Aww,
@Frugal Lizard - I can commiserate those seedlings are a pain in the patootie.
I'm definitely not doing any seedlings in the spring next year, some I killed with kindness, some I drowned and they all pouted when I put them in the garden. Except for the Cardoon which I seeded directly. It looked great, until I put it through major stress when I 'thinned' the three to a hole to one per hole and tried to transplant the extras.
Damn, I'm not a farmer much less a decent veggie gardener.
Fast forward four weeks
The veggies I planted in big window boxes in the fall are all still going strong. Celery, Russian Red Kale - both from seed, are fat and happy and still going strong.
The mystery tomatoes I potted up from the compost into big containers are doing OK, producing rather slow but steady. Only one has serious disease issues but is trying to shrug it off. The two Roma tomato seedlings I purchased are doing fantastic, we've been eating tomatoes for three weeks and I have enough to freeze several different sauces, stews, soups etc from the garden with my own celery, basil, garlic chives and onions.
Onions-garlic chives
I divided my garlic chives last spring and they have now come back into their own again - so potent garlicky, very tasty especially with omelets.
My onions are mostly just green onions from the store that I used and then stuck the white part with the roots in the garden. I discovered this works best during the cooler months of spring and late fall - once established they grow in the summer too, if they get enough shade and water.
The Egyptian Walking Onion bulbs I planted in the fall are doing fine - we'll see how they do in the summer heat - can't wait to see bulb(lets)in the air.
The dill I seeded in January(from my own saved seeds last year that I threw on the ground) did do fine on its own even though they did not get any attention from me. I thought they all died, but here they are - we'll have plenty of dill. We love dill.
...and plenty of fennel because the fennel reseeded itself and I shook out some seedheads in an area where I wanted them.
Both the dill and the fennel were an experiment in the garden, none in pots. I am still on a mission to find herbs and veggies that reseed themselves or are perennial with minimal care demands - and, if possible - also look good in the landscape.
I am hoping that the Amaranth (Chinese spinach) will be in that category.
All the herbs are doing splendidly.
The chamomile is about to bloom. I got all my favorite mints - orange mint, Mojito mint, chocolate mint, spearmint, and Morrocan mint - hoping they will make it to next year. The basils that I also grew from seed are all doing so much better than I could have hoped for - the Tulsi (Krishna) is still too small to plant in the garden but I planted all the other basils in window boxes and/or in the garden.
So, the Chinese spinach sprouted well, but is growing so slow. It seemed like it just stood still for about ten days once I transplanted it into the garden, but now it is gaining some traction even though it is still rather tiny.
I don't know what happened but the ones I seeded directly into the garden either did not come up at all or in one instance all of them are in one spot.
I'm still shell shocked from trying to thin the Cardoon so I'm not sure what I will do with the ones that are all in one spot. I'd like to rescue a couple of plants at least. I was hoping to have about twenty plants spread about the garden, because they look terrific as landscape plants too.
My ace in the hole is that I also threw some seeds in a large container which are starting to look strong and healthy - so I may wait until they are about eight inches and then try to transplant them into the garden by the end of April - they do seem to like the heat and if they all make it we'll have 20 plants.
Bummer
Not sure at all whether any of the Dinosaur Kale will make it. The first batch I transplanted into the garden too soon and while they looked good at first, they hate where they are. No growth, fading away. I put a few in a window box as well, we'll see how it goes - there is hope for those yet:).
I think I should have just waited to grow the Dinosaur Kale in the fall instead of the spring. I'll try again in the fall.
The New Zealand spinach - well, we accidentally trampled it to death...
Happiness
The savoy cabbage I picked up in January(?) as two 4-packs did exceedingly well - made for a great St. Paddy's day dinner. I just harvested the last head, but I am letting four of them continue to grow. Nice leaves for soups and wraps and three of them are already making little mini cabbage heads - fun and tasty.
Turnips (4-pk from the nursery) were trouble-free and we loved it. So I will try them from seed in the fall.
Parsnips - I had every intention to plant, but realized they have to go into the garden. I decided to wait until fall.
The latest
The three coffee bushes I ordered online last year are finally in the ground, the two lemongrasses were cut down but I put off dividing them until fall because I want to move all four of them.
All three of my orchids are blooming, two died last year because the birds took all the plant material for nesting - eye roll.
I made a trip to my favorite nursery (got my second Pfizer shot two weeks ago) and picked up the last violas they had - it isn't spring without violas!
Their last 4-pk of tall snapdragons - yay! Herbs and for the first time three Dahlias.
Everything is planted already incl. an online order from Celtic Herb Farm for rare lemon thyme and a Vicks plant I've wanted forever plus two pineapple salvias which I couldn't find locally and my seeds never came up either.
There is still lots of clean-up, cutting and weeding and more planting (mostly from division or seeds that take longer to grow) but for all intents and purposes my spring planting is done. Tomorrow will be the final clean-up and weeding day in the Potager, there are only two more garden beds to finish up, one in the tropical garden area and one in the front. A final visit to the tropical fruit tree nursery and it is time for garden projects, gazebo and a bit of hardscaping.
Oh, and I plan to plant - drum roll - Wild Jungle Peanuts this weekend. So cool, organic, non-GMO and unmessed around with by commercial growers.
@Trifele - my elderberries are blooming - maybe this is the year I will make elderberry liquor or wine. I've got a row of about ten wild ones in the back of the property and two in the garden. I might try to dig up two more wild ones for the garden. I think every garden should have at least two elderberries to make the critters happy. The red Cardinal thinks he owns them all but the Blue Jays disagree, the bees and the wasps practically set up house there like they do with the Moringa blooms and my seven huge African Blue Basil bushes.
Our garden smells so good right now especially since the Jasmine vine and the other bushes are blooming too and the red passion flower puts out new blooms every morning. BTW both the edible passionflowers that I got last year are doing well despite my attempts at killing them by neglect. We might have fruit from both of them!
Mystery plants
I still have one unidentified purplish-leaved, slim triangular leaf plant (actually like ten or so) in one of my tomato pots. I'm sure it is one of the herbs I seeded, we tasted it, it is definitely not a basil:).
The other mystery plant turned out to be a sunflower - garden gift from the birds:).
... one turned out to be what I hoped for, a dark prince cosmos the other two might just be unknown weeds, but I am loath to pull them since I realized I pulled out all my Tamarillo tree seedlings thinking they were weeds.
...and that is how my garden grows:).
Happy Spring gardening everyone! Did I mention I made a Spring - Easter - Rabbit garden by my shed wall displaying all the rabbit pottery I've accumulated over time between the cabbage - the lettuce - the garlic chives ... silliness in the garden lightens the heart.
@mslladyfire - welcome to the garden club:).