jerseygirl
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Post by jerseygirl on Feb 7, 2023 10:35:43 GMT -5
No gardening for months! But I was given an amaryllis bulb for Christmas and now have 5 magnificent blooms! and a Christmas cactus with some blooms
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skeeter
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Post by skeeter on Feb 7, 2023 10:49:33 GMT -5
Nothing green growing here either yet, but I do have a ROBIN with a messed up internal GPS system scratching through the snow presumably looking for worms. Sorry guy, you're out of luck in that department.
Wish Athena was still around. She would probably know what to put out for it to eat besides suet cakes, bread and seed mixture.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Feb 7, 2023 10:58:42 GMT -5
After an ice storm last week, temps in the 60s this week. Some of my daffodils are about to bloom. OMG, so different here. Expecting the icicles to start to drip in the couple of weeks. 10-12 weeks away from anything green growing. I got the best Christmas gift ever from my sister. A solar powered electric fencer to protect my vegetable garden from the deer. Padre - when I lived in New England, 'April showers 'did' bring May flowers'. But in in the mid-South, 'February showers 'do' bring March flowers'.
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irishpad
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Post by irishpad on Feb 7, 2023 11:50:12 GMT -5
OMG, so different here. Expecting the icicles to start to drip in the couple of weeks. 10-12 weeks away from anything green growing. I got the best Christmas gift ever from my sister. A solar powered electric fencer to protect my vegetable garden from the deer. Padre - when I lived in New England, 'April showers 'did' bring May flowers'. But in in the mid-South, 'February showers 'do' bring March flowers'. Up here my rule of thumb is: Start planting seed in garden on Mother's Day, but no potted plants (flowers, tomatoes, peppers, etc) until Memorial Day, otherwise danger of being killed by a frost. The good news is we get 16 hours of sun so the plants catch up with long growing days.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Feb 7, 2023 23:24:36 GMT -5
Saw a hedge full of forsythia in bloom this afternoon.
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finnime
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Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.
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Post by finnime on Feb 8, 2023 6:06:41 GMT -5
Saw a hedge full of forsythia in bloom this afternoon. Wow! That's crazy.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Feb 8, 2023 10:11:59 GMT -5
Saw a hedge full of forsythia in bloom this afternoon. Wow! That's crazy. Nah that’s just Tennessee 😃 There’s a house I drive past everyday going to work that has a big row of forsythia overhanging the road, never fails that it blooms way too early right before a cold snap which kills the flowers. Stupid bush can’t control itself. It hasn’t yet bloomed but I live in a more mountainous area than Tenn. it might soon, though, because it’s been close to sixty the last few days.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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They killed Kenny, the bastards.
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Feb 10, 2023 15:45:24 GMT -5
The Walmart here has their seed display out. I know it's early but I had to buy some. I started with Burpee but then saw Ferry-Morse which were cheaper. I bought Sunflower and Zinnia seeds.
I wasted a lot of time and money on lack of germination last year. I have a better plan this year. First I planted too soon because our weather got warm Mid-April and I planted before our frost free date. Then temps went into the 30's. I found the squirrels ate the sunflower seeds and dug up the bed. So I'll wait longer and cover the seeds until they germinate and grow a few inches.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2023 16:52:41 GMT -5
Saw azaleas blooming today. We might still get a hard frost but who knows anymore?
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Pink Cashmere
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Post by Pink Cashmere on Feb 10, 2023 18:30:52 GMT -5
I still want to grow stuff, but last summer really discouraged me. Everything died! I have spent so much money since 2020, trying to grow herbs and flowers, and the stuff I bought in 2021 survived the first year, then died last year. It was so hot and dry, even grass was struggling around here. I am still interested in growing vegetables, I actually enjoyed growing tomatoes last year until the damn squirrels started eating them all and pissed me off. Mister keeps saying he’s going to build a screened garden bed for me, but time is running out and he hasn’t even started, doesn’t even have a plan lol. I don’t bug him about it because he has so much stressful stuff in his life right now that I don’t want to nag him about it, even though it would really make me happy.
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Feb 11, 2023 10:05:22 GMT -5
I noticed azaleas blooming around here about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Only one or two per bush, but definitely more now. And yes, still early enough in the year that we could have a nasty cold burst show up. I have to check on my azaleas. I don't want to. They are in a line between us and the neighbors. We had some small trees removed from there last year. Then DH 'helped' me clean up some of the other weeds. Only, no matter how many times I said don't cut that bush, he managed to whack at least one of my azaleas pretty badly. Best I can tell it's still alive, though I'm not seeing blooms yet. I need to check it for buds. If it's not dead it will eventually re-establish itself.
