Posted on 03/01/2026 5:58:25 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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I noticed that too. WI 20 and MO 14? That ain’t right.
Forecast;
Today and tonight: Winter
Tomorrow: Spring
Thurs - Sun: Summer
Need some plant ideas. I’m going from 5 - 30” beds to 6 - 24” beds. Total width of all will be the same and I’ll be able to use my tractor without adding wheel spacers to straddle the wider beds.
I won’t be able to use it on the outer two beds so I’m thinking perennials, long term growers, things that can only be maintained by hand. Will actually be easier to tend because I can do it from outside instead of from a narrow walkway. Just gotta watch my head when getting up with the bi-fold sides sticking out 2 foot.(I can type that 100 times and will still hit my head)
So far I have;
Radish
Onion (bunching probably)
Garlic (clueless about them - hardneck/softneck something)
Carrots
Small Herbs & Spices (don’t know what stay small)
Marigold if not a large/sprawling type
Small fruits like strawberries
Everything should be fairly short.
With the selection above, I could build raised beds on the outer sides. Don’t have to worry about outdoor grass and weeds encroaching. Could build off of the outside base board.
Any other suggestions?
True
Many of these oaks hang on to their leaves through Winter and then get pushed off by Spring buds so we have brown leaves falling in Spring. Fall in Spring.
“I’m thinking perennials, long term growers, things that can only be maintained by hand.”
How about a long row of strawberries or blueberry bushes? Asparagus? Rhubarb?
Want some perennials for Pollinators? I’d go with Salvia, Lavender, Coneflower or Asters. Also any of the perennial herbs for your zone would be nice for both them and you.
Or, a row of NATIVE perennials for your specific zone. Useful and beautiful.
There are two large vines I know of, one in an obscure area of a local park and another along a little used access road where we walk our dogs - both produce tons of fruit, which I've picked and tasted - and are juicy and sweet.
Never seen Paw-Paws grown in California where I am - I think it's way too hot and dry for them. We do grow cherimoyas, which are related to paw paws.
The fruit looks like this:
And is incredible. Two trees grew at my old school and we'd harvest the fruit in December.
https://garden.org/apps/frost-dates/
Once you choose your risk level, you can plug in the dates here and it will give you the duration or number of growing days. https://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html
Using 50% chance of 28 degrees, I end up with Apr 14 - Oct 18 which is 188 days. Playing it safer with 30% chance of 36 degrees gives me 127 days.
I was just looking at peanuts 120-140 days but I doubt they like 36 degrees. I could start them indoors and hope for a warm Fall. Always wanted to grow some. Could grow some in the tunnel someday. Maybe next year. I could have boiled peanuts that don't come from a can. I miss them from FL where most convenient stores had a crockpot of them going all the time. Bought some fresh green ones and made my own once. That's more of that unobtainium food thing here in MO. Peanuts are like potatoes as far as being considered by most as not worth growing but if you simply can't get something, it becomes valuable. That reminds me, I need to check out that one grocery store and see if they have seed potatoes yet. They used to always have Yukon Gold.
I'll add the above links to my profile page. Since it's a pretty good sized reference with much of it coming from there gardening threads, here's a link to it -- https://freerepublic.com/~pollard/
Crazy March weather this past week here in Central Missouri. We went from flip-flops and t-shirts to mukluks and parkas in less than 24hrs. Still have some snow on the ground.
I did remember to disconnect the hoses and shut the water off to the outdoor hose faucets, but I DIDN’T remember to check the propane tank. Woke up to 57° in the house this morning. Fortunately the propane supplier we use actually cares about their customers - the truck was here in less than 30 minutes after I called to let them know the tank was dry. It’s nice and warm in here now.
I haven’t been out to check the seedlings in my greenhouse since the cold snap hit but I don’t have any heat going out there so it’s probably not going to be good. With two nights of sub-20° temps I expect my orchard trees will be taking a break from fruit production this year. The plum trees were almost to full bloom, pears weren’t far behind. Apples and peaches were close to bud break. Mrs. Augie’s magnolia tree had a few buds opening so it will be kaput too.
Good Neighbor Tanner ran a trapline in my woods over the weekend. He removed 12 raccoons in three nights. Two of them moved to my buddy Nick’s freezer. Four of them moved to my freezer, and two are having a nice sauna treatment in the slow roaster today. We’re hoping that will allow the few wild turkeys left around a better chance at raising some babies this spring.
I’m ten days away from the next round of injections in my back. I went straight back to work after the last round, which probably wasn’t a great idea. This time I’m playing the FMLA card and taking an extended break from work. I can take up to 12 weeks off and I intend to use it all. I’m hoping that will give my back enough time to actually heal up a bit so I can come back with renewed vigor and finish up a few pet projects before I pull the trigger on retirement.
Howard had another good week. I had to laugh at him when Nick and I were butchering coons Saturday afternoon. He was mightily confused about all of his buddies being in a pile on the garage floor, but aside from that he didn’t seem to care a bit about what we were doing to them. I tossed him a hide to play with - he sniffed it, gave me a “What am I supposed to do with this?” look, and went on his merry way. I guess they aren’t much fun when they don’t try to run away.
I received notice this morning that my garden seeds and asparagus crowns are on the way from Jung’s. I flagged all of the spots in the asparagus row where the crowns that were planted last spring didn’t survive before I covered the row with compost. I should be able to make short work of filling in the skips once the package arrives. I ordered more than I needed to fill those spots so I can extend the row with whatever is left over. I should wind up with around 70 crowns by the time it’s all said and done. That should be enough to keep a couple old people swimming in asparagus for as long as we’re able to go out and pick it.
