Posted on 04/23/2022 6:00:06 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Looks beautiful!
My only very poor performer was the Princess Diana rose, which looks similar - never got more than a handful of blooms from it after a decade. I found it in a farmer's market - have never seen it for sale anywhere else in all of my travels. I assume it isn't suited for our climate, not all roses are. I finally gave up on it. Meanwhile, the Queen Elizabeth rose is one of my best performers.
So handsome! ♥️
Wow! At least you get some soil moisture in a few weeks!
Pain it is. $300 later my tractor is still not running. He says I have a voltage issue. Politely told him that was my budget and I called it quits.
BUT, I had a back up plan all along.
I found a man thru Craigslist that has tractor and PTO tiller.
I’ll pay him $125 to till my garden.
I’ll sit on my tractor until I can find someone to help with not having spark.
dogwood/redbud indicators are a few weeks early for this area but I’m sure adjustments need to be made for many places. It has me planting corn, melons, cucumbers a week ago but frost free is two weeks from now and redbud/dogwood have been blooming for a week now. Johnny’s seed starting calculator has me starting those now and putting them out in a month. I plan to direct seed those.
One I didn’t see mentioned that we have here is Serviceberry. Those started bloom almost a month ago and are mostly leafed out now. Adjustments to times, plants and your location for sure but it seems like a good system/concept.
Went grocery shopping today. It’s officially turtle crossing the road time so roadkill might be another indicator. LOL
Looked at peach trees at the grocery store. Georgia Belle, Red Havean. Yes, Havean. What a farce. Goergia whatever for Missouri? Ain’t that peachy. I’d end up with more peach trees that flower too early for here.
I only started one tray of seedlings this year. I’m determined to find varieties that do well direct-sown in my climate, but for things like luffa gourds and TPS I’m giving them a head start. Only this time I didn’t inoculate the starting soil with known beneficial fungi like I usually do, and it became a tray of fur.
So, today I added colloidal silver to the watering can. It’s supposed to be a pretty strong anti-fungal, and at least some of the studies I found regarding its use on plants say that it won’t hurt the majority of other life in the soil. We’ll see. If it works I may try it on my strawberry plants, they get a fungus every year that kills the berries before they ripen.
In spite of the fur, the little TPS seedlings were starting to show! Some of them were recent purchases, but others range in ages up to 12 years old. Every single cell showed signs of life, no matter how old the seeds were. I might have to designate a larger section in the garden for them, because I was expecting a much lower germination rate.
(TPS = True Potato Seed, in case anyone was wondering.)
“(TPS = True Potato Seed, in case anyone was wondering.)”
We were ALL wondering! :)
My Dad used to drink that silver water for ‘health reasons.’ He was a sucker for anything purported to make you live longer.
I never noticed any fungus growing on him, so maybe it worked? LOL!
Can’t wait to say, ‘I knew her when’ when you win your Nobel for seed breeding. :)
Gorgeous! :)
Some of the best money I’ve ever spent in my life was for someone ELSE to till my garden. :)
I once had a terminally sunny co-worker who would say, ‘The sun is ALWAYS shining at thirty thousand feet!’
I've tried everything short of a voodoo doll to get the nighttime temps UP to 50 degrees. Another week of COLD nights, hauling tomatoes and peppers in and out, at a minimum. Grrrr!
Knotweed sprouting up 6 inches all over neighborhood. But I see none in the forest where I’ve been doing glyphosate extermination
Success
Season extension is pretty important for market gardeners and small farms so they can compete better with the global system shipping produce 1,000 miles or more from places where the growing season is year round. The rest of us can make sauces, dressings, relishes, pickled foods and dry hot peppers. Some greens can be grown year round in many places with a hoop house + row covers. Root crops store. Veggies can be canned or blanched and frozen.
I maxed out my seed starting space and then some so next year, I either need more grow lights or need to not start so many seeds. Maybe start maters and peppers indoors and direct seed the rest which in my case this year have all been cool weather crops anyway. I could have started those in a simple hoop house like Pete has as early as I started them indoors.
It was a mostly cool and wet week here in Central Missouri. Yesterday popped off sunny and 80°. Today it’s back to cool and damp.
I bought three potted rhubarb plants last week. I’ve left them outside the last few days and they’re looking happy. Need to stick them in the dirt today. Also have some more yukon gold potatoes that need to be planted.
Finally found a handful of morels yesterday. All scouts. I’ll check a couple other spots today. Lots of walking is good for old fat man.
I left everything out for two days and two nights because days were 82 with light wind and nights were 62. Rained the second night. Got a good hardening off but yesterday got 45mph gusts so I brought them in. Gusts were bringing in rain which is bringing in cool front and will be 39 tomorrow night and the next so we're just not quite there for maters/peppers yet. Of course the stores all have pepper and mater plants but they're in an unheated greenhouse that they close up at night.
Who eats the cost if a cold snap comes in and kills all the warm weather plants at the stores? Seen it happen at walmart once which is about the only place that doesn't have them under a roof at least. I doubt walmart eats the cost though. That's not the way they work. Bonnie would have to take the hit.
Finished weeding my two almost-grown-over raised beds this morning. I also pulled out the very few weeds in the bed that will be the herb garden.
Despite going out fairly early, it’s quite warm (75 & bright sun, headed for a high of 89!). I am a bit on the sweaty side & my leg in the brace (which is black!) is a totally sweaty mess & itching something awful so I’m done for the day until the garden is in shade again - currently on the sofa, brace off, fan blowing on me/leg & drinking a large glass of electrolyte mix with ice. The thought that occurs: life is good :-)
Change of plans with planting my herb garden. Today it’s supposed to get to 89 and tomorrow will be 85 & sunny as well. Tuesday, it should be around 80 with 90+ percent chance of rain and the next day should also be cooler with a chance of rain, then the next couple of days will be in the mid to upper 60s. I think planting my herbs Monday evening would be a good move. They won’t get burned up with the hot sun and should have some cooler days plus rain to help them settle in.
The hummingbird feeders have only been out since Friday morning & they are already a “happening place” - so glad to see the little guys again. One of my very favorite things to do is to sit in the porch swing about 30 minutes before sunset and watch all the hummingbirds coming to the feeder and tanking up for the night. They usually come one after another rather than in a group, but they each spend quite a bit of time drinking and drinking & as soon as one takes off, another one takes its place. I’m not sure how they fly with such full bellies, but they manage LOL!
Serious problem with spring caterpillars. Any solutions?
This one managed to get inside the house!
Possible solution?
Augie...somewhere you have to have a dandelion!
Second year we were here, I had installed a hokey ceiling by screwing drop ceiling panels to the ceiling joists. There were gaps in between. Had a major caterpillar season. Millions upon millions. Couldn’t walk without stepping on a dozen per step. The outside walls were covered. They made it into the attic because I didn’t the have soffits finished yet and they were dropping on us 24/7 and those little sucker bite. Wake up getting bit and instinctively smack which turned into smeared caterpillar. Nasty.
I drywalled the ceiling asap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.