Neglect

Sometimes I think the best thing for my plants is for me to stop helicoptering over them and give them a few days of neglect. I had that chance the past week with a driving trip to a family wedding. They weren't completely neglected as I had irrigation set up to water everything every morning. When I got back today, I did notice a few changes, perhaps the most significant is the potatoes are up. Here they are in the big grow bag surrounded by cilantro. They were planted April 4.

I want to plant potatoes in another big grow bag in our back yard, so we will see how they do lagging behind by five weeks. Also, the sprouts are actual seed potatoes and the ones I'm planting next are grocery store potatoes.

The Supertunias all look fine after a week of semi-neglect, and the Vista Bubblegum continues to be the most vigorous. But this Hoopla Vivid Orchid together with Priscilla looks like it is developing into a good basket.

I did take some petunia cuttings as insurance against a frozen greenhouse, and these have been churning away in the garage closet under grow lights. Only one has definitely developed roots, and that one is (surprise) Blue Vein. I'll stick it in the basket with Royal Velvet to provide some contrast.

My grand plan has been to grow snow peas in hanging baskets through mid-June, then replace them with cucumbers. I envisioned the peas hanging over the edge of the basket, but it looks like they might climb up the chains instead. I put the pea baskets outside today, along with two strawberry baskets at the other end, but I will probably have to bring them back inside this weekend as the weather is supposed to get cold again. Never forget that our average last frost date is June 9.

When I test-hung the baskets on the outside of the greenhouse last November, the baskets on the east side cleared the windows, and those on the west side bumped them by an inch. But those test baskets were empty, and the ones I hung today were laden with moist soil. They are interfering with opening/closing the windows on both ends. I can either shorten the chains by a few inches, or get used to wrestling the baskets when I want to open/close the windows.

On another negative note, it seems about five or six of the 27 strawberry plants are either lagging way behind or will not make it. The bothersome part about that is three of them are right in the middle of the east planting bed. I don't know whether to let runners fill in the apparently-empty spot, or transplant from one of the grow bags. Another bothersome development is the straw I used as mulch is sprouting. I should have used pine shavings. But most of the strawberries seem to be doing fine, and there are bees buzzing around to act as pollinators when they start to flower.