Spring is finally here!

At least for now, cautiously optimistic.  Highs are to be in the 50's and lows in the 40's for a good week, once we get through the next three days and were told to expect almost 3" of rain.  I will take it over snow!

  Crocus today

So far today the rain has held off around these parts, has been mostly cloudy and windy and according to the weather channel is currently 63 degrees.  If it was not cloudy and windy it would feel that warm.  Despite that this morning I decided to finally put things in the ground.  I had started snow pea seeds in peat pots, that have not yet sprouted but put the whole thing in the ground.  Am hoping they have started at least putting out a root and this will give them a head start.  Ripped off the top half inch or so of the pot before planting.  Have 4 seeds on each side of the net (2 per peat pot), that will give me more than enough snow peas... I always get more than I can use.  Picture of my planting them is below:

While I was outside I also planted radish and spinach seeds in their assigned spots.   Figuring the rain will give them a good start and crossing my fingers the weather stays consistent now.

I have been busy doing other plantings.  Two days ago I took some old Manmmoth Sunflower seeds and decided to try to pre-sprout them.  Out of 28 seeds, 7 of them already sprouted as of today - and I planted those in dirt.  Here is a pic of them with their little roots:

I think when the time comes I am going to pre-sprout the corn seeds to give them a headstart too.

I also planted a pack of mixed sunflowers for campground use.  They are just in regular cell packs, no rush on them growing. 

Last nite I got a burst of energy and moved seedlings to individual pots.  I transplanted 16 pots (2 per pot) of african daisy seedlings 7 dahlia seedlings (plus one double pot), and about 10 snapdragon pots.  These have been the most successful of all my seedlings.   I am looking at the tomato seedlings, they will need to be moved to larger pots in another couple of weeks.  The pepper seedlings are growing slowly, but that is because the room is cool.  Today I finally found one "big dipper" seedling starting to pop up.  Yeah!  My word they take so long to sprout!

Keep saying that I really need more room for plants and wish I had a greenhouse.......

I have more plants than space on the rack!

Am even growing plants up in my sewing room:

yes that is my sewing machine on the right

I am very happy with all that I have growing.  The list of seeds sprouted recently are the celosia (red velvet, fireglow and yellow....amigo red is slow to start, only 3 so far), portulacas, gerbera daisy, penstemon, heuchera, coreopsis (only 3 early sunrise so far), two of my new lettuces - buttercrunch and green towers, and believe it or not some of the hibiscus seeds that I saved from my back yard plants and one of the peanuts I had planted is sprouting!   

It is definitely time to start moving some flower seeds to their respective permanent places.  The morning glory are really taking off so they have to be put in hanging baskets along with the sweet peas.  Maybe will mix half and half in the baskets so I always have something blooming.   Impatiens and petunias also need to be put in larger pots....again running out of room!  LOL!!!

That is all for now,whew!  Hoping the weather stays good for me so I can get bok choi outside next week and continue working on the main garden bed.  Ordered myself a leaf shredder to be able to tackle the mess called my yard, provide mulch for the garden beds, and hopefully help the compost heap break down faster (yes that has to be moved too).

Enjoy the warmer weather everyone, until next time!

Deb

Could this be the last snowstorm of the season (again....)

After a beautiful Friday and Saturday, came a cold and gray Sunday.  Today was beautifully sunny, not out of the low 30's!  Tomorrow and Wednesday snow  - again!  They predict we get 2-4", which is what they said last time and we got 7".   Where is my spring?

Because I went away to the campground on Thursday, it has been days since I logged in here.  So many things are starting to grow.  The "split personality" morning glories are all up, with the other morning glory seeds starting to show life.  Still waiting for my main crop of peppers to come up, the hot ones are up and growing.   When I came home last night saw that the heuchera, penstemon, some of the celosias  and the portulaca are all up - need to get another plant light up.   The gerbera daisies are all up to, so excited about them.  The flavored thymes are also getting going.

Today I received new lettuce seed and replanted them:  buttercrunch, four seasons and a romaine.   Have snow pea seeds soaking overnight, tomorrow will be planting them in peat pots.  This weekend promises to be spring like finally.   Think tomorrow I may start presprouting spinach seed to give them a little head start.

I also bought more flower seeds over the weekend, painted daisy and regular white ones.   This week I have to start my zinnia, marigold and sunflower seeds........maybe I need two additional lights up!    Yikes!

Promise next time will come up with some pictures.   Lots to show!   Heck it will be snowing so I might as well work on seeds and plants!  LOL!!!

Keep warm tonight my friends, sounds like spring is only a few days away!

Deb

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY !!

