Posted on 04/24/2015 1:22:35 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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“it’s daffodil weather “
Mine all froze!
There’s pros and cons to both ways. After 50 years this summer, it’s kinda like having a dual personality, and we both are of the live and let live type. First 7 years took some adjustment. LOL
Still having asparagus every day and the native blackberries are starting to come in and with all the rain are very tasty.
Strawberries are enjoying the water as well and we have the biggest crop we've ever had here.
Tomatoes are staked and many have egg sized fruit. Really anxious for those guys to come in.
Corn is doing nicely. I think my failure last year was the seeds. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
But the big boys are the potatoes. Most are already 3 feet tall. Hope they put on as much size underneath the dirt as they do on top.
The frisee is exceeding my expectations. First time for it here and I'm impressed.
My biggest treat is actually kind of mundane. I couldn't find any Pequin plants/seeds anywhere and mail ordered some. Planted in a pot and half were Pequin and the other half were Tepin (yes, there is a difference) and by the time they got big enough to identify I thought it would be unwise to transplant them and besides, they're doing just fine.
But there were a few pods left on the Pequin plant so I stuck the seeds in some dirt and they're sprouting and will go out in the yard.
While I see them in weird places all the time (gutters for instance) from what I read they aren't easy to start from seed. Go figure.
Prayers for a quick recovery for your husband.
It was 36 last night & the forecast is for even colder again tonight. My tomatoes I bought last week are still in their store pots and under shelter. In the meanwhile, I’ve been amending soil in the raised beds with compost so by the time I do get the plants in the ground (next week some time), they should have some really good ‘stuff’ in which to grow.
The kale is beautiful - it all survived the cold/frost a couple weeks ago and has leaves ready to eat. The kohlrabi did not fare as well - lost half the plants, but still have 4 that look healthy. All 40 onions look great and it’s nice to see something growing in the garden.
I tried it twice. Once with Elmers and once with a homemade concoction I found on “How To...”. Didn’t work well for me.
Here’s what I do now. I use tweezers to handle the little seeds - I think that may have been a tip from tubebender.
I take a stick and poke a shallow hole where needed, and eyeball the placement. For example if I need to plant five seeds I place a one at each edge, one in the middle and one at each midpoint of the distance between the edge and middle, then use the tweezer to put the seed in the hole and use a finger to push some soil on top.
I also use my fingers to measure, if I’m planting according to inches. When I make the V for Victory sign and poke my fingers into the dirt, that’s a two inch span between the holes. My middle finger is right at 3 inches long.
From the tip of my middle finger to my wrist is 6 inches. I used to know the distance from the tip of my middle finger to my elbow, but that knowledge has atrophied, since I got a tiny measuring tape on my key chain.
This was useful info when I used to shop for household Items that had to be a certain size, but weren’t labeled with dimensions. I came up with it when I was about 12, found it useful, and continued to use it for quick and dirty estimates.
Another way is to put a seed in a tiny Dixie cup of seed starter and let it start indoors - better germination and very useful for older seeds - it also conserves water. Once it is up a ways, transplant according to the distance you need between plants. No empty spaces to go back and refill, and no thinning needed.
I was looking through that web page from sockmonkey’s post last week, and I saw a small greenhouse/cold frame for around 40 bucks that would be just right for the size of my raised beds, and was thinking I might get that for my winter garden and maybe even be able to grow some Rosemary, if I added a 100 watt bulb on the colder days.
We seem to be past the twenty degree nights thank goodness.
I’m thinking that my potatoes won’t be much this year. I delayed getting them to the basement store room too long and then after I got them out for greening they waited too long (life intervened) before I planted them, and they looked kinda worthless.
I was just getting a pretty good batch of seed potatoes built up too. May have to start over and order some for next time. Hubby got a lot planted though, and his were new seed potatoes he bought from farm supply I think - or maybe Wally World.
Thanks for the prayers.
No such thing as ‘dirt cheap’.
Depends on what kind of dirt.
Some dirt is more equal than other kinds...
it’s 6 pm here and Johnny is about to get hit by a severe thunderstorm (wind, hail, conditions ripe for tornado) and then it comes here. We are under tornado watch until sometime tonight.
Naturally, Johnny has an emergency set up so he won’t be without power. He called me a bit ago to say this is a bad storm.
If our city siren goes off, I’ll put supplies in a hallway here that has no windows on any side. This is typical spring weather for this area. Where I am is not far from the Oklahoma border, about an hour away, and that is a serious tornado alley.
Dallas TV is showing damage in Stevensville area now - wind driven golf ball size hail - 80 MPH winds. It’s now in Granbury and moving into Tarrant County/Fort Worth - that’s Johnny.
Sure do miss those! Used to get sacks full up in NE Iowa in the hills. Delicious!!
I don’t think there is any risk confusing Morels with something else is there?
That looks like a really good idea. I wonder if making your own glue with flour and water would also work.
Aside from our spring flowers the most bountiful and beautiful stuff was a patch of volunteer burdock (edible) that came up in a load of somewhat rocky compost that we got for free last fall.
Hubby pulled it all the other day before it seeded and put it into his leaf compost pile. He also picked a batch of poke greens and fixed a mess of polk which he made and ate.
He knows I don’t like it, so he never even offered me a taste. LOL I had made up my mind that I would surprise him and take a taste, but he wound up surprising me instead. LOL
Seriously this polk grows under the butternut tree, and that is the only thing that ever has been able to grow there. By the end of summer it’s a patch about 48 sq. feet or more and about 5 feet tall give or take a bit.
That’s a whole lot of what most in my family and his consider mighty fine eats.
LOL
I am so glad for all my gardening FRiends that SPRING is finally here! :-)
/johnny
Hey everyone, I just found out that I didn’t post the correct date. Even though I checked the calendar and noted that it was the 24th. I just didn’t turn loose of that number 17 after typing the volume #.
Sorry for the mistake, and missing it when reviewing the post. But that’s just my “funny way of typing” these days.
Ditto that!
What sort of emergency stuff?
Lots of little damage like stuff coming off of roofs. Glad I'm not out in it.
I am doing without fan, and that's my fault.
I picked the wrong day to do some bleed-down experiments, so I'm going into this with about 40% of the power I should have. LOL! Leave it to me.
/johnny
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