And the Cherry Tree is blooming nearby...
Posted on 04/15/2011 5:07:49 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
It has to be nation wide as I hear about it from all over but I wouldn’t call it a union but more of a side effect of the marriage license. Something in that “for better or for worse” clause...
And the Cherry Tree is blooming nearby...
WoW... the shipping is $198.50 for 4 gallons. I’m going to check with my feed store on availability and shipping. It must be registered as hazardous and I’ll bet I can’t buy it in Calif. I may have to drive to Oregon to buy it
Can you please add me to the ping list? Thanks from don@vb!!
Here are my latest photos of the plants I've started from seed. It really amazes me how big a plant you can grow in one of those little newspaper pots. We will begin transplanting to the garden tomorrow as the wind was 20 mph earlier today.
Today we have 2 sets of goslings, both sets having 6 little ones. To my surprise, we still have 2 geese sitting on nests, so I'm not really sure where the extra brood came from, but they are super cuties. Little yellow fuzzy balls on legs!
We always try to give the parents plenty of space the first couple of days, but they will bring the goslings right up to me soon and I'll get some good pictures.
Give an update if you figure out what kind of crane you've spotted. I had a beautiful Little Blue Heron fishing on the edge of the pond this afternoon, but they are timid creatures.
I conceded defeat in my potato patch today. All of my potatoes except the russets appear to have rotted in the ground. While the russets are thriving there is not a sign of anything else. Unfortunately, April has been every bit as wet as March was and only tonight are we finally going into a drying spell.
I picked up 5 pounds of Yukon Gold seed potatoes today, and all of them had lots of nicely sprouting eyes. I cut them up and am letting them callous up for a couple of days while I re-dig the potato bed tomorrow. The soil is very well drained, but when it rains steadily for days at a time, even well-drained soil becomes saturated; and I’m sure that’s what happened to the original batch of taters.
I was out today digging and filling another section of new raised bed, about 5 feet worth today. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the shredded coconut coir is some of the best stuff to hit the home gardening market in a long time. I’ve been blending into my compost bin and it is great for extending and breaking up the clumpy compost.
This coming week is supposed to be mostly dry with temperatures up in the high fifties. I expect to make major progress on finishing the retaining wall and pavers, and continuing to dig out and refill the raised bed the wall creates. The weather is finally starting to break warmer, and about the time the sun hits for real I will be ready for plants....
Cheers everyone!
I just want to lay down and cry when I see photos like yours. The rain and gloomy skies have me so depressed that I don’t want to get out of bed in the mornings. My wife transplanted Gem Marigolds to 5 flats of 6 packs this afternoon. (350 plants) We’ll have to start putting flats onto the cold frame as the little greenhouse benches are full already.
I know what you mean about potatoes in the wet north west and yet I see some volunteers coming up healthy as can be in my garden. I may try some very small whole spuds from last year soon. My soil is still below 50 degrees and the slugs and snails are prolific...
yep...that magic 50 degree mark is elusive this year. We haven’t broken 60 but once this Spring, and until it stays above fifty consistently at night, anything in the garden is at risk.
Other than chemical snail killer (like Corrie’s, which is toxic to cats) what do you recommend to combat slugs? When it isn’t so wet, a sprinkling of diatomaceous earth is like a sprinkling of broken glass and works pretty well to protect lettuce, strawberries and other slug favorites. But when it is this wet the DE just washes away....
I use Corries but worry about the birds. I guess I could use plastic lids to cover mounds of it? I like Dead Line but I get carried away with the application. For our 50 Dahlias I use a thick layer of pulverized oyster shells on the soil in a wide band at the base. Rice hulls may work but I have never tried them for that but I use them to mulch my Garlic through the winter to keep the weeds down and protect the soil from the pounding rain. It got to 63 in the garden yesterday but it was pouring rain also. We have cut way back on our vegetable gardens in the last few years as our appetite wanes and my wife no longer cans not ever Tuna...
I will be glad when our appetite wanes. We are at the stage where our metabolism has slowed, but not our appetites. I don't have to tell you what that does to us; which puts the ground farther away and triggers the doctors into lecture mode. An unhappy doctor toatally ruins the day out to the doctors.
I tried a new organic fungicide recipe I found online this week, which worked out very well. I had this white stuff that kind of looked like frost on my pole beans, okra, and squash leaves.
1 T baking soda
2.5 T veg oil
1 gal water
Directions warned to apply in morning before direct sunlight to avoid burning.
It sounds like you have Powdery Mildew and my late BiL used a very similar mixture on his roses and Dahlias although my wife thinks he used a little more baking soda?
I keep oyster shells on hand to feed the chickens, and I may give that a try this year when I see evidence of slugs...we’ll see if that works along with the DE.
The weather was great here today, in the high fifties, and when the sun broke out it was tee shirt weather for digging in the new bed. I got another section started this evening, and will fill it in tomorrow.
I must have an earthworm hatch underway, because I am finding a bunch of little tiny, 1/4” - 3/8” long earthworms. There is no doubt that is what they are, and that gives me great hope for this raised bed. I seeded 2,000 red wigglers into the compost bin a couple of months ago, and they say they will double in number every 90 days or so...a healthy worm population is a sign of a healthy garden....
I many have been premature on my potatoes....I started to turn the bed over, and found one of the seed potatoes, perfectly healthy, with lots of new roots and several nice shoots on it, just below the soil. Maybe the bed is better drained than I thought it was...
It’s supposed to be dry all week with highs near 60, so let’s see what sprouts this week....
Had the same thing happen with my newspaper pots during a 3-4 day sunless cool snap a couple of weeks back when I had to bring the plants into the garage.
I considered repotting, but tried fresh air and sunshine when the good weather returned. Mold was gone in a couple of days and the plants suffered no ill effects that I could detect.
Inside I'm not sure which spectrum of light might help you correct the problem, but air flow certainly will. One of our regular posters here on the thread uses a household fan on his starts to strengthen them. Wish I could help more. Good luck.
I’m going to start putting them outside this week. Its warm enough, but not too hot. I’ll get out a fan for the days I can’t bring them outside.
I would not expect the plants to have any issues, except maybe when the roots broke through the pots if I planted the pot in the garden, which we’re supposed to be able to do with the peat pots. But I don’t know if mold in general would cause a problem. Either way, when I do transplant, I’ll take them out of the peat pots just to be sure.
And Benderville got another 3/4” of rain yesterday and even my well drained garden beds are to wet to work. The sun is out at the moment but by the time I change clothes it will probably be raining again.
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