Lots happening in the garden today! We did some transplanting, checked in on everything that has been growing and have some exciting updates to share. Let’s get into it!
Flower Tester Bed
Starting with the flower tester bed — both rows of sunflowers have germinated and they are doing good! We also transplanted a nasturtium out today. Our zinnias are growing in more of a chaos garden pattern which we are embracing and the cosmos row is coming along. The snapdragons out there seem to be doing pretty good as well.
Our ranunculus are at an interesting stage right now. Some of the older ones are starting to die back but we do have at least one that is getting ready to bloom soon so we are excited about that. And the sweet peas — we are still watching those. That is just a learning as we grow moment for us and we are going to keep observing.
Tomato Bed
The tomato bed is looking good! One thing we did today was remove some of the lower leaves on the tomato plants. You want good aeration around your plants and you also do not want those lower leaves touching the mulch and soil because that can contribute to disease. We also transplanted some zinnias into this bed along with a basil and what we believe to be a marigold. We also have some alyssum in there — we have not had much success with alyssum in the past so we will see what happens.
A newer tomato seedling that was transplanted last week seems to be doing okay and our existing tomatoes are blooming even more. We had about three blooms last time we checked and now we are up to about five with more coming. We also spotted a little bell pepper forming but something has been munching on it so we are going to keep a close eye on that!
The snapdragons continue to be beautiful. We are losing a few leaves here and there as the flowers naturally run their course but we can already see new ones getting ready to bloom so that is exciting.
Cosmos & Zinnia Transplants
We went ahead and transplanted the cosmos out today even though they did not have as many true leaves as we would have liked. The reason we made that call is because they just were not doing well on the inside anymore. They were under the grow lights and getting watered regularly but we could tell they were lacking nutrients. We could have done a round of fish fertilizer and waited a little longer but being that it is nice outside and we are past our frost date concern it just made more sense to get them out. So we will see how they do!
We also transplanted several zinnia varieties into the pepper bed and other beds today. We took pictures of the trays to help us keep track of the varieties. These are some of the same varieties in our tester beds.
Dahlias From Seed and Dahlia Tubers
The dahlia that was growing on the inside — one of two that we had picked up from Walmart — had died but this one bloomed and was transplanted out last week. It seems to be doing well!
We also have some exciting news — we got dahlia tubers from Artemis Flower Farm and planted those today in two pots that used to house our pansies. We added fresh soil and got them planted and they actually had eyes on them already which was so exciting to see.
Bell Pepper That Almost Got Pulled
This one deserves its own moment. We have a bell pepper plant that grew from seed and then stalled. We honestly almost got rid of it but decided to just leave it and see what happened — and look at it now! So glad we gave it more time. It is a good reminder to be patient with your plants.
Cucumbers & Okra
We transplanted more cucumber seedlings out today. We also took a chance and transplanted some okra alongside the cucumbers. We had to do a little research to find out what grows well with cucumbers and okra came up so we are giving it a try. Some of okra is not looking its best right now but we are going to watch it and see what happens.
Sunflower Bed
We made a bittersweet decision and pulled all of the bachelor buttons to make room for our sunflowers. We were sad to do it but we needed the space. We now have three rows of sunflowers with each row being its own variety. More details on the varieties will be on the blog as part of the Seed to Bloom series so we can track everything properly.
Our Daughter’s Garden
And finally — our daughter grew some wildflowers from seed and we transplanted those out for her today. We are not sure how well they will do but we are rooting for them just like we root for everything else out here!
As always we are learning as we grow. Chat soon! 🌱
Sonnet 4.6