WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 8 FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Free Republic | February 22, 2013 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

It's a cold, cloudy day with plenty of snow on the ground. Not much good for gardening, but the kind of day when you want to put a stock pot on the back burner, and turn on the oven to bake bread, casseroles, and/or roasts. All to make you warm inside and out.LOL

I have been reviewing some of the heirloom grains this week and need to narrow the list down to 2 or 3 that I will order. Teff and Quinoa are 2 that may make the cut.

I will be planting some crimson clover this week or next as a soil conditioner in a few beds to turn under in April or May. The rest already had winter rye planted last fall.

Have a great weekend. God Bless.

[fidelis]

That's what I did this morning too (transplant peppers). I am particularly pleased with these little sprouts because they where ones I thinned from other plants. I transplanted them into their own containers and they have thrived.

After my nap today, I hope to pot some oriental Iris bulbs.

[mrsmith]

Zone 6(+) Just put out some onion sets, sowed a few fava beans and kale seeds.
Started lettuces, broccoli and other cold-weather seeds in doors.
Plan on repeating every 2 - 3 weeks.
Last year had frost April 11 and 12 but that’s unusual.

Might try a tomato plant or two this year.
Anyone recommend an easy kind that doesn’t all get ripe at the same time?

[JRandomFreeper]

I'm doing something a little different this year with the peppers and tomatoes. I'm leaving them outside in the sun if the temp is over 40F and being a little bit stingy with the water.

I'm happy with the results (so far). They are much stockier than my usual starts, which sometimes get leggy.

/johnny

[TEXOKIE]

How cool! According to the label on my packet I just bought, the rootlets are supposedly 2 years old. Would they still need 3 years once in the ground, or just one year, do you think? (They are Mary Washingtons)

[mrsmith]

March weather:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/30day/
Slightly warmer than usual in the East.

[JRandomFreeper]

You'll want an indeterminate, like Ox Heart, or most of the cherry tomatoes. One thing about indeterminates... they grow and grow and grow. 8ft tomato cages are recommended. ;)

/johnny

[greeneyes]

LOL. I always convince Hubby to do that stuff for me. I don’t have the patience or focus to read directions anymore.

[JRandomFreeper]

Mine required 3 years in the ground to really start producing. I probably had a dozen meals last year from my little patch. I can already see the difference this year, and it's sorta early for them to be up.

/johnny

[fidelis]

"It's a cold, cloudy day with plenty of snow on the ground. Not much good for gardening, but the kind of day when you want to put a stock pot on the back burner, and turn on the oven to bake bread, casseroles, and/or roasts."

Love the smell of baking bread. They ought to bottle that stuff.

[greeneyes]

Stupice is a great early tomato and is good for:
cool or fluctuating weather, drought resistant, bears early and continues till frost. Fruits about 2”

Mid season: Arkansas Traveler, Brandywine, or Cherokee Purple.

Late season: Mortgage Lifter and Costoluto Genovese.

Paste: Amish Paste, Roma, or Myona

[TEXOKIE]

LOL! Well said. My darlin just told me the weather man has us down for another winter storm in a few days. That’s both the good news AND the bad news! LOL!

I’ve been looking at my catalogs too. Narrowed down my order to something reasonable, and plan to send it off early next week...God willing and the Creeks don’t rise!

(Learned recently that the “Creeks” referred to in that expression actually started out being a reference to the Creek Indian tribes, rather than flooding of small streams!)

[fidelis]

Sounds like you're on to something there. This is my first year planting pepper's from seed and I'm really enjoying it and getting a good crop.

My co-worker, poor guy, lost all his vegetable plants in big freeze we had a few months ago. If all my pepper plants survive, I might give him some, maybe the pepperonchini's.

[TEXOKIE]

Thanks for the amazing pictures!

[trisham]

My seeds have arrived:

Cherokee Purple (OG)-Packet
Vegetables > Tomatoes > Heirloom > Black 1

Brandywine (OG)-Packet
Vegetables > Tomatoes > Heirloom > Pink 1

Costata Romanesco-Packet
Vegetables > Squash > Summer > Zucchini > Striped 1

Nadia (F1)-Packet
Vegetables > Eggplant > Dark Purple/Black 1

Slick Pik® YS 26 (F1)-Packet
Vegetables > Squash > Summer > Yellow 1

Fertil Pots Round 4” dia. x 4” h (OG) - 50 Pots-1 Unit
Tools and Supplies > Seed Starting Supplies > Biodegradable Pots 1

along with trays to hold the little pots. I have one more packet of seeds (cucumber) to be delivered, with these little plants:

Pepper, Hot, Lemon(20249 - 3 Plants) HEIRLOOM. From Ecuador, as hot as any Cayenne, but with a truly unique flavor.

I’m not doing any container planting this year. Everything that sprouts is going directly into the ground at the end of May. Our back yard is south-facing, our house is a light grey, and with the sun bouncing off the house and shielded from the north, the microclimate back there is quite warm and sunny, even though the trees that are outside the fence provide much more shade in the early morning and afternoon than they did when we first moved here. Still, I’m very excited about this new strategy this season.

[trisham]

Beautiful!

[TEXOKIE]

OK. Thanks. That’s good. I’ll set my expectations to the “Patient” gear...and try to remember not to pull it up as a weed! LOL!

[who knows what evil?]

Stupice is always the first of my many tomatoes here in Red Hampshire...

[greeneyes]

Oh yes. Baking Bread and Cookies. The best kitchen aromas ever!

[JRandomFreeper]

I always plant twice what I'm going to need, because sometimes, a cold snap gets you.

I give my extras away or trade them.

I only grow two types of peppers, the New Mexico, and the jalapeno. More conservative cook behavior. Those are the main ones I cook with, those are the ones I grow. Neighbor may bring me some banana pepper plants because she likes those and hates to garden, but she'll have to pay for the plants. ;)

/johnny

[greeneyes]

Well, no matter where it came from way back when - I always heard it used to mean water might flood the road - only thing is we always said “crick” not “creek”. LOL

We still have plenty of people in our rural district who can become housebound for a few days when the low water bridge gets covered by water from the “crick”. LOL.