More potting

It was a potting day. Three tomatoes (4" to 6"), one Supertunia Priscilla cutting (plastic cup to 6"), four marigolds (6-cell to 4"), and a coleus (4"-6"). There were only four viable marigolds in the 6-cell, with one stunted cell and one dead cell. Here is the top shelf of the mini after today's activities, back row is the sage, Blue Vein tunia, Bubblegum tunia, and Priscilla tunia. Next row, coleus, tomato, pepper, and two more tomatoes. I'm on constant watch for aphids, especially on the pepper plants, the stems of the tomatoes, and now on the coleus. I didn't find any on the coleus in the image, but found a bunch concentrated on one leaf of another seedling.

I want to move some stuff from the greenhouse to our back yard this week. This image shows the three tomatoes and two peppers that have been potted in grow bags. Today they took an excursion outside to begin the hardening off process, but I don't know what was accomplished since it wasn't windy or sunny. The two tomatoes on the left in 7-gallon bags and the two peppers on the right in 5-gallon bags will make the journey (1 mile). The tomato in the middle in the 5-gallon bag will stay inside the greenhouse. I don't know what I am going to do with the tunia cuttings, but one of my legacy petunia pots has taken quite a beating from the wind and might need replacing. I should know better than to put a flower pot at the northwest corner of our house. The west side and the sheltered area behind the garage at the southwest corner are where the flowers, tomatoes, peppers and sunflowers will go.

Things are coming together for the most part. There are some annoyances, such as the slow-developing strawberry patch, and the difficulty getting the zinnias and sunflowers to grow in the southwest bed. But a lot of things are on track. I'll just be patient with the strawberries (which are doing fine in the baskets and grow bags), plant some more zinnia seeds, and plant my Jiffy pots of sunflowers in place of the ones that were started in the ground and are severely stunted. The salad bed, which is the west bed where I will plant tomatoes, peppers and basil, has produced a fine crop of lettuce but everything else is slow.

There was a small patch of arugula, but I ripped it out today because it had aphids. I removed part of the fabric barrier from one end of the bed so the peas and broccoli could grow upward, and the arugula ended up outside the barrier. Inside, without the threat of bugs, everything else is great. If I plant a salad bed next year, I will put the peas elsewhere and keep the entire bed under cover. I have already put taller hoops on the west bed, but this is slotted to be succulent bed #2 after I convert the adjacent southwest bed. The alternative salad bed is the southeast where all the flowers are (or are supposed to be). It is possible that my flowers and tomatoes/peppers will be entirely in grow bags next year and none will be in the beds.

It has been raining, and the splash guards have reduced the amount of soil being eroded, but the Velveteens still are getting splashed with dirt. The next step is to put rocks around the Velveteens and under the splash guards.

Beyond notice

Somehow I didn't notice, but my 'Velveteen Aromatic' cuttings started a couple months ago are branching. I still have four in 4-inch pots, and started another 12 a few weeks ago. The latter seem to be firmly in the soil, i.e. they have rooted.

I dug up the allium bulbs today. If I replant them in the greenhouse, they will be along the southeast window. I wasn't real impressed with them. Only three of five bloomed, and the flowers don't last long. In their place at the end of the southwest planter, I put in one each of pepper, tomato, marigold and basil. The salad (west) bed is not going to be available any time soon, and I got impatient to plant something other than grow bags. Monday I will move some of the grow bags to the house. In anticipation of an upcoming trip June 11-16, I will be setting up irrigation at both the greenhouse and the house. Since this blog is not available to the public, I'm OK with posting that.

The alyssum seems to be growing well everywhere I have put it, and little flowers are forming on the plants in the barrel.

A few days ago I potted up two tunia cuttings (6-inch plastic) that were showing roots, Blue Vein and Bubblegum. I also took 12 new tunia cuttings and put them in Epic 6-cells rather than plastic cups. I think one reason for the low success rate with tunia cuttings is the plastic cups held too much moisture. I used the cups to see if roots developed, but if the plants are being smothered there is no point in that. The Epic 6-cells have slits in the sides so they shouldn't stay so waterlogged.

