It appears that NONE of the 15 peppers, NONE of the Swiss Chard, NONE of the kale and NONE of the scallions I planted outside on March 18 have survived. I fear I transplanted everything a bit too soon. I replanted more peppadew seeds inside today. All but one of the ones I planted before sprouted.
Last week I found some okra but was warned not to plant outside yet as it still gets too cool at night. I think I will not take them outside until I return from Houston next week. I also picked up six jalapeño plants which I did plant today. They are five or six inches tall and one already has a blossom.
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| Jalapeño |
The leaks we planted in the Spring of 2016 have survived the winter and today, I harvested two leeks to see if they are worth eating. We planted both leak plants and leak seeds. The plants were about the diameter of a pencil, now they are over 1" in diameter. The plants originating from seeds have not grown to nearly the size of the ones from plants. In fact the plants from seeds look more like scallions.
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| Leak from plant |
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| Leak from seed |
Update on the poinsettia plant that I received from out west neighbors last Christmas and I severely pruned back on March 30, leaving only eight leaves. As hoped, it has leafed out nicely with dozens of new leaves. According to my research, I will pinch the growing tips back by an inch or so in late June to further encourage branching. Then in early September I will prune it again.
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| After pruning on March 30 |
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| Today |
The Peace Lily I received from my younger brother last year is, amazingly, still alive and seems to be happy. It needs frequent watering.
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| Peace Lily |
Once again today I noticed a rabbit in the east raised bed. I went out and asked the rabbit to leave. It did but a few minutes later, it was back. This time I noticed the rabbit was carrying a batch of grass in it mouth and that it essentially disappeared in the growth of thyme. Going out again, the rabbit dropped its mouthful of grass and left again. I looked and found that it was preparing a burrow underneath the thyme. I tried to back fill the hole. A few minutes later, here was the rabbit again with another mouthful of grass. This time, after chasing "her" off, I built a bamboo fence along the mouth of the would be burrow. This really rubs salt in the wound of having raised beds to make them rabbit-proof. Not only can they access it, but they were building a home in the raised bed. Last year, I planted marigolds which seemed to protect the swiss chard from the rabbits. I don't think either the peppers or the okra will be bothered by the rabbits, but if I do plant some more chard, I will need to get more marigolds.
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| Rabbit burrow under thyme |
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