It is St Patrick's Day, spring is just 3 days away and what do I wake up to?  7" of snow!   This time of year is "traditionally" time to plant peas, I can't even see the garden at this point.  End of week will be closer to normal averages, HOWEVER next week (starting monday) will be arctic cold again.  Why do I feel I will never ever get into my garden this year?  Wish there was a way to heat my garden so I can start growing peas and spinach.  :-(

Being I was away this weekend (camping season starts) was not able to say that several new items have sprouted.  My african daisies sprouted on Friday as well as the final bit of thai basil.....well except for one lousy cell, maybe I missed putting seed in there.  Yesterday found that the grape tomato has sprouted.  No peppers have sprouted yet, but I know those buggers take forever.  No rush at this point because it seems we will never have spring.   

Tomorrow am going to start soaking morning glory seeds to be planted on Wednesday.  Want to use these in hanging baskets both at home and at the trailer.  Time to start zinnia also, but sort of out of room and have not decided how many I really need.  Heck will start them tomorrow.  Nothing else has sprouted yet, maybe tomorrow something will come up.

Think tomorrow I also will be transplanting the mini lettuces and the few spinach I got to sprout indoors into a large saucer planter, which is supposed to be for use at my campsite, again until spring comes it will be stuck indoors.  But moving them to the planter will free up a little space under the lights.  Fear I will have to bring some plants upstairs to my bedroom, which gets south western sun.  Hate to do that because plants become leggy, but have no choice at this point.  Wish I had room for more lights.  I have a PVC stand we made years ago for lights, but that is in the greenhouse.  I do have more lights, wonder if I can figure a way to set them up indoors.......unless I finally clear out my craft room there is no room for that.....darn.

Ok now I know what I need to do ...  clean!  LOL!!!

Here's hoping the nice weather at the end of this week keeps out the cold for next week......and that the first day of spring comes and stays!  Keep warm my friends!

Deb

So much for spring

We got up to a good 60 degrees again today, but this taste of spring is short lived......a line of thunderstorms coming in another couple of hours followed by the arctic cold again, only 28 tomorrow.  Really?!  Will the real spring please stand up!

What's happening plant wise today?  My genovese basil are sprouting and I think I saw one or two purple basils....will check tomorrow.  Of my flavored basils, only the Siam (Thai) basil has not sprouted.  Has only been 7 days, if they don't come up in another week, will buy new seeds, these were from 2011.

This morning I was looking at the mini bok choi seedlings in the self watering cells (which is not working well because I am using cloth instead of wicking material that I need to find) and they were looking long, so I planted them in the final four cells in the large cell pack the geraniums are in (pictured below).

Hoping they will get alot bigger and stronger, not that we will be planting anything outside anytime soon.  

Speaking of outside, although I covered the freshly turned garden bed with wire yesterday, the damned squirrels found a way in a dug a real big hole............not even gardening yet and already those critters are pissing me off !!!

What seeds did I plant today?  The mini bell peppers that I totally forgot about, these are for pots for my campsite.  I found a very large plastic box with a mesh bottom in my yard (had wood in it), realized I can use that for a garden box at the campground!  Whoohooo!!

Also planted thyme seeds (common, french, lemon & orange), oregano, marjoram, penstemon and the Villa Roma sweet pea seeds I started soaking yesterday.  Also for the hell of it, had saved three raw peanut seeds and today finally planted them.  Not sure if they will even grow, but I had the extra spots so why not.  The wisteria seeds I was not sure about, all four of them have sprouted so there is hope for the peanuts.

There is so much more I will be starting from seed in the next few weeks, but really am out of room!   That is a good thing as it means I am successful this year.......although success will be proven once all these plants grow and mature, provided someday the weather straightens out.......sigh......

So here we sit waiting for thunderstorms and bitter cold temperatures.....wish I was waiting for thunderstorms and WARM temperatures!   

Until next time, keep planting!

deb

Wow, today felt like spring!

It is 6pm and currently 64 degrees outside.............this felt so very good.  Most of the day was a bit cloudy but I don't care....it was warm out!  Too bad by Thursday it will be 28 degrees again....  sigh.....

BUT my crocus finally started to sprout!  So good to see flowers again.  :-)

Here is what I have been up to .....  alot!!   Last night I decided to move the geranium seedlings to bigger pots.  Am so pleased with them.

Today I planted alot of flower seeds, celosia (4 types), coreopsis, gazania, portulaca and nicotiana.  Also planted the angel trumpet seeds.  Was thrilled my last tomato, Totem, sprouted as well as the dill.   Have a second type of sweet pea, Villla, that I started soaking today.  Many of my specialty basils have started to sprout, as you can see below:
 

Yes they are hard to see because they are small, but most of them have sprouted....very happy.

