April 7, 2013 - Up-potting Day


Sun, Apr 7, 2013, 10:08 AM PDT

... HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS ISSUED A HIGH WIND WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING. 

* TIMING: WINDS HAVE INCREASED THIS MORNING. THESE WINDS WILL LAST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON... THEN GRADUALLY DECREASE DURING THE EARLY EVENING.

* WINDS: SOUTHWEST 35 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH.

* IMPACTS: MINOR PROPERTY DAMAGE POSSIBLE WITH STRONGER GUSTS ALONG WITH DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A HIGH WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE 40 MPH OR GREATER WITH GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 58 MPH. THESE WINDS CAN EASILY TOSS AROUND LOOSE OBJECTS AND DOWN LARGE TREE LIMBS AND POWERLINES. THOSE VENTURING OUTDOORS SHOULD USE EXTREME CAUTION AND BE ALERT FOR FLYING DEBRIS. DRIVING MAY ALSO BE DIFFICULT... ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. 

It's a good day to stay indoors and pot up the tomatoes and peppers that are outgrowing their small containers.

 The tools:  Large plastic cups, hot glue gun for making drainage holes and Sharpie pen for identifying the contents.

Thirty-six peppers will be potted up today.

Yes, the kitchen is my "potting shed".

I put a small amount of potting mix in the bottom of the cup, then remove the lower leaves and set the pepper plant deeper than it was grown in the smaller cup.

I add a bit of potting mix around the edges and tamp it down well with the end of my Sharpie.

 Then I fill it up and gently firm the potting mix around the plant.

It gets a drink of tepid water.

Then the plants are ready to go back under the grow lights. 

The small cups are washed and saved for another year.


 I only got a dozen peppers up-potted before Son John showed up to help out in the front yard.

He dug out the flower bed, then repaired the broken sprinkler line.  You can see all the pine tree debris from the wind storm.  I'm trying to keep it cleaned up as we go.

We got the landscape cloth on.  No easy chore working out in 60 MPH wind gusts!  I found a bunch of wire hangers, so John made a bunch of pins to hold the cloth down.

Now it's time to take a short break!





18 comments:

  1. Wow Granny!!! You are a month ahead of me! My peppers are still small and the tomatoes are even smaller. My broccoli is ready to be planted if only Mother Nature would cooperate! It finally warmed up....but, the winds are just crazy! Too much to harden off my broccoli starts. All the onions and peas are in though.

    Your son did a great job!!!

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    1. Robin, it's still blowing like crazy here, and John is doing some concrete work for me at the moment. I hope we don't get branches and pinecones blown into wet cement! My broccoli and early cabbages are all planted now. I had to bring in more lights for my seedlings, as they have outgrown their one shelf.

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  2. Now that is a very nice son you have. I just don't see either of my kids doing that, but they were very helpful when we moved.

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    1. Daphne, yes he is. He's out fixing up the poor job the "professional" did on our sidewalk that had to be replaced after the sewer guys got through digging. I was just sick about how bad it looked, but John is putting a skim coat on it. It hadn't even been smoothed out, the rocks were showing at the surface, and it was sloped in the wrong direction for proper drainage. I wish I had taken a "before" photo.

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  3. Kudos to son John! Well done on the up-potting.

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  4. Your seedlings look great and I am impressed with your project. Between the cold weather and trying to balance working full time my garden is a bit behind this year.

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    1. Vanessa, I think my garden may be a bit ahead this year. I don't quite know how that happened, LOL!

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  5. Yep, sounds like John is a keeper! There's nothing like family.
    Hey, I remember some of those winds when we lived in Moses Lake. I have never liked wind; maybe because my Dad despised it so from growing up in eastern Colorado!

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    1. Ray, the weatherman was correct. It's 8:00 PM right now, and the wind just died down. It left me another mess to clean up though.

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  6. Good work for both of you. What a great kid you have. Reflects well on you.

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    1. Stefaneener, John has always been a hard worker. Oh, I take that back. As a teenager, he used to get his friend to do his work while he supervised. He was a smart kid ;-)

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  7. You have a real good son in John. He helps you a lot. Hard worker like his mom ;)

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    1. Kris, I'll forward that pat on the back to John :-)

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  8. wow your plants look great! my peppers are not doing so well. Some came up, but most did not! You will have to give John a pat on the back from me too what a hard worker!

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    1. Mrs. P., most of my pepper seeds were old, so I planted a lot, assuming not many would grow. Nearly every seed germinated! Now I have way more than I could ever use, so I'll be looking for loving homes for them :-)

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  9. I'm glad you got that line repaired, what a pain! Your seedlings look just fantastic, I'm hoping to upsize my pots this weekend!

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    1. Erin, I sure could see a difference in the sizes of the ones I started in larger (5 oz.)cups over those in cell packs or the tiny (3 oz.)cups. Those in the 5 oz. cups were much larger. They also took up a lot more room than the 4 or 6 packs, so I don't know which I prefer. I still have to grow those suckers for another month, so smaller might be better!

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