I will have to bring my tomato babies in tonight. Will be too chilly tonight and too cold tomorrow night for them. One of my basils is struggling a little bit in the south facing window. The hydroponic garden gives ideal growing conditions which sometimes makes for 'weak' plants. They tend to be very thirsty and crave an awful lot of light when I first move them out. Mr. Basil isn't really adjusting as well as he should though. If it warms up again I think he will be happier outside for a few days with real-true-full sun.
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Feb 22, 2023 20:41:49 GMT -5
Ya'll. I've got a hot mess going on down here in my garden. Quite a few pages back I talked about starting some cold weather seeds. But, then we had that really nasty freeze at Christmas. The lettuce survived. Pretty much just been picking it and eating it. Starting to bolt, but that's to be expected.
I also had one broccoli plant and one brussel sprout plant that made it thru that nasty cold snap. But, a few pages back I also talked about how I plant everything in pots/containers right. I can deal with the broccoli plant. It's cute. Fine in the pot. This brussel sprout plant though....holy freaking cow. It's huge. It's seriously too big for the pot. But I'm kind of stuck now because I'm afraid it's too mature to move/transplant. It is so massive it is kind of insane.
To make matters worse, we have had an unreasonable warm spell. Which is stressing the plant out because it is a winter crop. I had to water it 3 times today. It would perk up after watering but then start drooping later. Because it's too hot and the pot is really too small. It's a mess down here!
I tend to be the type of gardener that just kind of jumps in and trys things without a lot of research. Which, has always been fun and eventful even when it's not particularly fruitful. I think I bit off more than I can chew with this brussel sprout plant though.
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Feb 25, 2023 16:43:16 GMT -5
Broccoli has bolted. Beautiful yellow flowers that the bees seem to be enjoying. Way too warm for too many days straight. Brussel sprout plant is still holding its own though.
Moved the three tomato plants to their permanent big pots. They had mostly outgrown the 2.5qt nursery pots I had them in. The cherry tomato is also starting to bloom. Between that and this unseasonable warm spell, it was time to get them planted.
I'm letting the pepper plants go another week before I plant them. Mr. Basil has been quite happy outside in this warm spell. I need to get him in a bigger pot. Maybe tomorrow if the mood strikes me.
I have three petunias I started from seed. One is ready to be planted. The other two are a bit slower growing. I think by next week though all three of them are going into the hanging basket. I put the petunia seedlings in their own 3 inch peat pots. Since one is growing faster than the other two, I can't wait much more than another week I think. And since I want them all in one hanging basket, I need to plant them all at the same time.
My sibling struggles with plants. They have been in awe of Mr. Basil. I have two more basil seeds starting. I think I may get one going and give it to my sibling. If I get it growing and get it in the correct pot, my sibling may have better luck keeping it alive.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2023 11:16:26 GMT -5
I did trim the roses and feed them yesterday, and took the potted succulents out of the shop and put them in the yard. Even though they were covered, some of the tender ones died. I am going to wait a couple of weeks to shop for replacements as my favorite meteorologist said we might get another cold spell in March and succulents are crazy expensive these days. I'll also get my usual favorites - pink geraniums and pincushion plant for pots, pink pentas, lantana and whatever else looks good for my pollinator bed.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Feb 27, 2023 5:16:50 GMT -5
Need to do winter clean up in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing what emerges this first spring in our home. The climate here is about 4 weeks behind what we had in Maryland.
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Feb 27, 2023 8:56:59 GMT -5
DH had our neighbor and my brother help pull up 4 forsythia bushes this weekend. Two are in the way for our egress windows being installed in April. Two are off to the side of our yard and weird to mow around. All 4 were 7 feet tall and needed to be trimmed once a month from May to Sept and we needed to be on a ladder to finish. Too much maintenance so out they go! This will also be a fair amount of space that no longer needs mulch and weeding, so I'm pleased.
Will take 3-4 weeks to dispose of the branches in yard waste pickup. Need to stay diligent about that bc then we'll be in spring yard cleanup mode and need the waste space.
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Feb 27, 2023 9:45:56 GMT -5
I too am watchful for an errant cold snap in March. Despite that, the plants don't know any better so forward I go!
Repotted the geranium yesterday. I grew it from seed and had it inside for the winter. Fun little pink flower was starting so time to put it in a bigger pot and get it outside. Put Mr. Basil in a bigger pot too. Not so much bigger circumference, but more depth. Which was a good thing because it had a lot of roots.
