tomatoes and herbs

My Tomatoes seem quite happy in their new greenhouse.These are some of the cherry tomatoes:

And here is one of the brandywines:

They share the space with six little Basil plants:

I moved the Marjoram

and Summer Savory back into the cold frame

Still have lots more of these two herbs in company of their own kind, not sure what I'm going to do with them all...

quintuple green!

My beautiful Avocado plant has not two or four new leaves growing, but five at once!

growing, growing

Look how wonderfully my Okra seedlings are growing!

There was one smaller one nearby in a seedling tray that looked like it was getting nibbled by a slug. I moved that one into a cardpot, too. I think the burgundy okra has the red stems.

Nearby in the coldframe are the young Tithonia plants.

future flores

I've noticed that some of my Cosmos in the coldframe have thicker leaves than the others

The thinner-leaved ones are numerous, and in smaller pots. Are they just less-developed, or do the orange and pink ones have slightly different shaped leaves?

Marigolds are perking up outside again.

And the pot of Mums is growing!

cilantro

I've noticed that my Cilantro in pots

are doing much better than the ones in cardpots; plus those have some nasty-looking black mold. I never had black mold on my cardpots before and it alarms me.

So I removed all those plants from the cardpots (actually peeling the cardboard off) and replanted them in plastic pots. Maybe they were just in the cardboard too long?

I felt the same about my little Dill plants, so those got moved into plastic pots as well.

coles

My Broccoli plants are looking good!

The Brussel Sprout seedlings have quickly caught up. They look almost identical, except the Brussel Sprout ones have slightly rounder leaves, with more gentle scallops on their edges.

nasturtiums

My Nasturtiums were just getting bigger and bigger

So I finally put them into real pots.

Pepper SIPs

My bigger Peppers have all been moved out into the coldframe, where they seem to be flourishing. It's lovely to see the frame full of greenery!

I have two smaller Ancho Peppers just recently moved from their seedling tray into bottle SIPs in the windowsill.

I looked pics of these up online to see what kind of pepper ancho is and was surprised. They looked just like the peppers I got last year that A. said were poblanos. A little googling gave me the answer to this: they're the same pepper. Fresh ones are called poblanos, when they're dried more often called ancho.

The Bell Peppers have gotten so large they almost don't fit in the coldframe anymore:

It's rather cool to see the roots growing, through the clear sides of the bottle SIPs. But I do wonder how easily I'll get the plants out of there when its time to put them in the ground...

poinsettia anew

Just a little while ago I cut back my Poinsettia and let it go dry. I was surprised yesterday to see some new leaves on it already! I didn't expect it to grow again so soon. I've repotted it in a recycled soda-bottle SIP. It's not much wider than the old container it was in, but twice as deep, so it will have some room to expand the roots...

leafing out

The Pear has a little leaf! or two

a walk

through the yard just to see how things are doing

My Garlic bed looks marvellous!

The Strawberries are getting lush.

Turnips are getting their first true leaves; I need to do a bit more thinning here. Carrots nearby are coming up little green threads too small to get a good photo easily.

A few Hosta are emerging in the front beds among the tulips. (I haven't weeded here- yikes!)

The Mints are flourishing (of course) after their move.

new lilies

A few days ago I bought some pots of Daylilies from a lady who grows them in her backyard. She makes her own crosses, so I'm eager to see what beautiful flowers these will make!

I dug up the turf in a corner aside one of my crepe myrtles near the driveway steps and put in some compost, backed it with more of those roofing tiles. (I don't feel quite so odd about using this material; the grower had it mulching the paths of her entire garden space- which is many times bigger than mine!)

Their names  and descriptions are so enticing:

rose bitone
rosy purple
Catapult Sam x Lola Branham (I'm guessing this is one of the crosses?)
Love Will Find a Way- lavender cream blend w/creamy yellow throat & edge
Vi x Stellas- clear light pink ruffled edges
After Awhile Crocodile x Texas Feathers- light purple w/cream & green throat
Catapult Sam x Shuffle Hue- red purple burgundy eye chartreuse throat

I'm not sure I always read the handwriting correctly. And there were numbers on the tags, too, but I'm not sure what they mean. I googled images of all the names and they all look lovely!

The baby sat outside with me while I planted them. It was a sunny warm day, but the wind made her squint!

growing fast

I'm always thrilled and amazed at how quickly the Rhubarb grows. Look at this progress in just a week!

subirrigated violets

I had two juice bottles turned into subirrigated planters and was going to put Crassula in them when I realized the bottom of each bottle had an inverted bump in the middle. So when the "pot" part is set in, the wick doesn't reach the lowest level of the water, there's a little moat, as it were, left around the edge.

I thought this would be perfect for my African Violets.

They like constant humidity, enough that the common recommendation is to put them in a deep saucer over pebbles in water.

If there's a ring of water below where the wick can absorb it, I think that will serve the same purpose.

They seem happy enough already!

jades

An update on my Crassula population. The two that I think of as "the twins" weren't looking as healthy as the others. So I upended them and put each in its own subirrigated planter.

And here are amazing ones, "the quintuplets". Just about ready each for its own space, now!

greenhouse

I built myself a new little plastic "greenhouse". Nailed a framework together out of scrap wood

and then stretched some plastic (from the mattress store- thanks for the idea, Mom!) over it, fastened with staples.

The young tomato and basil plants look marvelous in there.

It wasn't easy to do. I'm no carpenter and my design wasn't very good; I had to start over a few times. Nails didn't hold well so then I put it together with wood screws. It's uneven and leans a bit but holds together fine, looks way better than my old one!