Weekly Gardening Thread (Catalog Fever) Vol. 1 Jan 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 3, January 20, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (U.S. Hardiness Zones) Supplemental Vol. 1
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Types) Vol. 4, January 27, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 5, February 03, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 6, February 10, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation?) Vol. 7, February 17, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Home Sweet Home) Vol. 8, February 24, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Structure Part 1) Vol. 9, March 2, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Transplanting Tomatoes) Vol. 10, March 9, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Useful Links) Vol. 11, March 16, 2012
Detailed State Plant Hardiness Zone Maps
International Plant Hardiness Zone Maps
Australia
Canada
China
Europe
Japan
Our runt, Anna, who we nearly lost to a blockage, showed the rest how to climb the deck stairs on Wednesday evening, and let three of them up the stairs last evening. This morning, she led all of them out of the house, down the deck stairs and to the pond.
We do not allow spoiled animals in our house!
The seedlings are doing well and we need to start getting the raised beds in shape as the Forsythia are blooming down near Concord, MA already!
Finally .... the Kumasaka Camellia is blooming!! :-)
Starting over, here at the border of 8b/9a in Florida. I haven’t gardened much in a few years, except for a few fruit trees and a couple of grapevines that I mostly neglected but got fruit from anyway. This spring I have a couple of brand new new raised beds for veggies; I’ve never used raised beds before. I also have a few EarthBoxes.
I transplanted tomatoes, peppers and eggplants into the garden just over a week ago, and I direct-seeded my other hot-weather crops a week ago as well. I have seedlings everywhere. It’s so much fun watching everything come up!
I also seeded a few carrots, lettuce, and radishes, and a little cilantro. Usually I can plant those through March here, but it’s so warm this year that it’s probably already too late for them. I thought it was worth a try, though. If they fail, I’ll just start over in the fall.
Oddly, the marigolds are not germinating well (less than 10% are up after a week), though everything else is coming up on schedule with very good germination rates. It’s fresh seed, and I’ve never had trouble starting marigolds before, so I don’t know what the problem is. If they are not up in a few days I’ll go get a different brand of seed and try again.
We haven’t had any significant rain here in weeks (spring is a dry season for us), but we are expecting some rain today and tomorrow.
It’s been a soggy week here in Central Missouri. I expect that all of the seed I planted last weekend has been washed out and will have to be replanted. On the bright side, my pond is back up almost to the point of overflow. I’m sure to be in need of that water for the garden later in the season.
I dug up the old broccoli plants to make room for spring veggies. I have turnips growing, four tomato plants and lots of onions. I will be putting all the other seedlings in the garden this weekend. The three inches of rain sure helped the yards and pastures.
I live in the Adirondacks and it has been in the 70s-80s for the past week! Unheard of in March here! Daffodils, hyacinth and crocuses are up and blooming. Tulips are up but not in bloom yet. Forsythia is already fully in bloom! It’s been wonderful, but there’s no way anyone can plant anything because we could still have a good 6 weeks of winter ahead! It will be a very interesting spring.
Oh, and there should be a squash in there somewhere.
And here we see the girl dog taking time out from her busy schedule of laying in the sun to get in a quick yawn.
We have had such an early spring I’ve been missing the Gardening thread to plant. I have never had this much in this early.
Well, I done did went and did it.
Me. Stingy, penny pinchin’ miserly, cheap, (did I say stingy?) broke down and called the local County Farm Bureau to order a few soil testing kits on Monday. They came on Wednesday and within hours were on the way to the lab.
This was a shocking event on many levels. Topping the list is I really did this! I was also amazed that Cook County, home of Chicago, actually has a Farm Bureau. Even more yet further surprising is there are really honest to gosh farms in Cook County that grow stuff other than pot! I thought the corrupt democrats in charge of everything had outlawed them years ago.
The reason for this outrageous extravagance was that after reviewing my garden’s harvest for the last 2 years, I came to the logical conclusion that it sucked. Not just Hoover sucked, but Tim Allen’s Bimford Industrial strength Tornado Shop Vacuum sucked.
* 8 Squash plants and 1 squash to show for it.
* Beets that were lucky to grow to golf ball size
* Sweet Peppers . . . What Sweet peppers?
* Cucumbers - planted 20 plants, got maybe 8 or 9 cukes out of the deal
I am tired of guessing what could be wrong. I sent in the samples and within 2 weeks I will get the results back. A detailed analysis of what is in (or not in) my dirt. Along with a plan of what to add to get things to grow.
If this does not work I will let everything go and say . . .
“Those aren’t weeds, they are Prairie Wildflowers!”
grumble . . . grumble . . . grumble . . . grumble . . .
Bees! The Mrs and I were just considering bees this AM. What is the best way to start? How do you keep them around?
Despite the crazy weather, lettuce doing very well. Parsley seeds have been sown and rosemary seedlings have sprouted and the second set of leaves starting to appear. In the house, basil seeds are sprouting. Looking forward to all he goodness of home grown veggies.
Ridiculous temps here; it is a real battle to resist putting stuff out to freeze in a couple of weeks. Instead, we’re getting started on next winter’s firewood supply. Also, I made up 2 PVC paper-pot makers. Here’s hoping that is enough to get us through this false spring.
We have 8 healthy 3-1/2 week old bunnies are about ready to leave their nest box; the other doe is due in 7-10 days.
So far, no broodiness showing up in any of the hens, but we’re still getting 6-10 eggs/day.
I contacted a local beekeeper, who is supposed to get back to me next week, about placing a hive on our property.
NOBODY wants this to happen to them, or to their friends...
...spay and neuter your gnomes!
Your lawnmower will thank you.
Can’t wait to get further down the thread, but I have so many chores that need to be done today. Be back this evening!!!
Anyone have tips on growing tomatillos in a 15 gallon container? Have four seedlings ready to be transplanted. Last year the seedlings up and died right after. Growing medium is Miracle-gro potting mix.
Visited Schultz nursery on Broadway in San Antonio. Found some really healthy Merced Tomato plants. Don’t really have room for them in the garden, but I thought Merced was an “abandoned” tomato variety and just couldn’t pass up the chance to grow them. I’ll put them in pots.
I just planted my seeds in a Burpee seed-starting dish. They’re all non-hybrid. It seems a bit late, but our spring got the drop on us this year and I’m playing catch up.
I’ve never grown a vegetable garden from seeds before, especially non-hybrids, so wish me luck!
Here is a short but good article I just ran across on ‘How to Build & Install Raised Garden Beds’ from Popular Mechanics. What I like is that it also includes a way to attach a simple framework of hoops so you can add a cover & a diagram/instructions for a simple drip irrigation system.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/lawn-garden/4308264