Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 03/05/2010 5:04:40 AM PST by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners! Here in Central Mississippi spring type weather will be here soon. I can feel the warmth at the other end of the tunnel! Highs for the next week will be in the 60’s and 70’s and I will be out in the garden and yard cleaning up. I will have around two or three weeks to get the garden area in shape before any plants get transplanted into the garden. Spring officially starts March 20.
If you are just starting out gardening and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in. There are many Freepers from all over the Good Ol’ USA that are willing and eager to help.
The Weekly Gardening ping list has grown to 303 Freepers as of yesterday.
Weekly Gardening Thread
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Into the 40s again today.
Can’t wait for the ground to thaw so I can get my parsnips started.
I think I’ll try growing some tomatoes out here on the left coast this year.
Nothing beats a big beefsteak in my book.
What a wonderful idea! Please add me to your ping list. My Mom is in a wheel chair and loves to garden, so I am looking into constructing a couple of raised beds. Looking forward to the posts. (no pun intended)
It’s supposed to be really nice this weekend. It will almost seem like spring. We have a ways to go here before I can think about gardening, but looking forward to a weekend outside.
I posted the following tree question on the last garden thread, but it was far into the post, and may not have gotten much of a look:
I am looking for some advice on purchasing a tree. A large tree in our front yard died last year, and I am doing some searching around trying to figure out what new tree to plant this spring. I am in zone 6.
I know this sounds odd for the front yard, but I would love some kind of a fruit or nut tree, so the tree can do more than just look pretty. I know some fruit trees need two to pollinate, however, I don’t think we have space for two trees. I would love a Pawpaw tree, but it’s my understanding I would need two. I am interested in an Asian persimmon tree, but unsure if they can take our winters and also whether this would be too small a tree.
Any good suggestions on a beautiful tree that produces something edible as a bonus? Thanks.
Good morning! Living in CT, and New England in general, a bit behind, but when I start to see the first robins, then I will KNOW spring will be here.
Claim: SF Giving Gardeners Toxic Sludge:
Here we might make it to 40 today. Last frost is still 10 weeks away.
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I post the thread every Friday morning. We have some very experienced gardners who help out. Four or five are Master Gardeners and there are a couple who run garden shops or greenhouses.
So feel free to stop by any time and enjoy the thread and have a good time.
Don’t know where you live, but it’s hard to go wrong with a fruit bearing crabapple.Provided you could find one. They are beautiful, can take a lot of cold, and make one hell of a jelly.
Interesting, saw my first robin Yesterday. They return really early here I guess so they can prepare their nests before the Spring blizzard season starts. May 15 in theory is the last chance frost day. After that, it is safe to plant outside. Even that date has become variable based on what Spring is like. So we are looking at two and one half months of further interesting weather. The real hope, is that we don’t get a too warm spring where the trees leaf out before the blizzards hit. That can be a tree disaster.
Good Morning, Red!
BUMP for this afternoon. :)
I think the sap is starting to run in Northern Indiana.
Last frost is still 10 weeks away.
Might be helpful to know your location, to process the last frost information.
Cardinals are starting to sing around my place so that's an encouraging sign.......
Been looking at flowering crabs for at least 20 years. They are such a spring joy to look at, but the other half of the family doesn’t want the producing kind due to the mess. So we enjoy looking at their beauty, but not yet in our yard. Planted over 40 trees, but no crab yet.
Good morning all. Spring is late here in middle TN. We usually have the wild daffodil blooming sometime between Jan 30 and Feb 26 (two special days for our family). In 24 years they have only missed those dates once.... until this year. No blooms yet!
It is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I hope to get some cleaning up done in the garden. The sunshine gives me hope for spring!
“Any good suggestions on a beautiful tree that produces something edible as a bonus? Thanks.”
Dwarf Mount Royal Plum, any dwarf SWEET cherry tree or a dwarf peach tree (Madison or Reliance). You only need one of these trees as they don’t require another to pollinate them. (I suggest ‘dwarf’ varieties for the home grower because they’re shorter and easier to pick from and prune.)
Shameless plug for my company:
http://www.jungseed.com/dc.asp?c=241
To save yourself some aggravation and money, it’s okay to fill the base (no more than 1/4-1/3) of your raised beds wit styrofoam packing peanuts and or empty pop cans for drainage. Don’t kill yourself by trying to fill the base with stones, like houseplants!
Morning. We are finally seeing sunshine, but it’s still very cold. Hopefully, Spring will be here soon.
Good morning, Diana! Don’t work to hard today.
I plant early anyhow. If there is a threat of frost, I cover up.
Chestnut trees.
I bought five chestnut trees (including pollinator) after researching.... I know they will grow in my zone.
BUT - do they tolerate hot dry winds???? I need to know if they need a little protection or not??
Anyone?
Daisyjane have you made your move to Texas yet?
