We have a great sunny day today, and a warm 25 degrees. Last night we were at 9 degrees. I actually ordered a few plants this week during a 50% off sale. Most notable was some additional blueberry bushes, goji berry, and strawberries.
This will be the 3rd year for our little orchard of about 10 fruit trees, so we are hoping to get a few fruits this year.
I have a serving of spinach and lettuce and a couple of red bell peppers left and maybe 1 or 2 carrots. So my indoor and winter garden is just about finished.
The bell peppers and lemon tree are blooming and have some produce growing though, so I'll eventually get some additional produce from them maybe by spring.
Hope all is well with you. Have a great weekend, and God Bless.
Pinging the Garden Thread List.
Here in Tidewater Virginia, my poor forsythia and jasmine have no idea what to do. The weather has been so abnormal this winter, they don’t know whether to bloom or not.
Still snow on the ground in N Idaho, although the temps are supposed to be in the high 30’s for the next few days - freezing at night.
Snow slowly disappearing.
Planning our garden layout, but know that we are a few months away yet. Mrs. Illiac will be starting in her greenhouse, which was a Christmas present and is looking forward to some great gardening this year.
I put some onions, carrots and lettuce in the fridge before the garden got tilled. There was some black gold from leaves on the backside of the house so that's getting added to the garden so hubby can till it again. Nice sunny 70s temps to be out in the garden in Texas.
The bell pepper seeds I'd given up on in their little starter containers popped up this week. The grocery store jalapenos didn't and neither did my banana pepper seeds. Had about 80% of the tomato seeds sprout and they're into their second set of leaves. I replanted those seeds along with squashes, cukes, etc. I thought I had cauliflower and broccoli seeds but can't find them so will pick some up next time I'm in town.
I decided not to plant green beans this year to work on getting various squashes out early ahead of the bugs. If the bugs win again, then there's always time for beans.
The glads are already about a foot tall so I need to get into that bed to reset the edging and dig out some of the soil because it washes out onto the walk. I also need to get an herb garden started there.
Blah, just found out the people next door are moving in permanently in a few months so need to be more careful with my garden garb.
My garden keeps getting more snow piled on it. Every bit of snow cuts down our chances of having another drought next summer, so, hurray for snow!!!
Never got any response from the person who has the corn seeds I wanted, she still hasn’t updated her listing since last year. So, I went with plan B and ordered some Mandan Red from Seeds of Change. It’s supposed to be a good parching and flour corn.
Things are kind of depressing on the job front, but given the way things are going, it might be better if I spend the summer working the land instead. I’ve got a creepy feeling about things this year.
One of my squash from last season started getting soft, so I chopped it up and started candying it. I love growing squash, but quite frankly it is not my favorite flavor, so I’m hoping if I candy it I’ll actually eat it more. The candied cranberries I made last christmas were really good, and I don’t like cranberries, so I figured it’s worth a try.
I didn’t get the freeze-dryer. In the last 10 hours of the auction, the bidding suddenly took off and went way beyond my price range! But, I’ll keep an eye out for the next one. That website sells all kinds of weird stuff from the university system. Today they listed a CT scanner, I’ve seen DNA sequencers, electron microscopes, Xray machines, etc. It’s a science geek’s dream, if only I had the money.
Nothing to do here. Totally covered with snow and 0 degrees with a windchill of -14 degrees.
I am discussing a knee replacement with a surgeon. If I go forward with it, it will probably mean another lost gardening year since it is my “digging” leg. But, I’ll love reading what the rest of you do.
On a side gardening note, I have determined that Snapdragons must be one of the toughest flowers known to man. I was surprised as even after a few hard frosts the snapdragon ‘bush - about 1x1x1’ that grows in our front flower bed stayed green. I was absolutely amazed that after being buried in snow for almost 3 weeks, after it melted those little guys look beat up but some of them are still green and starting to grow.
I also ordered Hatch chili seed today. Minimum order was 1 oz, but it's from a commercial seed grower in NM, so I wanted that cultivar. But one oz of seed is something like 1000+ seeds. I don't have room for that many plants. ;)
/johnny
Got our seed order lined out. Since this year is shaping up to be repeat of last year, we’re adjusting accordingly.
Going to try a large planting of mammoth sunflowers, as we’re inundated with their smaller wild cousins every year. Seeds, if it works out, will go to the chickens.
Also going to put in some Jerusalem artichokes, and hope they don’t escape. We had them decades ago in SoCal, and like them, but they are so invasive....
New this year also is giving in to nagging from townie friends: found some artichokes that are supposed to be early enough to start indoors, then get 1st year chokes before the early frosts kill them.
It's getting warmer by fits and starts here in the desert. The wife already has a lot of vegetable sprouts outside--tomatoes, radishes, kale, chard, and some Asian stuff I don't know how to spell. She's got a lot more started in our little indoor greenhouse.
My flower sprouts I have started indoors are coming along nicely. I just thinned out my marigold/alyssum/zinnia seedlings I planted 2 weeks ago. The snapdragons I started last week are sprouting vigorously--once again, I put too many seeds and I'll have to aggressively thin them, probably next week. I hate doing that.
This week, I also planted some ornamental chili peppers, Explosive Ember and Bolivian Rainbow. It will still be a while until they sprout, and I'm really excited to see how they turn out. This is all new to me so I'm having a lot of fun.
I have become quite fond of amaranth. I decided a few days ago to start an experiment in sprouting them. They sprouted like TOPSY! I have several little egg carton cups lined up on our counter. We shall see.
Also found our sweet potato sprouting in the potato/onion basket, so cut its toes off and am letting it grow. It has joined the amaranth sprouts.
My tobasco and jalapeno "trees" in the greenhouse are already sprouting fresh growth. I trim them back after the first freeze and let them re-grow. The tobasco is about 6ft tall and 5 years old and still producing.
The papaya was nipped during the last freeze, but not as bad as last year. I only had to trim it back halfway instead of chopping it to the ground,
Oh yeah - I was googling "concrete block raised gardens" and came up with a ton of good ideas. Here's the link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=concrete+block+raised+garden+bed&hl=en&tbo=d&rlz=1C1WZPD_enUS452US452&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=P0INUZ-uJ8qWqQGfzYC4DQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAA&biw=1066&bih=782#imgrc=_
Just go to the images tab.