Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 Vol. 05 – March 05

Free Republic | 03-05-2010 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners! Here in Central Mississippi spring type weather will be here soon. I can feel the warmth at the other end of the tunnel! Highs for the next week will be in the 60’s and 70’s and I will be out in the garden and yard cleaning up. I will have around two or three weeks to get the garden area in shape before any plants get transplanted into the garden. Spring officially starts March 20.

If you are just starting out gardening and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in. There are many Freepers from all over the Good Ol’ USA that are willing and eager to help.

The Weekly Gardening ping list has grown to 303 Freepers as of yesterday.

[murrie]

Hi Grammy,

I’m here in Tennessee too. Can’t wait for the good weather this weekend. Hoping to put out some broccoli-hope it’s the right time...
Heard on a local radio station this am that tomato prices are going through the roof. They interviewed a local owner of a sandwich shop who said that he paid 17 dollars “a case” (however many that is ) for tomatoes and that the price had gone up to 37 dollars. Boy- reason #52 to grow your own huh.
Happy gardening!

[mrs. a]

Thanks, I was looking at the Krasavitsa Moskvy and hoping that would work. What a nice coincidence - Diana in Wisconsin’s company sells them!

[wita]

That pie cherry tree special looks interesting, but it does list worst zone 5, and I live in 4 to 4.5, opinion?

[P8riot]

60s this weekend in Central VA

[murrie]

Hey Hoosiermama,

I’m in Nashville, TN-zone 6. Do you think I could do this now here in TN? I’ve not had much luck with peas here but would be willing to try again. Do you have a favorite variety? I would love to plant a hugh stand of bush peas if I knew they would take.

Happy gardening!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’m in Zone 4, but have a south facing area where all of my fruit trees are planted. I have four cherry trees; sour and sweet, and all are doing just fine.

There is protection from a big old evergreen treeline on the west, and I do keep the trunks wrapped with spirals to protect them from the bunnies.

So far, so good. Had a HUGE cherry crop last year - enough for two whole pies, LOL! (The trees are only about 3 years old.)

[hoosiermama]

WHen my sister lived in PA, she always bought great peas from the Amish in her neighborhood. She becam e friends with one of the teen age daughters and she gave her the tip.

I have used several different varieties...all seem to work about the same.. The secret is not to put them in rows. Keep the seeds about 1” apart and the soil about 1/2 inch deep. I’m in Southern Indiana and it works well here.

This year I’m planting just sugar peas....No shelling.

[texanyankee]

Good morning, from central Texas! We finally have had some decent, "outside-work" weather, so I've been harvesting what is left of my winter garden & prepping it for the upcoming season. I harvested my turnips earlier this week and yesterday I pulled up what seems like a thousand carrots. The pic below only shows about half my carrots - I got so many that I'm giving away.

Needless to say, the native soil is very low in organic matter. When I planted last September I was in such a hurry I didnt supplement any organic matter.

Earlier this week, I finally started my long-overdue compost pile. In the mean time, just to jump-start our spring/summer garden, I purchased a half-yard of compost from the nearby nursery. Our Kieffer pear & Methley plum trees that I planted this past December are showing some small buds. The red skin & Loring peach trees appear to be dormant, still.

[stefanbatory]

Not sure what zone I’m in, but I have my seedlings started inside in the little jiffy sphagnam moss balls. I was amazed to see how fast some of them had sprouted last week. Right now I am trying to get them enough light so they stop growing so tall, but I do not want to put them outside due to possible critter activity at our new house.

I imagine I will need to find some sort of fencing and posts...

[texanyankee]

That’s a handy link for using one’s zip code to calculate frost dates. Thanks.
It confirms what I’ve been hearing from the locals - it’s planting time for some of our favorite veggies in zip code 78639.

I heard that it’s still best to wait a couple of weeks before transplanting tomatoes, however.

[wita]

I figured, thanks. Had a pie cherry tree once but after a few good years it croaked. Dwarf, so maybe 10 years was good.
Lately we have bought frozen pie cherries from Washington. They are about twice the size we could grow in zone 4 so that has been a good alternative. I just miss feeding robins and squirrels, NOT.

[Arrowhead1952]

Pulled up most of the fall veggies and planted some tomatoes last weekend. I have some huge spinach plants the need picking this weekend.

[Red_Devil 232]

I sure hope y’all don’t get droughted out this summer!

[Free Vulcan]

We have had a couple of weeks of sunny days and things are already warming up. I like this weather pattern, we need a drier year.

[stefanbatory]

hey, I found an arrowhead this past summer in an undisclosed location...it appears to have been fashioned from a piece of coral...I suppose there isn’t much other rock in this area of Florida...

[Arrowhead1952]

You and I both hope we get more rain this year. Lake Travis is up over 50’ since the middle of last summer, so we have plenty of water this year. I heard that the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is charging people right at $100 for pumping water from the lake for lawns, etc.

[Arrowhead1952]

I found several broken arrowheads and one perfect one this past summer. Normally, we find a lot when the lake is low, but not this year.

[stefanbatory]

this was actually the first one I had ever found. It is in perfect condition. it has a pinkish hue towards the bottom and more of a bone color near the point. also, the back points are fashioned in such a way to enhance, I believe the spin of the arrow through the air to keep it straight. It’s really quite remarkable...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Those seedlings need to go under grow lights - STAT!

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenprimer/ss/SeedStarting.htm

[tubebender]

It’s becoming obvious we need some new rules RD2 (like no thread until Mr Bender) my FRiends call me Tork, gets out of bed on the far west coast at 7:12 AM. The season is definitely changing but the rains are fighting back here on Humboldt Bay. I got 7 of the 45 Dahlias dug and divided yesterday after I started clearing a large book shelf and taking 3 heavy boxes to the cancer thrift store and ran some other errands. We are going to have our hardwood floors refinished and are preparing for that mind boggling event. We have lived here 30 years and have acquired more junk than we can cope with.

The soil is ooffie/pooffie with all the compost added over the years.The weeds are coming back after the rains but a Hula Hoe will take care of them but the radar is showing lots of rain just off shore.