Posted on 04/06/2012 9:30:28 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning, FRiends and fellow gardeners! The weather has cooled-down a bit, the sun is shining and my grandgirls have been here all week. I am one happy blonde today.
It rained again 2 and 3 days ago, so I haven't even disked up the garden spot yet, but that will get done Monday.
All of the fruit trees and bushes that I've planted are doing very well and the regular rains have been perfect to keep them moist and off to a great start! Some of the raspberries that I planted were established plants, and some were bare-root canes. Many of the canes have come alive with new growth, and the others are showing buds this morning.
A visit to the apiary this morning showed a good buildup of comb and honey stores. They say that the Spring following a drought will yield little honey flow, and half of my hives are going along with that. The other half is building comb and producing honey like crazy, so I don't know what to think.
For those of you traveling for the weekend, I wish you a safe trip! And I wish each and every one of you a blessed Easter. Enjoy!
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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I’ve only grown onions once and bought those little tiny sets. What do you end up with when you plant green onions? Large onions?
“What do you end up with when you plant green onions? Large onions?”
Nah! The bulbs will get a little bigger. But the hollow leaves grow quickly, so I always just trim some off, and use them to garnish soups, salads, sauces, fish,,,,, whatever! Just pick out bunches at the store that have some roots. Poke a hole in the dirt, and stuff ‘em in. Squeeze the soil around it, water ‘em, and you’re good to go! Learned the “trick” from a Chinese ladyfriend!
Thank you! I like having fresh onion greens ... got some that are freeze-dried, but nothing is as good as fresh.
Thank you for checking in, Gabz! Enjoy the weather and your trip.
Happy Easter to you as well.
Can’t get into the garden for the rain..Every day this past week.
Onions in the raised beds are doing well.
Happy Easter to all.
And my plants are loving the weather this year.
Strawberries are loaded. Blackberries are in full bloom with pretty good crop already set.
Grape vines is doing very well.
I discovered the wonder of solitary bees this week. Was worrying about the honey bee population. (seems small this year) But I noticed for the first time Blue Orchard Mason Bees and an unidentified small bee. Boy are they doing the job.
Even made a nesting block to see if I can encourage them to stay around.
Fruit trees are doing great. The older ones are loaded. (Pears, Plums, Persimmons) The young ones are blooming, but don’t expect much yet from them.
Only have 1 blueberry bush that clearly survived the 100 year drought last year. At least one more shows signs of life.
You’re very welcome! Now is the time to get into the edges of the woods, and find bunches of wild chives. I’ve transplanted several bunches around the house, and use them all the time. The chives will come back every year, and if you leave the onion bulbs in the ground, they’ll most likely come back on their own too. Things is, some of them are hybrids, and may exhibit some different characteristics in following years.
Time to head out to the woods for Morel mushrooms too.
My husband used to sneak into the garden and pinch suckers, because his momma was one of those oldtimers that told him suckers MUST be removed. It took me 2 or 3 years of threatening him with his life to get him to stop. The little wilted ones laying on the ground always give him away :)
Careful about that rain!
We just got a trace, and it so startled my wife that she fainted.
Had to throw three buckets of dust in her face to revive her!
Yeah...it’s been mighty dry around here!
That’s a good point...my prized Purple Haze tomato plant was ‘pruned’ by a spring thunderstorm last year. Two nice branches snapped off...stuck them in a vase with treated water for a few weeks, then re-planted them in a new container. I wound up with THREE Purple Haze plants for the price of one! Sweet.
I’ve got a large bed (2-20’ X 1’ wide, raised rows) of perpetual onions. They never bulb; never flower, but just keep dividing into larger & larger clumps. VERY hardy; they have withstood -30F winter temps without any mulching.
We started the bed less than 10 years ago, when I moved a large tub full of thinnings from a couple of 18” X 18” beds in the back lawn of the house in town that we sold when we moved to the ranch full time. They were there when we bought that house; and still there when we sold it 10 years later.
The “bulbs” get to about thumb tip size, max. Genuine onion flavor/smell, rather than scallion-like; typical crackly onion skins, rather than the thin scallion skins.
We have both yellow & red varieties, but they are mixed in the beds. We use them both fresh & dried, as they do dehydrate well. They work in any situation calling for onions that their size allows for, as well as working for a lot of scallion uses, though they do have the stronger flavor.
As the clumps get larger, we lift them, and divide them into a few to replant; the rest get cleaned for the kitchen.
Keep them watered, and give them a bit of fertilizer when lifting/replanting, and they are happy.
These are the “Amish Friendship Bread” of onions!
If anyone wants to try them....
I transplanted some wild onions a couple years ago, but found I didn’t like them. Quite bitter. Have not had success replanting this;
http://www.wildcrafting.net/forage/plant/170/
A Happy Easter to all of you!
Good thing we held off early planting in that false Spring we had lately... the temps are back into the twenties at night. Will hold off to plant at the traditional time of mid May... (N. MN).
Interesting chat with my dad about 'creasy' greens aka 'creasies, upland cress, winter cress .... he remembers them from his childhood. Maybe I can find some seeds and plant some for him - evidently it is as easy to grow as spinach, but more cold tolerant.
At the first hint of spring in the Appalachian Mountains, folks start looking for “creasy greens”. They are the earliest of any of the wild greens, often poking through the snow, and although traditionally hunted by foragers they are now grown commercially. Creasy greens are usually cooked long, like kale, mustard or turnip greens but they are equally good raw in a fresh salad (from davesgarden.com)
I believe wild onions are an acquired taste: you only acquire a taste for them if you’re starving.
Hard core wildcrafters and Native Americans can have my share.
Hello gardeners. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with a project going on. Last year, during my Master Gardener class, I suggested to my church a Mission Garden. We couldn’t get it together for last year, but they came back to me in January saying they really wanted to get it going for this year. I think I would have preferred more time, but it is what it is.
So last weekend, we got our “small” plot for the garden turned, tilled and plowed into twenty 30-foot rows for general veggies and six 80-foot rows for corn. So, “small” became somewhat larger. My home garden is not even 100 square feet, probably the equivalent of 2.5 rows of the Mission Garden.
I just finished a garden plan and our first round of planting is tomorrow morning. Lots to worry about. We still need to figure out an irrigation system, a trellis system, and a volunteer system to make sure the garden is tended often enough. I’m just hoping its not a complete disaster. But even if moderately successful, with the size of the garden, we should be delivering hundreds of pounds of vegetables to a couple of local soup kitchens.
Your mission garden sounds fantastic. Hope you can get some of the youth involved - youngsters usually get involved and enthusiastic after seeing seeds/plants they put in the ground growing and producing.
Wow you are talking about a big garden!
What is nesting block?
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