Posted on 01/19/2018 4:35:20 PM 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.
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Watered the indoor plants today. Time to start harvesting the Lemons. May sweep the patio tomorrow. I have been reading about the Grand Solar Minimum that we are going through. It's been named the Eddy minimum.
Quite a lot of quakes and volcanoes this week especially in the ring of fire. Pacific plate has been slipping a lot. The big quake along New Madrid happened during the Dalton minimum, IIRC.
Just ran out of pickled beets. Still have some plain ones, will plan on doing more pickled ones this year.
Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
Hi greeneyes, prayers for you too. We love our pickled beets still have 5 or 6 pints left. We try and ration them out so they last a year. Nothing growing here but alfalfa sprouts.
Here in Upstate....just considering the peat pot method. Jiffy has a tray with 72 pellets for $7.
My lemons and cara cara oranges are loaded with blooms right now. Been doing paintbrush pollination.
Starting maters/peppers/etc in the next week or so.
Loads of calamondins left to pick, not quiiiiiite ripe just yet.
Hubby was on a binge for a while, so they went faster than I expected.
Those are handy - I tent to be too cheap to use them. I save old plastic cups, deli containers etc.
My lemon tree is budding out too.
Hi Everybody!
(((HUGS)))
Still packed in ice here in the NE.
Seeds from Parks and Jungs have been received.
Our beach house will provide us with seedlings in a few weeks.
You are having a baad winter this year.
What do you have planted?
Can anyone provide me with a link to a high quality heirloom seed company?
Also, can anyone recommend heirloom varieties of:
Largest, meatiest tomatoes.
Watermelon. They have to be fast growing as I have a short season and I have had limited success with large oval varieties. (Unless you know a fast growing large oval variety that will mature quickly in a short season).
Largest, sweetest strawberries.
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Lettuce.
Thank-you.
My indoor plants are doing fine. I’m enjoying the fact it’s getting darker past 530 PM now.
AND...it’s just beginning.
Hi greeneyes, nothing going on in Connecticut but I have plans for the Spring.
Not sure what yet but something new for the rock garden.
Snow tomorrow.
https://www.rareseeds.com/ - Baker’s creek Seeds.
Mortgage Lifter - Big Tomato or Cherokee Purple
Watermelon - Sugar Baby maybe
Lettuce - Little Gem, Tom Thumb, Winter Density, Black Seeded Simpson, maybe Artic King.
I miss daylight savings time. LOL
Greeneyes has given you an excellent list in post #17
Your success at gardening is dependent upon your horticulture zone location, altitude, climate, soil type, plant selection, etc., etc.
Also, how much time you are willing to devote for success, and how much information you can glean from others who are successful gardeners in your geographic area.
A good source might be to contact your local Co-Operative Extension Office, and/ or Farm Bureau.
A soil analysis would be a good start to see the condition of your soil, and determine which soil amendments you could add to increase fertility and production.
Baker Creek and Seed Treasures are both good heirloom companies: https://www.rareseeds.com/ and http://seedtreasures.com/
For large tomatoes, I’m fond of Climbing Triple Crop. It’s probably the biggest one I grow. I test a few more varieties every year.
Watermelons, look for Blacktail Mountain. It has a very short growing season.
With strawberries, I’ve never managed to grow big ones. Ozark Beauty has good flavor though, as does Sparkle.
I don’t grow the others on your list, so I can’t say.
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