[Garden] Seedling update and info from the greenhouse

[Jennifer Hood]

Hi Gardeners,

I was just in the greenhouse talking to Lynn and visiting with the
seedlings. They look really great! The egg plants and celery are slow going,
but all the others look fantastic. The marigolds are getting ready to flower
and the cucumber looks like it is aching to go into the ground.

Lynn asked me when we think we want to plant, and I think it would be good
to figure this out sooner rather than later. Usually planting is done after
the last frost date. I'm not sure when that is for this year, but normally
people wait until the long weekend (may 20 something) to plant, just to be
sure. The long weekend is actually early this year, so we may want to hold
off until the week after, just to be sure. Something else to consider is
that Lynn is going on holiday that week (16 until the 22), so we will not be
able to retrieve the plants from the greenhouse area while she is gone. Also
we need to keep in mind that we cannot access the greenhouse after hours (5
pm onwards), and since we generally meet evenings and weekends, we will need
to have advanced planning regarding when we will retrieve the plants from
the greenhouse in order to get them in the ground on time.
We thought it would be a good idea to take them out of the greenhouse and
store them either in the inner lab area of the greenhouse or my office. Both
Stephanie and I have keys that open the inner greenhouse, and there is
enough temporary storage space in my office in biology, just down the
hallway.
Also I will be away at a conference from the 18-22, so If we want to plant
during that week, I won't be able to help or retrieve the plants from the
greenhouse.

If we think we can plan them the weekend before, say on sunday the 17th, I
will retrive them from the greenhouse on friday and have them in my office
to pick up. If we want to wait until the 24th, I will still need to get them
from the greenhouse on friday, and they will need to sit in a relatively
dark environment until they are planted. Some of the plants might not want
to wait that long (like the cukes).
If we want to plant in that week of the 18th, I can arrange to have them
accessible to someone to pick up from my lab or the greenhouse inner lab, or
some other location, for the day you wish to plant.
My vote is to plant on the 17th, depending if frost is likely to be in the
forcast. Last year we had a mild frost in mid-late may, but I covered the
tomatos and they survived unscathed.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to best coordinate the seedling
planting, or has another location where they can be kept, let me know and
we'll arrange something!

Thanks guys!


-- 
Jennifer Hood
PhD Student
Department of Biology
University of Waterloo
519-888-4567 x36439
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