We have now entered the hardening off stage for the first round of seedlings. Which is good news but if the weather doesn’t start warming up soon, I am going to run out of room inside.
Right now I have 70+ chive plants and ?? English lavender plants in pretty much every window at the back of the studio.
Keep the neighbors guessing, that’s what I say. 😉
I had the chives and lavender under grow lights, but I needed the lights for my next round of seedlings {peppers, rhubarb and peas} so to the windowsills they went!
A bunch of red Solo cups in the windows… Is that classy or what?
The mud room stays about 65 degrees thanks to a sunny window and the baseboard heat below so the plants are thriving there.
I’ll rotate the cups once I see the plants start to lean towards the window {about every few days or so}.
The last time we were at Costco we picked up an oscillating fan to toughen up the seedlings before they head outside.
Right now I turn it on for about an hour a day. In another few days I’ll up it to two hours a day. By doing this, when it’s time to start hardening them off outside, they’ll be used to the breezy conditions.
I figure by the time the first round of plants is ready to go in the ground {end of April?} the plants will be pretty hardy.
Isn’t gardening cool? Everyone has their own set of tricks. 🙂
In other news, the first of the pepper seedlings are starting to break though the soil.
If I was a beginning gardener and didn’t know any better, I would have thrown these out after 10 days of no action.
Pepper seeds take FOREVER to germinate. I think I planted my pepper seeds like three weeks ago. They’re crazy s-l-o-w.
Also, I ordered more seeds. I told myself I wasn’t going to order anymore this year but I couldn’t resist.
- 20,000 Shasta daisy seeds
- 1000 Indian Spring Mixed Color Hollyhock seeds
- 40 Mixed Color Hibiscus Flowering Shrub Seeds
So maybe I really didn’t seed that many Shasta Daisy or Hollyhock seeds, but man oh man, wouldn’t a garden filled with a ton of hollyhocks be glorious?
I took this picture of hollyhocks in someone’s yard last summer. They’re just so dreamy. I figure if I only get 10% of the seeds to bloom I’ll be thrilled.
If I get more I can always offer them on the garden trolley.
And the Shasta daisies? You can never have enough of those. They’ll make a fantastic border. Especially along the fence. Any extras can go on the garden trolley as well.
Gardening projects. You can never have enough of them. That’s my theory anyway.
How is YOUR garden coming along? Have you bought any crazy cool seeds or plants lately? Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
Julie V says
Love seeing your garden adventures starting. I’m dealing with some unexpected health problems so won’t be starting seed starts ahead.. I’m going to pick up transplants if I am able to garden when it’s time. I did purchase some Medieval garden seed to grow.. Sorrel and Good King Henry and some Asian seed… bitter melon and another Asian edible gourd that I am excited to try.
Mavis Butterfield says
I have never tried bitter melon before but it looks really interesting. Now I want to try it!!
Katy @ Practical Walk says
I have a question, how long do you harden off before transplanting? Last year I lost so many plants when I transplanted.
The plant I’m most excited about is what we call Bissap in West Africa, but here it’s roselle hibiscus.
My sis in law gave me some of her hollyhock seeds
Mavis Butterfield says
It really depends on your area but generally about 1-2 weeks is sufficient.
Katy @ Practical Walk says
Also, I was running out of things to start seeds in, so thanks to your inspiration, I ran to Dollar General and bought some cheap disposable cups!
Sandy says
Just put together my Vego raised beds- thank you so much for telling us about them. Planted peppers, herbs and tomatoes. CA heat is crazy now…
Mavis Butterfield says
So glad you like them. Kiln Guy ordered some too. 🙂 Everyone is going to be growing vegetables this year.
Julie says
I don’t know if all Hollyhocks are the same, but you should be drowning in Hollyhocks by next year. I also don’t know if they are all a two year deal either… the first year is greenery, the second year they bloom. and they reseed themselves profusely. They are GORGEOUS!
Jeri says
I’m curious, do you poke holes in the red solo cups or put some gravel in for drainage?
Cathy says
I have tried to transplant hollyhocks before and their long taproot makes them really touchy FYI. Once you get them started somewhere they will reseed themselves all over. They cross pollinate, I believe, as I never know from year to year what color I will get! You will be able to get tons of seeds off of them year after year. Love them!
Gigi says
I actually started some hollyhocks from seed just now. Figure give a few plants a boost
Lynne says
Hollyhocks are easy to grow from seed!
Laurie says
My pepper plants are taking forever! I’ve got my e 2 peeking out and like 25 doing nothing. Been 2 weeks. Peas and onions going like gangbusters. Cucumbers are also very slow this year. I’ve got 4 vegos- can’t wait to plant!!!
Mavis Butterfield says
I think I’m on week #3 with the peppers and maybe 60% are up. They take forever to get going. Hang in there. 🙂