Hi Janis,


>> I would think it would be ok to start pretty much any time of year as
>> long as you give the plants the 4-6 hours of daylight they need to get
>> a good start. You might have to use indoor plant lights for that.

 JK> > Thanks, we might get some in, in the next week or so. Hopefully it's
 JK> not > too hot for it; we've got a few weeks before the really hot
 JK> weather
 JK> > kicks in.

 JK> We've had such hot weather the last few weeks, it was quite unbearable

After a very cold spring, hot weather has roared in. We hit 90 for the
first time Thursday. Today is a few degrees cooler but no air is moving
and it's very humid.

 JK> :(  I believe it hit 90F one day, with high 80's for the rest.  My
 JK> spinach bolted from the heat... I picked what I could before it went
 JK> to seed.. normally mid-may is fine for spinach so I was pretty
 JK> surprised (g).

Our parsley has flowered so I'll let it self seed. Probably will pick
some to dry but IIRC. I've still got a fair amount of dried.

 JK> You do have to watch your basil in the heat as well, but just pinch
 JK> off anything that looks like the plant is trying to flower :)

OK, we put in a couple of sweet basil plants yesterday. Picked our first
tomatoes yesterday as well.


>> I've grown basil all year in NY successfully. I always have basil
>> plants growing in my garden as well in summer since basil deters some
>> tomato-plant-destroying insects :) I plant those basil plants right in
>> the same bed as the tomato plants.  "Everyone is happy" that way
>> (grin).

 JK> > Our tomato plants are in a separate container from the herb bed. It
 JK> has > a reservoir underneath so we don't have to water them quite as
 JK> often as > we would otherwise.

 JK> That's nice :) Needless to say my tomato plants are loving this heat
 JK> we got so early in the season.

We only put in 3, pass alongs from a naighbor who had extras. I probably
won't have a whole lot, if any, to put up but they'll be good eating
thru the summer.


 JK> > I noticed that Steve is watering it from the rain
 JK> > barrel when it does need extra water; the barrel has stayed quite
 JK> full > this spring. We're almost ready to pick our first ripe tomatoes
 JK> in a day > or so.

 JK> That is great :)

And I should have gotten some lettuce at the farmer's market today for
BLTs. Got other stuff instead--potatoes, green beans, cucumbers and
some spelt cinnamon rolls.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full.

--- PPoint 3.01