[greeneyes]

Greetings to everyone. Hope all your garden projects are progressing well. Missouri weather has been crazy this spring. Most of this week has been winter-snow and below freezing.

Today we have sunshine and mid-sixties. We have finally started to receive some of the plants we ordered. Blueberries and Blackberry bushes, which Hubby planted today.

I have done a little clean up in the yard and will be doing a few spring cleaning projects in the house. I need to make some space to start some seeds next week too.

Have a great Easter weekend. God Bless.

[greeneyes]

Pinging the List.

[JRandomFreeper]

Have a great Easter. Right after Easter, about 28 tomato plants and 50-odd tobacco plants go in the ground and I can clear out a lot of square feet of my cold frame.

Interesting observation... The cilantro and cumin are taking FOREVER to sprout this year. Don't know why. Seed tested good when I did the germination test in January.

Moved wrong in the front flower bed this morning, not carrying weight or anything and am down in my back so that I wound up not getting to do anything else the whole day except take asprin and groan.

Tomorrow is another day. I hope it's as pretty as today.

/johnny

[painter]

The other day I ordered the seeds and stuff to graft tomatoes. The seeds are a hybrid tomatoe plant that has the best root system,but the tomatoes taste terrible. I'm going to be grafting my favorite Heirloom tomatoes to them.

Grafted tomatoes are supposed to produce like twice as many tomatoes and can fight off diseases and fungus-es that damage normal heirloom plants.

[goodwithagun]

My goal this year is to become self-sufficient with tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, onions, and broccoli. I also want to work on fall and spring gardening so that we only have to buy lettuce and spinach 3-4 months/year. Early January I went to the doctor for what I thought was a bladder infection and came out with a positive pregnancy test, so we will see how this goes with number three on the way! Actually, that is probably more of a reason than any to work on my gardening goals.

Anybody grow and dry black beans and pinto beans? We go through tons of both. Is it worth it to dedicate space to, or should I stick with purchasing them?

[Parmy]

ping for later.

[TEXOKIE]

Greetings, greeneyes and all!

Congrats on the 3rd Sprout, goodwithagun! How exciting!

We are enjoying the early spring weather. I have been growing in my interest in gardening - much to the loving amusement of my darlin’.

I am hoping to sprout some more seeds in the next several days for a variety of goodies and just see how it all works. Of course, we plan to do a few sunflowers again. Our rose and blackberry bushes have survived that last bout of cold/snowy weather and are budding out like crazy!

My darlin’ helped me fertilize our pecan trees which were in our back yard when we moved in here. We have not been impressed with them over the years and recently in my reading, I learned that they need, in addition to the regular fertilizer, a source of zinc. So off we went earlier this week for a bag of fertilizer containing the zinc. After distributing it and then looking CLOSELY at the instructions (pays to read, doesnt it??) we realized we only had bought about 1/5 of what would really be required. So I guess we have another trip to the nursery in our future!

[ApplegateRanch]

Sun & mid 60s here, too. TEMPTATION! TEMPTATION! TEMPTATION!

Put 6 rabbits in the freezer today.

Yesterday, finished the tilling for the sunflowers; pea-tilling got done a few days prior. Still don’t dare plant, though.

This year I have to dig out the Everlasting Onions*, (Allium cepa perutile), reinvigorate the beds, then separate & replant them...with a major batch headed for kitchen duty. ;-’)

Started making paper pots yesterday. Today is Day 14 for the incubating eggs. They’re all brown eggs , which can take 2 or 3 extra days to hatch, so no peep-report until friday after next.

*A non-flowering Evergreen Perennial onion that produces profuse clumps of bulblets which are pulled off the sides as needed for cooking, Very Hardy & stands well through the winter & for many years after. (Rare) Rare enough that it’s even hard to find info on them on the Net.

[Silentgypsy]

Happy Easter and God Bless you and yours!

[jocon307]

Hi freeper gardeners, I should really check this thread more often, but I do have a question today.

We got really socked by Hurricane Sandy, had a foot of water in our house and 4 feet all around.

Just in the last few days I’ve come to realize that a lot of my trees and shrubs seem to be D.E.A.D.

These are evergreen trees and shrubs.

Maybe you think I’m quite obtuse that I did not realize this before, but it’s a been a rough few months, and it’s been winter and I just didn’t realize until now.

I think it must have been the salt/polluted water that killed them as nothing else has happened.