I actually got outside today and did some more raking.  Raked out the front garden bed which was looking very ratty.  Also decided to work on the small bed the tomatos will go in this year.  Added some fertilizer, flipped the soil and measured out the squares.  Also put up the trellis for the snow peas - this year going to grow them right.  Then I went crazy and planted 10 radish seeds just because.  If they grow, they grow, but will use them to tell me when I can plant more root crops and the snow peas.....the picture below shows what it looks like.  The beds look so nice when they are first done in the spring; hoping for lots of crops and flowers in this picture by July.

This bed will eventually have 6 tomato plants.  Smaller blocks will hold lettuce and spinach to be followed by marigolds.  Once the snow peas are done, the trellis comes down it will be replaced by cosmos - need flowers in the vegetable gardens to attract bees.   If everything comes up and grows the way I have it envisioned in my mind, it will be beautiful.

Unfortunately tomorrow promises to be rainy with very cold air coming overnight and possible snow flurries, wind gusts, ugh.  The weekend may get back up to 50, just wish the warm weather will stay.  So I will be starting more seeds tomorrow just to keep gardening.  Hopefully in another couple of weeks I can safely plant my snow peas and more radish, as well as the spinach.

Have a good evening everyone......keep those hands busy!

Deb

Tomato Time!

This morning I found the four tomato seeds I planted have sprouted!  Let the gardening season begin!!

Yes I know you can hardly see the one, but they are coming up.  At this point (a couple hours later) two of them have already opened to reveal seed leaves.  

This morning found the fourth wisteria seed had sprouted.....silly to grow that from seed as it takes several years for it to make flowers, but at least I can have it cover the fence for some privacy.  May take one of them and grow as a bonsai - have seen them and they are beautiful.  Not sure will do that, but what the heck.

This morning planted hibiscus seed I saved from last year's garden to see if they are viable.  Only planted them in vermiculite as not to waste my seed starting soil (have to buy ANOTHER bag).  Will be interested to see if they actually grow.

Today I need to start some flower seed - gazania, portulaca, celosias, nicotiana and coreopsis.  Just received a package with gerbera daisy and penstemon seed.....gerbera needs to be planted today as it needs 8 weeks.  Not sure about the penstemon as it says to direct sow....will probably  do those too because it takes 10-12 days to sprout.   Realized I need to also plant thymes, oregano and marjoram seed.   OMG I am so out of space already.  Hoping to get my grape tomato seeds today to get them started, and more flower seed will be coming too!  Wish I could use the greenhouse but the outside temperatures are still going into the 20's at night.   Oh for a real greenhouse!

Sitting waiting for two phone calls, apparently the phone is not cooperating.  Will see.

Here's to more seed starting today!

deb

March 9th, it's sunny, spring like weather promised for the next couple of days!

I am so excited that the next couple of days will be in the 50's, more normal a temperature than what we have had.  Of course we are expecting rain/snow for Thursday, but then it is supposed to get back to the high 40's, low 50's for the weekend.  Will take it!!

So what is happening in my gardening world.   Well this morning was again transplanting calendula and blue sage seedlings....even gave away alot to my daughter yesterday.....am sure between here and my camp site will be able to find places for them.  Have lots of ideas where they are going.  Calendula is also good for the vege garden, so some may find their way near there.

More spinach have sprouted, but nothing more on the old lettuce seeds.  Going to take them and try to pre-sprout to see if they are viable anymore.  If not could always get more at the stores.  No tomato or basil seeds have sprouted yet, but it has not been that long since planting.   I planted my peppers today.  Some of the seeds were very old, like from 2005 (habanero and chinese giant) so I planted out all the seeds hoping for just a couple to sprout.  The cheap bell pepper mixed color ones I planted out all of those seeds even though they are only a couple of years old.  If they grow will be putting them in the flower beds and pots.  It will probably be a good 2+ weeks before any of them sprout.  

Was looking at the begonia seedlings.....out of 10 seeds ended up with only 6 but that is ok.  I moved them to a regular pot from the small tray they were in.  They are still so very small but I see some leaves starting to grow larger.....despite that, as you can see in the picture below, they are not really that big...and yes that is a toothpick next to them

It is approx 6 weeks before last frost date, am sure there are flowers I need to start, but right now have to wait as I am running out of space under the lights.  Thinking of making up flower pots with my saved coleus and geraniums......speaking of which the geranium seedlings (growing fantastic), need to be potted up to the next size.   Pretty sure I need to start sweet peas this week if I want any decent growth for early spring hanging baskets......need them big so the squirrels won't attack them.   Great, need to get a sewing job finished and now thinking I should just keep potting up plants!  LOL!!!!

Tomorrow I have a phone interview for a job, not too hopeful on this one only because it may not be the hours/days/pay I am looking for.  But we will see.  Darn, work will interfere with my hobbies!  LOL!!!  Seriously wish me luck......although I enjoy not working, someone needs to so we can pay the bills!  

