Posted on 03/14/2020 5:49:13 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Started turning the turf the other day that the garden area has become but it’s been raining a lot. Pouring rain right now. Don’t know when I’ll be able to get back at it. Only one day in the 10 day forecast with 0% chance of rain. Think I’ll do some online seed shopping this weekend. Got onion sets and some seed potatoes this week.
We have two funerals to attend today (NOT Coronavirus related!) but I do have arugula and lettuces coming up in the greenhouse. :)
I started peppers inside last week, but they poke along and take forever to germinate.
Big Week in the garden. We had temps in the high 60’s/70’s with partly sunny skies so it was great weather to be out of the house. It took 2 days, but ALL of my raised beds are weeded, including 2 raised beds where my mom has a cut flower garden**. Yesterday, I got 10 bags of LeafGro to add to the beds ... 2 of them are low on soil & I don’t have enough compost here on the place, so had to buy some. I also picked up some different varieties of zinnia seeds & Teddy Bear sunflower seeds - it looks beautiful, can’t wait to see it in the garden.
Today, I will add the LeafGro, add my fertilizer (Milorganite) & work it into the soil (arm muscle workout!), then put up the fences ... Milorganite has a slightly funky smell & while the deer hate it, the dogs next door are fascinated with it, so the fences will keep them out.
Today is also the day I’ll do the first mowing - got the riding mower serviced Wednesday evening so it’s ready to go! I’ve been picking up winter debris in the fields. We have old, mature pines & they lose branches of various sizes whenever we have “weather” which makes for many mowing hazards until I get them all picked up.
Dogsitting this weekend - had an encounter with a herd of deer (at least 6) in the back field on our morning walk today. Fortunately, no deer were hurt and no dogs were lost - whew!!
**I made the beds for her for Mother’s Day a few years ago - I don’t know who enjoys them more, mom or me. Last year, to walk out the back door to all the eye-catching color, the butterflies, birds, bees, & even hummingbirds, was an absolute delight. I’m doing less veggies this year & one of my garden raised beds will be in flowers, too.
Greetings from southern New Hampshire, where spring is definitely “inbound”!
This week, I finally cut down that 20’+ spruce that up and died on us, last summer. I dropped it on Wednesday afternoon, finished limbing it the following morning, and the branches went to the landfill that afternoon. I cut the trunk into fire pit sized lengths. Sorry it died, but glad to see it gone.
I am cleaning out the front flower beds. I do need to run a new underground water line out to the flower bed by the road. I also need to divide iris rhizomes. I want to get the front planters ready for planting.
I am expecting a major snowstorm here any day...I removed the snow thrower from the Craftsman Tractor. I actually need to overhaul the snow thrower as the lift mechanism is seized up.
I need to also make the foundation for the 20’ by 10’ quonset frame, and get it mounted on it. We plan on converting it to a greenhouse, with a built-in rocket mass heater.
Our new ducklings have integrated and discovered that they can swim.
Good Morning!
Crocuses, Daffodils, and Tulips are sneaking up! They think it’s Spring. I hope they don’t get slammed by an April Blizzard. :-)
Hi and Good Morning to you!
We awoke to hail on our new roof here in Benderville this morning. It was brief and I doubt it did any damage. We are Praying Lady Bender’s hip surgery is not canceled...
I’m going to get outside today hopefully and start mulching my garden spots.
Hubby helped me move some of the citrus out this week, we’ll probably move the rest this weekend. Yay, free space!
My Asiatic lilies I got on sale from Jungs last year are starting come up and my blueberries are in full bloom, covered with bees! My Sunshine Blue blueberry blooms really early and IT’s covered with little baby berries already. Had to cover it a night or two this past month but really think WE at least are done with freeze/frosts.
Post puppy pics if you have them Diana :)
Pepper and tomato seeds are up and look kind of puny.
But they’re less than 2 weeks old...
It’s raining today. If it stops later, I am putting in some outdoor borage, spinach and viola seeds for an early planting.
It’s raining today. If it stops later, I am putting in some outdoor borage, spinach and viola seeds for an early planting.
We’ve had another wet week here in Central Missouri. The river rose from 11.5’ to 20’ in four days. It dropped back to 16’ but is headed back up from heavy rains overnight.
Nothing going on here but mud right now.
Here I’m the Seattle area we have had a VERY mild winter so far....no deep multi day freezes below 20.
My herb garden, half of it, have survived unprotected. Scallions and beets have survived unprotected.
Some greens, while having their leaves killed off....the plants have survived are coming back....unprotected.
Red radiahes.....survived unprotected but stunted growth obviously
Greenhouse with the space heater inside....tomato plants kept putting put tomatoes....they are mealy as hell but I got some more seeds from them.
Tomorrow I am resetting the greenhouse for seed starts.
Pardon me but how do I rid myself of this stinking fungus that’s going to kill my plants?
Do I need to cook my potting mix?
I’ve tried hydrogen peroxide and cinnamon.
I think the cinnamon made it worse!
I think this is the longest that the gardening thread has stayed at less than 20 posts.
I know there’s not much happening quite yet, but I think the food and supply shortages are having an effect on people. Even the ones who haven’t been hit too hard, they know someone who can’t buy meat or soup anymore.
I fully expect there to be a ton of new gardeners in every city soon. And for a little while, people will hesitate to look down on preppers for stocking up.
How long that change in attitude lasts, I don’t know. But I see people all around me getting shocked out of their complacency. Some are adapting better than others, but not one person is fooling themselves into thinking it’s “business as usual”.
I’m posting a freepers-only special:
***If you are unable to get seeds for this spring, let me know what you need***
I won’t be able to promise you specific varieties, but I should be able to get you something. Especially if it’s something in the squash or tomato category.
Food or otherwise useful plants only, I don’t have much in the way of ornamentals.
I’m a compulsive seed saver, and I’d like to put that collection to good use.
What a great offer! Thanks!
I have kale, lettuces, arugula, spinach and my peppers started right now; peppers in the house, the rest of the cool-weather crops out in the greenhouse. We bought a remote thermometer for the greenhouse. It seems to stay 10-15 degrees above the air temp, on a cloudy day, but if the sun is out, it shoots up to near 80 degrees already. That thermometer reminds me to open in in the morning and close it up at suppertime, too.
But now the weather has gone back to 40 degree days, 30 degree nights and not much sun. :(
Will be starting my tomatoes this weekend, indoors.
This little ‘blip’ we’re going through right now reminds me of my Mom as a kid. They were broker than broke at times, and one year pretty much all they had to eat all Winter was stewed tomatoes on toast, from what Grandma had canned that Fall. (She always baked her own bread.)
To this day my Mom will NOT eat ANYTHING with tomatoes in it, other than a BLT, or a fresh garden tomato that she’s confiscated from me. ;)
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