I want to put in a lilac or two this year. We are in Zone 7 - I have been told that that is pretty far south for lilacs to do well. Is this true? If so, is there a particular lilac that does well in Zone 7? I REALLY REALLY want lilacs!
I’m not sure a PA frost is the same as a SD frost which could include sub zero temps, and a foot of snow with drifts up to four or five feet. Temp before 70 degrees, and temps a week later 70 degrees. Covering becomes useless. Of course this would be worst case, but Spring blizzards are usually an annual deal. We had three in a row last year. That was the first year I had a four wheeler with a plow blade. Bless me.
I need to do that, too, but it's just too wet here in SE TN now. I'd love to be able to turn over my garden spot, but if I try to now I'll surely sink the tractor up to the axles. My greenhouse is producing well and has all winter, though. Broccoli, lettuce, spinach, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and onions. I'll be starting 'maters, peppers and more broccoli shortly in the greenhouse for the raised outdoor beds.
Well, I have the day off, so I have to work really hard at home, LOL! This past week was ‘H3ll Week’, but I lived through it. Now I have a day off, then I get to go back for ‘H3ll Weekend’, LOL!
I really do love my job. It’s exciting and tiring this time of year and I pretty much goofed off all winter. Time to pay the piper! :)
Not yet, but I’m getting ready. Weather has been rainy here and snowy in TX! Yikes...
But I think the weather is normalizing. The daffs are blooming finally. :)
add me too, pleaese . :-) 
Cool.
Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from October 3 through May 6.
Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from October 14 through April 24.
You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 18 through September 22.
Your frost-free growing season is around 150 days.
Thank you ,this is helpful.:-)
Thanks that puts my summer planting time up about a week.
BTW Anyone that wants to plant something now, plant peas. Sow the seed on top of the ground (or even snow) A scattering up to a foot wide works.
Then cover with some warmer soil. I usual just buy a bag or two of composted top soil as it is easier than filling a wash tub full in the fall, store either in a garage or porch to warm.
This year I’m spreading the seed in a wider trench and adding some chicken wire in the middle for them to grow up on.
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Thank You! :-)
Hi Grammy,
I’m here in Tennessee too. Can’t wait for the good weather this weekend. Hoping to put out some broccoli-hope it’s the right time...
Heard on a local radio station this am that tomato prices are going through the roof. They interviewed a local owner of a sandwich shop who said that he paid 17 dollars “a case” (however many that is ) for tomatoes and that the price had gone up to 37 dollars. Boy- reason #52 to grow your own huh.
Happy gardening!
Thanks, I was looking at the Krasavitsa Moskvy and hoping that would work. What a nice coincidence - Diana in Wisconsin’s company sells them!
That pie cherry tree special looks interesting, but it does list worst zone 5, and I live in 4 to 4.5, opinion?
60s this weekend in Central VA
Hey Hoosiermama,
I’m in Nashville, TN-zone 6. Do you think I could do this now here in TN? I’ve not had much luck with peas here but would be willing to try again. Do you have a favorite variety? I would love to plant a hugh stand of bush peas if I knew they would take.
Happy gardening!
I’m in Zone 4, but have a south facing area where all of my fruit trees are planted. I have four cherry trees; sour and sweet, and all are doing just fine.
There is protection from a big old evergreen treeline on the west, and I do keep the trunks wrapped with spirals to protect them from the bunnies.
So far, so good. Had a HUGE cherry crop last year - enough for two whole pies, LOL! (The trees are only about 3 years old.)
WHen my sister lived in PA, she always bought great peas from the Amish in her neighborhood. She becam e friends with one of the teen age daughters and she gave her the tip.
I have used several different varieties...all seem to work about the same.. The secret is not to put them in rows. Keep the seeds about 1” apart and the soil about 1/2 inch deep. I’m in Southern Indiana and it works well here.
This year I’m planting just sugar peas....No shelling.
Needless to say, the native soil is very low in organic matter. When I planted last September I was in such a hurry I didnt supplement any organic matter.
Earlier this week, I finally started my long-overdue compost pile. In the mean time, just to jump-start our spring/summer garden, I purchased a half-yard of compost from the nearby nursery. Our Kieffer pear & Methley plum trees that I planted this past December are showing some small buds. The red skin & Loring peach trees appear to be dormant, still.
Not sure what zone I’m in, but I have my seedlings started inside in the little jiffy sphagnam moss balls. I was amazed to see how fast some of them had sprouted last week. Right now I am trying to get them enough light so they stop growing so tall, but I do not want to put them outside due to possible critter activity at our new house.
I imagine I will need to find some sort of fencing and posts...
That’s a handy link for using one’s zip code to calculate frost dates. Thanks.
It confirms what I’ve been hearing from the locals - it’s planting time for some of our favorite veggies in zip code 78639.
I heard that it’s still best to wait a couple of weeks before transplanting tomatoes, however.
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