I don't do landscaping. Because I'm bad at it. Even though most of my gardening is in containers, I do have two spots where I plant stuff in the ground. One is a small flower bed that surrounds the bay window. Haven't done anything with that yet. The other spot is the hole in the backyard. The people who had the house before us had a pond. One of those small ones that uses a plastic pond liner. We dug up the pond liner and it left a hole that I just fill up every year with leaves, grass cutting, and I normally throw a couple of bags of topsoil in it each year.
About 5 years ago I started planting stuff in the hole. Normally just a wildflower mix for bees and butterflies. In recent years, I have added sunflowers (just because I think they are so gorgeous) and zinnias. There are zinnias already in the wildflower mix, but Kiddo likes to pick flowers so planting extra zinnias does the trick. Got the wildflowers sowed yesterday, but haven't added the sunflowers and zinnias yet.
I also planted 32 gladiolus bulbs in one third of this hole in the backyard. Why you ask? Because Kiddo saw them at the big box store and thought they were pretty. And DH encouraged her. 16 bulbs to a pack. Two packs. Because one pack was pastels and the other pack was non-pastels. And they were just both so pretty they decided we needed both. Except, when it was time to plant them guess who had to do all the work?!?!?! Anyways, they are planted, covered with brown paper in an attempt to reduce weeds (because I don't do flower beds because I don't like weeding). DH also sprinkled cayenne pepper on the holes in an attempt to keep the squirrels from digging them up. We'll see how this goes.
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Feb 28, 2023 15:06:51 GMT -5
I still want to grow stuff, but last summer really discouraged me. Everything died! I have spent so much money since 2020, trying to grow herbs and flowers, and the stuff I bought in 2021 survived the first year, then died last year. It was so hot and dry, even grass was struggling around here. I am still interested in growing vegetables, I actually enjoyed growing tomatoes last year until the damn squirrels started eating them all and pissed me off. Mister keeps saying he’s going to build a screened garden bed for me, but time is running out and he hasn’t even started, doesn’t even have a plan lol. I don’t bug him about it because he has so much stressful stuff in his life right now that I don’t want to nag him about it, even though it would really make me happy. Just quoting because I can't always figure out tagging. Here's a gardening funny for ya, Pink. Hopefully you have sarcastic, dark enough humor to appreciate it. Her blog posts almost always make me LOL. thebloggess.com/2023/02/28/i-cant-handle-this-kind-of-pressure/Bloggess is the lady who had the big metal rooster back when blogs first got big. I think some of us followed her back then and talked about her on the old YM.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2023 19:09:09 GMT -5
My fav weather guy just forecast heavy frost/light freeze between March 10 and 15 for us so the pretty little plants that hopped in my basket today may have to stay in the garage for a week or 3
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Feb 28, 2023 20:15:51 GMT -5
Just got a text from son! "You need to start looking at vegetables." We usually do garden by 1st or 2nd week in March so I best get off my duff and head to garden center. I am lazy gardener so I opt for plants opposed to seed. Long growing season here and we are already in high 70's during day and rarely have a frost this time of year. Happy Gardening to everyone here!!
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Happy prose
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Post by Happy prose on Feb 28, 2023 21:42:04 GMT -5
Just moved here in November, and there's lots of deer! Neighbors say don't even try to grow anything. This spring, I plan to do vinca in front, and maybe catmint on sides of house. In back, I have a patio I'm having fenced in. 2 sides will have 6' privacy fence, and the back wall will be 6' picket style, so we don't feel boxed in. I really want flowers, but also want to try a tomato plant in a pot. Someone said if the deer see plants inside the fence, they'll try to break the fence, or even try to jump over. True?
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Mar 4, 2023 16:21:35 GMT -5
My azaleas are alive and well despite DH's inadvertent whacking in the fall. I never even had a chance to check them for blooms because they exploded with flowers. Early this year due to temps. But completely full of flowers.
We still have some more weeds and cleanup to do along the row of azaleas but it's good enough now I can get in there and start pruning them when the time comes. The small trees we had removed were choking them out a little so they no longer have nice bush shapes. A little light and smart pruning will correct that though.
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Mar 5, 2023 18:45:08 GMT -5
Put both bell peppers in their permanent pots. DH wanted cucumbers so I have a burpless cucumber plant I grew from a seed and he is in his permanent pot. No idea how this is going to work though. Put Kiddo's watermelon plant in its pot too. We did get one small watermelon last year. Thing made an entire large bed of vines and blossoms but only one small fruit. I expect more of the same this time around but that's ok because Kiddo does seem to enjoy it.
