Posted on 02/06/2015 12:32:13 PM PST by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.
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We have had really cold temps at night this week. The worst was on Wednesday, when it got down to 19 degrees, and we got a light dusting of snow which is all gone now.
Most of the seeds planted last week have sprouted. This week I planted Chadwick's Cherry Tomato seeds, harvested the basil, and gave the lemon tree some liquid fertilizer.
The beautiful fragrance of the lemon tree flowers is a nice addition to the sunshine.
Yesterday I made a batch of crockpot yogurt and it was ready this morning for breakfast. So easy, and so good, and so much cheaper than buying Activia. LOL
I have received an update on Arrowhead, and will post a link down thread for those who are interested.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
At present, I’ve got 3 purple cherry tomato sprouts and one teeny tiny tobacco sprout! I’ve had my hops seeds in “cold stratification” for 3 weeks now, and am itching to get them into dirt, but apparently I’ve gotta leave ‘em in the fridge another month or so. Got 10 coffee plants started, but no sprouts just yet (apparently, it takes a month or more to germinate), but hopefully they will!
Pinging the list.
/johnny
/johnny
The update link for Arrowhead1952 is below at post 440 received from Kathy in Alaska. Contact her if you wish to send Valentine or other cards to him.
He has been transferred to a different rehab facility.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3224657/posts?page=440#440
24 hour soak and then into the dirt. I’ve heard they are tricky, so I dunno what will happen, but I guess I’m going to find out. My tobacco is really stressing me out. Lol. I’ve tried several strains, and have only been able to get one sprout so far. I’ve got additional seeds coming, so I’ll give them a try too.
If I had a greenhouse, I’d try some coffee plants and several additional lemon trees.
Good for you! Glad to hear from you, and that you are starting some seeds.
/johnny
This could be the issue. I've got one sprout from about 2 weeks of waiting at this point. I FReepmailed ya a while back and you had sent your address. I do need to get you a SASE. I would love to have some stuff I know is fresh. All the stuff I've been ordering is from Amazon, so who knows how fresh it is.
About 17-18 square feet each, with depth of about 15" at the edges, 2' in the middle.
What do y'all suggest for soil mixture, aeration/drainage etc? We are pretty new to this.
I've got seeds from 2014.
/johnny
/johnny
Mater seedlings are up and the hot peppers should be poking through soon. They will be pretty big when it’s time to plant. I’ll get onions, broccoli, and kale going this weekend. This is the first time I’m doing onions from seed. I bought a bunch of Sterilite storage containers at Walmart for $.88 during back to school time. I’m going to drill drainage holes in them and use them to start the onions. My goal is 400 plants this year.
/johnny
I have had my best luck with mushroom compost for lettuce, but you don’t need to fill the whole thing with that. I just used about 3 inches on top of our existing soil.
I started out using Mel’s Mix from the square foot gardening info I found on the internet. That’s equal amounts of compost(several types), peat, and vermiculite. After each harvest add a scoop of compost for each sq. foot.
It was good for me because it is nearly impossible to overwater your plants, and I used to kill everything with kindly drinks of water. And there was fertilizer in one of the bags to last for 6 months. LOL
We have had a load of topsoil delivered, so I’d probably use that and combine with some Mel’s mix, and top with mushroom compost.
However, I am no expert on soils, so I hope someone else can give you more options.
You have inspired me. I do have some onion seed from last year that I never got around to planting. I’ll have to see if I can find them.
You sent that message to greeneyes and that is good as she has raised beds and uses her own mixture of “stuff” in it.
For regular containers I use “Miracle Grow Potting Soil Mix”. There are several kinds of Miracle Grow soil but I only use their “Potting Soil Mix” for containers.
My son and his next-door-neighbor gardening buddy grew some tobacco last year. Not sure how long it took to get it started as the neighbor is retired and has a smaller yard so my son let’s him use my son’s gardening space and the neighbor does most of seed starting.
They did end up with quite a bit of tobacco. I saw it drying on the rafters in the neighbor’s shed. I hope to see my son this weekend and I’ll ask him about starting the tobacco plants.
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