mattie g Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Time to get this bad boy started since the long-range is about to poke its nose into March and many of us are starting to get our seedlings started for the upcoming season. I'm planning to get my seedling going this weekend. Many of the same ones form last year with the goal to have a couple rows of spinach and lettuce to start things off. Then eventually transfer eight tomato plants, four jalapenos, three cantaloupe plants, and various herbs as we hit the middle of April. Lawn? Main thing for me is keeping alive the sections we had sodded in the middle of November; I'll worry about bare spots later. All seems to be going well at this point though... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 7 hours ago, mattie g said: Time to get this bad boy started since the long-range is about to poke its nose into March and many of us are starting to get our seedlings started for the upcoming season. I'm planning to get my seedling going this weekend. Many of the same ones form last year with the goal to have a couple rows of spinach and lettuce to start things off. Then eventually transfer eight tomato plants, four jalapenos, three cantaloupe plants, and various herbs as we hit the middle of April. Lawn? Main thing for me is keeping alive the sections we had sodded in the middle of November; I'll worry about bare spots later. All seems to be going well at this point though... I remember vaguely tracking your gardening exploits last growing season -- but don't remember you mentioning the jalapenos. Did you do those last year as well, and if so, how did they do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 5 hours ago, vastateofmind said: I remember vaguely tracking your gardening exploits last growing season -- but don't remember you mentioning the jalapenos. Did you do those last year as well, and if so, how did they do? Sure did! I planted La Bomba II from Territorial Seed, which got off to a great start and went gangbusters once the weather really warmed up. They ended up producing like mad - with the last harvest (at the end of October) ending as four pints of pickled peppers and give-aways (about a gallon bag full). Flavor was great. There was a nice sweetness up front, with a serious kick of heat on the back. I like to try to pump up the heat by reducing the watering, and I’ve always had good luck with that. Once jalapeños get going, it’s hard to slow them down, no matter how badly you treat them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN Transplant Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Did some cleaning out of the garden beds today. Going to try to get the mulch in earlier this year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlizzardNole Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 Ordered some tropical milkweed seeds and I overwintered two cherished lantanas inside. I was really happy with the new sterile Bloomify lantanas last year that got 20" tall by 30" wide by September. Hummingbirds and butterflies love them! This winter was dreary and the third straight without a big snow. I'm done and hoping for massive torch for late Feb into March. Bring on spring! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted February 13, 2022 Author Share Posted February 13, 2022 On 2/11/2022 at 8:39 PM, MN Transplant said: Did some cleaning out of the garden beds today. Going to try to get the mulch in earlier this year. That’s a good call. Our big front porch addition started in April last year, so we really couldn’t do much in the front, and then we transplanted a bunch of stuff from the front to the back while we waited for new landscaping in the front. Hoping we can get started nice and early this year. Your idea of getting the mulch down early sounds like a great place to begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 @Eskimo Joe a thread was already created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 15 minutes ago, mappy said: @Eskimo Joe a thread was already created. My bad. I tried the search feature to see if one was already spun up but found nothing. Don't get old kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted February 21, 2022 Author Share Posted February 21, 2022 Sowed my first seeds of the season today. Four varieties of tomatoes, one of jalapeños, and two of basil. All are under grow lights and on heat mats in the basement, and should be sitting at 75-80F or so on those mats. I debated some other herbs - particularly parsley and cilantro - but held off for now. Cilantro is odd to grow (but I LOVE it), so I might just sprinkle some throughout the garden during the season, but I have found that parsley can rally thrive if you transplant it correctly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlizzardNole Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Got my tropical milkweeds started yesterday. You'd think "weeds" would be easy but the darn things are hard to germinate so I put three seeds in each cell. I grow these for the Monarchs but the hummingbirds absolutely love them. Speaking of herbs -- I'm going to add parsley, rue and maybe fennel for more swallowtails. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vastateofmind Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 On 2/13/2022 at 7:46 AM, BlizzardNole said: Ordered some tropical milkweed seeds and I overwintered two cherished lantanas inside. I was really happy with the new sterile Bloomify lantanas last year that got 20" tall by 30" wide by September. Hummingbirds and butterflies love them! This winter was dreary and the third straight without a big snow. I'm done and hoping for massive torch for late Feb into March. Bring on spring! Thx for posting this -- these are some of my favorite flowers and I've always wondered what they were called! With those colors, I'll BET the hummingbirds love them...I know several folks have discussed it in recent months, but I'm bound determined to invest in a hummingbird feeder THIS spring and start coaxing them to visit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 1 hour ago, vastateofmind said: Thx for posting this -- these are some of my favorite flowers and I've always wondered what they were called! With those colors, I'll BET the hummingbirds love them...I know several folks have discussed it in recent months, but I'm bound determined to invest in a hummingbird feeder THIS spring and start coaxing them to visit. I picked up a pretty standard feeder last year and put it near our landscaped pond area. Plenty of hummingbirds showed up within a few weeks of putting it up, even with having done so relatively late in the spring. The funny thing to watch was when we would get 3, 4, 5 hummingbirds at once. At first, I thought it was awesome that I'd get to to see multiple of them at once on a regular basis, but I never realized how territorial they are until I saw the scraps that took place over that feeder. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodhi Cove Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 26 minutes ago, mattie g said: I picked up a pretty standard feeder last year and put it near our landscaped pond area. Plenty of hummingbirds showed up within a few weeks of putting it up, even with having done so relatively late in the spring. The funny thing to watch was when we would get 3, 4, 5 hummingbirds at once. At first, I thought it was awesome that I'd get to to see multiple of them at once on a regular basis, but I never realized how territorial they are until I saw the scraps that took place over that feeder. That's the reason I have three hummingbird feeders 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Now that 2 of my kids are on their own and my other 2 are almost on their own, wife and I started OUR life in the yard last year. Lol. I always stay on top of my yard in general but we've never put the time and sweat into the mini-farm we've wanted. That changed last year. I didn't post pics because we were only half done with infrastructure. This year will be fully functiona by the end of May and it's going to make some people laugh I think. Short list of produce: tons of greens, tomatoes, hot and mild peppers, garlic, onions, cukes, squash, zukes, and potatoes last year. This year were adding pea and bean trellises and fruit towers along with general bed expansion. Lol. I'm so excited I've been working outside every day over 45 degrees. 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxdude64 Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 6 hours ago, Bob Chill said: Now that 2 of my kids are on their own and my other 2 are almost on their own, wife and I started OUR life in the yard last year. Lol. I always stay on top of my yard in general but we've never put the time and sweat into the mini-farm we've wanted. That changed last year. I didn't post pics because we were only half done with infrastructure. This year will be fully functiona by the end of May and it's going to make some people laugh I think. Short list of produce: tons of greens, tomatoes, hot and mild peppers, garlic, onions, cukes, squash, zukes, and potatoes last year. This year were adding pea and bean trellises and fruit towers along with general bed expansion. Lol. I'm so excited I've been working outside every day over 45 degrees. I'm planning on going back to some potted veggies on the deck (wildlife has a field day if not up high) this spring. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 14 hours ago, wxdude64 said: I'm planning on going back to some potted veggies on the deck (wildlife has a field day if not up high) this spring. One of the reasons we're so late to the party is relentless deer grazing in my neighborhood. Our neighborhood backs up to creek and park systems so there are deer highways everywhere and they aren't nearly as picky at eating as they're supposed to be. Lol. I used to think I needed a full 6' fence plus whatever else to keep them off the veggies but I had it wrong. You can live alongside deer no problem if you make it inconvenient and uncomfortable to access. You prob know a helluvs lot more about this than me tho. They ran thru our yard all year last year and never got into much. Some of which had no netting or anything like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPE Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Going to put some fresh mulch down today. Chickweed is emerging, and the dandelions are perking up just off the surface getting ready to prolifically spread. Time to extract some (losing battle) but it feels good when you yank that carrot up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 40 minutes ago, CAPE said: Going to put some fresh mulch down today. Chickweed is emerging, and the dandelions are perking up just off the surface getting ready to prolifically spread. Time to extract some (losing battle) but it feels good when you yank that carrot up. The original owner of my house had property width concrete and brick terraces built in the back yard with large beds. Would take 10 sticks of dynamite to remove then. I absolutely love them but they used to get away from me all the time with weeds and overgrowth. To the point that I started hated something I loved... I made a pact to never ever let it happen again about 5 years ago. Come to find out, I only needed to make one minor time adjustment.... mulch weekend... Like the entire country, I used to mulch during the big sale in April. Too late! And we all do it! Now, I knock out full spring cleaning and mulch mid March. Also lay down some Preen before spreading and I only have to weed maybe twice tops during prime grow season and it takes maybe a half hour. The difference is unbelievable. I feel so dumb for not doing it back in 02 when I bought the house. My neighbors on both side have talked to me about how I'm keeping it so tight so I told them it's as simple as mulch weekend date. They BOTH said that mulch is too expensive in March. LOL! I mean what? A buck a bag extra? Most of us get away with 65 bags or less. So 65 dollar savings to create multiple hours of extra weeding, sweat, and frustration? Is that really a grand bargain? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 18 minutes ago, Bob Chill said: The original owner of my house had property width concrete and brick terraces built in the back yard with large beds. Would take 10 sticks of dynamite to remove then. I absolutely love them but they used to get away from me all the time with weeds and overgrowth. To the point that I started hated something I loved... I made a pact to never ever let it happen again about 5 years ago. Come to find out, I only needed to make one minor time adjustment.... mulch weekend... Like the entire country, I used to mulch during the big sale in April. Too late! And we all do it! Now, I knock out full spring cleaning and mulch mid March. Also lay down some Preen before spreading and I only have to weed maybe twice tops during prime grow season and it takes maybe a half hour. The difference is unbelievable. I feel so dumb for not doing it back in 02 when I bought the house. My neighbors on both side have talked to me about how I'm keeping it so tight so I told them it's as simple as mulch weekend date. They BOTH said that mulch is too expensive in March. LOL! I mean what? A buck a bag extra? Most of us get away with 65 bags or less. So 65 dollar savings to create multiple hours of extra weeding, sweat, and frustration? Is that really a grand bargain? Even cheaper buying it in bulk. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPE Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 58 minutes ago, Bob Chill said: The original owner of my house had property width concrete and brick terraces built in the back yard with large beds. Would take 10 sticks of dynamite to remove then. I absolutely love them but they used to get away from me all the time with weeds and overgrowth. To the point that I started hated something I loved... I made a pact to never ever let it happen again about 5 years ago. Come to find out, I only needed to make one minor time adjustment.... mulch weekend... Like the entire country, I used to mulch during the big sale in April. Too late! And we all do it! Now, I knock out full spring cleaning and mulch mid March. Also lay down some Preen before spreading and I only have to weed maybe twice tops during prime grow season and it takes maybe a half hour. The difference is unbelievable. I feel so dumb for not doing it back in 02 when I bought the house. My neighbors on both side have talked to me about how I'm keeping it so tight so I told them it's as simple as mulch weekend date. They BOTH said that mulch is too expensive in March. LOL! I mean what? A buck a bag extra? Most of us get away with 65 bags or less. So 65 dollar savings to create multiple hours of extra weeding, sweat, and frustration? Is that really a grand bargain? I actually did the beds in front last December after the last of the leaves came down. Stocked up on mulch the few weeks prior. Looks great out there and about 30% less to do now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nj2va Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Perfect weather for yard cleanup. Bagged up 12 bags of leaves. Plants and flowers are definitely waking up. South facing daffodils full bloom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 On 2/20/2022 at 9:28 PM, mattie g said: Sowed my first seeds of the season today. Four varieties of tomatoes, one of jalapeños, and two of basil. All are under grow lights and on heat mats in the basement, and should be sitting at 75-80F or so on those mats. I debated some other herbs - particularly parsley and cilantro - but held off for now. Cilantro is odd to grow (but I LOVE it), so I might just sprinkle some throughout the garden during the season, but I have found that parsley can rally thrive if you transplant it correctly. All seeds have sprouted, with the tomatoes and Prospera basil really cranking now. Jalapenos took their time but have started to sprout, as well, so I'm off to an encouraging start. Decided to start some broccoli the other day. Never tried it before, so fingers crossed on that! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 On 3/1/2022 at 10:01 AM, mattie g said: All seeds have sprouted, with the tomatoes and Prospera basil really cranking now. Jalapenos took their time but have started to sprout, as well, so I'm off to an encouraging start. Decided to start some broccoli the other day. Never tried it before, so fingers crossed on that! Germination rate is really high, so I went ahead and started to thin the seedlings. At this rate, I'm going to have to pot up the tomatoes within the next week! As of yesterday afternoon, the broccoli had started to pop up, too. Wow... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Collards go in this weekend. Garlic coming up nicely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nj2va Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 We’ve been in our house for almost a year now and this spring I will have lots of landscaping projects that I want to tackle - including removing boxwoods in the front and replanting with a mixture of flowering bushes, perennial flowers, and adding another crepe myrtle. Last summer we paid an arm and leg to have bamboo removed that the last owner planted for privacy on the side of the house and we replaced with three 8’ holly bushes. I just cut down three multiflora rose plants and treated the leftover stump/roots with herbicide since the roots were impossible to pull up. I didn’t realize they were invasive until I used the ‘PictureThis’ app (which I highly recommend!) - I just knew I hated the plant and wanted to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Bamboo and multi flora rose are both highly invasive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN Transplant Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 2 hours ago, nj2va said: We’ve been in our house for almost a year now and this spring I will have lots of landscaping projects that I want to tackle - including removing boxwoods in the front and replanting with a mixture of flowering bushes, perennial flowers, and adding another crepe myrtle. Last summer we paid an arm and leg to have bamboo removed that the last owner planted for privacy on the side of the house and we replaced with three 8’ holly bushes. I just cut down three multiflora rose plants and treated the leftover stump/roots with herbicide since the roots were impossible to pull up. I didn’t realize they were invasive until I used the ‘PictureThis’ app (which I highly recommend!) - I just knew I hated the plant and wanted to remove it. PictureThis is excellent, I just wish it were a purchase-once app rather than a subscription. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 I highly recommend the Seek app by iNaturalist. Free and quite accurate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 On 3/3/2022 at 8:28 AM, mattie g said: Germination rate is really high, so I went ahead and started to thin the seedlings. At this rate, I'm going to have to pot up the tomatoes within the next week! As of yesterday afternoon, the broccoli had started to pop up, too. Wow... Potted up all but the broccoli this past Sunday - everything went into 7 oz cups. Had to make the difficult decision to cull about half of the jalapenos and tomatoes, but kept all of the basil. Everyone seems to be happy so far. Will pot up one more time (Solo cups) before planting. I'm guessing I'll do that in about two weeks, with an eye to begin hardening off around the third or fourth week of April, and planting to follow a week later. I really have to get some lettuce seeds into the ground... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FXW176 Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 First ‘flys of the season spotted today. A swallow and cabbage. So exite. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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