Good news, all around!
Re: Howard. Our Walker Dogs are less than interested in dead coons, too. It’s not just Howard. :)
I’m expanding my Asparagus patch, too - adding a second bed of the stuff - we love it so much and it’s also part of my plan to make the garden more self-sufficient and less work for me.
Man, I miss my 40’ row of asparagus at the other farm. That was SUCH a treasure - and a good selling point when the time came; we sold that place in less than a week! :)
Glad you’re taking time off for your back. Don’t over-do it at home, though! Slow and steady. ;)
Tell Mrs. Augie I’m not expecting much from my Magnolia this season, either. It was at bud break two days ago, then we had our ‘Blizzard to end All Blizzards’ (5 inches - Whoopie!) and now a few days of teens, so it may have been harmed, too. My fruit trees managed to behave themselves and not be fooled by the False Spring we had in February and some of early March - but that remains to be seen, too.
Do you find propane prices higher during Winter than the warmer months? Something I’ve always heard is buy in Summer or pay dearly in the Winter.
It was $2.09/gal today. I last filled the tank just before Thanksgiving. IIRC, it was $1.69/gal then.
If not for the little squabble with the Persians it would probably be under $1.69 now.
I don’t play the nickel-dime game with my propane company. I generally have the tank filled in the fall so there’s no worry over having to pay winter prices, then have it filled up late February/early March. I guess I should have checked the gauge a couple weeks ago.
I don’t expect that I’ll need to fill it again until November.
Was actually very easy.
I'm gaining confidence in the readings I get from the actuator as far as what percent open it is. There is no delay in them aside from visually. It will stop dead on the number I tell it to. It just takes up to 3 seconds for the display to catch up. I might not have to worry about retracting fully every time just to Extend it. I was worried about the number getting less accurate with every partial move. Knowing it's accurate will reduce the number of Conditional Tasks I'll need to use. That's good since I'm limited to 50.
Went out and cut the chain off and removed the derailer from that bicycle. That was enough outdoors for me for the day.
Bone chilling cold today. Ran some errands & grocery shopped for the Lenten potluck tomorrow night. The ‘menu’ is chili & a baked potato bar. I signed up for the chili I made last year ... I think I had a cup left & the recipe makes about 6 quarts (my crockpot is full to the top). I did all the prep this afternoon so all I have to do tomorrow is take the crockpot liner out if the fridge, let it warm up a bit, & put it in the heating element until time to go. It’s not a traditional recipe, but it’s got lots of flavor:
https://www.bakerita.com/the-best-chili/
Temps mid to upper teens tonight. Mom’s hostas are up about 2 inches. I have some moving “rugs” for wrapping furniture & will put them over the pots tonight. The rugs are thick & quilted & should keep the hostas from freezing.
It looks like we “lost” some perennials and tree blooms that came out “too early”. I’ll be better able to tell, tomorrow.
We also “lost” one of our best liked chickens today: An old Easter Egger who would still pop out a beautiful blue egg once in a while. A truck had come by, leaving hunks of manure out on the road in front of our property. The birds were “out”, I was away, and daughter-san was evidently having a 4+ hour conversation on her phone with some friend. EE apparently went to investigate this interesting stuff on the road and got hit, about 5 minutes B4 I got home. She was still very warm (on a cold day) when I drove up, and not torn up, but thoroughly dead.
In all these years of having chickens, this is the 1st of ours that got hit out on the road. But, this bird always has been very inquisitive: She’d often come within a couple feet to watch me work on stuff for quite a while even if it wasn’t any kind of “ground work” that might turn up bugs or worms. OTOH, she was also slightly on the flighty side. An interesting “character”, in a way. She was also by a couple months our oldest bird, about ten y/o.
So... this is not like losing a dog, but, I kinda hate to see her go before her time. She’s been a very healthy, hardy, and predator avoiding bird. And, she was our only blue egg layer. :-(
The only good news was scooping a couple 5 gallon buckets of chunks of manure off the road for the garden.
Right. One of wifey’s friends was getting pretty decent fruits off theirs, so that’s why I thought rooting a cutting might work...
Yup!
Hope you are feeling better. :-)
.
“The only good news was scooping a couple 5 gallon buckets of chunks of manure off the road for the garden.”
Always look on the bright side of life! :)
I’ve had hundreds of chickens through the years and a few still stick in my mind, too. ‘Gray Lady’ - who could jump/fly over any fence and get out of any coop, and ‘Cagney’ and ‘Lacy’, who were the last two survivors of the last flock I had before I moved out to Beau’s farm. All very sweet girls.
Yes, chickens DO have individual personalities. :)
My ‘secret ingredient’ when I make Chili is beer. Any kind will do - the cheaper the better! ;) I’ve also heard that adding a bar of dark chocolate to Chili is really something to write home about, though I’ve never tried it.
We survived the ‘Alberta Clipper’ that came through last night - the Weather Guessers were all up in arms about it, as usual. A DUSTING is all we got - I’m handling it with a BROOM later this morning.
Yeesh!
And, Yes! My BAD ATTITUDE has returned with a vengeance! I NEED SPRING TO GET HERE! STAT! I put off tomato starting for a week so they won’t be too huge when I put them in the ground end of May. My peppers are up, though - still waiting on one that is poking along - I see LIFE in the dirt, but nothing above yet.
Everything needs to HURRY UP and bend to my will! And enough with the cold weather, already! Yeesh! :)
Needed to REMIND MYSELF of this, today:
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