Spring vegetable transplants
My local farm supply store (as well as our nearest 'big box' garden center) has received new shipments of vegetables (all from the major company that supplies them, Bonnie Plants). Bonnie does a good job of producing transplants, to be sure.
What's startling is the overlap between spring and summer veggies -- collards, cabbage, and lettuce are sharing space with tomatoes and peppers. I don't remember seeing that before, but maybe I missed it.
Even in a warming climate, it's too soon to put tomatoes and peppers out in my Zone 7b garden -- the soil is still cold, in spite of a warm February, and the overnight temperatures are unsettled (34°F last night). NOT the temperatures that tomatoes, peppers, and other warm-season vegetables like.
Peas and asparagus are only slowly emerging now. So tomatoes and peppers will not thrive at all, for the misguided folks who buy the transplants (and don't coddle them indoors in warm temperatures).
But, I was tempted again by leek seedlings. Yikes. They're all too small to directly be transplanted into soil (uh, Bonnie's website has images of robust pencil-sized seedlings). The numerous seedlings in these pots are small, barely having germinated and sent up shoots. I managed to distribute quite a number of them between containers and a garden plot, hopefully for transplanting in the future -- the survivors of last year's impulse purchase were delicious last winter.
What's startling is the overlap between spring and summer veggies -- collards, cabbage, and lettuce are sharing space with tomatoes and peppers. I don't remember seeing that before, but maybe I missed it.
Even in a warming climate, it's too soon to put tomatoes and peppers out in my Zone 7b garden -- the soil is still cold, in spite of a warm February, and the overnight temperatures are unsettled (34°F last night). NOT the temperatures that tomatoes, peppers, and other warm-season vegetables like.
Peas and asparagus are only slowly emerging now. So tomatoes and peppers will not thrive at all, for the misguided folks who buy the transplants (and don't coddle them indoors in warm temperatures).
But, I was tempted again by leek seedlings. Yikes. They're all too small to directly be transplanted into soil (uh, Bonnie's website has images of robust pencil-sized seedlings). The numerous seedlings in these pots are small, barely having germinated and sent up shoots. I managed to distribute quite a number of them between containers and a garden plot, hopefully for transplanting in the future -- the survivors of last year's impulse purchase were delicious last winter.
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