Posted on 03/07/2008 7:54:26 AM PST by Gabz
Web report
To help gardeners plan for the coming season, the editors of The Old Farmer's Almanac's annual All-Seasons Garden Guide ($3.99) forecast several trends for this year.
"More gardeners want to be environmentally friendly. They want to work with Mother Nature instead of fighting against her. This includes using more natural products, more indigenous plants, less water," says Janice Stillman, editor.
Also:
-Low maintenance, high-drama gardens: Gardeners are looking for ways to make the most out of their time in the garden. Some solutions include easy-care or self-sufficient plants that are natural beauties.
-Lawn-free landscapes: More and more people are replacing grass (and all of its maintenance) with plants that provide small pleasures, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, and flowers that invite songbirds.
-Bringing the inside... outside: "The themed garden 'room' is an extension of the home.
-Colors: The colors for this year are inky blacks, saturated reds, vibrant greens, and perky pastels.
-Stones: a gardener's new best friend? Rocks - from boulders to bits - require no water or regular tending. They can add contrast and character to any landscape as accent pieces or serve a practical purpose as a pathway or patio.
-Containers: "Almost anything can be grown in a container," says Stillman. "Pots, boxes, barrels - all are ideal for people with limited space. They can be less work than a bed."
Gardening Reminders
Start seeds indoors, or out
Start seeding some of your cool weather crops like head lettuce indoors now or, if you are more adventurous, go ahead and start some outdoors. Be prepared to cover newly emerging seedlings if the weather turns cold though.
Begin feedings
Begin fertilizing your trees and shrubs. A shot of 10-10-10 granular fertilizer will have them primed for spring. Look for roses at your local garden center any day now. They are among the first plants to arrive in the spring. Pick out roses with three to five strong, thick canes which do not cross back over the middle, but are widely separated.
Yard chores
If you have shrubs that you are thinking of removing, do so now. Birds will begin building nests soon, and if the task is put off, nesting birds will be displaced and eggs destroyed.
No mixing
Virginia Extension recommends avoiding mixing cut daffodils with tulips. Daffodils produce a chemical "slime" that injures tulip blooms. If you wish to use these two flowers in an arrangement, place the daffodils in another container for a day after cutting, then rinse off the stems and add to the vase of tulips. Adding 1 tablespoon of activated charcoal or 6 drops of bleach to each quart of water also helps.
Check your compost
Your compost pile has been working all winter if it was large enough. Turn it and water it if the interior is dry. If it has not started composting in the center, try adding a shovelful or two of garden soil to supply the necessary microorganisms and make sure your mix contains some green plant material as well as leaves, small twigs, and other plant material.
(Mark Weathington is the assistant director of the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, N.C. Reach him at crazyplant@msn.com.)
Gardening Ping!
I checked through last week’s thread and I think I got everyone on the list who wanted to be added!!!
That’s all? Have you seen the forecast for this weekend?
We’ve got a winter storm warning up for the weekend with likely a foot of snow by Sun morning. Right now it’s 40 and sunny. I have the peas and lettuce outside for some fresh air and sunshine. I’m heading out in a little while to do my grocery shopping that I usually do on the weekend.
Mowing is easier than weeding, IMO. That's why we put IN some lawn.
I worked in the yard for a couple of hours yesterday. Heaven.
My compost pile is frozen solid. Where’s that danged global warming?
LOL! We’re expecting heavy rain, beginning this evening and into tomorrow. Flooding may likely result.
Well, you DO live a bit north of me :)
We were going to have a yard sale tomorrow, but are putting it off until Sunday because of a 90% chance of rain through tomorrow afternoon.
LOL -- if it weren't for weeds, we wouldn't have any lawn :)
Accumulations of 1-2 inches. This is not a normal occurance for this area but it does happen from time to time. We had another snow event in Feb. This has just got to stop. I feel for those gardeners who have to put up with this kind of thing every year!
I hate you.............
Just kidding, but I haven’t done a doggon thing outside. When we had decent weather over the past week I was stuck inside feeling like &^(&()^*^$@#.
Like MM, I’m ready for some global warming.
I had to keep reminding myself that it's still early March, and any real clean-up is ill-advised. Just seeing the ground free of snow was exhilarating!
May I be pinged to this list?
I’m a container gardenist. :)
Earlier this week we bought some starter plants - Rosemary, Sage, another Thyme (have one already), a hot pepper plant.
I bought them all the day before so I stayed up way too late and had to plant and replant a 5 plants.
I did sit and watch my wife spade a 3’ X 50’ strip by the back fence in the front garden for some “wild flowers”. It's offy poffy soil with years of compost but it still took her 65 minutes >:o
I have been kicking myself since December. I bought an absolutely gorgeous rosemary plant as a Christmas gift for a friend.......but didn’t get one for myself.
Welcome to the club -— I added your name to the list!
I’m going to try doing a bit more container planting this year just because my deck looks so bare and forlorn.
We're stuck in the planning and anticipation stage here in Massachusetts, but it won't be long before I'm spending most of the day outside. I love it.
