gardening update, Monday 4/24/17

[edenfalling]

The Lazarus pepper continues to chug along. I don't think the current flower is going to produce fruit, but the plant itself seems to be gearing up to sprout some more leaves and flowers, so hey, we'll see what happens over the summer. :)





The new pepper seedlings all continue to do well. (...I'm going to have to find pots for all of them, aren't I. Oh, bother.)


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1. Eeny, dying
2. Meeny, thriving?


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3. Miny 2, status uncertain
4. Mo, status uncertain


Meanwhile, the squash are doing... not so well. Of the four I transplanted last week, only one (Meeny) seems to be thriving. One (Miny 1) already died and has been replaced by one of the previously un-transplanted seedlings. The replacement is now unhappy in turn. Another of the initial transplants (Eeny) is in the process of dying; I expect it to be withered by morning. And the fourth (Mo), like the replacement transplant, is... let's go with 'not happy' and leave it there, yeah?

The moral of this story is that I should A) not plant squash at all until mid-April and B) plant them directly in their final homes -- probably two or three seeds to a container, and then thin to whichever seedling seems healthiest after three weeks or so.

We learn by doing, I suppose, and I have plenty of squash seeds left. I will plant a couple of them in Eeny's container later this week, once I know whether I'll be replacing Miny 2 and Mo as well. (I have no seedlings left to transplant; the remaining three have all died.)


[[original Tumblr post, for when the embedded images inevitably break]]

Comments

[mme_hardy]

The Lazarus pepper looks really, really healthy, and this may well be its year. Do you think it might have been too cold for the squash, still?

[edenfalling]

It has absolutely still been too cold outside! Which is why I've been keeping all my seedlings in my kitchen, right up next to the windows. I think it's just the shock of transplanting that did the squash in, as the lack of root space has done in the ones that remained in their tiny plastic cups. :/

[mme_hardy]

Oh, are you pulling out thinnings and transplanting direct into the ground? Yeah, squashes are pretty cranky about that IIRC.

[edenfalling]

I sprouted eleven seedlings in tiny plastic applesauce cups, and transplanted four (well, five) of them into big plastic storage containers. They did, indeed, get cranky about that. *wry*

[mme_hardy]

I get (got) sentimental about thinnings too, but honestly the wisest thing to do is plant as many cups as you need then (gap) kill the runts with nail scissors. That way you don't risk damaging the roots of the strongest plant by pulling out the stragglers.