Posted on 04/08/2016 1:30:15 PM PDT 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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You can generally plant the seeds in potting mix or seed starter - rule of thumb is about 4-6 weeks before transplant date for most seeds. We put our tomatoes in Dixie cups or Styro cups, sometimes use cardboard egg containers for smaller stuff, and put them in front of our southwest window/patio door.
You have to keep them damp, and if you use soil, they will sometimes get a soil borne disease, hence we use a soiless mix.
I am not familiar with the particular seeds you mentioned though.
I had a weigelia in the mountains of central PA (zone 5). Nice plant, bloomed in the spring and fall. The rabbits liked to hide under it, but didn’t seem to bother it. When I was in that house in the suburbs, the deer didn’t come down, so I can’t speak for them. Where I am now though, there are so many deer people hunt around our place. I find they will eat anything, so we put turkey wire cages around plants/trees till they are taller than the browse height. I haven’t tried weigelia here, but I had a nice forsythia going that they found one night and ate every leaf off overnight. The next forsythia was the first plant I caged, and it’s beautiful now.
The American Meadows email they send me says your Wine and Rose Weigela is for sun and shade. It gets 30-36” Tall. Hummingbirds love them and they are great as hedges. There is a sign with a deer slash running through it on the information page. I had never heard of this plant and they look beautiful. I believe I read you can’t plant them until the first of May in your area. Hope this helps and hopefully I’ve read the instructions correctly.
Also, forgot to mention, if you do get a frost after you have planted the seedlings, you can cover them with a row cover.
Also you can plant them outdoors in a cold frame, which is pretty easy to build.
Thank you so much!! You are a big help.
Gosh, I’m so glad I came here today!
Sounds like some good progress. Nice to have that lake warming effect. I have been so busy this year, I have not started a single thing indoors, but I have also found February to be a bit early for seed starting in the past - it’s the Missouri weather - always resists those early bird efforts. LOL
Sounds good. I have some sort of mystery plant growing right now. It’s about 3” tall, and came up through a mulched are in the garlic patch. Could be an undiscovered potato from last year.
Here too. I’m beginning to think that odd is normal. LOL
I’m glad that you are doing better, and able to maybe get out a bit and do some gardening. It’s good for the soul.
I am not familiar with that particular plant, nor have I seen it in any of the catalogs that I have gotten. I am beginning to think that the best bet on foundation plantings are to visit the places like Walmart, Home Depot etc. as the plants they carry usually will do well locally - assuming that is true for your area too.
I have been building a raised bed across the back of the yard this week. The land falls away steeply from the fence and it is hard to mow or trim. That means the fence row is covered in weeds and young Tang-a-Tangs (a tree that looks like a mimosa but that spreads like a weed and is harder to kill) and my solution is this bed.
It will be up to 16 inches deep, 7 feet wide and 83 feet (the width of our lot) long
I am building the retaining wall out of standard sized 8x8x16 cinder block plus a rounded concrete top.I dug out a shallow trench to the limestone bed rock or chipped away at the lime stone to form a level track and then poured a 4 inch thick by 8 inch wide foundation to seat the blocks on. I’ve also left a two inch gap between every other block on the bottom course to serve as a drain so excessive water from typhoons will not cause the wall to be pushed outward.
The biggest issue I have is getting top-soil to fill the bed. It is rather expensive to buy it 1 cubic foot at a time but there is nobody here that will deliver a dump truck load.
I plan to put hibiscus along the edge of the fence as visual barrier between the yard and the apartments on the other side. With such deep soil maybe I’ll plant sweet potatoes in the rest.
This should be a project for a young man
I’ll bet your veggies and flowers are really confused with that snow covering their roots.
My sympathies for your cold weather. I have no experience with gourds, but I know that some of the catalogs that I got in the mail had some.
Have you tried a web search for gourd seeds-you might be able to order some on line.
I just looked at a picture of those wine and roses weigela. They’re gorgeous.. Now I want one.
Try some warm milk with a bit of vanilla. It’s really nice for sipping before bed time.
It would be a daunting project for me-that’s for sure. However, it sure sounds like a good solution to your problem, and maybe gives you a little food supply too.
I agreed. They do look beautiful and I’ve never heard of them.
Me too. Glad that someone was able to help you here.
WOW! What an undertaking. It sounds like you have put a lot of thought and planning into this adventure. You have taken a problem and will be making it beautiful and delicious all in one. Very creative I must say.
Collards and mustard are great. You can mix them together.
Wash, chop, place in a pot of water, burn on the burner.
Cut up some bacon and chopped onion, add to the greens, salt and pepper to taste. Wonderful any time of the year.
Sometimes I mix in spinach, or beet leaves and even carrot tops. Enjoy. Actually, in our home, if it’s green and edible, it will go in a pot of anything else that’s green, always with bacon and onions. Some people have other ways to cook collards, mustard greens, beet tops. There’s a new
English pea with fancy tendrils, my friend planted some, so I added those tendrils and under formed peas to the pot too.
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