Where are you located? Does your compost pile revive itself after freezing?
“I checked through last week’s thread and I think I got everyone on the list who wanted to be added!!!”
And then some!
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
Your wife is a better woman than I, I’ve done plenty of that type spading work and absolutely HATE it.
OOPS, so sorry...........
Have you or anyone tried aerogarden yet as well?
The original ones are now available at Bed Bad And Beyond (and with their 20% off coupons everywhere, it’s a great deal).
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/search/search.aspx?order_num=-1&sstr=aerogarden&dim=1&nty=1&;
We have THREE of them now, one brand new type with the longer head, and 2 regular, but replaced the original head with the longer head.
They’re great but they need a closet to be grown in due to the bright flourescent lights so that you don’t go blind from them.
They’re in my husband’s office closet downstairs with a wind jammer at the bottom so the light doesn’t bother him.
The only downside is flourescent light recycling - ugh. But they do that here, you have to make an appt with the Household Toxics Recycling thing. I drove to my appt with ONE bulb! LOL.
Tis fine! No harm no foul.
where do I get the 20% off coupon and do I have to use their seed packs? $20 seems expensive for a tomato seed pack...
Thanks for being such a good sport, I’ll fix the list.
I think you missed me.
I’ve seen those, but even with a 20% off coupon, they’re still way out of the picture for my budget (at least this year)
Hmmmmmmmmm.....I wonder what the problem is because you are on my list.........sorry if the ping didn’t go through.
Central NY. Yes, it comes around again. I would do better if I turned it more. Some day when I have extra money (HA) I want to get one of those spinny compost bins that you just crank every day.
We had just over an inch (30 miles NW of Austin) yesterday. I may get the aerator out and aerate the lawn this weekend.
It was snowing on the way to work this AM. Waco had a lot of snow today. Wind chill is close to freezing. I'm glad I have my seedlings in the garage. This global warming climate change is not good for gardeners.
Gabz, My apologies, I do see it now. It’s hidden in my comments. Problem was that I started a Vanity about Obama being red and I have about 30 responses....Thanks!
I’m not going to tell you how old my wife is but it’s been 30 years since she was 39...
I don’t think I have turned mine for about 3 months. It is just sitting out on the open ground. I use a rake and pull the top layers over to a new spot on the ground. Just a big ol’ pile of compost. I did dig into it to get some nice decade stuff when I planted my Fig Trees. Luke warm center. I have seen it actually put out a nice steamy fog on cool mornings but not now.
*********************
I would love one of those! Maybe this is the year, at last.
You have seedlings? I envy you. :)
Hey all! Raining here, too. But—but, now I can get out in the greenhouse! I’ve got several thousand vinca plugs to transplant, peppers transplants coming out my ears. We were trying to move the rest of the cold crops outside so we had room on the tables for vinca, etc. Y’all know those stupid little shuffle puzzles—the ones where you can’t take the pieces out, you just have to keep moving pieces around until everything fits? That’s what my greenhouse is like this time of year! I’ve also got to sow some more seeds. We got most of our hanging baskets started and they are growing great. The first set of tomatoes and peppers are beautiful and thanks to temps in the 70’s, most of the maters are going to be too big shortly. Could just as easily have gone the other way. :) We’ll put them in mum pots and sell them as big tomatoes.
http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=COB-F-101-BZ&src=shopzilla&kw=COB-F-101-BZ
As I said, she’s a better woman than I, and I have yet to make it to the 10 year past my 39th mark!!!!
I found that starting seedlings in a pot is cheaper than buying the starter plants. I also get to choose the exact plants I want, not what Wally World or garden centers THINK I want to have in my garden. I just wish I could find some Sun Master tomato seeds.
Sounds like things are moving right along! I’m so jealous.
I wish you could all come help! I need it! Sigh. Sit around all winter and then for 4 months every day is like Christmas eve at Walmart.
Have you checked Totally tomatoes? They have a lot of varieties of tomato seeds most people don’t carry. A little pricey.
Not this year. We had a new Ace Hardware store open close to us and they had a coupon for five packets of free plant seeds, so I picked up some there. I bought some Sun Master plants a few years ago, and the garden centers cannot get enough to keep in stock.
Tell me about it! Every time we find one we like, suddenly the seed is no longer available. We did Bella Rosa last year, had quite a bit of success with it—no seeds this year. We also tried Crista—it’s resistant to tomato spotted wilt virus. Did pretty good and I’ve got some started already. Don’t know what you’re looking for but you might try some of the mountain series developed by NC State.
The Sun Master had a “nest” of fruit right in the center of the caged plants. Every plant we grew that year had at least two gallons of fruit.
I’ve tried Better Boy, Beefmaster, Celebrity, Romas, Early girl, and others. To tell you the truth, the only one better than the Sun Master was the Yellow Jubilee.
I also had several types of patio (container type) tomatoes and they did OK. They just didn’t have the flavor like those from the garden.
Have you tried sweet cluster? I don’t like the patio type either. The only advantage I can see is that the plants don’t take over the world.
You have FRmail
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.