Posted on 01/25/2013 11:53:34 AM PST by greeneyes
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.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you wont be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isnt asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's not a lot of gardening to do right now other than planning and taking advantage of some sales. However, some of the warmer regions are no doubt beginning to start seeds indoors.
Black Agnes has sent me a link about technology, I thought I would share it with you in case you missed it:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2980930/posts
What's going on where you live? Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the garden list.
I swear I only posted once!
/johnny
Working hard on getting my aquaponics system set up in time for spring which is very soon here in SC. Some of my started plants are already begging to be outside. Hoping this cold snap is the last for the season.
Started snowing about an hour ago here .... we should get 1-2 inches so it won’t cause any havoc beyond tonight when the idiots who don’t know how to drive in a little snow try to get home from work. The ground is frozen (what? I don’t think it froze once last year!) so it’s all sticking. The most “happening” place around ... the birdfeeders! Put out suet cakes today with the usual black oil sunflower seeds so the birds are really happy!
/johnny
I’ve gotten beyond being a ‘snow lover’ .... a barn full of horses to care for some years back cured me of that! I’ll take a mild winter any time .... this one started mild, but has been getting colder. Evidently, the first week in Feb. we have a good chance of a couple of snow storms. Before then, the middle of next week should see temps in the 60’s .... aaahhhh .... my kind of winter weaher! Right now, all I can do is look longingly at the frozen, snow covered spot where we’ll be putting in a new garden this spring!
I replaced my tiller this week. Found one that was refurbished, with a warranty, and saved about $200 on it (along with my veteran's discount).
Only problem was the tines were installed backwards when I got it, and it took me a full day to figure that out. It beat me half to death before I figured that out.
Slowly, I'm getting my winter tilling chores done, when the days are good.
/johnny
/johnny
Nothing moving. Frozen Tundra, LOL!
I am getting my Garden Center all set up for Spring seed starting, though. The first weekend in February are when things start to rock around here for that.
At home I am enjoying forced Paperwhites, and my three Amaryllis are in glorious bloom! My Christmas Cactus are done for the season and resting, after putting on a gorgeous display.
Starting some salad greens and micro-greens indoors under lights and I always have sprouts going. Green Goodness in a dark Wisconsin Winter.
The month of February is always the l-o-n-g-e-s-t one for me, despite the chocolate and jewelry gift aspect of it mid-month, LOL!
It’s 73 right now. Highs for the next week are supposed to be in the mid 70’s as well. It isn’t time to move stuff outside yet BUT it means all the blueberries and other stuff will be budding out. Hopefully we won’t get a hard freeze after they bloom. Who knows. This is the reason pretty much nobody in our general area got blueberries last year. We covered ours with plastic tarp for the 2 coldest nights and were the only game in town wrt blueberries.
I am going to try to root some cuttings once they do come out though. And start things that need to be started in cooler weather in flats on my porch. IF it gets brutally cold I can just bring them in for the night. I’ve got a bunch of echinacea, lavender and strawberry seeds to get going.
Sadly, all the warm right now means the bug population probably will NOT get appropriately zapped this year. For the second year running. *sigh*.
I am ready for all the cold snaps to be over too. Trouble is, we still have more than a month of winter left, and we have actually had snow in March and April once in a while.
I used to commute 150 miles round trip to work. I don’t miss dodging the idiots. LOL.
I am still dreaming about adding a garden room to the house on the backyard patio, so that I can just walk directly into it from the house, and grow all my favorite herbs and flavorings.
I’d especially like to have at least 2 more lemon trees. I love fresh lemon juice on so many things.
We don’t have a tiller, so we just kinda make do with what we have. My raised beds don’t really need it anyway, and Hubby is converting some of his garden patches to raised beds too.
In Oregon spring comes early then shuts down and then finally summer will come late as well like end of June.
If you are lucky you can get the garden going before the 2nd batch of rain soaks the ground making gardening/tilling impossible.
If you miss it, then the garden gets a very late start, but the good news is summer usually runs long into September and October.
This year I'm going to start early inside, I still want a green house someday. Maybe this year I can budget some $$ for it.
I also discovered Hops this past year, grew several varieties and they are very easy to grow here. They were growing several inches per day last year and our last batch of beer was very good using them.
This year my plans are some giant pumpkins, any advice?
I’ve planted some carrots, winged peas, some bulbs and flower seeds along one side of the garden shed. I’m getting ready to start some beets and radishes, all of these are and will be in pots. The I’ll begin on a pile of debri I started some years ago. I’ll pile a bunch of soil intil I have a neat garden area and fill it full of all sorts of perrinels. Lots of poppies, day lillies, and any other reseeding flowers. I still have some money seeds from Carolina Mom and I’ll spread those around too, as If i needed to...I’ve found they spread themselves, in the veggie garden, the lawn, you name it. On one side of the garden shed I’m planting some TX A&M maroon bonnets. Oh, I found a black, or nearly black iris and will plant a couple plus other flowers, because the “maroon bonnets” won’t last but a few weeks. Oh, I forgot, I’m going to plant some onions in the front raised garden, as soon as I remove all the oak “seeds” acorns. They are every where this year.
Maybe you could post some pictures of the blooms? We also just kinda kill time around here during January and February.
Mid April is technically the time to do our seedlings for the tomatoes etc, but I usually do plant some things earlier to get a head start, and then just grow them in the pots and bring them in and out during the warm days before our last frost date.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.