Good, bad, and !!! news

Bad news: something ate the two baby Rudbeckia fulgida I put out yesterday.

Good news: all the fluttermill evening primrose, same size as Rudbeckia, are fine. This includes the three just a few yards away.

!!! News… A yucca may be sprouting???

See the tiny green point in the middle? Definitely not a usual weed! This is in one of the containers I left out all winter.

Post-thunderstorm quick check

Parnsips up in a few clumps.
Based on location I believe a few moss curled parsley seedlings are up.  Cilantro was up too in other spots.
Green milkweed opening the seed leaves. Previously they were mostly rooting only.
Top soil for Rudbeckia fulgida washed away.
Top soil for evening primrose also washed away.  Both this and Rudbeckia were under rain barrel stands so I think that doesn’t provide enough shelter in a big rain like last night.  I think the blue flax seedlings all washed away sadly. Hopefully the ones I put in ground will make it. Hard to find those though once i planted them. The green milkweed were under the patio table and still got lots of good rain water.

Wet plants need air circulation

It’s supposed to get into the 40s F tonight so we brought the tender plants in (peppers, ground cherries, tomatoes).

This requires covering to secure them from Cat Ideas. However, each tray has a good half inch plus of water in them and the soil is saturated from massive rain this afternoon and evening, and I don’t want any chances of mold.

Wes fixed up a second plant fan for me and I cut two holes in the box for one set. We opened two towel corners for the shelf tray.

The box covers the plants. The hole is for the air to move through the box. The empty oatmeal containers are to keep the cat from investigating the fan at the lower right corner of the towel. The metal bucket is to prevent the cat from moving the box.
The fan pushing air through the box.

Earwig defense

Well, a few more carrot seedlings disappeared under the bunny defense screen, so we put out some diatomaceous earth to try to stop the presumed earwig depredations (or whatever insect it is. I guess roly-polies are an option too but I haven’t seen any). We’ll see if it works.

A collard green seedling with its new powder. Also put it around carrots, parsnips, cabbages, mustard greens, and over the newly re-seeded rows of mizuna and bok choy.

Pepper potting

Paula rightly pointed out that the baby peppers needed more room to grow.

Thanks to some extra pots from Elyse and containers that Paula and I saved up, we were able to put all the big peppers and Peruvian ground cherries into larger containers. Now they are hanging out with the tomatoes and tomatillos all in their big containers.

Planting some primroses

We put about half of the baby primroses out. They do all have at least one adult leaf.

One of the fluttermill evening primrose seedlings just above the rose rock. We put these three at the edge of the rock garden and the mulch.

Native seed stratification success

Several seeds I pulled out of the fridge recently are sprouting in their humid containers so we planted them today!

Liatris mucronata from Mom!  Yay!
The yucca has a really long root! Mom, is this Arkansas yucca?  It’s the one from your house.
The green milkweed (Asclepias viridis) had tons of seeds sprouting and a very brushy or fluffy root for each seedling.  We put them root down, I just wanted to show the fluffy root here. Dad got these seeds for me!