The seeds are doing fantastic. My original plan was to put all the seeds in containers and this is where my brain synapses don't quite connect. Guess what happens when you 15 sunflower seeds. You can end up with 15 sunflower seedlings. So the seeds sprouted wonderfully and I ended up with a bunch of sunflower seedlings which each require at least a 5 gallon container. Yikes. True, you can plant 2 or 3 to a container and then weed out the ones that don't become dominant. But in my lack of confidence in my skills, I was afraid the ones I didn't pull out wouldn't make it either. So I basically kept ALL my sunflower seedlings. I have some in pots big enough for them now but after pricing containers for the rest, I decided to just jump in the deep end and go with raised garden beds. I bought enough wood for Hubby to build 3 and have set up 2 gardens. I also did some research and discovered 3-Sisters Gardening. After more google-fu, I discovered that there's more to 3-sister gardening, there's a whole concept of companion planting and have embraced this concept completely.
I also had some, what does the corporate world call them, "learning opportunities", along the way. I lost an entire batch of cucumbers because I transplanted them into the ground to early. Basically, when transplanting container plants, you should wait until the plant has essentially outgrown it's current container. If you transplant them to early, especially when going from container to ground, it is very easy to "shock" the plants. The easiest way to determine a plant is ready to be transplanted is when you see the roots coming out of the drainage hole but I've discovered that another good safe way is to just judge the size of the plant compared to the container. See, this would be a good place to put a picture of one watermelon plant that was ready to be transplanted and one that isn't.
Another learning opportunity has been the seedling greenhouse. When I first got the seedling greenhouse, it was late February/Early March. The days were still high 60's (F) and the nights were still cool. I put my seeds in their little peat moss thingy and place them on the front porch where they got maybe 2 hours of direct sunlight in very cool weather (my front porch faces northeasterly). With my second batch of seeds that included all my pumpkin seeds, the days were warmer. I left my little seedling greenhouse in my backyard where the seeds got up to 7 hours of sun a day in mostly warm weather. I essentially baked my seeds and subsequently, none of the pumpkin seeds germinated. I couldn't figure out why so I re-read the direction on the greenhouse package and did a big, "Oooh, that figures" when reading the part that the greenhouse is to be kept out of direct sunlight. My third batch of seeds, I left inside by a westwardly facing window that received maybe 2 hours of direct sunlight on cloudless days and within a week, the little seedlings were literally pushing the lid of the greenhouse up/off. I never knew how excited seeing seeds germinate would make me.
I also bought some marigolds to plant in my garden beds. Marigold is a great companion plant for all vegetable and herb gardens. Marigold gives off a pungent scent that will deter most insect pests. French Marigold, which is the ones I planted do require routine hosing to deter mites and whiteflies, but when looking at this in my garden, it's worth the extra work
Oh, I almost forgot another "learning opportunity". Did you know Painted Lady Butterflies only live for about a month after changing into butterflies? If you want to release them after watching them come out of their cocoons, it's best to not get them until after the last frost as you can not release them until the low is above 60 (f).
Our little Heimlichs were able to enjoy a little bit of freedom before their time here passed.
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