Garden Geeks thread

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

For those of you with Netflix, there is a British show called Rosemary and Thyme that is about a plant pathologist who is called upon either to restore old gardens or to find out what is wrong with the plants or soil or whatever in gardens that aren't growing right. Along the way they either discover a dead body or someone dies and they get involved in solving the murder.

I mention it here because in some of the shows there are fantastic estate gardens involved.

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We've flirted with freezing the last week or so, so the tomato plants have been sitting in the garage. Covered the herbs with sheets, and they all seem fine except the basil, which got zapped pretty hard. Warmer weather starting today. Just trimmed down the asparagus. Time to start planning the first spring planting for mid February.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Not sure how many gardeners here have noticed this interesting tidbit,

In cold weather, you can get a rough idea of the outdoor temperature by looking at your rhododendrons. If the leaves are really tightly curled, it is very cold, as the temperature rises, the leaves become less cold.

I am reminded of this idiosyncrasy this morning because the leaves indeed are very tightly curled. brr.


Another thing I've noticed, when it is really cold and front is moving in, is that the smoke from chimneys actually is pushed down. The very cold air is so dense that the warmer smoke cannot penetrate it to rise upward.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We've been perusing the seed catalogs and have started ordering seeds. Will soon be setting up the grow lights and starter pots.

We also learned something that should be extremely helpful. For the past several years, our tomatoes have died off early from some kind of black spot fungus on the leaves. It sounds like a fungus that lives in the soil. Recommended prophylaxis includes working a particular kind of fungicide into the soil, and using a ground cloth to cover the soil so that none of it splashes up onto the plants when it rains.

I sure hope it works!

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Just put in a new fig tree, two raspberry bushes, and a goji berry bush. And planted a new round of lettuce and kale, with some other seeds to come, probably next weekend. Been getting 70 degrees and sunny, so the weeds are coming up. The tomato plants are still rather small, but starting to get some cherry tomatoes.

[bigmrg74]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Been feeding a lot of sunflower seeds to my chickens lately to help them keep warm. Really thinking about growing some sunflowers myself this year.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Been feeding a lot of sunflower seeds to my chickens lately to help them keep warm. Really thinking about growing some sunflowers myself this year.

Put the seed out for the birds and you are all set. I have sunflowers pop up everywhere in the spring and summer. Of course then the birds eat them clean.

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Thinking of turning what few veggies I plant into a flower bed (or coleus bed or something else) and re-doing some of the other areas. Sticking to veggies/herbs I can grow in containers, and the farmer's market (I go every week anyway). I'd like to just start over with a plan, rather than the randomness I have now. I have a lot of dry shade to deal with because of my huge pine tree. There's really no good sunny spot for a garden, unless I stick it in the middle of my yard, which isn't feasible.

Learned about a new concept recently - alleopathy. Magnolias give off some kind of chemical that makes it really hard to grow other plants near them. You don't say. The hostas do OK, and the primrose bloom, but are pretty small. The grass? Forget it. I decided not to bother with planting anything else around my magnolia.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Thinking of turning what few veggies I plant into a flower bed (or coleus bed or something else) and re-doing some of the other areas. Sticking to veggies/herbs I can grow in containers, and the farmer's market (I go every week anyway). I'd like to just start over with a plan, rather than the randomness I have now. I have a lot of dry shade to deal with because of my huge pine tree. There's really no good sunny spot for a garden, unless I stick it in the middle of my yard, which isn't feasible.

Learned about a new concept recently - alleopathy. Magnolias give off some kind of chemical that makes it really hard to grow other plants near them. You don't say. The hostas do OK, and the primrose bloom, but are pretty small. The grass? Forget it. I decided not to bother with planting anything else around my magnolia.

You might consider decorative stones, like oval river stones or pea gravel or maybe even a small statue or bench or some such touch around the magnolia if you haven't already. Or vinca which seems to grow anywhere, we have vinca as a ground cover in our shade garden. I recommend against ivy as it will just keep spreading indefinitely and becomes really invasive.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Started our first seeds last week, there are a few poking up from the starter pots. Bought electric heat mats this year to help with the germination.

Seems a bit weird to have seeds growing with so much snow on the ground still.

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We've been getting a lot of lettuce and kale lately, making for lots of good salads. Also harvested some carrots, though they weren't very big. The new fig tree, goji berry bush, rosemary bush, and raspberry bushes are all doing well so far. We'll see as things warm up through the spring how they fare.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

In theory at least, one good thing about having such a deep snow cover all winter is that it should insulate the perennial plants from the unusually-cold weather we had. We'll see how much survived. We had a winter worthy of two hardiness zones colder than where we live.



Speaking of hardiness zones, it is always interesting in the spring when I commute into Manhattan. They are one hardiness zone warmer there than where we are, and so I see daffodils blooming there a week to ten days ahead of us, etc.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

In theory at least, one good thing about having such a deep snow cover all winter is that it should insulate the perennial plants from the unusually-cold weather we had. We'll see how much survived. We had a winter worthy of two hardiness zones colder than where we live.



Speaking of hardiness zones, it is always interesting in the spring when I commute into Manhattan. They are one hardiness zone warmer there than where we are, and so I see daffodils blooming there a week to ten days ahead of us, etc.

Until this winter I had moved from a ZOne 4 to a Zone 6. This winter more of a 4.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We turned over the soil in the garden and mixed in fertilizer this past weekend. Planted several rows of peas.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We turned over the soil in the garden and mixed in fertilizer this past weekend. Planted several rows of peas.

My garden is a very, very wet sponge- even with the raised beds.

Crocus and primrose out. No Dafs yet. It is a late spring