Posted on 03/23/2018 6:28:33 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds.
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I had the same experience with Jerusalem artichokes in my garden many years ago.
woke up to about 2” of fresh snow....it won’t last but such is our weather...
The Greenhouse build-out is slow - we need to wait for more frost to get out of the ground so we can level the site and add the gravel pad, then pack that down tight.
Next week I’ll be starting my tomatoes and peppers, but I plan on buying most of what I need for this season already started from Jung’s or my local Walmart, which sells the Bonnie Best brand of veggie plants and herbs. Beau is making me four more raised beds; one will be dedicated to Asparagus.
Garlic is poking up, as are the chives and a few tulips that were all planted last fall...so there’s HOPE!
We totally dodged the big snowstorm that came through the Midwest last night; our neighbors in Iowa got socked, but it went south of us - Hurrah! :)
Chilly, blustery day, so we’re cooking down the rest of the sap for Maple Syrup and should have that sticky, messy chore out of the way by the end of the weekend.
I’ve been down most of the week with the mother of all head colds. Blech! Finally surfacing today after a full week; I even missed a shopping trip to The Big City with my BFFS. Grrr!
I am SO looking forward to warmer weather! :)
QUITE the storm system across the Midwest and into the Southeast! A lot of Freepers effected along this route:
https://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php
Chickens are the best compost turners - EVER! :)
21 grandkids! What a blessing!
I have three and two are long-distance. I’m working hard to make my one local grandchild into a gardener. He’s a do-er so I have hope.
Yesterday was lovely, so I planted peas, arugula, lettuce, and cilantro. Today it is snowing. My husband is on travel and he normally lets me know about the upcoming weather. I was oblivious.
Do you think those seeds will still sprout eventually?
I find it is too easy to get excited about spring coming and plant too early. I started some broccoli inside and I’m afraid it’s going to get too big and leggy before I can plant it.
I am getting overwhelmed by all the different planting times, fertilizing, trimming trees…
So I started a spreadsheet, organized by month, to tell me when to do all these things. Once again I have already missed some important dates so hopefully this will keep me on track next year. And the rest of this year.
LOL, Congratulations on your snowflake crop
How cute! OK now I have another reason to get chickens :-) we do a pretty bad job of getting the compost pile turned ourselves.
Wow, I love that sunroom. I bought a little mini greenhouse also, and I wanted to put it in our addition, which is pretty much a sunroom. Hubby is not thrilled about it, and thinks that it ought to go outside :(
“Chilly, blustery day, so we’re cooking down the rest of the sap for Maple Syrup and should have that sticky, messy chore out of the way by the end of the weekend.”
yum! I would love to be able to do that. I was told at Maples grow here, so I need to find a good spot to plant some.
“Chickens are the best compost turners - EVER! :)”
Now how come I never heard that before?! I have been complaining that we never turn our compost pile and I’m trying to figure out an easy way to do it. I want to get chickens anyway so this is perfect. Thank you for the info.
Speaking of all the things you have to keep track of. Since I have a couple greenhouses now I have been trying to grow some tropical plants. We live in Zone8 and the greenhouse gives us a +1 zone. So with a little extra heat in the winter I hope I can keep them alive throughout the winter. I have some Mango, Avocados, Lemon and Lime trees.
As far as pollination goes, I just found out that my single apple tree hasn’t’ been producing because I need a “Pollinator” tree, of a different variety planted semi close to it. I’m glad I found out about that since I was thinking of chopping it down.
And the Tropical plants have very specific Pollination techniques. you should look up Avocado Pollination, they have male and female flowers but they open at different times of the day Morning and Afternoon, so to get the best results you have to have another Tree which has the male and female flowers that open at opposite times of the other tree. A/B vs B/A. Lots to learn.
yes chickens as I have found out the hard way love to dig! So it was a natural thing to say here you go chicks, go have at it, and stay away from my flower bed! :)
CD
Back in my 'hippy-dippey/bell bottoms days', there was Scott and Helen Nearing who used a solar greenhouse to grow crops in Vermont for 10 1/2 months of the year.
They were both in their early 80's, but both very active, and taught sustainable glass berm greenhouse construction, and I thought they established an educational foundation.
The ideal setting for the greenhouse was partially subterranean(built into a hillside), facing south, south east (SSE)direction to catch the maximum amount of winter sunlight.
They used a stone & concrete floor, several 55 gallon plastic barrels (painted black), and natural stone wall behind the barrels as a heat sink, and heat storage.
If they could grow crops in winter in Vermont, I imagine that anyone could use the same techniques to grow crops in more hospitable conditions.
As a suggestion :For a $5.oo tree, plant a $10.oo hole with nutrients.
Not just a hole, but enrichen the soil, and make a pyramid of soil in the hole to spread out the roots of the fruit tree.
The soil pyramid will help spread out the roots, and assist in forming rootlets which will encourage an expanded dripline, as well as support the tree as it matures.
If they are grafted fruit trees, never plant the graft below the topsoil.
All maples will have sap running in the spring
but I think you want 'sugar maple' trees, whose leaves turn vibrant red at fall frost.
We’ve had them wild around here forever. When we had our goats I used to cut off most of the tops just before they flowered. The goats loved them. If I occasionally pulled up a root I did not give it to them because of the dirt but noticed there is not much there to eat at all.
oh yes, those are SOOOO pretty!!!
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