Posted on 04/15/2011 5:07:49 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. Today is NOT tax day! Y’all who file last minute can put it off until Monday the 18th. Why? In 2011, Washington, D.C., will celebrate Emancipation Day on April 15, a day earlier than normal, since April 16 falls on a Saturday. Emancipation Day marks the anniversary of the day that President Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act. The Act, which was "for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia," freed 3,100 slaves in the District, making DC residents the "first freed" by the federal government.
Ok back to gardening. Looks like I will be getting rain today. There is a line of strong thunderstorms to the northwest and west of me. I had planed to rent a tiller today and till the garden plot. I will have to wait until the soil dries out now. Drats, another delay in planting! Some of my tomato and squash plants are begging me to get them in the soil. Received some nice seeds in the mail yesterday from Freeper Black Agnes. Thanks again. I should have the opportunity to get them into some soil and flats today!
If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.
I really don’t know! They and their tink white flowers are all over my front yard.
I turned my compost last weekend, and I have never seen a batch that hot. It was in the low 80s, and I noticed steam coming off the compost as I was turning the pile. The other batch is almost that hot too. I still have several bags of leaves and grass clippings that will be started soon.
Our flowers are just taking off. The bees and butterflies really like the fresh flowers. Most made it through the winter and are liking the warm weather. The big split leaf elephant ear got nipped during the winter, but has a number of new leaves. The fruit trees have quite a number of fruit again. Now, if I can keep the raccoons and possums off them before the fruit is ripe.
We have a big Rosemary plant that needs trimming. There are several limbs that are on the ground and have roots in the soil. My neighbor wants one or two limbs for home use. Basil and sage are growing like crazy too.
Whenever you transplant tomato plants, plant them as deep as possible. I set my little two - three inch plants into the garden and some are only half the size now. I put one really tender plant almost to the leaves, and it is doing great. I had two in on container and didn’t put one deep enough. It is wilting, but still green.
They may be ok, they’ll start bleaching after 24 hours or s if there’s any real sunburn. As long as you don’t lose all the leaves on the plant it will come back. Fortunately there’s plenty of time, I’ve had it where most of the leaves were gone and still had plenty of tomatoes off them.
You have to dig out the bulbs to get rid of wild onions. We had them on the farm, and that was the only way to get them out of the garden areas.
Although I grow vegetables, my “thing” is for ornamental plants...and Hosta in particular. I grow about 350 varieties (along with dozens of Brigmansias, Colocasias, Cacti and ANY zone 7 shade plant. If anybody is into that sort of stuff, let me know....I’m sure we could trade.
I have a problem with feral cats pooping in my garden. :(. I keep scooping the mess out as I find it, but they have trashed my peas that are still very small and tender. I’m thinking about putting down newspaper between my rows, do you think that will work?
On the positive side, I got my greenhouse megastore order this week of 4” pots, trays, and plant markers. YAY! I have a bunch of seedlings coming up, veggies and herbs and flowers. I got new potting mix and extra perlite. My little hothouse is pretty crowded!
The Lilac by the back door is blooming....Could smell it through out the house.
Fry them in butter???? (Pull out the bulb and all) After frying the wild mushrooms.
Good Morning,
I have some general questions on herbs.
I have chives and time planted in a half barell that I planted several years ago. Should I do any triming etc. The chives continue to grow back each year and are much thicked in the stem, flavor seems to be getting weaker though. Any thoughs? Oh I am in INDY
I’m pretty annoyed! I had TWO DAYS OFF in a row (yesterday & today) and it’s so bloody cold and windy out that it’s hard to get anything done. Grrrr!
I worked on the back tree line yesterday for a while, then decided I’d better get a pro in here to finish trimming those spruces before I electrocute myself as a power line runs through there too, LOL! I also had so many burrs in my hair that I had to cut a hunk out of my head! Oh, well. All of those ‘cut on the horizontal’ styles are ‘in’ these days, so I can probably pull it off, LOL!
Got some spring veggies planted the other evening, and I did some pruning and cleaning up along the edges of the garden, but the entire garden needs to be cleaned out before I can start dumping stuff in there (I’ve been collecting broken bags-o-amendments from work) and get it all tilled up. But, I have until mid-May, so I have plenty of time.
Work has been slow because it’s been so cold, but when the weather breaks, it’s going to get ugly, LOL!
Please pray for me... :)
Thank you, is it too late to trim now?
Anyone else having trouble with fire ants eating your seed potatoes? This is the first year that I planted potatoes and the little critters destroyed about 1/2 of my planting before I realized what was causing them to not come up.
I have not tried to poison them yet, but have noticed they do not like my gyp water (at the farm). Had an outcropping of fire ants near one of the fruit trees I planted and heavily soaked their mound when I watered the new trees and they seem to have disappeared (after about 3 waterings).
Japanese Lilac here. I could spend all day downwind of that bush when it’s blooming....
Hi RD, hope you are well. My 65 ft. Magnolia is almost in full bloom. The flowers are nearly 10 inches in diameter. I hate the yard full of leaves though. If it were not for the spring blooms...
The garden was late going in. The back isn’t cooperating anymore. Got the spouse to help me with the seeds last weekend. I used a rod to place the holes. Peas, okra and tomatoes are popping up already. Not sure how I’m going to pick anything but I’ll figure it out. I also planted Gigantic Sunflowers. I thought some bib lettuce might like to hang out between them in the shade.
Take care and good gardening!
We’ve had really nice weather here in Central Missouri for the past week. I set out some broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage that I started from seed. Planted a row of mixed greens, several varieties of which I’m trying for the first time this year. The beets I planted last week have already sprouted. Snap peas are about 6” tall and looking very happy. A front rolled in last night and brought some nice rain - 7/10” in the gauge this morning.
But the big excitement for the week - my order of mushroom spawn arrived in the mail yesterday - 1000 shiitake plugs that will be pounded one by one into holes drilled in oak logs. That should keep me busy until the ground dries enough to get back in the garden.
We had the Orange Blossoms now the Jasmine and the Gardenias are starting.
Ah, cool. If you haven’t planted yet, I’m OK. I’m in ATL.
I still need to tear out a bunch of cabbage I had planted over the winter. I’ve been giving it away here and there for the past week.
Today I'm going to put in 5 rows of white sweet corn (Augusta) in the first of 5-6 staggered plantings. Smaller, time staggered (2 week intervals) plantings gives me a near continuous harvest of corn all summer right up until the beginning of October usually. I used to like Silver Queen, but I've found that Augusta, believe it or not, is sweeter and more tender (also quicker to maturity by 12 days) If the rain holds off today I'll put in a row of green beans and a patch of white aoup beans, too. Should get some blackberries this year from the canes I planted last season. My red raspberries are going gang busters and I expect a huge crop this year.
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.