Weekly Gardening Thread -- April (again)

Garden Girl | April 2006 | Garden Girl

[Gabz]

Better late than never!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to GardenGirl for yet another wonderful article!!!!!

[Gabz]

It’s FRIDAY!!!!!!!

We actually have decent weather here today. I’ve got doors and windows open and I’ve been filling starter pots with soil out on the deck this morning!!!!!

[trisham]

I was just outside, and we have tiny leaves coming out everywhere on our bushes. :)

[AuntB]

It’s supposed to be over 70 the next few days here, but still in the high 20’s, low 30’s at night. I have several pots started in the house by a bright window....it might get warm enough to plant outside one day!

[EggsAckley]

“The pine trees will be candling and shedding pollen everywhere, coating everything in yellow dust-”

That’s the part that is my downfall. Really bad allergies this year.

[Gabz]

YIPPEE!!!!!!!! Spring is finally coming to the great northeast!

Access to our deck is from the attic, which is where my “office” is and I sit right now. It was one of the very first things we did after moving here.

I’m sitting here chuckling at my husband and our neighbor across the road sitting on their riding mowers/tractors chatting in the entrance to our property by the field. I should have taken a picture!

[whatshotandwhatsnot]

Love my garden!

Probably jumping the gun as I usually do this time of year, but put out tomato & sweet pepper plants today along with seeding onions, banana peppers and beans.

My existing roses have buds already and I’ve added 6 more to my rose garden. My tiller hasn’t had much of a break since mid March since I’m slowly ridding the front yard of all turf and installing bushes, perennials, bulbs and hardscape.

Good gardening everyone and great article!

[trisham]

It was beautiful yesterday. Today has been overcast, but not awful. 50 degrees or so.

[Gabz]

While we’re not supposed to dip into the 20s anymore, I hear what you’re saying. Way too early to put most things out yet, but I’m hoping to get bean seeds in the gound this weekend.

[tob2]

Know what you mean about the allergies. Had to have a breathing treatment. However, it’s a small price to pay for having my planters. The pansies are going all out with blooms; peas, lettuce, spinach and arugula very prolific right now. They love the rain and fog we have had lately. Temps going back down into the 40s and 50s over the weekend and more rain to ease our drought. Looking forward to warmer days so I can plant tomatoes, cucumbers and beans.

[Gabz]

Really bad allergies this year.

Glad to know I'm not the only one with that problem. They've already been wicked for me.

Growing up in NYC and spending my summers on the west coast of Florida I didn't have any of the allergies I've acquired since moving to the DelMarVa peninsula in 1982.

I'll never forget the first time I took a sudafed (or some similar OTC allergy stuff) I was still working in radio. After my 3pm newscast the station manager came into the newsroom and pulled me off the air and did the 3:30 newscast himself because the news director couldn't get there until almost 4. I was so "stoned" from the antihistamine I was practically incoherent on the air --- and I didn't even know it. I was still able to write and type, but could not speak coherently. The news director drove me home after the 6pm news.

25 years later he and I are still friends and we still laugh about that day.

[Gabz]

My tiller hasn’t had much of a break since mid March since I’m slowly ridding the front yard of all turf and installing bushes, perennials, bulbs and hardscape.

LOL!!!!!

You sound like my husband. The more he can till up and devote to something other than "lawn" the happier he is because it means less mowing!

Before we moved here, where we have just under 2 acres, we lived in an end unit townhouse with a 150'x35' lot. Every spring he borrowed a tiller from a friend to add more to my timbered in garden spaces, to him it meant less worrying about meeting the city ordinances for mowing!!!!

[Gabz]

Where in VA are you? I’m over on the Eastern Shore and believe I’ve missed the “hole” for getting in peas, but plan on getting beans started in the next couple of days.

[Red_Devil 232]

East Central Mississippi

Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
85° F | 54° F 29° C | 12° C	70° F | 36° F 21° C | 2° C	59° F | 29° F 15° C | -2° C	56° F | 31° F 13° C | -1° C	65° F | 38° F 18° C | 3° C
T-storms 80% chance of precipitation	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Mostly Cloudy	Clear

I can not believe the lows will be in the mid 30s and high 20s starting tomorrow. I will have to find a way to cover my tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and other plants!

[whatshotandwhatsnot]

LOL! Part of it is I just like tilling with the little Mantis. When I run out of yard, and it’s small, I’ll see if the neighbors have tilling needs.

Squirrels are my big problem here. The varmints dig up newly planted bulbs and chew shrubs. I saw one headed up to his nest with my peony that I had planted less than a hour earlier. I’ve tried mothballs, ammonia, fake owls-nothing has worked. Any tips or tricks on discouraging these furballs would be welcome.

[Gabz]

Yikes -— and I thought we had freaky weather!!!!

[Gabz]

I’ve consulted my gardening guru’s bible (Jerry Baker’s Terrific Garden Tonics) and he’s got 2 simple tonics...

The first one he says is for bulbs.

Spicy Squirrel Stopper

1 teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
1 pint of water

Mix together and put in a squirt bottle, like a ketchup bottle (not a spray bottle) after you plant the bulbs spray into the soil and then mix another batch and spray again in the spring when you expect them to start sprouting.

This one he says is for fruit and nut trees, but I imagine it will work for just about anything.

Squirrel Beater Tonic

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Murphy’s Oil Soap
1 quart warm water

Mix all of these ingredients together and put in a handheld sprayer (squirt bottle) Shake well and coat all fruit/nut bearing plants from top to bottom to let bothersome critters know they are unwelcome.

[Red_Devil 232]

It is a cold front and probably headed your way also. We are under a tornado watch but the rain and T-storms are patchy. Temp is 86 right now but will start cooling off fast in the next hour.

Just wondering about my fig trees, two are doing wonderful and have budded and have some very immature leaves developing, should I cover them at night during this cold snap?

[tob2]

Virginia Beach. Our temps have been up and down. The peas were planted during a warm period earlier this year, Purchased the spinach from a nursery. They are in a hanging planter where there is more sunshine and seem to love it there. Have one planter where there is sunshine the rest are under the outside steps to the apartment above me. Not much direct sunshine there except for late afternoon. The lettuce and arugula are doing wonderfully there, as well as oregano, basil (when warm enough) and parsley. The rest of the plants are getting enough light to blossom, even geraniums!

[Gabz]

You’re probably right, the weather we’re enjoying today is not expected to last -— but I can pretend :)

Covering your fig trees can’t hurt and just might help.