I've never grown spirea, so this should be fun!
Posted on 04/04/2014 12:54:31 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Well we did get a few days of nice spring like weather in the 60s and 70s, and some beautiful sunshine. So we did get some yard work done. I got a couple of beds of potatoes planted - covered them with straw in case we had freezing temps, since we are not yet at the last frost date.
These potaoes were from Dakota Pearls that I grew myself last year, so this is a new experiment on my part. I have some butte russet and potatoes from the grocery that sprouted before I could use them all that I will be trying out this year too.
Hubby has some seed potatoes that he purchased, but is needing to make a bed to plant them in. All of his existing patches except one small one is within 50 feet of our walnut trees, so he will be coming up with a minumum of 3 beds further away from the walnut trees to use for rotation of nightshades with other veggies.
I planted my Walmart pot of potatoes and stuck it in front of the window. I have 3 containers of soil from last year's container plants a little over half full. I will add about 4 inches of mushroom compost and plant lettuce and spinach to grow indoors for a while.
I harvested basil grown indoors and a bunch of 4 cherry tomatoes that are slightly larger in diameter than a quarter. Salad tonight!
So I have been doing some reading on organic and homemade fertilizers, and compost. From the organic mother earth book that Hubby bought: the 3 cheapest organic fertilizers:
Soybean meal $5/lb 7-2-1 Cottonsead meal $6/lb 6-1-1 Alfalfa meal $$9/lb 3-1-2
So I have been reading also about some of the "free" stuff like used coffee grounds, eggshells etc. I have to refresh my memory as well as get more details doncha know.
Here's a link that has several links to articles that may be interesting, if any one is interested in the subject:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/fertilizing-plants-coffee-grounds-eggshells-44657.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/liquid-fertilizers-zm0z11zhun.aspx#axzz2xwfj67Ic
I haven't read the Mother Earth Article or explored all the other links yet, but it's been very interesting reading so far.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
It’s Summertime in FL...85 degrees every day! :-)
Pinging the List.
I sure like your temps better than mine.LOL
Just think, the USDA recently reclassed our area from zone 5 to zone 6 and we had a really mild winter in 2011 I think it was.
So what happened? Where is the global warming when you need it. It feels more like the onset of a little ice age right now.
I've never grown spirea, so this should be fun!
Put me on the list! Suburban gardener that hasn’t gardened in 20 plus years. Nearing retirement and just had my yard redone with new garden areas (It helps that my neighbor just cut down some very large trees on my south side).
My goal for this year is beans, snowpeas (just planted), tomatoes, and some exotic vegetables my kids got me for Christmas.
DC area
Peas, green bean and tomatoes are my garden veggies that can’t be reproduced at the store. If people have others (tastewise) let me know.
What are nightshades? Also, I had a 4 ft east facing retaining wall put up in my back yard to flatten a sloping yard.
The upper side of the wall is mostly grass now - nice level lawn. On the lower side of the wall is an area I’ve put in some garden areas. Excellent morning sun but after lunch, area is shaded by the wall.
Suggestions on what I might successfully plant? I’m going for beans, and maybe a section with corn later in the spring since the stalks should be above the wall and still get PM sun.
Thoughts anyone?
That’s a cute little plant! We’ll be expecting more pictures as it grows.
Thanks! I think it’s supposed to turn yellow/gold in autumn.
Everything else is doing fine. Potatoes are going crazy, putting out green, tomatoes and pepper plants are little, but doing well, sunflowers are growing faster than the weeds. All of the cantaloupe, pumpkin, and squash are doing well.
I started tobacco seed this morning for 56 replacement plants, and next week, I'll start peanuts.
Not terribly unhappy with the way the year in the big garden has started.
/johnny
Will do. I am sure that you will have some recollection of various aspects of gardening. I just started as a newbie in 2010 with lots of help from people on this thread and the internet.
Most important to inspiring me was the Sq. Foot Gardening book my daughter gave me. That first year my beds were made entirely of Mel’s mix. It is almost impossible to overwater!
Prior to that I killed everything I tried to grow. I now suspect that it was too much kindness/watering etc.
Anyway, every year I forget some stuff, and have to refresh my memory, but every year, I remember a little more.
So welcome to the thread.
My Mom lives in Boston, and it has been a perfectly miserable winter.
I think most if not all homegrown stuff just tastes better from the home garden. However, Tomatoes and Peppers are number 1 on my list, because I like them so much, and they taste so much better.
Also, peppers are really really expensive here especially the sweet red bell peppers, and I don’t like the thoughts of all the pesticides that are generally used to grow them commercially.
My produce is all pesticide free, and no chance of E-Coli on my spinach greens. It is all good!
I was looking at the 90 or so containers on the deck and I put the plants out there as they needed to go out, so they are totally mixed up. A cucumber maybe next to a pepper and another cucumber in another place and another one in another place. Peppers are also everywhere next to whatever. Tomatoes in small pots until they get bigger are spread around here and there. Brussels sprouts, several kinds of peas, and many more are just mixed up.
I'm going to have to bend to move all those plants into categories. Rats on the bending but I'll do it, maybe some at a time and stop, then go back and keep doing that until its done.
I also got two water hoses. Each one is 15 ft. The Sears, guaranteed for life, heavy duty 50 ft. hose, is so heavy, it's hard for me to use. This morning I measured how long a hose would have to be for me to water everything and I could make it, barely, with a 25ft. hose. However, when at Lowes and a guy helping me, he had a 15 ft. hose, 5/8 inch as most hoses are, and it is a feather weight. I could easily hold one of those with one hand and another on top of that still wasn't heavy. Together, that gives me 30ft. and that is for sure all the length I need. They were 7+ dollars for each. They have solid metal fittings so shouldn't leak. I'll get that together before today is over and not have to fight that really heavy duty hose.
I read about the pocket hoses and none of them are worth buying, they fail plus they have plastic fittings and leak and I can't have a leak where it hooks to water as that water fitting is on the deck coming out of the wall of the living area and next to the wall of the storage room. I would have water going in both places. Anyway, I'm sure this new hose will be easier to use.
Here in Northern Texas I have put my seedlings outside already, some in raised beds and some in those fabric bags. I must say I like the bags already. Last night we had severe thunderstorm with large hail warnings and tornado warnings. I picked up all my bags and brought them into the garage so they wouldn’t get destroyed by hail. Next morning safe and sound I brought them back outside. I can also move them around on the back patio so they can follow the sun. Think I am actually going to buy more.
I heard about golf-ball sized hail! Stay Safe, FRiend! :-)
That's how I do things.
Members of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family include tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell and chili peppers.
My son and I just finished planting starters for Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley and Lemongrass. Hopefully we are not too early. If so we will rig up a little hotbox for them!
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