this house is 105 years old. The windows do have some storm windows over them. i think is the soil he bought. I will have to see how to do that kind of testing.
We got 3" of rain overnight so everything is looking good today. The radishes are about played out so I'll be putting a couple of poblano pepper plants in that spot soon. Here's what's going on today... Roma tomatoes... Tiny little cucumbers (about 1")... And cherry tomatoes...
@Hedi Mitchell My opinion is you don't have over head light from the sun and they may be lacking in some nutrient. Sometimes top watering can cause this. I always used jiffy pots and put them in a tray and kept water in the tray about 1/3 way up the pots once they expanded. This makes for stronger roots since they have to draw up the water. I always used the bottom watering method with house plants. Living in that 105 year old house must really be a big change from apartment living. Good to hear your hubs is interested in gardening.
One thing I have always meant to try was a cold frame. Basically it is a wooden frame with glass or maybe plexiglass over the top of it. You could throw a blanket over the top of it with forecasts of three degrees below freezing and nights. The reason I don't is we have an amazing south wall at my barnhouse that does the work of a cold frame.
Cold frames (and hot frames) are good things. You can put things into the garden weeks ahead of what you would normally do. Some place a little votive candle into the frame on really cold nights. They also can be used to grow perennials that wouldn't normally grow in your zone.
I pulled all the remaining radishes this morning, so I'll be putting a few more seedlings in the raised beds. I have this little tray of pickling cucumbers, rosemary, chives, and poblano pepper plants that I have had under a grow light in the dining room. I'm going to put the chives and rosemary into clay pots. I'm going to start a few more Kratky jars, too. The first ones I did (learning experience ) were the wrong kind of tomato plants and they got too big and heavy for the mason jars. Duh. So I'll probably do lettuces, kale, etc. Aerogarden has their 45W LED grow light on sale so I'm going to order one of those.
Inside we now have plant lights on the seedlings, Outside there is 3,5 to 4 ft concrete wall that the plants will be encased in.
Many seed catalogs, especially ones who market to farmers, list the price per ounce. If you plan on planting a lot, or selling plants as we do, it pays to pay attention to the price per ounce and the number of seeds per ounce. As you noted, you probably don't want an ounce of chive seeds, but you might want an ounce of cilantro/coriander seeds, and an ounce of beans or peas is nothing at all.
I noticed a bunch of pretty little white blooms on my jalapeno plants, and several tiny peppers. I'm also finally seeing some beefsteak tomatoes though I was afraid I was going to get a bunch of pretty vines and no fruit. The smaller varieties of tomatoes are producing a much higher yield so I won't be wasting so much of my precious raised bed space on those big ones again.
I am trying the Bush Goliath this year on recommendation of a master gardener at our local nursery. They are great for raised beds and pots. They make a medium size tomato and don't need cages. They take 70 days from blooming so I should have tomatoes around the 1st of July. They are supposed to have a rich strong flavor. I gave up on beef steaks because they tasted washed out to me. I suspect my jalapeno will start blooming soon now with this heat.
Did you buy seeds or plants? I see that Amazon has a few brands of Bush Goliath seeds so I'll order some.