Posted on 05/09/2020 7:08:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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My indoor garden cache of tomatoes and cukes are growing like crazy but probably won't get set out until June 1st.
Picked 11 asparagus last night and had to cover up the bed. Freeze last night west Michigan. Hummingbird feeder frozen solid. We even had a 30 minute blizzard of snow. Yikes!
Freezing Rain this morning. My tulips and daffodils are NOT amused.
I am getting my first arugula harvest today!
We are cold here in the Midwest too. It has stalled the chive blossoms. I want to get one more batch of chive blossom vinegar done. Small bottles of this will be my hostess gift for the summer.
I have some lavender and basil inside and their outdoor pots ready to go. I am afraid to put these out this weekend.
Lastly, I have had no luck with growing regular yellow onions from kitchen scraps. I‘Ve gotten a couple heads of Boston lettuce, scallions and garlic.
It’s snowing........
However, I got my asparagus in in NH and am harvesting the last crop from my NY bed.
I did get potatoes and onion sets in and they are safely underground or mulched.
I covered even the lettuce, spinach, and peas. They can take only so much of a freeze and it was pretty borderline here last night and will be for a couple more nights.
We are stuck in a Polar Vortex, and it hasn't been all that much fun! Lots of hauling things in and out of the greenhouse - and the WIND! Brrrr! I wore a sweatshirt, hat and mittens to mow the lawn yesterday!
Tomorrow we will be in the 40's again, and we will be colder than we were in December, which was in the 50's back then. Crazy!
I, too, picked as much Asparagus as I could, and have been covering up the roses. Things planted in the garden so far are cold-tolerant, so they're doing OK, but certainly not actively growing!
The birds are cleaning out the feeders on a daily basis, but all of my 'pretties' are back - Grosbeaks and Orioles (2 kinds) and I'm almost certain that I saw a Scarlet Tanager, too. I have seen ONE Hummingbird - but no ice on the feeder. ;)
At least it's SUNNY. I am going to walk around the Manse and speak encouragingly to fruit trees that have already bloomed. ;)
In Central Texas, so no snow. Loopers have skeletonized my brassicas, even though I go squish them 3-4 times daily.
Aphids attacked my squash. Bottom of leaves were black with them. In desperation, I grabbed Lemon Crisp Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, and cleaned off the tops, and bottoms of the leaves, and also the stems, in case borer eggs were hiding.
In a few hours, they looked like happy plants. By the next day, they looked like healthy robust plants. I looked up the active ingredient in the wipes, and saw it listed in some plant products.
Anyone else try these for getting rid of aphids, powdery mildew? They are useless on cabbage loopers, BTW, except to wipe them off, doesn’t phase them.
I grew lettuce at the end of last season and went crazy over the taste. Bought all kids of lettuce seeds for this year...Hoping my red romaine will be the star of the show.
Cold blast tonight - freeze warnings up. Before dawn this morning, it was 33 degrees. I had everything covered in plastic or under a clay pot last night, but tonight is supposed to be between 30-35 degrees. Being rural, we’ll be on the low end, most likely.
Out of 4 tomato plants, I have one barely hanging on. I have some cukes just poking their heads above the dirt, radishes that are growing great guns, the tithonia/sunflower bed is/was doing well, & I have some zinnias that just came up. As I said, all was covered last night. Very chilly today, highs in the 50’s. I’ll check a little later & make sure it’s not getting too hot under the plastic (not quite clear plastic - milky), but it’s a hassle to cover stuff, so I’m not uncovering, then going through the hassle again tonight.
My SIL (next door) is in the same boat. She found a little farmer’s market sort of place out in the country, about 20 minutes away, that has tomatoes, etc. for $1.00 a 4-pack. I’m going to head over there next week (much warmer, garden friendly temps) & see if I can pick up some plants. Fingers crossed my thithonia, sunflowers & zinnias pull through. A lot of the seeds were from last year’s flowers so I don’t have an unlimited supply - I do have some ‘bought’ seeds that I was holding for a later planting, but if the cold gets everything, I might have to use those to replant.
Of course, you know what will happen .... we’ll go from a high of mid-50’s, skip spring & go straight to humidity/90’s. Weather .... anyone who thinks we can “control” it (global warming) is nuts, IMO.
Cabbage loopers are only good for one thing - fish bait !
After working in the garden, maybe you should take a lesson from nature , ..and go fishing ! LOL !
Upstate NY (Ithaca area), WTF Effect snow still coming down (they call it Lake Effect, I call it WTF Effect). Covered up the flowers last night, hopefully in time.
A bunch of goldfinches are playing out back in the thorn trees (safety from the noisy crows) and their bright yellow flashes are slowly lifting my morning mood.
Thank you so much for the Garden Thread. Saves my sanity every week. God Bless.
I'm going to try purple cone flower this summer. Years back, I had friends who made their own echinachia and it was potent. I hope it's not too cold for them here; in a raised bed.
I enjoy eating outta the garden as much as hunting and fishing.
Built a mini greenhouse this week and will be playing around with hydroponic growing. Due to Michigan not being able to make up its mind, all of that will be indoors this week. But still pretty excited to be growing.
My dandelions LIED to me! They said we were don’t with frosts for the season!!!!
I’ve never seen a cold snap happen after the mass dandelion bloom. My absolute indicator is now only a 95% probability indicator.
So, 19 out of every 20 years, the mass dandelion bloom means it’s safe to plant the tomatoes outdoors.
I’m just glad I hadn’t moved the squash plants outdoors yet. There’s over 100 of them!
I’m glad you didn’t move the squashes, too!
Just checked our local weather and it looks like Sunday and Monday night will be freezing temps, then by Wednesday our nighttime low will be 46, which is where it should be this time of year.
Again, SO HAPPY I’m not running around Jung’s covering things up and uncovering them in the morning and making all sorts of deals with the Devil if he’ll just let all of my plant & nursery stock (that I’ve paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for) LIVE long enough to be sold! ;)
There is no substitute for home grown lettuce late in the season. None. Delicious. Will never willingly go without this again :)
I’m buying 1/4 pound of mixed lettuce seeds from shumway first chance we get.
Also chinese cabbage.
I’ve had luck covering brassicas with the thinnest remay I could find. Didn’t raise the temp but kept the little ‘tards off!
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