Got the 3 petunias in the hanging basket. Hoping they do well there. This is my first time growing petunias.
I needed some fresh thyme for a recipe so DH bought the small plant from the grocery instead of the clamshell of picked herbs. And I promptly forgot about the thyme plant. Oops. Put Mr. Thyme in a pot today and have him hanging out on the back porch in the shade to see if he perks up.
Gave Mr. Basil a nice haircut today. Needed fresh basil to cook dinner. So good!
Moved two of my houseplants out to the back porch in the shade. The diffenbachia got too big for its bottom shelf in the south facing window. They will be OK for now but I'll probably need to move them again when summer hits because it'll probably be too hot even in the shade.
Started giant sunflower seeds in peat pellets a week ago. Got three seedlings into small starter pots with dirt. I'll keep them in the window for probably another week. They grow fast so as long as I can keep them alive it won't be too long before I can put them in the hole in the yard next to the wildflowers I sowed.
Also put a cucumber seedling in dirt. This one is a bushy cucumber. When DH said he wanted cucumbers I bought two different seed packs. Since I'm not sure how they will do in containers I thought I'd try two different kinds. I'll keep it in the window for another week or so same as the sunflower seedlings. Both are fast growers so hoping I can keep the seedlings happy for a little while longer.
Will start some more seeds this evening. Either more sunflowers or zinnias to eventually go in the hole in the yard.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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They killed Kenny, the bastards.
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 5, 2023 20:47:29 GMT -5
I have my seeds but it's too early to start outside. I waited until the frost free date of April 14 last year but we got a cold spell and they didn't germinate. Also the squirrels ate the sunflower seeds. I'll cover the seeds this year to warm the soil and keep the squirrels out until seedlings are about 6".
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Mar 5, 2023 21:29:47 GMT -5
Yeah the squirrels gave me trouble last year which is why I started the sunflowers inside. Works great for germination rates. But the seedlings seem more fragile and I just worry about getting them past the seedling stage into the baby plant stage. Sowing directly outside only the strong survive so I don’t worry about the seedlings.
So much pressure to keep these things alive!!!
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Mar 6, 2023 18:30:59 GMT -5
Has anyone here grown artichokes? Found them in HD ready to put in ground. I have done a little research but thought I would call on the experts on this thread. The plant is $10.00 so hesitated and probably won't have any if I go back tomorrow but still want advice!! I love trying new stuff and this is new to me in a garden. TYIA
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Mar 6, 2023 20:09:28 GMT -5
Yeah, no advice or experience with artichoke. Way too advanced for me!!! But, it sounds awesome if you do it. Dern things are so yummy!
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azucena
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Post by azucena on Mar 7, 2023 8:31:36 GMT -5
Planted another 50 bulbs yesterday when the temp was almost 70. Now it's back to 40 today. Noticed that some of the 50 that I planted last week are already sprouting above ground. Daffodils, tulips, alium. Tried the layering planting method where I put an early, mid, late spring and early summer bulb in each hole. I slacked off digging each to the precise depth so hoping most of them take.
Another 100 bulbs including about a dozen hostas will arrive late March. Hit 80% off online clearance in Jan and had some retail therapy.
Noticed that the arbor vitae have a ton of dropped needles under them. Some of the old mulch is rotted - that can't be good. Had DD14 hold up some branches last night and raked under them, then had DD10 run it over with the lawn mower to mulch finer into the grass. Not sure how to get more of it out. Off to google.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Mar 7, 2023 12:45:12 GMT -5
Planted a bunch of sugar snap peas. My Aerogarden is doing so well, I can't eat all the lettuce lol. I think I'll try replacing one of the lettuce with spinach.
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MarionTh230
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Post by MarionTh230 on Mar 11, 2023 20:39:00 GMT -5
Planted a bunch of sugar snap peas. My Aerogarden is doing so well, I can't eat all the lettuce lol. I think I'll try replacing one of the lettuce with spinach. I'm interested to hear how spinach does for you in the Aerogarden. I had a zero percent germination rate when I tried it. I did use my own seeds and my own pods, not an Aerogarden prefilled though. Don't know if that was my problem or if the Aerogarden was too warm? I did have good luck germinating spinach in the refrigerator with a wet paper towel. The only problem was I completely forgot about it. By the time I remembered it was too far gone for this world. But it did germinate and sprout well that way.
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