This week I started hardening off a bunch of plants, including tomatoes, tomatillos, and basil. Cloudy today, and should be this week, so that’s perfect. A couple hours at a time, protected from wind as much as I can, but getting a little is part of the point.
Most of these were started on January 15th in 2″ cells, potted up to 4″ pots on February 6th, and the again to 1-gallon pots on the 21st, just a couple of days ago.
I can tell that the stems of these plants are thicker than those I started last year. Still some legginess on a few, but really good growth, and the root systems look great too. The smaller ones of the same kind of plant are the ones I pulled from where two grew in one cell. Rather than thinning by cutting them, I gently pulled them out and put them in their own cells, likely damaging some roots. So they’re smaller. We’ll see if they produce well later.
Also this week, Ivy helped me transplant some broccoli, cauliflower, and onions to the cart. It was fun.
Yesterday I started some spinach for Bryon, 4 cells, and in the other two cells I put tomatillo, because of the two I have, only one looks really healthy. And the more I have, the more likely pollination will go well later.