So I’m thinking I might plant some seeds in punnets and offer them for free on our local community facebook page. Everyone seems really concerned about not getting seedlings at the moment due to panic buying of anything gardening related.
I’m sitting over here like some kind of seed baron with my order from late February.
Oh hey, garden thread!
Here’s what I currently have under my grow light. These pix were all taken a few days ago so everything’s a bit bigger now.
Arugula, sugar snap peas, snow peas, rainbow chard. These are all going to have to get put into bigger containers. I can’t direct sow these at home because I currently have no means of bunnyproofing the yard and we have a bad bunny problem. (And we don’t know yet if the community garden will open.) I know you’re not supposed to transplant these, but I’ve been able to in the past; it’s the lettuce that I haven’t been successful with transplanting.)
Tomatoes! 2 Sungolds, a Cherokee Purple, and something called Camp Joy Cherry that I got as free seeds in the seed swap. Since this, I’ve also potted up a Mortgage Lifter and a Chocolate Stripes (which I have not grown before, again free seeds).
More tomato babies. As of today, all have sprouted! One took 3 weeks! (It was old seed though, I’m surprised it did anything.)
Purple basil, sweet basil
And here’s the bit of backyard I’m allowed to garden in. Not much going on here yet.
The small pots in front of the raised bed are: oregano, mint, and 2 pots of direct sown lettuce and spinach (that will get moved up to the balcony if it sprouts because bunnies). I have never, not once, successfully overwintered oregano. The mint is a couple years old but typically doesn’t start showing signs of life until mid-late May.
The big pots either have raspberries in them, or they’re going to have tomatoes in them.
The pot in the middle of the raised bed is a dwarf blueberry that didn’t flower last year and this year appears dead. 
My strawberry never totally died over the winter - weird! Now it has new growth.
And, as in previous years, the chives are going strong with absolutely no care whatsoever.
Sorry MJ, I don’t know what that is.
I managed to source four pot holders a in two different sizes from a nearby Mitre 10. Took advantage of the sloping front/side fence and hung some of the girls Gerberas on them.
This frees up the more horizontal fence lines for the small rectangular pots that I can use for other plants. Currently I have three hanging on the fence with Zinnias and Cosmos in them.
I don’t know what it is but does not look like a salad green I am familiar with.
A lot of my spinach went to seed last year, and it seems I now have some volunteers:
Took that as a cue to direct seed spinach & kale. I’ve got plenty of extra seeds if it happens to be too early.
My strawberries have the same crispy edges. Do you know what causes it?
I’ve seen that happen if they are watered during the heat of the day, because if it is really hot, the water evaporates faster than they can take it up…
I’ve been told it’s sun burn 
Nice 
I’ve read that fall spinach can be easier to grow because it’s much less apt to bolt unless stressed, because bloom in spinach is triggered by lengthening days. You might need to start indoors and transplant out though, not sure if spinach refuses to germinate over a certain soil temperature like lettuce does. Haven’t tried it yet myself. This year I’m trying kale for my first attempt at non-lettuce greens in a while because it’s usually easier to grow especially through hotter weather.
Those are the leaves that didn’t quite die over the winter. They turned brown around the edges but their centers stayed green. I’ve actually never seen that happen before.
Sunburn totally not an issue in the frozen abyss right now, haha. (Though it’s a little sunny this morning!)
Hooray, my lettuce is starting to sprout! Just a couple so far, but, progress!
Boooo, all the labels I put on the pots got rained off so I’ve actually no idea what kind of lettuce I planted.
!!! YOU GUYS. One of our garden centers is doing contactless delivery of a la carte veggie starts. I CAN HAVE PLANTS. I am so excited. They are more than I would usually spend per plant, but I CAN HAVE PLANTS. And grow more food for us to eat.
Whether or not I could get plants was seriously in question; the nursery near me is closed indefinitely and I do not want to walk into Home Depot (which would require public transportation anyway, so, no.) I literally cried happy tears when I saw this.
Now to figure out what I need. (Sigh. NEED, self. Not WANT. These are more than I usually spend, plus delivery. That’s OK.Worth it, this year.)
I planted a bunch of arugula and lettuce two weeks ago and have yet to see a sprout. Though we did have an unexpected frost the next day so maybe they are just getting out of dormancy? Or maybe all my compost is salt contaminated…
So I didn’t realize that hardening off included sun exposure, not just it being too cold outside, and I sunburnt all my seedlings (some worse than others). When will I know if they’re going to survive, and is there anything I can do to baby them in the meantime?
Are they outside? What are your temps? It’s taken me at least that long to see sprouts when we’ve had really cold springs.
Patience padawan. If it stays 50+ for a week or more and still no action maybe worry.
The best way to judge the plant’s health is the apical tip. If that looks healthy and is putting on fresh growth it’s probably gonna grow just fine.
I wouldn’t do anything extra to baby them.
It’s mostly the edges and tips of the existing leaves that have turned white and started to whither, so I’m hoping they’ll survive.
Should I be keeping them in the shade to make sure they don’t get too much sun, or keeping them in the sun (through the windows) to make sure they have nutrients?
