Posted on 05/21/2010 5:00:30 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Anyone else putting up with these wild temperature swings?
I want you to pay attention to this advice if you want to be a active gardener into your 80s... DON'T GET OLD!!!
Well, she’ll have to forgo traditional bulbs, like tulips, in Houston. Those have to be refrigerated and re-planted every year there. I don’t remember if daffodils can be grown there — probably not.
But Day Lilies practically grow wild. And Crepe Myrtles are easy care (that’s a small tree, not a bulb, LOL). But a lot of the plants that we consider standbys in the north just won’t perform in TX. Never fear, there are plenty of other plants to take their places. Roses do well. Tyler, TX is the home of major Rose growers.
We enjoy getting away to see other parts of the country, so we will still see God's beautiful creation. FReeper cripplecreek recommended a drive through garden when we went to Mi last Oct. and saw some beautiful plants and trees that we had never seen. Like this conifer collection: 
or this one: 
Ya just dont see this stuff in the deep south.
I’d leave it all shaded while you are away.
What did everyone else say?
No one else has responded.
We do business (as a subcontractor) for some Lousianna firms. It was fun to have one of their Jr. Engineers up here for a week a couple of years ago. Instead of complaining about the cold, she was on the phone with her mother exclaiming that she had seen “real Christmas trees growing in peoples’ yards”! And it’s true. We use the evergreens in our landscaping a lot. She’d never been out of N.O. and had never seen a spruce tree in the ground before. It was cute.
They will. ;-)
That’s what I love about this thread. We all just try to help each other.
My logic, (lol), was that the lettuce needs to be cool and shaded from direct sun now, (We are only a month from the spring eqiunox), and since you won’t be there to watch it, err on the side of caution.
Meanwhile, my peas are 2 feet tall, and have white spots on the leaves, and not a single flower. Any suggestions?
I’ve never grown peas. Mine are 3 in. tall and look fine. The first tendril reached out and grabbed the support. It’s wonderful how much these babies know!
I can’t remember what I’m supposed to fill the potatoe bags with after the potatoes come up. Topsoil, compost, peat, or what?
Some say compost, and some say a mix of compost with soil.
Your call. ;-)
Have a good night.
It’s amazing how fast these plants are growing now that we’ve had a week of warm weather. A friend of mine who consults on my comupter system at work lives about 4 miles east of me on the shores of Lake Michigan. We are even on the same Road.
He has not put his garden in yet because it has been too cold and damp over at his place. While I’m having 90F temps, he’s having temps in the 50F range.
So, I took him a big bag of lettuce and some baby onions and radishes picked this morning from my garden when he came in today to clear some viruses. It’s much better than what he can buy in the store. He was grateful.
Can you imagine such a temperature swing in the space of 4 miles?
That’s because I don’t have a lot of experience with sunshine and warm temperatures. Like today when I napped between showers in my garden and did some garden chores during the rain...
It sounds like you may have powdery mildew and there is a organic formula on the web or there are commercial sprays available...
Written like a true Northwestern gardener! My husband was briefly courted by Honeywell of Seattle one time early in his career. They sent us all these brochures about Seattle — people playing golf in the rain, people gardening in the rain, people sailing in the rain, etc. Well the interview never materialized, but I’ve never forgotten the borchures.
Later on we lived there twice — once (briefly) when he was on a consult for Boeing and 15 years later when he worked for Western Gear. Everything in those brochures was true.
We used to live in that area just off of Baker Cypress Rd.
We describe ourselves as reverse snow birds. We leave the heat of the deep south seeking cooler temps. While in Mi. in late Oct, we were in short sleeves while the locals were dressed for the artic. It was about 35-40 deg. and sunny. We could feel their stares everywhere we went, I guess we looked southern. We went to the Co. Rockies in April 09 to see the mountains in the snow, and that was quite a sight to behold. This is a very beautiful country that we have and deserves to be seen and photographed.
Lost another garden day to rain because I ran errands during the good weather this morning then I came home, changed clothes, stepped out the door and it staring coming down. I put up with it for a hour until a friend brought 4# of FRESH Rock Fish over and I said that was a sign to come in and get dry...
I put fertilizer on the garlic and watered it in yesterday. It got pretty warm today and was only 45F last night. Indoor starts from 2 weeks ago are coming up.
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