Pepper and eggplant -- unseasonal clouds be damned, in they go!

Temperature: Sparks 61, CC&R Farm 59,
Soil temp 62

Yesterday I put the peppers and eggplants into the raised beds. This crop was seeded into paper pots on April 14th, and potted-up (transferred to 4" pots) on May 5th.  Every year spring fever gets me and it's a struggle to refrain from starting too early but this year it's looking good; the plants are just about perfect. I'll start about one week later next year. 

Pepper varieties - 3 Early Jalapeno, 6 Sunshine (sweet), 6 Szegedi (sweet), 3 Nu Mexico Joe E. Parker (anaheim-like)

Eggplant varieties - 3 Asian Baby, 3 Rossa Bianca

This might seem like a lot for 2 people but we're hoping to grow enough to donate this year.

The plants were placed closer together than the seed packet instructions say because space is limited and my experience has been that planting closer works under our conditions.

The raised beds are also hoop houses and are covered with both bird netting and plastic sheeting that is removed or adjusted depending on need.  We'll keep the netting on until the plants are established and big enough to withstand the finches and quail, and then it will be removed so that pollinators can reach the blossoms.  The sheeting is positioned to cover the western side only and will protect the plants from wind. 

First I positioned each pot in the bed to get a feel for space and aesthetics. Each planting hole received a 1/2 trowel full of worm castings from our very own worm farm.  All year we've been supplying our little worm-herd with kitchen scraps and shredded paper, and now we have a nice bit of nutrition for the root systems. I'll say it again...now all we need is sunshine.                     

Snow-capped Peavine will not keep me out of the garden this weekend

Temperature: Reno 57, Sparks 53, CC&R Farm 51
Soil temp: 57

Northern Nevada lore says to plant warm weather crops when the snow is off Peavine or after June 10th, so we started hardening off our starts a couple of days ago. We'll be hoping for optimal conditions but will likely plant everything under less than ideal conditions.  The weather this year is completely whacked!

Seeds went into paper pots between April 12th-14th. Next year I might start a week or two later because the plants are really big.  Some sources say squash, melons, and cucumbers prefer to start from seed sown directly into the soil but the Northern Nevada growing season is short already, 90-days, and my yard is a week to 10 days shorter on each end.  Transplants are the only way to get around this so I take my chances. 

Peppers - soil temps at least 65 degrees; this year we're planting them in the raised beds with a wind break on the west side to protect them from inevitable evening gusts.

Eggplant - soil temps at least 60 degrees; protect from everything (wind, temperature extremes, pests) because anything throws them into shock.

Melon - soil temps at least 60.  We prepared a melon bed in November -- hope it's ready because the melons are going in it no matter what. 

Squash (summer and winter) - soil temps at least 60 degrees; first round of planting will be starts, but we'll plant seeds at the same time just in case the pests get these.  Last year we had squash bugs by July 23rd so this year we'll cover them with agricultural fabric (Agribon from Peaceful Valley) at planting.

Tomatillo and Ground Cherry - my two favorite sources don't have any advice for these but I know that last year they turned into slimy black masses at the first sign of frost, so I'll treat them like peppers.

Bush bean - started in pots but don't try this with pole beans;  ours have pale purple flowers already.  They're got sunburned the other day so I hope they'll survive.  We'll plant seeds along with the starts to prolong the harvest.

Now all we need is sunshine!