After a week away in chilly Washington DC, the balcony seems positively quite balmy. The plants disagree. With little growth or progress, I decided I might try a bit of transplanting to help their cause.

Kale on right (85% sure):

Without too much compost reserves, I decided to reuse the ex sunflower and salad leaves containers. The back of the seed packets said transplant lettuces 12″ apart and the kale 9″ apart. I used some liberal mathematics and round this down to 6″ apart (15 cm – let’s be progressive here). I kept the seedlings that I didn’t transplant as insurance as usual.

Kale post-transplant:

Three lettuces transplanted:

The lettuce has held up not quite as well as the kale. Also, note the old stems of the sunflowers. A smarter gardener might have removed them completely. Oh well!

Again, pushing the boundaries of what is permissible in the confines of our apartment, the transplants are going to be kept inside for a while at least. The soil was very cold and that seemed like something that wouldn’t be good for the tiny guys in a new home. That’s the last time I personify the plants, honest.

The corn salad leaves are doing quite poorly so I left them alone for the moment. Hopefully they will sort themselves out. They are on the balcony in the other room so they are easier to ignore:

Similarly, the oregano isn’t looking too hot but I did thin out the 50 or so seedlings down to 7. Maybe it’s just a slow grower, right?

Pre-thinning:

and post… meagre pickings!

All in all, everything is going very slowly, but I guess that is to be expected heading into winter. Hopefully at least some of these transplants will work and I can move them outside or into the greenhouse.

Either way, I made provision for such a situation, which is why I am prepared to shift focus for the winter months to cheese-making. The kit arrived today so hopefully I will have my first lash at it soon!