Deer proof

A deer-proof plant is one that is kept in a greenhouse behind a latched door. (I know of someone in town who was victimized by an unlatched door.) Anything outside is only "deer resistant." Salvias are supposed to be deer resistant, but one of the local vermin apparently bit the top off one of the salvias I planted just yesterday. It was the dramatically-purple 'Deep Purple,' now almost completely lacking flowers. The plant had two stalks, and already lost one yesterday when it fell off the edge of the planter. So, we will see how some early pruning will affect it.

I planted some marigolds in the outside window boxes today. These also are supposed to be deer resistant, but last year that meant that they spit them out after they chomped on them. In an inspired move (I believe), I surrounded the new marigolds with cuttings from mint, rosemary and chives, hoping that the smell will deter them. I just have to be careful that the mint doesn't root. I still expect to see them bitten off tomorrow.

Perennial

I planted the six perennials in the barrel and two grow bags. The middle of the barrel is getting planted with the monarda and the front planted with alyssum, leaving five changeable 6-inch pot slots for mint, thyme, basil, chives, velveteen, rosemary, sage, or whatever.

The forecasts indicate lows no worse than 45 out to June 6, so I'm starting to put things outside. The cilantro grow bag went to the house. I'm going to move the petunia and geranium pots to the house today, which frees up space inside the greenhouse for tomato and pepper grow bags. The pea baskets went on the west outside hooks at the greenhouse. They were slotted for the east side, but I'm waiting for chain from The Home Depot on Tuesday to lower them so the fan doesn't kill them. Hopefully they will still be high enough to foil the deer.

This is one of the milestone weeks of the year, the point where the garage has been cleared of everything except small, sick or excess plants. All the healthy stuff is either growing in the greenhouse or is transitioning to the outside. Some things such as the petunia baskets may not go outside until we get back June 16, but the process is well underway and mostly on track.

Are we done?

A little bit of snow is forecast for tomorrow, then the long range shows nothing worse than 45 after Saturday. Winter may finally be over, although the June 9 last frost date is an AVERAGE.

Today was a fairly busy day:

• Watered everything, then took out the irrigation line for the mini and the north wall. Received the 4-line watering timer today so I will have to reimagine how to do this.
• Moved almost all of the remaining succulents to the greenhouse. Broke the saucer for the big blue pot. All that remains in the garage is the sick, young, and unwanted. I have been moving aloe and Velteteen back to make room and will be bringing extra mint and rosemary also.
• Decided on petunia pairings. The new Supertunia Really Red went into the Latte basket, and I took one new cutting. The Jazzberry clone went into the Honey basket. I added another Royal Velvet to the Blue Vein basket. I still have a Bubblegum clone and an unidentified one that is probably Priscilla or Blue Vein from the shape of the leaves. If it is Blue Vein it could go into the Royal Velvet pot to help out the cutting that is already there, or I might just start a new pot. I don't know if some of these combos will work but what the hell.
• Fertilized the petunias. The dude on the Bauman's videos says to fertilize tunias every other watering, which is presumably daily watering and fertilizing three times a week.
• Installed four of the 2-foot grow lights in the mini. Ordered six 3-foot, and will move the last two 2-foot over when those are received. I originally ordered 2-foot instead of 3-foot because I thought I might eventually use them in the mini. Here we are.
• Took 12 Velveteen cuttings and put them in 4" pots.
• 3D printed and installed new doorstop.
• A couple of the strawberries have flowers.

Here is Really Red with Latte.

Grow lights.

The Sempervivums are hard to see on the top shelf, so I took advantage of some ladder time to get this image. The top shelf isn't big enough to hold the two 8-inch Semp pots so those are down below, but there was a little bit of room for the four little cactus.

Private

I have marked this blog as "private to authors" and removed permission for Google to search it. This is in the spirit of what "blog" stands for: Web Log. This is the log of my plant activities, nothing else.

With my new-found freedom to post whatever I want without caring about an audience, here's is today's topic that would be horridly controversial should it be made public: The Aeonium 'Florens' has a big offset. I knew one was growing, but this is more pronounced than I have noticed before. It is also much greener than it was a few months ago. It needs to do its growing now because it is summer dormant.

