[greeneyes]

Great Day - Morning and afternoon. Nippy 39 degrees with glorious sunshine. I started another variety of tomatoes this week. WhipperSnapper - These tomatoes are supposedly so covered with fruits that the best way to grow them is in hanging baskets - we shall see.

I ran across a link that has great pictures and directions for starting tomato seeds, repotting and transplanting, so if you are new or simply want to refresh your memory:

http://www.gardenbetty.com/2011/03/the-no-brainer-guide-to-starting-seeds-indoors/

I am reminded that Marcella's trials concluded with Espoma Organic Seed Starter being the clear winner.

If mixing your own (could be cheaper) you could try a soiless mix of equal parts sphagnum peat moss (or coir), perlite, and Vermiculite.

My seed packet also reminds me that the Tomato plant needs plenty of P and K and calcium. Bone Meal, Gypsum, Epsom Salts, are often used in addition to compost with banana peels and egg shells, when you get to the transplant outdoors stage.

Have a great weekend. God Bless.

[lee martell]

I planted some Cosmos seeds the other day. Those are great flowers that are drought resistant and low maintenance.
It takes a while for them to germinate though. I may add some nitrogen, just a drop or two. (Elenores’ Plant Food).

[greeneyes]

Pinging the list. Not sure why the link didn’t work. But I’m sure just doing a search using that name will get it, if you are so inclined.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

greeneyes:" If mixing your own (could be cheaper) you could try a soiless mix of equal parts sphagnum peat moss (or coir), perlite, and Vermiculite. "

If I recall properly, Marcella recommended only the :"Miracle Gro Potting mix".
Other brands and mixtures may have been combined with contaminants.
I have read on other forums that other products may not be as 'fine', nor as conducive to plant and root growth.
Marcella is reknowned as the queen of pot growth mediums , seed germenation, and her love for anti-tree rats(squirrel) pesticides.

[Proud_texan]

Feels like spring in Central Texas. Was finishing up on pruning the dead stuff on the Cannas and yep, shoots all around.

Beds are prepared and am ready to plant potatoes this weekend. The rule here; Valentine's day. And if you can catch a full moon (the 18th I think) so much the better.

Other than the usual suspects I'm trying Red Malabar Spinach and Frisee (aka Curly Endive) this year. The Red Malabar should do well, apparently it's very heat tolerant but I've never tried to grow Frisee in an oven so it's iffy.

[Sparky1776]

4’ of snow on the ground, near zero outside, so I just ordered 10 fruit trees for a micro-orchard to be planted close quarter mid March:

1 - Jonathan Apple Semi Dwarf
1 - Red Delicious Apple Semi Dwarf
1 - Golden Delicious Apple Semi Dwarf
1 - Montmorency Pie Cherry Semi-Dwarf
1 - Moonglow Pear Dwarf
1 - Delicious™ Pear Dwarf
1 - Redheart Plum Dwarf
1 - Delicious™ Plum Dwarf
1 - Redhaven Peach Dwarf
1 - Delicious™ Peach Dwarf

We’ll see what happens.

[BlackAdderess]

Have to try those Whippersnapper tomatoes, that sounds like a great use for hanging basket space!

I’m not starting my tomato seedlings until March 1 (Big Beefs), the hydroponics are doing great but the produce is nothing I’d mistake for garden grown in the summer sun and warm dirt. I’ll try flowers next and see how that works out :)

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

greeneyes:"If mixing your own (could be cheaper) you could try a soiless mix of equal parts sphagnum peat moss (or coir), perlite, and Vermiculite. "

Just as a reminder, " perlite, and Vermiculite" are not ferilizers , but will increase the frability of your soil (light , less dense).
"Spahagnum peat moss or (choir)" will retain soil moisture, and allow for soil moisture during dry summer heat, while being an almost sterile soil medium.
Also , it incidently adds to soil friability, and keeps the soil a lighter texture and adds organic matter to soil, especially important to people with heavy clay soil.

[heartwood]

9 degrees. Got to put some Christmas lights and sheets over the plants in the garage, because it’s going down to -2.

Was also planning to winter sow some seeds, but they can wait another week.

And I should cut a lot of wintersweet and winter jasmine branches this evening - they’ll be open by tomorrow morning inside, but -2 overnight is going to kill the buds.

Brr.

[Augie]

Link to a nice seed starting article from Eric:

http://www.thelaketoday.com/news/2015/feb/11/how-start-seeds-part-1-starting-seeds-indoors-home/

Nice weather in Central Missouri today but the forecast is for more snow and back in the freezer over the weekend.

