I brought my fall seedlings inside to stay cool today. They’re covering most of my dining room floor. It’s mid-September and it’s going up in the 90’s!! Hard to believe.

I’m growing the seedlings for our community garden, but it’s been a struggle to keep them happy this year. They’d like cool weather. They were outside the last 2 weeks, but now they’re inside. Tomorrow we’ll sell them and gardeners will plant them out. Fortunately the forecast is cloudy and cool (low 80’s) with scattered showers.

I’m growing the seedlings since it’s hard to find a good selection of fall seedlings in stores and fall is (usually) a great time to grow vegetables. The cooler (usually), fewer bugs and diseases, and gardens usually have extra space with summer crops gone. But it’s just been so hot this year! I tried growing them outside when they were tiny, but I lost several pots in the hot sun, so they all came inside. I handled most on my plant shelves under lights in the cool garage. A few others stayed on a window sill.

I have 10 trays of plants, 11 types of plants, some with two or three varieties. About 166 4-packs in all. Gardeners have pre-ordered most of these, but we’ll have a few extras for other people. They’re $1 each, proceeds will support our garden (especially the huge water bill we have this year!).