More controversy: I have never grown potatoes before. It seems ridiculously easy to this point.

Petunia-haters would be after me if this became known: Royal Velvet basket with a Blue Vein clone at its heart.

I don't know what to do with this one, a Jazzberry clone. I also have two Royal Velvet clones and one Bubblegum clone that have developed roots back in the garage closet, and a couple of Priscillas that may or may not be growing. Honey and Latte need companions (and I have tried to plant their cuttings in each other's baskets), but I don't if the colors are right to inject purple or pink into either of them. I don't really want to start another petunia pot but....

It's snowing

We have at least two more days of freezing weather this season and there wasn't much to do in the greenhouse, so the day's main chore was potting up the last succulents order. The star of the order, Echeveria 'Doris Taylor,' potted up nicely and I'll post a better image than this snapshot in a few days.

I brought Cotyledon 'Bear Paw' back from the greenhouse to give it a bigger pot, and put 'Mexican Snowball' into the freed-up 4". Although 'Mexican Snowball' does not develop into a big rosette, it does cluster so I'm not sure if it was the right decision to go with the smaller pot. But all the YouTube advice is to use pots that are just barely big enough, so we will see. I swapped the Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' into the upscale (for Walmart) 6" terra cotta for the much-smaller 'Gold Nugget' I already had. That and 'Gold Rush' went into 6" terra cottas, which are the same diameter but hold a lot less soil that the Walmart pot. I drilled holes in two coffee cups, one an antique store bargain featuring Menards, and one a full-price souvenir from Badlands National Park. The Graptoveria 'Titubans Variegata' was leggy and needed straightening, so I removed the bottom seven leaves and put them in a propagating bowl. This plant and the Echeveria 'Muesli' went into the two cups.

'Red Beauty' was sort of a throw-in to get free shipping. It's a nice-looking small plant and is in good condition even though it ended up sideways in the pot during shipping. I decided to follow through on my oft-mentioned plan to move Crassula perforata variegata Variegated 'String of Buttons' from the Montage Bowl to its own pot. It only ended up in there because I was short on pots when it came. 'Red Beauty' took its place in the Montage Bowl. Here are the Graptoveria in the Menard's cup with a 3D-printed saucer, the 'String of Buttons' in a 3D pot and saucer, and the 'Muesli' in the Badlands cup with a 3D saucer. A limitation of 3D printing is you can only use the colors of filament that you have, and I matched the colors of the cups as best I could. But how else could I get saucers for these cups that are even close to the right color and size? The Menard's saucer even has a little cutout for the handle, which the other cup did not need.

The only one I did not pot up was Crassula capitella ssp. thyrsiflora 'Pagoda Village.' It seems comfortable enough for now in its 4" plastic pot and I'll let develop for a few weeks. But it already has its own 3D-printed saucer, an extra one that I printed for something else and decided not to use.

A bit of YouTube advice I often ignore is to refrain from watering succulents for at least a week after potting. If they are wobbling around in the soil, I'm going to water them in so they are anchored. And if the potting medium is bone dry, I'm going to water before the plants start to shrivel. I already squirted 'Red Beauty' in the bowl today, and I plan on watering all the other newcomers tomorrow. I do let succulents dry out between waterings, but at some point all green plants need water. Even cacti.

Last Unboxing Ever

The Mountain Crest Gardens shipment came today, and I can't envision doing any more large succulent orders unless a meteor hits the greenhouse. No more room. The box looked to be in good shape, and I'm mostly satisfied with the condition of the plants except the Crassula capitella ssp. thyrsiflora 'Pagoda Village,' which needs more recovery time than the others. It's at upper left in this image, followed by the two Sempervivum Chick Charms 'Gold Rush' and 'Gold Nugget, and Echeveria 'Doris Taylor' aka 'Wooly Rose.' Next row is Echeveria elegans 'Mexican Snowball,' some runners and leaves that fell off the Sempervivums, the Echeveria 'Red Beauty' sideways in its pot, and the hunched-over Graptoveria 'Titubans Variegata.' Up front is Echeveria 'Muesli' and the dirt that came out of the box.

