End of another phase

I feel like I'm done with the outdoor planting phase. Next to the house, today I planted the recently-acquired Russian Sage and another Monarda, this one red. (The one in the greenhouse barrel is purple.) All of the grow bags that were marked for the house have made it over there and have been caged to keep out the deer. That includes two tomatoes, two peppers, two sunflowers, and a cilantro. From the outside greenhouse grow bags I rescued the Vermillion and the purple salvia that had been chewed on by deer. They are now in a caged small grow bag at the house, and since they are not cold hardy they will probably spend the next X number of summers and winters in that bag until their demise or the bag falls apart. I think they will grow back from the deer damage, but I guess that is not guaranteed.

I took the sage that had been in the bag with the purple salvia and gave it an 8-inch terra cotta, and transferred the blue salvia from that bag to the other big outside bag. I used some of the soil from bag for other things, so now I have a half-empty bag taking up space in the greenhouse. I'm not sure what I am going to do with it. The surviving big grow bag has been moved slightly so now it is in front of the greenhouse rather than off to the side. The other pots in this image are the hardy herbs and velveteen that have been living outside the past few days. I have no plans to move them.

The next indoor planting phase will have to wait until we get back from our trip June 16. I've been slowly potting up, and here are a pepper, three tomatoes, three petunias, three coleus and an aloe that have received 6-inch pots and space at the top of the mini.

There's one tomato currently in a small grow bag, so there's a maximum of four that will get planted in the west bed. There are four peppers still in 4-inch pots, so that is a total of five for the beds. In addition to the peppers, under the mini's grow lights are four marigolds, four rooted velveteens and 12 newer velveteen cuttings, two aloe, two rosemary, eight oregano cuttings, 12 petunia cuttings, and some marjoram sprouts. I had been trying to propagate petunias in plastic cups so I could see if roots were developing, but they did not drain well and probably suffocated the plants. In six-cells I don't have that problem, but I can't see the roots unless they poke through the slits in the side. Today I ordered some clear PETG filament and will print transparent six-cells.

The other part of the order today was six new hanging brackets, not cheap at nearly $40 each. I have been hanging peas and strawberries on the brackets outside the greenhouse at times, and they are perfectly fine for those baskets. But the Bubblegum-Jazzberry basket has foliage extending at least six inches over the rim. The baskets on the current 11-inch brackets are about two inches from the wall. The new brackets will be twice as long. I probably will use all of the new brackets at the house, four in back and two in front, and forego hanging petunias outside at the greenhouse. Just peas, cucumbers and strawberries.

Speaking of strawberries, there are no red ones yet but the single Montana plant has some huge blossoms. It is one of the few plants doing well in the planting bed. I have plucked out the remains of several dead ones. The Albions that are looking the best, by far, are in the hanging baskets. The grow bags also look OK, although only four of the five plants survived. My theory is the baskets are doing the best because they have good drainage. My basket soil is not like the clay that I was digging in today to plant the Russian Sage and the Monarda, but it's a lot more dense than the succulent soil.

I left windows at both ends open this evening. C'mon, pollinators. I won't do that when we are gone in case of severe wind.