Only had about 5 hrs sleep for last 3 nights. Going to post this, finish chores, and get some z's. Likely will wake up in the wee hrs. of the morning. Will check the thread then.
Starks Bro's shipment was received yesterday and today. Cherry Tree, Asian pear tree, some horse radish, books. Should get the rest by Monday.
Rye is about 18" tall. Wheat just an inch or so shorter. Meyer Lemon Tree arrived, but part of the soil had spilled. It's very small in a Half gallon pot.
Hope all is well with you guys. Have a great weekend. Prayer up for all God Bless.
Pinging the List.
Spring has Sprung in New England!
HUZZAH!
Please add me to the ping list.
Hi greeneyes! I hope that you are getting some much needed rest!
Here in upstate/central N.Y. we are about two weeks ahead of usual in terms of greening up and blooming bushes and trees! Has me quaking in my boots - there WILL be a price to pay, because it’s upstate N.Y. and it goes with the territory.
We have barely scraped a bit off of last years neglect in our garden. We have a trip to Gettysburg next week, so we will do a little more before going down, but on return we have to replace 3/4 of our fencing before we can move forward with planting. I am seriously planning on hiring someone to rip the old sucker out. Putting in the new one will be a breeze compared to removing the old.
Hello Greeneyes!
Hope you enjoy your Lemon tree! (And cherry tree!)
It hit 81 degrees today on the Ks/Mo border. Will be 81 degrees on Sunday too. Some chance of T-storms in the afternoon or night Easter. Grass has greened, Flowers on Forsythia are fading, Redbud, Dogwood, and Lilac are in full bloom.
Took out 3 large round Ceramic planters and moved to the front of the house. Planted basil, Thai basil, and French tarragon. (Pinched back to encourage bushing.)
Planted a White Lilac, Madame Lemoine. Have 3 more to plant, Moscow Beauty (white/pink), Monge, and Chas. Jolle, (Both purple).
In February I purchased 8 fig trees online from a place called “Hello Organics”. These were were small trees, about 5 inches tall. 4 were Chicago hardy, 4 were Violette de Provence.
I initially potted them in 4 inch pots kept indoors, and last week began moving them them outside into the sun. They were growing well so I Re-potted them today to 8 inch nursery pots. Used mycorrizal inoculant on the roots and moved to a richer soil. (I do not expect them to produce figs this year.)
I will probably plant 2 of the Chicago hardy figs outdoors next spring and keep the remaining ones in pots that I can move indoors in winter. I will throw some bags of leaves over the outdoor figs in winter. (I live in planting zone 6b.)
Next gardening session ...Plant tomatos peppers, and okra!
(Greeneyes (And everyone!) have a Happy Easter!)
Thought my asparagus winter-killed. It didn’t. Cut some, ate some...yum.
Greetings from southern New Hampshire! I am happy to announce that all of the flower beds are clear and ready for planting and/or mulch, and there is a pallet of 15 bags of black mulch, waiting to be used...Lowe’s had Scotts mulch on sale for 5 for $10.
I used the rake and the Cyclone tow-behind leaf shredder to pick up the leaves and debris. Barb found that John Deere 318 tractor on Craig’s List several years ago. It came with the mowing deck, Cyclone, two-stage snow thrower and blessing of all, the Model 44 Loader. Last year, I bought the mowing deck adaptor for the Craftsman and it tows the Cyclone, very nicely.
I still have to clear the front along the road and along the bog filter and put down garden fabric and wood chips, but this is the earliest and most complete spring prep to date!
There is a penalty, however. I have a severe case of poison ivy that sent me to the Urgent Care facility, yesterday. I am starting a two-week steroid regimen, this morning. Hyper Doodle Dandy, I guess.
Our new colony is conducting energetic flight operations. i have to preparre the other hive with one brooder box and feeder as the second colony arrives tomorrow.
Happy Easter, Everyone! HE IS RISEN!
1. Take a sharp knife to make a slit in the can along the top then use a scissors to cut around the top of the can, removing the part you drink from. Don't worry if the cut is ragged, you will fix that.