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

I’m in New Jersey, about 10 miles from Sandy Hook. We were flooded by the water in the Raritan Bay, even though we are about a mile from the shore front.

Any comments will be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Free Vulcan]

We got the same crap here in southern Iowa, just 10 or so degrees colder. Predicting an April Fool’s snow Monday. Not looking to plant till mid-April.

[tob2]

I need to get outside and clean up the garden pots when the weather is warm enough. They are full of dead branches, leaves and withered shriveled up stuff. It is strange but none of thedaffodil bulbs have produced flowers only green leaves. I did break up the clumps of bulbs because the pots were getting overcrowded. The hyacinths are blooming nicely.

[Altariel]

To all:

What do you recommend a beginning gardener in North Texas attempt to grow, in light of the sandy soil and drier conditions?

Also, are there any websites or books you would recommend on the subject?

[fidelis]

Hi all - Having continued warm weather here and everything's growing nicely and on schedule. I'm having mixed results with the flowers I started from seed and bulbs in January. The marigolds are starting to bloom, but not the zinnias and snapdragons. The fressias and ixias are tall and green, but no sign of flowers. I'm starting to think I might not get any blooms from them this year. The alyssum never really got off the ground, but I put them in large color bowls with some marigolds, snapdragons and pansies to see if it helps rejuvenate them-- I've had some success doing that recently. I also planted some daisy seeds in a window planter last week and they are already starting to sprout.

I'm almost done transferring all my peppers from their original plastic cups to one gallon pots. I seriously have more than I know what to do with, so I might give them away to friends. My wife has been harvesting snow peas this week. She's kind of worried about her tomatoes (the leaves look a little yellow and anemic). Her tomatillos are doing good, as is the tomatoes she planted in a hanging upside-down planter.

[Hot Tabasco]

It’s 28 degrees right now here in S.E. Michigan. Is it safe to plant my tomatoes now? LOL!

[Ellendra]

It’s finally starting to feel like spring! I spotted a tiny patch of dirt in between the mounds of snow in the garden.

I’m trying to talk my dad into helping me put up fenceposts as anchors for a pulley system on my land. So far his response is to try and change my mind about needing one in the first place. I don’t think he gets it. Unfortunately with my shoulder I could only put up about 1 fencepost a day, and there’s a lot of them to put up.

And, those need to go up before mid-summer, because that’s when my surgery is. Doctors finally made up their minds how serious my tumors are. The fact that they disagreed so much on how big they were leads me to believe at least one doctor didn’t even look at the radiologist’s notes until after the biopsy, he claimed there were only a couple of tumors and they were so tiny they couldn’t be causing my symptoms. Well, no, now he agrees with the other reports, that there are so many tumors there’s nothing left of that organ to save. The ultrasound looks like a clenched fist in my gut. Which is also what it feels like.

At least the new job is going well. My boss is going to investigate to see if I can work from home while recovering.

Came across a tip for starting cuttings. Poke them into a potato before planting. That keeps them moist until they can form new roots. I’m hoping to try that on some of my berries soon, a girl can never have too many berry bushes!

[dirtboy]

Temps in the mid-fifties here in SE PA. Tilled the section of the garden where I will be planting spring crops and tarped it for the week to warm it up. Should plant next weekend, a good two weeks ahead of last year.

And now, hoops!

[Augie]

Yesterday’s rain kept me indoors for the most part, but I took advantage of the sunshine today and got some stuff done outside.

Finished putting the planks down on the deck that I built on the north side of Mrs. Augie’s new sun room. Went over to Dad’s house and rescued the houseplants that he hasn’t watered since Mom passed away back in December. Sprayed my orchard trees. Opened the trapdoor in the floor of the brooder house so the month-old pullets could get out and explore for the first time. Watching six inch tall chickens scratch in the dirt for the first time is always a hoot.

Did you find a spot to toss out some dill seed?

[fidelis]

Just a couple of images from my garden this weekend. Spring is in full swing:

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The marigolds I planted from seed in January are now starting to bloom.

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A new tree. It's called a calamindis, and it produces small, juicy citrus very popular with Asians (like my wife).

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We've got a surplus of lizards this year, which is good because they like to eat the bugs.

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Happy to see my lilies starting to emerge. I swear, it's grown a quarter of an inch since this morning.

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Last, but not least, a hummingbird visiting our big aloe which is now in full bloom.

Don't worry, Spring is on it's way where you are too. :)