pepperhead212's 2025 garden

[pepperhead212]

I wanted to put in some of those greens today, but it was too windy, so instead, I put in those scallions, that I started from seeds - the usual Evergreen Bunching Onion, and a new one (to me), White Lisbon. The Lisbon didn't germinate nearly as well, only getting 23 sprouts with about the same amount of seeds in the same type of pot - one of those containers I get 8 oz of mushrooms in. From the Evergreen Bunching Onions I got over 70, though the sprouts are mostly smaller. I just poked holes about 2" on both sides of one of the drip lines, about 3" apart, and dropped the sprouts into them, them squeezed the soil around them. Don't know how long they take to grow, but I have a lot of others, from fall planting, and some onion sets, I planted about a month ago.
Scallions doing great in first row, the second row is from onion sets, planted about a month ago. 4-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The garlic is doing great, due to the rain, as well as the shallots, finally taking off. And you can't imagine those garlic chives! The alliums have all benefited from the rain, and not bothered by the cold I've been having.
Garlic doing great, with all this rain I've been getting. 4-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dutch Red Shallots, starting to get some growth on them. 4-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Regular chives, 4-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Some of those garlic chives, behind the shed. 4-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Volunteer flower, that popped up in my garlic chive patch. 4-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

More peppers sprouting today, but I waited until this evening to transplant, as they weren't very tall yet.

[JayneR13]

That volunteer could be a lily. It's lovely, whatever the variety name!

[pepperhead212]

I got a lot done today! Starting last night, when I soaked some okra and cucumber seeds, then today I put them on a layer of damp paper towels, in a petri dish, for each variety - 3 okra and 5 cucumbers. The Little Lucy okra has several seeds already that are sprouting! Later, I took all 4 of my indoor plants out to put on the deck, as every day in the extended forecast is well above average, and only one day has a low below 50, and it's only 48°, so the curry tree won't be bothered. After that, I set up my irrigation system, with the times all set up, but that was all, as it has been so wet here, not much watering is needed yet. Supposed to rain again overnight, and rained very briefly around 5 pm, but not much.

[pepperhead212]

I got a bunch more done out there today - more of the drip irrigation system set up, and the front is still left, which I'll do in the morning, when the sun is out back. I keep forgetting it until the sun's out front, plus it's hotter! I stuck the roll for the front where I could almost trip over it, before going down the steps out back - can't forget it now.

I got almost all of those SIPs "refreshed", and it won't be long until the tomatoes are in! The only thing I have to watch for is the wind! The low temps that are forecast aren't to cold for the peppers. I've had that oscillating fan on everything on and off every day, and I have been leaving the window open on cool nights, to sort of harden them off indoors. Here are those tomatoes, on 4-29, started on 4-7.
Tomatoes, 4-29, ready to harden off. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[GoDawgs]

That volunteer almost looks like a very young hyacinth.

[PlainJane]

That volunteer almost looks like a very young hyacinth.

I think a Scilla …

[pepperhead212]

I finally took down my larger hydroponics system, since all that was left growing in it was the parsley, savory, and epazote. I have some epazote cuttings rooting (hopefully), and I planted that trimmed back summer savory outside, to see if it takes. I've done that with parsley before, and it rooted, but this just got too large, and was probably getting ready to flower. I got about 1½ gallons of parsley, washed and spun dry. I remember some parsley pesto in one of Jeff Smith's books...

Last parsley out of the hydroponics, which I finally took down yesterday. That is the 12 gal tub from the first hydroponics, to give an idea of its size. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



Savory, from the hydroponics, flowering in late April. Will try moving it to outside, and see if it takes hold. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I put in all 32 of my tomatoes this evening - 9 old varieties, and 14 new varieties. I was going to wait until Sunday, because of the forecasts I kept hearing of possible gusty storms, first for tonight, then maybe Saturday night, but every forecast I see now shows that stuff going west of here, and not much wind here. And those tomatoes are getting overgrown, despite planting them on 4-7 - a week later than normal. I might start them on 4-10 next season.
Tomatoes, the smaller tray, 5-2, just before planting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I also planted my pole beans - usually not until 5-15, but it has been warm lately. Also direct seeded some cukes, to see how they compare to the pre-started ones.

[pepperhead212]

My peppers are starting to take off - today, I'll have to separate some of the smaller plants, that are being shaded by some of the largest ones. I'll have to make a note of these smaller ones - mostly chinense varieties, or later ones - and place them by themselves in another tray from now on.

Planted my zinnias, Mexican sunflowers, and tomatillos this morning.

[pepperhead212]

Here's those chives, with almost every flower bud open. I'll cut all of them off soon, unless there are a lot of pollinators on them, and make a stir-fry with them. On the right side is a parsley plant that is flowering, in its second season. Under that, in the far right, is an Italian sage plant, that comes back every year, and on the left, marjoram, that also comes back every year.
Almost all of the chive blossoms open, 5-3. No buds started on the garlic chives, but that might be due to the dry weather I've been having. The herb bed is where I can water it, and have it hooked up to a dripline. by pepperhead212, on Flickr


Here are those peppers that are finally taking off - it will be interesting to see if those larger ones will be some of those I started later, because they grow faster (the superchili and any jalapeños). I moved the habaneros, which are always slower, but finally showing growth. And those eggplants on the right are taking off, too. The peppers, taking off - those large ones probably doubled in the last week. 4-3 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I still never got a sprout from those pea eggplant seeds, even the second batch, that I soaked in some GA-3 - 250 ppm - which helped with some older regular eggplant seeds one time, and helped sprout 6/7 Matrosik seeds, that I tried at the same time as the pea EP. This time I'll try soaking overnight in a KNO3 solution, then put them in my seed sprouter, rinsing several times a day - my last attempt. It's only a month late, but if it works, this should speed it up.

