I agree with keeping things in container for the rest of the year and putting fall veggies into the ground. You'll have plenty to do. I have managed a late crop of bush beans by using a low tunnel of Agribon fabric to protect them from a light frost we usually get mid-September. I think Swiss chard tastes the best when weather gets colder. Love it when the cold sweetens it up.

I had thrips last year from a nursery... but they went away when the wasps came. Then they died in my zone 5a winter. No thrips for this year. I found a quote from a research on thrips 'A large greenhouse grower in the Netherlands found that garlic plants are effective to control thrips. He uses 3 potted garlic plants for every 30 square feet of bench area.' It's best to put garlic plants, and esp. invasive garlic chives into pots with bottom cut off in the ground. Garlic chives is OBNOXIOUSLY invasive, it spreads by seeds and also by roots. I prefer dill to host beneficial insects. I can kill dill in 15 minutes, versus 1 day for garlic chives. I saw ladybugs, praying mantis, and a frog In my dill patch. Here is a link that might be useful: IPM Bulletin: Management of thrips

Yes, Mark, I find that wind is a bigger issue that how much sunlight to give them while hardening off. A 6-12" plant that isn't used to the wind will be trashed by less than a 10mph wind. The trick is to find sunny warm days with little to no wind or find a spot that is well sheltered from the wind yet gets the right amount of sun exposure. A cardboard box is one solution. And as for support, check out bamboo skewers. There are dirt cheap and work great for plants up to about 10". They are about a foot long and you can get them at dollar stores, probably walmart and other places. maybe check the craft section at walmart. But you get about 30 for a buck. Once your plants get any bigger, you will probably need something more substantial. Your plants look just about the right size for the bamboo skewers. Bruce.

Orange oil has many useful purposes around the house and garden. I always have a bottle of Medina orange oil on hand. Because it is so strong and must be diluted a great deal for use, a bottle lasts a very long time. This stuff is strong and will strip paint so be careful with the concentration of it no matter what you use it for. My first use of orange oil (d-limonene) was as part of a homemade soil drench for fire ant mounts. I am sure that I first learned of it from The Dirt Doctor, and this probably was in the 1980s or possibly the early 90s. Back then, the sole organic fire ant killer you could buy ready-to-use had orange oil in it. Some people use it as a herbicide. I'm not sure how they use it, and I haven't tried it as a herbicide myself. You can buy pre-mixed orange oil insecticides. The one I see in stores is called Orange Guard. Here's some of what Howard Garrett has written about the use of orange oil: The Dirt Doctor: Orange Oil You can Google 'how to use orange oil in gardening' and find lots more info. Some people spray it on the ground around their home's foundation to keep fire ants and carpenter ants out of the house. We've used it that way in some rainy years and it seemed to work really well, but I am careful to spray it only on the ground, not on plants and not on any painted surface--like the exerior of the house. Some people spray it around their garden perimeter (taking care to not spray it on desirable plants) to repel cats. We haven't tried that. Some years when it rains a lot, ants invade the house, particularly the kitchen, sunroom and laundry room. I spray whatever path they are following with a very strongly diluted orange oil (1/2 teaspoon per quart of water) and the orange oil seems to impede their ability to follow ant scent trails. It also kills them if it hits them directly. That is how it works as an insecticide---it dissolves the insect's skeletons just like it dissolves paint. You even can buy commercial paint strippers whose active ingredient is orange oil. Howard Garrett mentions people using as a foliar spray. I've never tried that, and I'd be really careful with using it in that way because I'd be worried that it would burn plant foliage. For a use like that, always test it on one plant or even part of one plant first and wait 2 or 3 days to see if damage appears before using it on a more widespread basis. Orange oil also can be used to spray dog yards and kennels and such to deter fleas. So, while I don't know why you bought it, Kim, I suspect it was for some sort of insecticidal purpose.