. :(

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Here's how things are looking inside now. Casper broke some broccoli leaves off messing around so I just ate them.

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Cola82
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Well, it keeps getting below forty at night so I have to bring them in, but most of the plants are spending their days in the yard getting some real sunlight, which just leaves a few experiments with cuttings under the lamp. I'm going to start some basil soon, though, so it won't be such wasted space.

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Plants in the yard. The peppers seem to like the sunlight best. They've put on a ton of new growth out there, while everything else is mostly getting sunburned because I'm too busy to monitor them closely.

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Tragedy struck my mini daffodils I guess. None of them are blooming. Not one. They all look like this. No bigger than they were when they sprouted in November. I pulled a couple leaves out and it was just yellow mush all the way down to the bulb. I'll probably have to toss them and start over.

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I thought my hyacinth was going to bloom, but I noticed one morning that the blossom was askew in its nest of leaves, so I poked it and it fell out like this. I don't know what happened. It couldn't have been a person--no one can get into my backyard because my gates are six feet high, padlocked, and bordered by two other yards and twenty foot hedges. :( Maybe it was all the rain and frost we've been getting. So tired of winter.

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I forget what this is, but I planted a dozen and this is the only one with flowers on it. I'll take it as a small victory.

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The big daffodils look okay. I guess I have several years before they'll look as impressive as the ones that grow along the road, though. :/

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applestar
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Thanks for posting the lovely harbingers of spring. Your starts look great! :D

Too bad about the bulbs that failed. Usually both daffodils and hyacinths are sturdy and carefree growers, but maybe all the rain was too much for them like you said. Daffodils are quite shade tolerant and mine are mostly in part shade, but hyacinths are opposite and sulk without full sun. The one that broke off could have been the roller coaster ride with sudden chill after the buds thought it would be safe to bloom.

Woke up this morning to the blanket of snow that fell yesterday, but the sun was warm today and almost everywhere has melted except in heavy shade. Spring must be coming soon! :bouncey:

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rainbowgardener wrote:Oh I love it, especially this:

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Dinosaur in the jungle!

And incidentally, your plants are looking great!
He shouldn't have any problems with bugs! LOL!

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Cola82
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Haha, nope, Ohio! :)

Applestar, I dug out the bulbs that failed today and they were just mush. Just the gentle digging I was doing tore them to pieces. Sigh. I bought more narcissus and a couple big daffodils at a daffodil fair. I also picked up some ferns and another hydrangea for the shadier parts of my yard.

I also started some new basil in solo cups covered with plastic after my very last surviving basil finally turned brown. I don't know what the heck went wrong with them, but I'll be more conservative about the pruning this time, just in case.

I also took a bunch of tomatoes and other starts to my boyfriend's aunt's today. She moved in around the block so I just put them in my garden cart and pulled them down the street. I'm sure they'll appreciate the extra room. That's almost all of the plants I mean to give away.

The carrots have not grown at all since the last time I photographed them. It's probably the fact that it's been below 30 degrees at night this week. :/

When is it going to be spring, again?

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Cola82
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Purple basil sprouted (along with some other stuff but who cares).

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Cuttings are doing alright. I put the pepper in a bigger pot and trimmed the rosemary. The sun gold rooted in water in just a couple of days (Indigo Rose took more than a week), so it still has a lot of the sun damage from parent plant sitting in the yard.

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Fun times! I've been hoping to harvest seeds from the Japanese Maple out front ever since we moved here, but the whirligigs never seemed to ripen. It doesn't belong to us, and ever since they cut it back it leans more into our neighbor's side of the driveway, so I was delighted when I found a tiny sapling sprouting right next to our doorstep. I found two others, but one perished when its taproot was severed at the base--I was digging carefully but the clay broke apart and took the delicate roots with it. Of the two remaining who had enough roots to maybe salvage, I think one is a sugar maple like the ones planted along the sidewalk, but the other clearly has beautiful red leaves sprouting from between its cotyledons. I'm so excited, I hope it survives.

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Scrappy Coco
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Amazing, I never managed to get seeds like basil, peppermint and so germinated.

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McKinney88
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You are great are at starting seeds indoors! I have not had very good luck with it. I love the dinosaur pictures by the way. Too funny.

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Cola82
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Sorry for not updating this thread in a while. I've been busy, it's been raining heavily, and we haven't been able to afford soil and compost and such until recently so everything has been in limbo. Unfortunately for my broccoli romanesco, that seems to mean bad things:

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I'm not sure what's wrong with it, exactly. I think it might be a magnesium deficiency. Anyway, I put them in these pots about a week ago because I was concerned what being in 6" nursery pots for so long was doing to them. It might be the cause of the stress in the mature leaves and this is just a delayed reaction. That would explain why the two smaller plants which had fewer roots aren't showing the same problem. Although all three plants have different blends of old soil, new soil, and old mulch that I had on hand to pot them.

They should be in my raised bed sometime this week, though. I'm just waiting for it to stop raining buckets.

ETA: I just want to clarify that the broccoli wasn't on the patio like this all week--I've actually been keeping them out in the raised bed to get as much sunlight as possible, but it started hailing earlier this week and I brought them under the shelter to keep them from getting pummeled.

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A fourth cat seems to have made an appearance in our yard (the tux cat in the back). Unfortunately, third cat jumped out of the raised bed when he saw me taking a photo, or they would have looked like a bed of cat plants.

We've decided to cut back on what we feed third cat to discourage other cats from viewing our yard as a free resource.

You can also see my barrels full of kale and carrots, here. The raised bed has plastic in it at the moment to kill the weeds in the bottom of it. I'm going to remove it before I fill it and use newsprint as a liner.

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Cola82
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Here's the seed starting spot in my office. Right now it's just basil (purple, sweet, and thai, but I also picked up and plant to start some lemon basil), some tomato cuttings in a shot glass, rosemary from a cutting, my maple saplings, and all the lavender I took out of the fridge last week. I'm still waiting for it to sprout.

I'm also going to start some squash today if I have time.

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Beautiful photos! And so fun to read this tread!

(The dinosaurs are great!)

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applestar
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Burgeoning tables down to a couple trays -- isn't the seed starting season crazy making? :lol:
You are doing great! I'm basically doing the same thing just a few weeks behind :D

Yesterday, when I was looking around -- I had a big project to start, but in the morning, I couldn't focus -- the sun was warm and I kept walking around aimlessly in the garden noting this and that... I found a few Japanese Maple seedlings growing and some of last year' seedlings coming back. I think I WILL try potting them up this year and see if I can protect them from rabbits and other nibblers by putting them inside one of the fenced garden areas...maybe the Blueberry bed. 8)

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Cola82
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I love finding seedlings, Applestar. They're like little gifts. :D

Okay, so, my raised bed is all squared away. I got my hands on an affordable quantity of compost and soil, tilled up the ground, laid down some newspaper as a barrier and filled them up. I installed stakes and secured them with twine to the borders of the bed so they won't fall over and put up a trellis.

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I added bird netting after I caught some starlings hunting around in there. I think they're nesting on the roof, because they keep dive bombing Third Cat when he visits the yard. Everything's a little rough because I don't have a lawnmower, so uh, yeah.

I also screened in the kale with leftover bird netting. The openings are small enough to keep the butterflies out, hopefully.

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Carrots. I'm going to make my own mistakes and learn my own lessons where they're concerned. ;p

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Shade garden over by the South side of the yard.

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