[JayneR13]

I cut some chives to sprinkle on my potatoes last night. There's just something about eating what I've grown that cheers me! Gardening is not a hobby for the lazy and eating my own food makes it all worthwhile.

I had a similar problem with watermelon seeds! I seeded twice, two different varieties, not one sprout. I didn't try the GA3 or the KNO3. It is disheartening. One of my attempts was with commercial seed.

[pepperhead212]

@JayneR13 Here's something you might find useful for the watermelon seeds - a method I just discovered for speeding up the germination of some Asian cucurbits, with notoriously thick seed husks, which are very difficult to sprout, even after soaking. In this video the lady shows how to clip the outer portion of the husk, to just barely expose the inner part of the seed, speeding up the sprouting considerably. I just did this with a bitter melon, and 3 different bottle gourds, and out of curiosity, I tried one watermelon seed. The husk seemed thinner on the watermelon seed I had, but some might be thicker.

.

[pepperhead212]

Well, that Burpee bok choy is just now starting to bolt - the only thing so far, and I was expecting wu choy to bolt first, only because it is supposed to be much more cold resistant than others. Soon I'll have to harvest that bok choy. The smaller plants around those larger ones are mostly kohlrabi, but I do have a couple of those garlic kale plants near the senposai.
A larger, and smaller senposai. 5-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

2 smaller Koquie bok choy, and the dark wu choy. No bolting in those. 5-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The larger bok choy from Burpee, just starting to bolt, due to the heat, recently. 5-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[JayneR13]

Don't you just hate eating the food you've grown? Walking right by the produce aisle in the store, knowing that yours is unlikely to be recalled due to some dread organism! Preserving your harvest is so much hassle when there's TV to watch and video games to play!

LOL NOT!

[pepperhead212]

I put in most of my peppers today - still a few later ones, mostly chinense, but a few later ones that were just extras of the ones that almost all of them germinated. They'll be a couple weeks late, but they take off quickly.

I was ready to give up on the seeds for the pea EP, and tonight, there was a sprout! Only one in about 12, but maybe others will start now. The Matrosik is starting to take off now - started about 2 weeks late.

[pepperhead212]

I got the first opened blossoms on both of the Jaspers, which are still the largest, but several have almost caught up, and number have some unopened buds on them. I went out to check them out, and was surprised that they were all dried out! The leaves, that is (I knew that the soil wouldn't be dry), but still, it's been very humid, and I don't touch anything out there if the leaves are wet. I clipped all the early suckers, which all of them have, of course, and noticed all those with unopened buds, even some of the larger plants. But only the Jaspers opened, so far.
First open tomato blossoms, on Jaspers, 5-16 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The cukes are taking off, and I snipped the smallest plants from each pot, leaving the best of the 2 or 3. I gave 6 extra seedlings to my friend today, along with 2 butternut squash seedlings, and she dropped off an extra cucumber seedling she had, so we both have 6 varieties of cucumbers, to compare this year!

[pepperhead212]

One of the tomatillos had the first opened flowers today - earlier than usual, due to the heat, probably. A few other tomatoes had opened flowers, too, and are growing like crazy! I sprayed the Surround and potassium bicarbonate solution on everything again, as that very heavy rain washed the first layer off, plus there was a lot of new growth. No more rain until maybe Wednesday. Got windy out there later, so the lawn should be dried off, if I have to mow it, and it will be much cooler tomorrow.

[JayneR13]

Most of my seedlings are flowering! I've been pinching many of them in fact. They're going into the ground at the food pantry on Tuesday although the weather is a bit cooler than I'd like. The seedlings are unhappy in their pots and really need to be in dirt.

[pepperhead212]

I transplanted those 6 Matrosik EP seedlings to the larger pots - usually ready to go out in just 10 days, after they go into those pots! Also got one more pea EP sprouted, so I have one backup. I know one lady who might grow something like that, but I'm only growing one.

Here are those Matrosik seedlings, with the roots coming out of the pellets, and in the larger pots. They should catch up with those earlier ones soon after being put out.
The Matrosiks in the Jiffy pellets, before putting in the larger pots. 5-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Matrosiks in the larger pots, under the lights. 5-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I've been delaying the planting of those okra, and the rest of the peppers I have left, due to the rainy and cold weather, but this weekend I should get those in. I also have some butternuts I probably would have put in, if it weren't for this weather. Once again we are "officially" no longer in a drought, or even a dry zone, but this happened back in March, then the low April showers and dry early May, put us back in a drought again! (rofl) the last time I mowed, despite over 2" of rain a couple days earlier, I had to wear a mask, the dust was so bad.

[JayneR13]

It's been cooler than normal here too, with nights in the lower to mid 40s and a few frost warnings. Frost-sensitive plants do not like this weather! Happily, most of the stuff I planted at the pantry garden is handling it OK. Hopefully the plants won't be stunted!

It's finally warming up here. I'll likely get my own garden in next week.