2. Cut some slits from the top down to the bottom of the can. Go in a circle and cut as wide or narrow as you want.
3. Bend one of the tabs down out of the way then cut all around the bottom so each strip is cut away. I did this on an old Supermarket brochure so everything ends up on the paper instead of my countertop.
4. Use your scissors to trim the edges of any jagged bits of metal. There are your tags. Simple! If you want to be a bit fancier you can round off the tops so they look like metal popsicle sticks but squared off is good enough for me.
5. When you are ready use that same paper so you don't make a mess or dent your table. Use an old ball point pen to write your plant name, pressing hard into the metal and making a permanent impression.
6. Using a marker fill in the impression so it is now more easily readable. If the sun fades the marker the impression will still be there and you can use your marker again to restore it.
7. Stick it in the dirt and you're done. I used a new Tabasco plant as an example. Easy and free is something I enjoy :-)
Here is my update
I work four 10 hour shifts right now and am supposed to be off fri-sun. Those days were set aside to get some more work done and soe more veggies planted...
However...nightmare situation with my cell phone required Friday to be completely dedicated to replacing the phone and transferring over all data from the old phone....and.my law enforcement position intruded all of Saturday and half of Sunday due to unexpected paperwork on a possible 3rd strike who was arrested. The paperwork had to be finished before Monday so the suspect may not be able to get low bail and flee the state.
Now for garden/greenhouse update.
I have gotten my 8 x 12 greenhouse up last month, built two planting beds, installed a 30 gallon barrel drip watering system inside the greenhouse and a 55 gallon water barrel drip watering system outside the greenhouse that will water some suspended plants in the greenhouse.
The barrels outside are double stacked on a 4 foot high platform made up by 4x6’s which got the spigot at the same level as the peak of the greenhouse.
The 30 gallon barrel system inside are similarly stacked but obviously lower and used to feed the lower planting beds.
A small fan powered by a small solar panel (circulates air in the greenhouse.
The roof has a panel that auto opens when the internal temp reaches 100-110 degrees and closes when the temp drops back down to 70.
So far I just have some green growing inside.
I finished that 55 gallon plastic drum drip system install today and repurposed some netting.
The netting came from a baseball rebounder that my son no longer uses. I screwed the netting in the roof trusses along the length of 1/2 of the greenhouse. The netting system is 10 feet long and 30 inches wide.
I am going to put peppers and cukes in suspended pots and horizontally trellis them along the netting.
That will.leave lots of room in the lower planting bed areas for vertically trellis
Them with some wire fencing I used previously as tomato cages.
I am also going to use 4-6 of the 4” PVC pipe (vertically installed) in the corner of the greenhouse to plant strawberries.
These will all be installed and up and running by the end of next weekend.the following week will be dedicated to getting some root veggies going in the planting boxes I am making out of the wooden shipping crates I found in the industrial area.....weed blocking fabric lined and filled with the soil piled up in my driveway will be all it takes to get that going.
To Be Continued
Haven’t done much in the garden lately. Weather not conducive to being outdoors and the arthritis has kicked up several notches. Did go out yesterday for about an hour and sowed seeds of basil, balcony hybrid tomato, and impatience. Also sowed seeds of Hungarian Blue Breadseed Poppy. It is from Seed Savers.org. The organization deals with heirloom seeds. I am eager to see what the plants look like when blooming Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!
It seems we’re not going to have much spring weather this year here in Central Missouri. We’ve gone from cold and wet to hot and dry seemingly overnight.
I haven’t gotten to work in the kitchen garden yet, but did spend a good bit of time cleaning up winter mess in the yard and working on landscape plantings over the weekend.
The peach and plum trees have pretty much finished blooming, so it looks like I’ll be getting some production from those this year.
Talked to fish guy last Friday. He said hopefully this week for the truck to show up with some scaly things for my pond.
No gardening thread this week? Or did I miss it? I think Sat. mornings would be best BTW.
You OK? Haven’t seen you on here for a while?