'Doris Taylor,' which was the main reason for this order, looks very good after I blew most of the dirt off (image below). The smaller Echeverias 'Muesli,' 'Mexican Snowball' and 'Red Beauty' (after it got set upright) also look good. The two Chick Charms Sempervivums are straining to get out of the containers they came in. The 'Gold Nugget' is a lot larger than the one I have and I may do some pot switching. 'Titubans Variegata' is crooked in its container, and I will remove at least six of the lower leaves for propagation before I pot it. There's no point in burying attached leaves.

I didn't do much at the greenhouse today because not much needed watering. I pulled my better trail cameras out of the woods today because of some idiot vigilante who stole one of my memory cards. I swapped out the really awful Coleman for my best Browning to monitor the outside. I have an even better Reconyx camera that might eventually get the call for that duty. The Gardepro close focus camera remains inside, but I might put that back on birdbath duty at the house and put one of the Brownings in there.

Hummingbirds

One of the missions statements of the greenhouse is to attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. I set out the hummingbird feeders around May 1, but then we left for a week so I didn't have the opportunity to see the little birds until today. Two Calliopes, one a male with the distinctive streaked throat, were buzzing around. The longest lens I had with me was the 100mm macro, so these images are severe crops. I usually try to shoot hummingbirds with a 400mm lens, or with the big 500mm if circumstances allow.

One of the hummingbirds made its way inside the greenhouse where there are the flowering tunias and geraniums. It seemed trapped for a while since all the windows were closed, but eventually found the open door. There also are bees buzzing around inside, so hopefully they pollinate the strawberries when the time comes. I really don't want to hand pollinate.

My real mission for the day was to water everything. I liked using the small mesh table so much last time (great drainage) that I brought it with me from home to do the succulents, and like last time I took family portraits. This first group is a good collection of terra cotta pots, including all of the 4-inch pots (middle). The big Echeverias 'Red Sky,' 'Lola' and 'Topsy Turvy' dominate the skyline.

The next group has all of my more unusual pots, and also has all of the Crassulas and Haworthias that were present. There still are some at home. The big plants in this image are the larger Jade and the Thankgiving Cactus. As mentioned previously, 'Neon Breakers' at middle-left has developed a stalk, but it looks a bit wilted today. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to tell whether it is quickly fading like the 'Lola' and one of the Purpusorum stalks, or whether the watering will revive it.

This image has all 15 of the current Sempervivums. The news today is 'Budai Mountains' at left is showing signs of life and is producing new offsets. The Chick Charms are nice, but I'm just as fascinated seeing the no-names come to life after a tough winter, namely the three in the middle. That Heuffelii right in the middle is getting tall, which isn't what most Sempervivums do.

This final group has the two Delospermas and two of the hardy sedums. The snake pit in the front is Crassula 'Coastal Coral' which didn't make the Crassule image because I didn't water it, but I decided I need to get it into one of the images.

There are 64 succulents in these images. The three big bowls probably will not live at the greenhouse so they weren't there for the photos. There also are another 15 or so pots that are doing rehab under the garage grow lights or I just haven't decided what to do with them. The two recent 'Blue Rose' acquisitions may be ready to make an appearance soon, but 'Atlantis' needs to grow out of some bad leaf damage. I don't know what the point of ordering a larger plant is if it shows up looking like it was tumbled in the dryer. Speaking of larger plants, the replacement 'Rainbow' seems to be going down the same path as the previous one, failing to thrive and apparently doomed. One problem with variegated varieties, I have read, is they can be sensitive because they don't have as much chlorophyll to produce energy. If this one buys the farm, I'm giving up on 'Rainbow.'

I also watered everything else after skipping yesterday. Until it warms up, every two or three days probably is enough for the strawberries and maybe even the tunias. I use my moisture meters to gauge it.

Perennials

I have just about everything settled for the growing season if and when it ever occurs (it's going to be a cold weekend), but I'm still figuring out what will go just outside the greenhouse in the four window boxes, two large grow bags, and the barrel.

