Since it was time for the peas to start popping up, I needed to add lights to the third shelf where those plants are sitting. So on Friday I ran to Home Depot and picked up everything I needed to add two more lights to the shelf. I now have three shelves of plants with 2 lights on each. 

And it was a good thing, too, as by Saturday morning there were a whole bunch of peas that had popped up. Now they'll have the light that they need.

So, I started more seeds today. It's an ongoing process to grow seedlings, as some plants need more time, some you grow early in the season, some you start later. As such, I usually have seeds going into dirt from January through April - even later if I do a fall planting.

I've updated the listing of seeds that are available thus far for this year. I will be purchasing more seeds soon, which means additional plants will be available. I also plan on buying at least one pack of strawberry bare roots, which means I'll have strawberry plants available this year as well.

I just updated the store, so you can also do pre-orders through there. So if you're interested in doing a pre-order, you can use the shop, comment on this post (or the seeds one) or contact me to put in an order. If you do a large order (50+ plants), then I will do a special price for you.

Usually when I have to deal with wilted seedlings,it's outside. Maybe we had too hot of a day and they need extra water. Or I didn't harden them off long enough. But this year I'm having the issue indoors. We've been so hot indoors lately that they are acting like they're having issues from not being hardened off long enough. Problem is they're indoors. It's just too hot inside for them and I don't have ac in that part of the house, so there's not a lot I can do (only in the bedroom).

I'm considering moving the ones most affected (cucumbers and eggplant) into my bathroom in the evenings and giving them some cool off time.

I'm looking forward to the day when I'm in a house that stays cooler or has something like a basement that stays cool. Then the poor plants won't have such a problem when the house is unusually hot. They were doing great until it got hot inside.

I am so tired of aphids. First I had the usual ones on my chives. I bought ladybugs. Then we found them indoors on my seedlings. I tried organic insecticidal soap, but that only works if it touches the bugs and they were good at hiding. So then I moved them outside and bought more ladybugs. Then a few days later I find an infestation on my kale. This time it was a different kind of aphid - these looked like globs of ash. The kale had been fine just a few days earlier. I ended up having to pull up half of it to protect the rest.

Then more seedlings inside got aphids. Then I found black ones on my beans.

I swear everywhere I turn I'm fighting aphids. And looking around town, it appears to be an issue many people are having. I'm noticing them on roses and such all over town.

Now that it's finally warmed up at night, my heirloom cucumbers are ready to go in your garden. They've been hardened off and have gigantic root systems (some already hanging out of the bottom of the 4" pots). Many already have blossoms.

All plants are grown organically by me and not treated with anything except Alaska Fish Fertilizer (organic, OMRI listed). Plants are in pots that are approximately 3.5"x3.5"x4" (often times called 4" starts). All have been hardened off and are ready for planting in the ground or in large pots.

Here's what I will have available starting this weekend:

Muncher Burpless - short and thick, can be pickled
Marketmore 76 - heavy, early, and long, can be pickled
Sumter - perfect for pickling
Spacemaster - compact, high yields; great for containers
Straight Eight - classic straight 8" cukes

Lemon cucumbers will be coming, they are just a little behind the others. If you want some of these and are certain you will pick them up, I will put a hold on them for you.

For those who are new to growing tomatoes from seed, it can be hard to know if your plants are growing on schedule as they should or whether they are behind. I've gone through my photos taken this year to give you an idea of over the course of a little over a month and a half about how your tomatoes should look. This covers from when I planted the seeds to when I moved them outside to harden off to when they were ready for sale/planting.

I keep my tomatoes inside in the warmth of the house until they are ready to be planted outside. At that point they go outside to be hardened off. Previously that meant outside in the sun for several hours and then back indoors at night. Now that I have a portable greenhouse, they go into there and I can close that up at night. Until they're ready for that, they stay indoors under the lights. Otherwise you can severely stunt their growth. They should not be moved back and forth from indoors to outdoors while they are small.

This should give you a better idea of how things should grow over that time. Next year I'll work on trying to take specific pictures of each seedling type daily so that we get a better idea of progression.

You can view the photos here in the gallery.

>

Well, with the exception of cucumbers I think I'm just about done planting seeds for this season. I've done a few batches of peppers, tomatoes, squash, and eggplant, which should be enough to meet my needs and have plenty left over to sell. Every year I am too early with my cucumbers, which means my first batch dies because it is too cold outside when I move them outdoors. So this year I am purposefully waiting a few extra weeks before I start the seeds. Since I don't have any room inside for them, I can't be tempted to start them yet. I have a bunch more peas, beans, greens, and herbs to move outside, and once I do that I'll have room for the cucumbers. 

Here's some photos of my tomatoes and squash:

PEAS:
Sugar Snap Peas (6)
Oregon Giant Snow Peas (10)
Burpeeana Early (9)
Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas (15)
Cascadia Snap Peas (6)
Oregon Sugar Pod (15)
... click "Read more" for the rest of the list.