New England May 2018

I see no one has yet checked in so I opened the thread.


Our Forsythia is just starting to bloom.   And would you believe its 80* today.  A veritable oven for us in Maine.

Thank you QB, for starting the thread.

Just a note to say I'm still here. Our delayed spring and my best friend's illness have had a negative effect on my gardening enthusiasm this year, but I have started some seeds. Because I was so late in starting, I thought I'd give the seedlings a boost by putting them on a heating pad. Well, some of them seemed to like it, (cucumber, peppers, basil)...but I may have cooked the tomatoes. The poor tomato seedlings are not looking very robust, I'm sad to say. I had four different varieties, and all of them look poorly. But they're not dead, so I'm not giving up hope. Some of them are the yellow heirloom and mystery heirlooms that Ginger Blue sent me the seeds for, so I'm coddling them along, because I'm really anxious to see what they're like! I did order some tomato plants, also, because with the weather, and other distractions, I knew I'd be late in getting things going.

After my experience last year, with growing so many tomatoes that they pretty much shaded out everything in the middle of my SFG box, I swore I wouldn't make that mistake again, but...I NEED all those tomatoes!!! I may not be able to control myself again, I'm afraid. :-( So I'm exploring the possibility of another SFG. I have a spot where I'd like to put it, but I'm not sure it gets enough hours of sunlight. I'll have to monitor it to see. Unfortunately, it won't happen this year.

I hope all of you are finally enjoying some springy weather wherever you are, and that your gardens are going strong. Enjoy this beautiful month of May!

Welcome home!

HG, Welcome back. How is your friend?

sanderson wrote:HG,  Welcome back.  How is your friend?

Thanks for asking. She has the same kind of tumor that John McCain has, so that's not good news. She is getting chemo and radiation, and hanging in there fiercely. The treatments leave her completely exhausted, but she never complains about anything. It's crushing to watch someone you love go through this. We take it one day at a time, and find the bright spots wherever we can.

Our tulips are starting to open.

Thanks for starting the thread, QB!  I've been stopping by but haven't been posting lately.  Nothing to say I guess.  

But now I have something...it seems that some of my starts are shriveling up.  They look like lack of water but it's not.  I'm starting them the same way I've started seeds for the past 5 yrs and never had this problem before:  




So weird.  Any thoughts?

Maybe damping off. I would remove the bad seedlings.  Make sure there is good air circulation around the plants and water from the bottom.

CC we are warmer than where you are today. Beautiful 72F here in Ottawa.

Hi CC! Good to "see" you. I'm afraid I don't have any ideas, but I do have a similar story. I got started late with my seedlings this year. I use the same type of plastic tray with cells, as in your picture. I had tomatoes, peppers, cukes, basil...I think that's it. Because of the late start, I thought I'd put them on a heating pad to give them a little boost. All of them seemed to like it, everything germinated in no time, but as time went on, all of the tomatoes started looking sickly. They were yellowish, and puny. Some of them shriveled up, and like yours, not from lack of water. I started putting them out on the screened porch in the sun, and while some of them did wither and die, the rest look like they may survive. The only thing I did differently this year from other years was to use the heating pad. But if that were the problem, wouldn't they ALL have done poorly? I don't know, but the ones that didn't die, seem to be pulling through. I mention this because I noticed some of your seedlings in the same tray look fine too, so it's kind of a similar situation. I'm stumped.

I notice some green mold on the last picture.  Could it possibly be overwater.

I think the green stuff is moss but I get that every year.  I'll take a closer look tho just to make sure. 

The one thing I recently remembered that I forgot to do was to spritz the cell packs with hydrogen peroxide after planting the seeds.  So maybe some kind of fungal activity going on in there?  If so, lesson learned...I won't forget again.

Meanwhile, like HG's, the live ones (& the dead looking ones) are now outside hardening off.  I hope to plant out the lettuce tonight or tomorrow morning before the rain, and maybe a couple of the July 4th toms just for an experiment.

All the seeds I sowed in the SFG are up but I'm embarrassed to say I never got any grids down this year.  Just planted, so no photos. 


OK, heading out to lunch and back into   !

Inside: Tom's, peppers, chard, zinneas.
Outside: lettuce, kale, collards


Will be planting the outside veggies this morning, the up potting the tomatoes.

I had the same thing happen this year with some herb seedlings...I think it was damping off, but I use sterile starter and new starter box, so 

I potted a few peppers, my tomatoes, and eggplant !!! Last weekend!  Can’t wait for the eggplant!

Tomorrow, I will pot up my lingering peppers, and plant the herbs.  Also start melons, squash and cukes on pads.  Will seat trellises and plant pole beans.  

Hopefully I will get some pics!

Love your auto correct, SR!

CapeCoddess wrote:Love your auto correct, SR!

 Yeah.  The little seedlings did just dance right off!  LOL!

Transplanting some little tomato seedlings into the SFG bed today, I noticed that I HAVE WORMS!!! Last year was my first SFG year, and I have weed cloth on the bottom of the bed, but those little wrigglers found their way in. They seem very happy there, so I hope they'll be staying and having families. We're supposed to have rain overnight, so all the little green things will be happy too. I do have some tomato plants that I bought in the bed, and one of them has flowers. So exciting!!! 

Err merr gerrrd....I plan to get some stuff in this weekend! Like trellises for pole beans and cukes.  

I have hardened off mater babies and peppers....decision time.

Love it, HG!!!

Oh yeah, worms....they rock!

hammock gal wrote:Transplanting some little tomato seedlings into the SFG bed today, I noticed that I HAVE WORMS!!! Last year was my first SFG year, and I have weed cloth on the bottom of the bed, but those little wrigglers found their way in. They seem very happy there, so I hope they'll be staying and having families. . .

Someone has worms!

The 2 Fourth of July tomato starts I planted out last week are doing VERY well.  Having never grown them before, i don't know if they are just extremely hardy or if our weird weather has been accommodating enough for tomatoes.  

The sugar snap peas are climbing the trellis's, bush beans are looking good, the lettuce and radishes are stellar, and the pole beans have recently sprouted and are taking off!

I somehow forgot about slugs, so the collard and kale sprouts were mostly eaten before I remembered to sprinkle them with coffee this morning.

This weekend I'll be planting out the rest of the maters that are hardening off, along with sowing some Delicata squash and cuke seeds.

So far so good on Ol' Cape Cod!