Today I decided much of that with the purchase of six perennials, starting with a Monarda 'Balmy Purple' for the barrel. I have two Monarda I've been trying to grow since February 25. They are about five inches high, a bit scraggly, and I have to kill aphids on them every few days. When I saw a green bushy plant at Nana's today, I said the hell with it and decided it will be the centerpiece of the barrel. If the other two ever grow, I will stick them in my yard.

I got three salvias, two of them at Nana's under the Proven Winners Rockin' brand name. One is 'Playing the Blues,' a blue variety of course. The second one is 'Deep Purple,' which is a dramatic dark purple. The third salvia is a blue no-name sold under the Better Homes and Gardens label at Walmart.

Yesterday on a Garden Crossings video, Heidi mentioned 'Vermillionaire,' a Proven Winners Cuphea hybrid. With its tubular flowers, it is supposed to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I saw one at Nana's so snapped it up. The three salvias and the 'Vermillionaire' probably will go into the window boxes.

Finally, at Nana's I saw an Agastache 'Hummingbird Mint' 'Guava Lava' in a big container. I probably will put it in a big grow bag.

One feature I wanted when picking these was deer resistance, and all of them supposedly have that. However, even though all of these plants are perennials, only the Monarda is rated hardy enough to survive our winters. I'm considering whether to plant them in containers in the window boxes so they can be moved inside the greenhouse in the fall. Companion plants in all of these outside locations will be some combination of zinnias, nasturtiums, alyssum, marigolds, rosemary, Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic' ™, mint (in a container), thyme, oregano, sage, and whatever else will grow and not be eaten by the deer.

Here is today's perennial haul:

I resisted buying any succulents at any of the five garden centers I visited today. However, I did get one at the grocery store. And the great thing is, it had an ID tag: Echeveria agavoides 'Miranda Red.' Why does Albertsons have ID tags on succulents but Gainan's and Nana's often do not? For the longest time I resisted getting an agavoides, and now I have two. On the left is the red, and the other is the 'Ebony' I got a few days ago. 'Miranda' shows almost no red except on the very tip of its leaves, but images on the interweb indicate it will start to blush in time.

The other thing I did in the greenhouse today was continue stacking succulents on the bench and shelves. There are nearly 60 now, and the final number will be about 80. I still have some Haworthias, Crassulas, cacti, and a Mountain Crest Garden order that isn't there yet. The number doesn't include any Aloe Vera or Plectranthus 'Velveteen Aromatic' ™. I'm hoping to come out of the summer with five good pots of each of those. I'm not going to move the three big succulent bowls over as they will stay at the house, hopefully outside for most of the summer. Anyway, there are 15 Sempervivums on the top shelf, and the rest is mixed up and arranged by pot size. My biggest problem with this arrangement is the Sempervivums are too high to be visible, but the medium-range plan (this fall) is to move all of those plants to the southwest planting bed.

I ran the sprinklers for eight minutes a day while I was gone, which doesn't sound like a lot but it was. Due to moisture meter readings, I skipped watering most of the plants today, and I might skip tomorrow also. I made that decision before I noticed that I have mushrooms growing in the big grow bags that have the sunflowers and potatoes. Mushrooms like rotting wood, and there are so many wood chips in the purchased garden soil and compost that their presence shouldn't be surprising. According to the interweb, mushrooms are a sign of healthy soil, but also indicate high moisture and shade. In this particular greenhouse there is not constant sun beating down on each location inside. The wood frame construction is the reason as the percentage of windows and clear walls is smaller than in a greenhouse designed to optimize the light. Everything I have heard says succulents want bright but indirect light, so they should have a good summer in there if they don't get soggy.

And finally, I have come to a decision on last year's petunia pot. It was looking sickly, but it has packed on the foliage the past few weeks and seems healthy now. But it is not blooming. I attribute that to fertilization, which can cause some plants to emphasize foliage over flowers. Assuming it starts blooming, I'll put it and three other big pots with geraniums and petunias in cages next to our house. That will free up the back row of the north wall of the greenhouse for grow bags with tomatoes, peppers or whatever. I ordered a 5' x 50' wire fence to cut up into cages. I was supposed to get it today, but Home Depot or UPS screwed up the order somehow and maybe I will get it next Wednesday. I'm guessing it got damaged in shipping but Home Depot has not been forthcoming about the reason.