Starting to harden off my seedlingswish me luck!

I set all my seedlings out on Saturday, nice cloudy day that ended up with a long, gentle rain. Brought them back in overnight, kept them in Sunday due to hard rains and high winds, and put them back out today to enjoy the moderate temperatures. I need to remember to put them UNDER the picnic table before I head to work at 10:30, so the afternoon sun doesn't scorch them! I don't think they'll all fit!

Poor old picnic table. It looks like it is sagging under the weight of them all, but that is just its normal state of repair.

What a pretty little picture. Good luck with your many transplants. This weather has been strange. The rain has poured, the winds are howling today. My plants are in pots outside. I hope they don't blow away or get dessicated by the wind.

You have a lot of seedlings there and they are looking good BTW :) I have a picnic table that would make yours look brand new lol The wasps have taken all of the finish off of it lol

I'm sure you have left for work by now but you could put some of your seedlings under your shrubs in the background there, it's hard to work and harden your seedlings off, I tried it for a while and lost a few from the winds drying them out, if you have a row cover that works well just throw it on top of them and anchor it down, big lots sometimes has them for 99 cents or even if you would have to buy a more expensive one they come in real handy with seedlings every year it keeps the winds from drying them out so fast plus they help to harden them off.

Lea

I wonder if I overdid it. It was really nice today, about 65 and sunny, so I left them out most of the afternoon (had to stay late at school, then forgot all about them in the rush of homework & dinner.) The leaves look really pale and dry, though the soil is still a little moist.

I wonder if I should just keep them inside under the lights tomorrow, or if I should put them back out for a little while, but in more shade. A few look good, like the tomatoes and Easter Eggplant, but a lot look pretty fried.

Just put them in the shade and give them water, if they did get fried new leaves will grow out not to worry it won't kill them.

I have tried two years to grow that easter egg plant and bought seeds this year and forgot to plant them lol At least I'll have them for next year, I want to see a picture of yours when it makes the eggs :)

My basil (Noooo, not my beloved basil!) and zinnias look about the worst, but then the zinnias looked strangely crispy before I put them outside. My mom said she has never been able to start them indoors, just has better luck direct sowing them. Has this been anyone else's experience?

I have three kinds of basil still in seed trays (sweet Italian, cinnamon, and lemon), as well as a few starts of lime basil given to me at the Iowa RU. The cinnamon and lemon really took the sun/wind hard. Odd--basil plants always seem so hardy!

I sure will take pictures of the easter egg plants. I'm very curious to see what they actually look like. This is my first time growing them.

I grow lemon basil downstairs under lights and it does good needs to be hardened off before it goes in the sun but it does good for me. I haven't tried the taller zinnias but I grow the profusion and I'm doing a smaller yellow one in the house well they are about an inch tall and outside now and hardened off, I always think they do better the sooner you can get them outside. We have had a lot of rain and I think it's a little too much for the seedlings here lately they need to dry out and it's going to rain tonite.

I wanted to grow that easter egg plant it looks so different lol I'm curious to see what it looks like too, I've never been able to grow it from seed, I'll be watching for pictures :).

I got my Easter egg plant seeds from Parks, and almost every single seed germinated. They are probably my biggest, healthiest seedlings, too. Now I just have to figure out where to plant them! Geez, I need to start busting some sod, and my back still aches from when I doubled my butterfly garden on Saturday!

For anyone who isn't familiar, here's a link to the Easter Egg plant:
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&SearchText=easter+egg+plant&mainPage=textsearchresults&RequestType=NewRequest&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=submit

and here it is in Plant Files:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2017/

Here is the other collection I got, called "Rare and Unique" collection from Park Seed, from which I've had very poor results. The only one that is really thriving is the rudbeckia "Green Wizard." I have maybe one or two seedlings each of the other 5 plants:

Nigelia Love-in-a-Mist African Bride (2)
Yellow Foxglove (1)
Coneflower Green Wizard (12)
Poppy Blue Himalayan (1)
Nemesia Masquerade (2)
Amaranthus Dreadlocks (2)

Pretty disappointing, but then I didn't do the research I should have about WHY these are so rare!

Those plants are very pretty, you'll have all kinds of blooms! My easter egg plant seeds came from Park's this time so that's good to know they germinated well but I won't find out until next year, and I love nemesia! I thought about ordering that one myself :)

I keep thinking the nemesia are really dead this time, and then they struggle back to life. Only a couple have made it. I need to dig in my seed box and see if I still have seed left, and try direct sowing. Maybe they just don't like inside life!

The two I was dying to see were the amaranthus and the nigella, and they just really aren't doing much, either. Most of the annuals I planted took right off and are happy little campers, but this collection just hasn't performed well. I wouldn't recommend it.

The nemesia I planted this year struggled too until I put them outside now they are starting to bloom there little heads off, I had pretty good germination with my foxglove from collected seeds this year too, I just maile eight off in a trade that were looking good! I kept a few to plant myself then I got some of the camelot from T&M and I have quite a few of those up too I just hate waiting until next year to see the blooms on those :) I think nigella is better off direct sown for me, I had some last year and took the seeds and scattered them around and they are up this year so that one would be good to WS. I sure didn't have much luck sowing the seeds downstairs last year but they like reseeding. That is one of those plants that once you have it you will always have it :)