Posted on 03/05/2022 7:15:34 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
bkmk
Thanks for the early flower pictures. Snow still melting here in Michigan.
Does anyone know about cutting back lavender? Ours was green all winter now looking grey. Our first year so I could use some advice thanks.
Looking back I am reminded we were supposed to say what zone we inhabit. In our case, it is 8a.
We have also prepared our raised gardens, four each 4’ x 8’ but we are still growing seedlings so all we have done is roto tilled them with manure, fertilizer and peat moss.
Seeding dill today. I had a great harvest of seeds last summer and fall. I recently bought some onions and one sprouted. I have it in dirt and am using the sprouts. As soon as I can, I’ll separate the sprouts and plant them so new onions can grow.
I have a lot of perennials that looked good about two weeks ago. I think I’ve only lost tarragon over the winter.
Good Morning!
My SIL always plants early & about the time I’m ready to put something in the ground, one of her raised beds is up, growing & looking good. I always say I’m going to keep an eye on her garden & when she plants something, I’m planting.
Fortunately, she texted me that she’d been in the garden this past Wednesday & ‘killed’ her back (she’s fine after some ‘vitamin I’) so I walked down to take a look & chat. She’s planted early peas, radishes & I think some scallions. So ... this weekend, I think I’m putting in radish, scallion & some kale seeds. The kale is Nero Toscana & small leaves are used by ‘gourmets’ in salads, so they say .... before anything can bolt as it gets hotter, my folks will eat them up. These seeds will all be planted in a raised bed that will be outside of the anti-deer/crow fence, but I think I have devised a way to protect the plants - deer love radishes so they’re what I’m worried about most.
We’re still having cold nights, some dipping below freezing. Tomorrow is supposed to be near 80. The weather reminds me of Lucy, jerking the football away from Charlie Brown .... beautiful warm spring days/mild nights are the football & Mother Nature tempts us to “plant”, then jerks the planting/growing weather away with a cold day or two plus below freezing nights thrown in. As Charlie says ... aaaarrrggh!! :-)
That IS quite the project!
I’m a rose nut, so I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about! :)
I got onions and cabbage started and they are coming up nicely.
I put them out on our porch for afternoon sun on days it’s near freezing out.
Tomorrow is supposed to hit 60!
Yea!
OTOH, it looks like we’re also going to have a great maple syrup season. I’ve seen them collecting since the end of Feb and the weather forecast for the next 10 days is perfect, above freezing during the day and below at night.
At the end of next week, I’ll be starting lettuce and some flowers indoors. Also, setting up my culvert pipes and buckets for bucket potatoes and carrots.
Someone told me to cut lavender back about halfway in the fall, so I tried that this year. You are also supposed to trim them back in the spring to encourage bushing out.
I also read that to over winter them to cover them with wood chips, which I am very glad I did as we had a lot of below zero temperatures this winter.
I’ll be finding out in the next couple weeks how well that all worked.
10X20” Heat Mats as low as $12.94 - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=10x20+heat+mat
The temperature controllers are rated at 1,000 watts and the heat mats are 17 watts so I see no reason why more than one can’t be run from one controller, though there’s only one temperature probe. I just grabbed a second heat mat and will try two on one controller and just check the soil temps with my instant read Thermopop thermometer. If the two mats/trays run within 5 degrees of each other, that’ll work.
My other seed tray will be an old kitty litter box with 15 coffee creamer container bottoms. I had already ordered two 24” grow lights.
Without the controller, they simply run 10-20 degrees above ambient. Our ambient tends to vary since our only source of heat is a wood stove and our place isn’t super tight or super insulated.
I wonder how much seedling prices will go up this year? Shouldn’t take too long to pay for the $120 in seed starting supplies. 2-3 years. I know Gurney’s has raised their prices on fruit trees. Up around $50 now.
Good afternoon, fellow gardeners! We are having a beautiful sunny day here for a nice change. It gives me hope that Spring won’t wait to come until late April (or later) this year. I can go outside in short sleeves for the first time in months! I know it will get back to freezing temps in the next few days, but I’m grateful for the peek into Spring!
There were seven rose bushes here when we bought the house. Four of them were five foot wide and six foot tall overgrown but blooming like crazy. They bloomed through Christmas and we’re blooming in late summer when we first saw the house. I am in the process of pruning them back with a goal to get about 60% pruned out. There is some disease that I may be able to treat if I get the plants healthy. I am getting all the mulch and debris out from below them and sprayed them with fungicide and dormant oil when we got here in December.
Pruning is difficult as I have hand, arm and leg skin that punctures and bruises with the slightest touch due to chemo. So I get covered up with leather guards in addition to heavy gloves.
I am determined to get these roses restored as they hold over a hundred and fifty blooms at any one time. (Actual count the week before Christmas)
Roses are the plant where I have the least experience so I am always open to advice.
(Poof! Internet Magic!)
Or keep reading (Or posting!) about low budget gardening!
(No, not a picture of Pollard! It is a picture of a Dreem, er, Greenhouse we all wish we had! )
Still need to put drain holes in them. CC pots are exactly 3" in diameter for a 12" x 18" area so the 10" x 20"(9x19 actual) heat mat should work just fine.
You don't want to know what I paid for a 50-pound bag of 10-10-10 this morning...holy ****!
Springtime in middle Georgia!
My plum trees and blueberries are going into full bloom.
Have the harrow hooked up on my tractor and will commence to turning some dirt over tomorrow after I pull up the last of the turnips.
Need to get peas in the ground, should have done that a week or two ago.
I’m glad this little group popped up, only have a couple acres but am trying my best to make it an edible couple acres.
Those sound like old ‘Rugosa’ type roses to me. They are tough as nails.
At my other farm I had ‘Hansa’ and ‘Terese Bugnet’ and later added ‘Blanc Double D’Colbert’ and did minimal pruning, but if your roses had been neglected, I’m sure they need it by now.
I recently added ‘Cuthbert Grant’ and the ‘Blanc Double D’Colbert’ to my ‘new’ farm. I want them for the scent, for the petals and for the hips at the end of the season for jelly. (High in Vitamin C)
Take out the oldest, thickest wood to start...which will be a project in itself. Or, hire it out, maybe? ;) You can also take out any branches that are ‘sticking out funny’ or are wildly taller than any of the other branches.
Roses like full sun, can tolerate drought but appreciate a weekly drink (from rain or the hose), and any fertilizer with a high MIDDLE number on the NPK scale is fine with them and promoted blooming. Used coffee grounds are appreciated by roses; just sprinkle them beneath.
Thanks, Pete! :)
I added you to our Ping List. :) Welcome!
You are WAY ahead of me, Spring-wise. I am starting my peppers (indoors, grow light rack) tomorrow and am starting very early spring veggies in my unheated greenhouse, too. Spinach, Lettuces, Kale, Snap Peas (will use shoots in salads) and Radishes.
Need a source for that ****!
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