Posted on 01/18/2013 11:50:46 AM PST by greeneyes
It may not be spring yet, but I’ve got 14 raised beds full of seeds, seedlings, and plants. Yes, folks - be jealous! LOL. I live in the Charleston, SC area, and I have chard, red onions and garlic growing along with my raspberry canes (dormant), strawberries (have 2 flowers), and asparagus (coming up early due to the warm weather we HAD/gone today). My seedlings are kale, 2 kinds of carrots, 2 kinds of spinach, escarole, 5 kinds of lettuce, 2 kinds of turnips, 3 kinds of radishes, and 2 kinds of beets. I plant 3 kinds of potatoes, some white onion sets, and more chard on Feb 1. I also have a key lime tree loaded with buds. (My fig, pomegranates and almond are still dormant - though the fig does have leaf buds.) This weekend I will be setting up my germination room for spring crops. Very busy in my garden! [If you want to see my pictures and updates, I have them at www.sanctuarygardener.com I’d like to see your pics, too.]
Used the tractor to plow my way to the garden gate. Makes it easier to get ashes & stuff for the compost bin out there.
BTW- Welcome to FR.
Please add me to your ping list! :)
We welcome pics on this thread. Post your best and favorites.
I am always ok with easier. LOL.
I will do that.
We are having some great weather after frosty mornings but the ground fog rolled in yesterday and it is so thick tonight that you would need a chainsaw to cut it. It’s hard to get excited to get out and do anything except for a a hour or so. Yesterday we emptied about 40 of the 50 flower pots on the deck which is late for us. Still receiving seed catalogs to go with the 22 I pictured last week. The big excitement here in Benderville was the opening of Dungeness Crab season Wednesday in the waters just offshore.
Take JRandomFreeper OFF the Garden Ping list!!!
He ain't nothin but Trouble! Trouble I tell ya!
Just kiddin Johnny!
Good to see you joining the thread.
Sitting here in front of our fire watching the snow come down and anticipating the 20 to 30 below zero we're supposed to get this weekend... Brrrrrrrrrr!
Can only dream of gardening at this time of year...
I normally read the thread every Friday, and sometimes comment on it... but I couldn't find it today because I napped through when it showed up. Pings seem like a way to avoid that in the future.
It's about 49F here right now. Supposed to get down to 30F on Monday night.
I'd feel bad for you, except that I don't. Warm is good. ;)
/johnny
I’ve tried to grow every type of grain and oilseed I can find, and save enough seeds to expand production if time gets worse.
Where I get seeds, a couple of larger quantity ones first:
Organic Growers Supply (Fedco seeds): http://www.fedcoseeds.com/ogs/search.php - they have spring and winter wheat in addition to other grains and oilseeds. I bought some Montana Hard Winter wheat from them last year, which they don’t sell now, they’ve switched to Warthog.
Shumway: http://www.rhshumway.com/dc.asp?c1=Farm+Seeds&c=233 - no wheat but sorghum, field corn, and minor grains
Johnnys: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-4-cover-cropsfarm-seeds.aspx - I plant their Glenn Spring Wheat and Hulless Oats.
Peaceful Valley: http://www.groworganic.com - they sell their grains as cover crops but I use some of them as grain crops now.
As greeneyes said, Bountiful Gardens sells small quantities, I grow their kamut, hulless barley, quinoa, oilseed radish, proso millet
Baker Creek: http://www.rareseeds.com - has small packets of various grains
Southern Exposure: http://www.southernexposure.com has grains including upland rice.
Fedco Seed: http://www.fedcoseeds.com - has wheat and other grains and upland rice.
Hope that helps.
We had our fog last week. We couldn’t see 1 foot in front of our face. Must be what they mean when they say pea soup fog.LOL
You still are getting so much more done than I am. I am so slow this year, molasses could beat me. Doc did a bunch of tests, got some Rx, and hoping to feel more normal at least by April.
I kinda like good hearted, good natured troublesome sorts of people. When I was a teacher, I liked to set those types up in front - they were always smart enough to understand witty remarks.
The bad natured sort - I had them set in the back near the door, so that I could get them out into the hall fast with minimum attention.
JDoutrider - wishing you pleasant dreams of spring and seedlings. I am so glad we don’t have weather that cold here in Missouri. If I ever move, it will be southerly direction. That cold makes every joint hurt like crazy, especially the broken wrist and elbow.LOL.
Just planted a tray of flower seeds and put them in the little portable greenhouse we got at Lowes. I’m hoping to have marigolds, alyssum and zinnias before to long to transfer over to color bowls for the patio. After our cold snap, it’s supposed to be beautiful here in the Phoenix area for at least the next week— 74 in the daytime, 45 at night.
Also, we went to get another square-foot garden kit for my wifes veggie/herb garden. She’s got little tomato plants sprouting all over the place. :)
I like to plant Marigolds in and around my garden veggies. Especially like the yellow ones. Really perks up the colors and helps discourage some of the critters that like tomatoes.
Jack up car, and put on blocks. Remove wheel, and remove tire from rim; put rim back on axle. Put belt around rim.
This works best & safest, but only if you have a Positrack type rear end. The Posi keeps the wheel driving the belt from stalling, while the opposite one spins.
Otherwise, BLOCK THE OFF-WHEEL THOROUGHLY, and leave it on the ground, while only blocking up the belt-driving wheel. The weight of the car should be enough to let the jacked wheel drive the belt, instead of spinning the grounded tire.
I've seen diagrams & read articles describing how to jury rig a locking lever onto the off-wheel's lugs, after removing that wheel, but haven't seen it put into practice.
To get an idea of what I mean, here is nearly the same principle used for a log splitter, rather than a belt-drive.
Some guys get fancy, and weld two rims together, and do what they need to to the center of the outer one to be able to bolt the unit to the hub. This has the advantage of placing the drive belt beyond the fender well, eliminating any clearance problems.
We have been working on some new garden beds ... very excited about them! They are all built, and just need to be filled with soil.
When do most of you start seeds? I received my seeds in a few weeks ago. I would like to get started growing under lights, but will try and wait until March, at least for tomatoes. Last year, I started mid March for more tender plants, and still ended up repotting many of the plants two or three times, which made for quite a jungle inside. I tend to be conservative, and not want to plant out too soon, worrying about a late freeze. I may try planting some seedlings out a little early, with row covers for protection, and holding the rest back in case it doesn’t work out. We’ve had such warm winters the last couple of years. If this trend holds, I could definitely plant out much earlier than last year.
Most everything I'm starting inside will get started at the end of the month. Tomatoes, tobacco, stuff like that.
/johnny
Year three is supposed to be THE YEAR with asparagus. I got enough for several meals last year, but it would be good if I could do better this year.
/johnny
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