Sawmill guy is coming on Sunday to give me a bid on my log pile.

If I get really ambitious I might warm up my workshop and paint the cold frame over the weekend.

[Godzilla]

Celery and cauliflower growing like weeds Gotta get the white radishes and beets picked as well as thinning out the carrots.

[Original Lurker]

I started my Krims (tomato) this past Sunday. They started germinating in less than 48 hours. By Wednesday every seed was up. I planted two seeds per peat pellet. I’ll remove the second seedling from the peat starter, replant, and double the count of seedlings for a total of 72 seedlings. My logic is to put out larger plants so they get a good
head-start on the wilt.

I also plant my usual hybrids (better boys, super steaks, etc) so I continue my harvest until the frost kills the plants.

Last year my Krims germinated in 2 and 1/2 days and entire garden was incredible. I’m thinking this year is going to be a repeat here in Atlanta.

[bog trotter]

I started some pot tomatoes last fall and brought one up from the basement after Christmas.
It took off like Jack’s beanstalk and looks really great. BUT, the blossoms fall off...
I can’t see anything wrong or on the plants that would cause this and when I called a gardener friend, she said that she was having the same problem, also.
I do supplement our cloudy west MI sunshine with a full spectrum light.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[tubebender]

I over wintered some beets and pulled a few for Lady Bender to cook for two or 3 meals… The weather has been very mild and the slugs and snails are extra hungry so it would be foolish to plant anything now. I may try a row of potatoes as the volunteers look very healthy as we haven't had a frost for 4 or 5 weeks

The biggest one took some extra cooking but the ones we had with dinner today were delish…

[ApplegateRanch]

Veggie seeds from Bountiful Gardens arrived.

New for this year are lovage, Portugese (sic) kale, sugar beets, & some old carrot varieties that are new to us.

Tonight, I bought butterfly weed & milkweed seeds on e-Bay.

Since October, I’ve been working part time at our local Taco John’s, with a side benefit of all the clean empty 1 gallon cans & 5 gallon oil bottles I want. Some of the cans are now feed scoops, but most are destined for garden/greenhouse duties. The oil bottles will mainly be used for drip watering some things that are hard to reach otherwise.

All but the most shaded snow is gone, and the ground is drying out. We’ve been having above average & even record high temperatures since the second week of January, and looks like an early spring is in the offing. I’m even starting to think about starting some of the hardiest seeds for early transplanting.

Monday we should be able to pick up the garden tractor from the shop. Steering & brakes were shot; needed engine repair, general servicing, and new belts. We’ve had it at least 12 years, with no major work previously, so I can’t complain. I really miss it, as it gets used nearly every day, for one thing or another.

[Carriage Hill]

Good source for seed, hard-to-find heirloom and others:

http://www.rareseeds.com/

[goodwithagun]

Tomorrow we will have a high of 6•, and with the wind it will feel like -21• when we go to Mass. It helps to have seedlings sunbathing on the kitchen table. Number three did get a handful of ‘mater seedlings before number two narced on her. I haven’t snipped the extras yet so we should be okay. My Hungarian hot wax peps haven’t germinated yet and I’m a bit concerned. All the other hot peps have popped up though. I’m starting onions from seed this year so they are sown. I decided to use $.88 Sterilite containers for them. Hubby drilled drainage holes in the bottom, then the lid which is keeping moisture in will be the drip tray when they are up. I want summer!

[dware]

Just jumping in! Spent an incredibly relaxing weekend in Glenwood Springs with my wife. It was MUCH needed! We spent the time visiting Doc Holliday's gravesite and walking in his final footsteps. I had to laugh at the fact that Summit Canyon Mountaineering has a sign on the front door that states Doc Holliday died there. I looked at my wife and said, yeah, he walked in, noticed their prices and keeled over. Lol. Anyhow, it was much need, relaxing and, as my wife put it - so romantic we could spend the weekend with Doc Holliday. In all fairness, we also visited "Kid Curry's" website and a couple of his haunts too!

I've got tobacco sprouts galore! And thanks to JRandomFreeper, I'll likely have even more. So excited about that. Aside from the tobacco sprouts, I've got tomatoes, eggplants, and chile plants sprouting! And just when I got all these sprouts coming up, the winter weather returns! Looks like I'll be incubating quite a bit indoors this year!