On 08-30-19 I planted some Simpson Elite, Royal Oakleaf, Four Seasons, Salad Bowl, Muri MTO & Green Frills lettuce seeds indoors under grow lights.  On 10-12-19, I transplanted the seedlings into the garden.  In the past, I was reluctant to separate the individual seedlings when I transplanted the seeds into the garden.  After about 3 weeks, I would separate the young plants which would expand by 3 to 4 times, the area with lettuce plants.

This year, I separated the seedlings (3 or more per cell) when I transplanted the 24 lettuce cells into the garden.  I took care after planting the seedlings to make sure they were watered every morning for the first week or so.  Looks like the new strategy worked … only lost 3 or 4 seedlings so far and you can see from the pics below.  The four individual pics are very small lettuce plants.  We have another 6 weeks or so before the lettuce will be large enough to be picked for salads.  So we're looking at the first week of Dec to start picking.  The beauty of lettuce is they can be picked over an 8 week period.  The unpicked plants just get bigger … their leaves still taste great … whenever they are picked! 

This hasn't been a particularly good year for my Bell Peppers.  I planted California Wonder Bell Peppers in March 2019.  In late February 2018, I planted Yolo Wonder Bell Peppers which did quite well last year.  As you can see from the pics below, the California Wonder have done better in recent weeks as temps have dropped with the onset of fall.  I did remove the 30% shade on 10-13-19 since daytime temps no longer exceed 90 degrees.

Tropical Storm Imelda dumped 4.56 inches over a four hour period at the rain gage on Buffalo Bayou.  You can see the impact on the Double Hibiscus pot which is planted in a 18 inch wide & 14 inch tall ceramic pot.  The pot was placed on top of an elevated bed which is 5 inches tall.  One would have thought that water would drain through the bottom of the pot and into the elevated bed.  However, this time the bottom of the pot apparently sat in soil so moist from the heavy rain that it formed a vacuum that prevented the water from draining out the bottom.  You can see the water sitting in the top of the pot with mushrooms forming on Sep 19th.

On Sep 21st, I noticed the double hibiscus leaves were starting to turn yellow and realized the pot was waterlogged.  I lifted the 50 lb. plus pot out of the bed and placed it on the sidewalk.  Yellow water came out the bottom as you can see from the pics.  In order to prevent this from happening again, I dug out the soil where the pot sat and put in Colorado River Rocks on Sep 26th before setting the pot back in the bed.  I am happy to report that the double hibiscus recovered and produced multiple blooms on Sep 30th.  Whew … a close call!