Spring bulbs coming out

In the containers I have outside my flat, I have some spring bulbs planted, which are now coming out (photos taken today, 17th February).

There are crocuses, dwarf irises (not yet) and dwarf daffodils.

Meanwhile, the gooseberrys, blueberries, tayberry and blackberry are still in winter dormancy though some leaf buds are evident.

The strawberries are variable in their success, but time will tell as spring progresses whether they come back well this year.

Some plants appear to have died (such as the Coleus in the ground container which was attacked immediately by slugs after its planting and now is only a stick of a stem).

The crocuses in a tub with purple pansies which have now finished flowering. The remains of the coleus plants that had striking green and red foliage, which was also tasty to the local slug population are also visible. Some pots with daffodils are behind them, along with one of the blueberry plants.

A fushia showing some new leaf growth, along with crocuses, geraniums and a strawberry plant. The Callibrachoa on the left looks like it is dead.

Another one of the trough containers with daffodils and crocuses in flower, and the second blueberry plant.

The yellow pansies (now finished flowering) along with some more spring bulbs.

The tayberry and blackberry plants are tied to the trellis, awaiting the spring to return so they can come to life. They were planted last year and only produced a handful of berries but did grow these canes that should hopefully produce more this year.

More of the crocuses in flower.

This strawberry plant looks fairly healthy, and the primrose is also flowering.

The two plants in the large pots at lower-left are Chilean Guavas (Ugni Molinea). The hanging basket above contains alpine strawberry, parsley and mint.

Temperature monitoring of heated propagator tray

I was curious about what the temperature in my heated propagator trays where my chilli and pepper seedlings are.

I am using a Garland 7 windowsill propagator, which is heated but not thermostatically controlled.

This was on a cold winter's day with the temperature only a few degrees above freezing outside, but next to a south facing window, with the window closed. The room heating is only on for an hour in the morning before the recording started, and a few hours in the evening, and radiator is on the other side of the room from this window.

I used a Temper1 USB temperature probe.

The probe itself was on the side of the tray facing the window, buried in the compost. During the day, the temperature reached 32°C inside the tray, though this was at the side directly having sunlight shining on it.

The output of the temper1 sensor can be redirected to a .csv file, which I here plot using Python+matplotlib.

It may be better to place the probe further from the side of the tray where direct sunlight shines on it, to get a more representative signal.

Update 

The temperature on 6th February, when I placed the probe in the side of the tray, rather than the end facing the window. There was snow this morning, and not really any direct sunlight unlike the previous day.

The first stage of potting the chilli seedlings on from the propagator trays. Most of them have been placed 2 to each cell, with some in an individual cell.