WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD APRIL 14, 2019

freerepublic | APRIL 14, 2019 | greeenyes

[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 won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed any time-and don't have to be about gardening.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Plant a Garden ~ Edgar Guest

If your purse no longer bulges
and you’ve lost your golden treasure,
If times you think you’re lonely
and have hungry grown for pleasure,
Don’t sit by your hearth and grumble,
don’t let mind and spirit harden.
If it’s thrills of joy you wish for
get to work and plant a garden!

If it’s drama that you sigh for,
plant a garden and you’ll get it
You will know the thrill of battle
fighting foes that will beset it.
If you long for entertainment and
for pageantry most glowing,
Plant a garden and this Summer spend
your time with green things growing.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That’s fantastic! Can you rent them out? LOL!

[Sacajaweau]

I want to plant things like parsley, basil, chives....things I can just dry. I love scallions. Will probably add them to my “dry” collection.

[tubebender]

A couple of new photos from Eric in the Ozarks…

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Thanks !

[tubebender]

I’ll post some of my garden photos when I get back from breakfast. We woke up to a light drizzle which is worse than a rain this morning..

[freemama]

Snow here too. Garden will have to wait.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

freemama :" Snow here too. Garden will have to wait. "

Consider 'Snow Peas', as soon as the garden is free of snow and workable.
I could never get the kids to help in the garden,.. until the snow peas came into season (early season).
And, the peas will continue to flourish the more that they are picked.
I used a 'nitrogen fixer' on seeds when planting, and the peas provided their own nitrogen, which encouraged more growth & more pods.
A good and early season crop, & for the kids , was a reason to help out in the garden (eaten raw).

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

PrincessB :" I am giving the oregano a few more weeks. That one may be a replacement this year.
Last summer I didn’t dry enough oregano to make it through the winter."

Seeds or cuttings can be planted in southern window for sunlight and heat.
Cuttings can easily be made from fresh green growth cut on the diagonal, and dipped in recent 'rooting hormone' (ie: rootone, + others)
Just make sure it is fresh, as it loses its' potency with age.
Some brands differentiate between annuals, vs. perennials and shrubs ..(stronger formulation).

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

MomwithHope: "Our yard and garden have never looked this good this early, except for the snow on the daffodils!"

Well,.. hold onto your winter thermals and your socks.
Winter has again been delayed in the mid-West.
I follow a climatologist named Joe Bastardi, at Weatherbell. com(with an Italian name like that- he can only be legitimate ?.. rite?)
He provides weekly a free Saturday summary, and updates, when available for industry, commercial, and home owners & gardeners.
He not only gives you the forecast, but will explain how and why he believes the forecast(& some of his explanation is over my head).
But he has called for a late Spring this year for the mid-West, - so don't put your plants out too soon.
As the old commercial says :" Don't mess with Mother Nature !" ( unless you are a gambler).

[SkyDancer]

Arrgggh .... my grapefruit plant is having a hissy since it got frozen over winter. Hope to heal it.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I follow him at Weatherbell on Facebook and per his advice I started tomatoes and peppers and basil (indoors, under lights) a week later than normal, and I am delaying the next round by a week, too: melons, summer and winter squash, and some summer flowers.

I love Joe; he stands up to the Global Warming Bullies. ;)

[Ladysforest]

Covered wagons!

[MomwithHope]

Thanks for the info. We usually don’t plant until near the end of May. And e follow the forecasts pretty closely. Weird winter and spring.

[tubebender]

Looks like we are going to have a great crop of early volunteer potatoes mixed in with the Vetch overcrop...

[Augie]

Mother Nature sent us a couple inches of snow this morning here in Central Missouri. It didn’t stick around for long though.

Yesterday we went to the MU Bradford Research Farm’s annual Grow Native sale and brought home a nice selection of perennials. We found a gorgeous bald cypress tree, some other wet-area plants to set out next to the pond, a couple paw-paw trees, and some flowering things to put in Mrs. Augie’s gardens by the house.

The peach and plum trees are blooming nicely now, but the soil is still too wet to do much of anything in the vegetable garden. After last season we decided that we’ve been spending too much time choring and not enough time having fun so I’m going to scale back a bit on my plantings this year.

I’ve already sown timothy and red clover on the pumpkin patch spot so it will go back to being a hay field for a while. I haven’t decided exactly what all I’m going to plant in the vegetable garden this time, but I have decided that I’m going to switch most of it over to raised beds. I hope to get that accomplished this summer and have it ready for next year.