Spring Recap

It's May 1st, and this seems like a good time to look back on what I did so far and what I would or would not do again.

Spring Bulbs

Last fall, I bought a lot more bulbs than I planted.  I did not plant the Alliums that I bought, and I think I ended up throwing them out because half of them were rotten.  I don't think they were like that when I bought them, but maybe?  I also bought a lot of Daffodils- some Dutch Masters, and Tete a Tete.

I forced a bunch of Tete a Tete in pots, and that was totally successful.  I will definitely do that again.  The whole "no fruit in the fridge" thing was not an issue, probably because I don't really eat fruit, but I think I must have had some limes in there for a while.  The timing of it was good, too.  I put the Daffodils in there in October, and I think I took them out in early February.  Perfect.  The only thing I will not do again is bring them in to work, because apparently they can upset people.  I also did a few Crocus, and they did not fare so well.  I'm not really sure why.

Next year I will force the Daffodils the exact same way.  Maybe I will also try some Tulips.

I did not plant any Daffodils in the ground.  I did plant a bunch of them in a container, but they didn't come up.  I got a few green shoots but they were brown on the tops and didn't grow.  Maybe it didn't drain well.

I kind of wish I had planted some Daffodils in the Sidewalk Bed.  The old ones came up, but not as many flowers as I would like.  Maybe if I am up for it, I could plant a bunch more Daffodils in there next fall.

I had pulled up a lot of the Darwin Tulips last spring, and I replanted them in the fall.  I also planted these short, fluffy daffodils in there, in two big clumps.  It looks so terrible now.  I don't know, maybe if I had spread them out a little more?  This year I'm not planning to pull anything out.  But next fall, it would be really good to put in more Tulips.

Now, the tulips in the Patio Bed- those are fantastic.  I'm so happy with the decision to put them in there, to pack them in so tight, to stagger the early, middle and late Tulips back to front.  I'm really pleased that they last this long, too.  They've looked good for several weeks, and they aren't even all up yet.  I think the weather has actually helped with that, because it got chilly again after they flowered.

I'll need to pull them out eventually to plant it with Coleus and Begonias.  But I need to wait as long as possible to do that so they get as much sun as possible and hopefully flower again next year.

I might be able to wait long enough and pull them out and save them.  But I'm not going to wait forever.  I'll give them until June 1st, and then I will pull them out.  Maybe I'll move them to some containers or something so they get more sun, maybe not.  But I want to get the Coleus and Begonias in there soon and get that area going.  In fact, I think I need to transplant the Coleus to something bigger soon so they keep growing and stay alive.


Seed Starting

The first things I started was Kale, which was reasonably successful.  They all grew nicely and they were easy to keep alive.  I think I transplanted them in late March, and they've done well enough outside, but not grown tremendously.  I will do some Kale again this fall, because that is really the better time.  I'll also do Radicchio at the same time.

Next was Coleus.  I'm glad I started the Coleus when I did, of course, but I am really disappointed in how few plants I got.  I think I spent $20 on seeds, and I could have bought these plants for not much more than that.  It's cool to grow them from seeds and all, but not especially rewarding.  I guess I could try saving seeds?  It's worth a try.

Then  I started the Rudbeckia.  So far, I think that was the most successful endeavor.  I started 18 and I ended up with 17 big, healthy plants.  I transplanted them into soda bottles, which works really well.  They were pretty low-maintenance after that.  I finally transplanted them in the Sidewalk Bed, I think April 16th.  They all seem to still be alive, although I don't see much new growth.  To be fair, we haven't had a lot of sun recently.  They are supposed to bloom early summer through fall.  If they do well, it will be fantastic, a mass of flowers like that all grown from seed.  I win!

Let's talk about Tomatoes now.  I started these mid January as well.  I am glad I started them in the larger pots, not in the little six-packs, so I didn't have to mess with them too much.  It might be a little early to start tomatoes, sure, but I don't think any harm was done.  I'm ok with the number of plants I started- 5 of each of the 3 varieties.  I'm down to 3 Sun Gold, 3 Fresh Salsa and 4 Brandy Boys.  And what would I do differently?  I would actually label them properly.  I'll get popsicle sticks for each container so I can move them around and still know which is which.  I also could have potted them up into larger containers sooner, and fed them a little better.

So next time- wait until late February to start tomatoes, label properly, get some more large pots and some potting mix ready for transplanting in like, April.

I guess the next think I started was Romaine.  I think they ended up dead from lack of water, or because it got too hot.  Then I think I started more, maybe, and those are in the Raised Bed now.  I like the idea of starting them pretty early because they are fast, and I could get decent Romaine heads in late Spring.

I had no success with Bok Choy.  I think I started some and they just looked so bad that I gave up.  I will certainly try them again in the fall.  I'm not really sure what went wrong.

I started Basil in late February.  It probably didn't need to be that early, and I definitely was running out of room.  I think the extra round of Basil was started about a month later, and they are actually kind of an appropriate size to transplant now.  The main group of Basil were getting pretty big and I had to keep pinching them back already.  But I think it's safe to say I cannot plant too much Basil, there are plenty of people willing to adopt them.

Then I started on some Zinnias.  Of course those grew well.  I maybe started the State Fair Zinnias too early, because they got quite big and I couldn't really do anything with them.  I also read that it is very important to zinnias to have a normal sunlight/dark cycle.

So next year, I need to get a timer for the grow light.  I think that will help a lot of things, and it won't get so hot in there.

In early March, I planted a bunch of Radish seeds in the window box.  I like that idea, even though they are not really a very attractive plant.  I can plant pretty much any time, because that soil is always warm.   I didn't remember to water it, and that definitely slowed them down, but I still got a nice harvest of Radishes after like, 6 weeks.  The hard part is now sowing way too many seeds, because then I need to carefully thin them.

I started some lettuce in the Gutter Garden, but that hasn't done very well.  It's too cold for it to germinate properly, and I'm just starting to get some growth now.  I will definitely get lettuce going in there in the fall.  Actually, maybe it would be better to plant the lettuce in the window box next spring, and the Radishes in the Gutter Garden.  At least they would get rain.

I started some Morning Glory in little pots under lights, but really I should have filled my long containers with potting soil and started them in there.  I would have a lot more plants, obviously, and they would be getting going pretty well by this point and producing flowers much earlier.  The reason I did not get that going was because I didn't have potting soil and I had other crap in those containers.  So maybe next year I will be more organized about that.  I will also try to save some seeds again, because it's actually pretty easy.

I should have started some Cilantro, and I should have done it a while ago, like back at the same time I started all the Basil.

Also Swiss Chard.  I kind of started some a few weeks ago, but because I'm not paying as much attention, they've just kind of dried up and died.  That's on me.

I think I had a reasonable scope of what plants I can start from seed.  The tomatoes were the new thing and they have done well.  I will probably change my timing a little, and I'll get a timer for the lights.