Well off to get something done.  Will have to think about all the repotting I need to do and just go up and sew something.

Oh yeah, went to Philly Flower Show yesterday.   Disappointed in the vendors, too much jewelry, only one seed vendor and the herb plant selection was awful.  However the Horticultural Society sells plants (don't remember them ever doing that) and I found what I was looking for with them.  All in all a fun day though.

Have a wonderful day everyone, enjoy the warm weather!

Deb

Update:  as the day went on decided to do more, am soaking sweet pea seeds for planting tomorrow; planted seeds of African daisy; and planted purple palace huchera.  An old sweet potato sent up a slip, so planted that, hoping for more!  Oh and decided to try to prosperous the old lettuce seeds (Ashley, intersecting and great lakes)

The sun was shining!

Today the sun was shining and it was almost 40 degrees, which felt good. especially after the snow on Monday.

Let's catch up on what I have been doing plant wise.  Remember the old calendula an blue sage seeds I was presprouting ?  Well despite the fact they are few years old, they are sprouting like crazy!  Putting 2 sprouts per cell of the blue sage and 1 per cell for the calendula........have a good 3 dozen planted each and there are so many more sprouting!   Good thing my daughter wants some!

Today I planted seeds of my tomatoes - totem (for campground), Supersteak, Big Mamma (roma type), Rainbow and Purple Cherokee.  Am still waiting for the grape tomato seeds, hope they come tomorrow.  I am not seeding peppers until next week because the spring is taking a long time getting here and the ground will take a long time to warm up this year.  I also planted 8 different basils.  The green genovese seeds are very old (2005) so planted very thickly.  If they do not come in the same time frame as all the other ones, will purchase fresh seed.  Basil grow pretty fast so that won't be a problem.  Also planted a small pot of dill.  Still need to plant the various thymes I have.

What's sprouting?  Spinach (only a couple), the wisteria I brought back from the farm, impatiens, broccoli and another lavender (they take forever to sprout), petunias, and eucalyptus (the sprouts come up red and turn green).  Have so many seedlings that I really need to get in there and try to move things around.  A little disappointed in the older lettuce seeds, only one in the rows of the older seed has sprouted.   That room is very cool so that may be the reason.  I am thinking of taking that flat (which is a self watering one) and moving it upstairs to my sewing room and put the craft light (day light type bulb) on a timer.  I really need more room on the plant stand!  Sometimes one can be too successful! LOL!!   Let's hope this means my garden will be very successful.

Weather still is not what it should be.  We should average high 40's, not high 30's.   I am afraid that it will be a cool spring pushing back the planting times.....then we will go right into summer.   We will see.  Maybe the weather gods will bless us with good weather when spring does arrive (March 22nd).  I am just tired of being cold!

So that is what is happening today.  Am sure I will be reporting back with more planting of those sprouted seeds!  LOL!!!

Keep warm my friends, think spring!

Deb

March 1st.......spring still not in sight!

Happy March 1st!  Waking up this morning to a balmy 5 degrees outside......yes, just 5 !!!   In two days we are looking at another big snowstorm, maybe something again come Thursday.   Yes we are all totally done with winter!

A couple of days ago I spoke about putting calendula seed in paper toweling to pre-sprout. Well after I did my blog I decided to put blue sage seed in paper toweling also to pre-sprout them.   Hoping I get something from both because I plan on putting those plants in my campground site garden.

Because only 1 sage seed sprouted, planted a few more.  Not that I use alot of sage, but am sure I can either sell or give away any extra plants.  I did see that the petunia seeds are sprouting very nicely!  This morning saw another lettuce seedling coming up, ashley red leaf.  Those older seeds will take a while to sprout.  Looks like the old mountain phlox seeds were too old, they never sprouted.  Not surprised.  Still have alot of other older seeds that I will plant here and there to see what is still viable.

Was just checking the temps in the room I have my plant stand in.  Seems to be going no lower than 60 degrees - being the room is not directly heated I am good with that.  This will keep the seedlings from growing way too fast.  The lights are on from 6am to about midnight, which also helps keep the temp pretty decent.

We are going up to check on our trailer in PA despite the cold temps.  With more snow coming that way too, want to make sure any remaining snow on it, especially slide outs, is taken off.  Yes we are crazy, but need a day trip!  LOL!!!   Besides I may find more seed to buy (yes did buy more online the other day).  Speaking of buying, bought some strawberry plants and shallot bulbs at Walmart of all places, but they are pretty fresh and the selection was still good.  Now to figure out where to put a strawberry planter in the yard!  LOL!!!

Time for coffee........have a wonderful day everyone, keep warm and keep planting!!!!

Deb