Still Waiting for Spring!

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and we are still in need of heat in the house!   Common, really?!!!   Next week better start warming up because the following week I will be in Florida and there is alot of vege garden work that needs to be done, and plants put in!

Checked yesterday (4/18 - Happy Birthday Johnny!) and realized that my snow pea seeds have done nothing, dug up where they were planted....zilch!  So I have some seeds from the new packet presprouting, by then the ground should be a little more receptive and warm.  Found radish seeds sprouting in that same bed and the spinach, well they are coming up slow too because of the cold.......sleet and snow the other night did not help!

In my herb bed I found turnip seedlings starting, as well as a couple of spinach seedlings....here is one lonely one...

In the one part of the main bed I was able to prepare earlier, here are a couple of broccoli plants that have survived the cold nights we are still getting....

Very happy with the baby bok choi plants, who have also been surviving the cold nights!

Why all the netting your may ask?   Well even though I have a small chicken wire fence around my beds, the squirrels enjoy digging everything up.  So far I have kept them at bay.  Once plants are large enough I can remove the plastic netting.

There are signs of spring in the garden, the daffodils have been putting on a fantastic show for me.  Here are some for your enjoyment, as well as my nice white hyacinth!  These doubles are my favorite, but all daffodils have been perfect this year too!  Even at my campsite!

So here I sit still waiting for warmer weather, hoping to get outside today to work on the garden bed (without freezing) in between preparing for tomorrow's Easter feast.  As you can see from the next picture, things are growing way too well and I MUST PLANT OUTSIDE very very soon!

Everyone have a blessed Easter and will be chatting with you soon!

Deb

What, What?!!!!

Would you believe I woke up this morning to a coating of snow/sleet on the ground?   What the heck happened to my spring?   Thankfully anything outside in the garden was not affected.  The hanging baskets and sunflower seedlings in my flimsy greenhouse are holding up.  Getting very cold again tonight....really?!

Just a short post tonight.  Had to transplant all my peppers to individual pots and better soil.   They are growing so very very slowly.  Will be putting them upstairs in my bedroom window, which is south facing and always very warm, good for peppers.  The tomatoes that I moved to bigger pots last week, wow have they taken off!   Hoping by this time next week the weather is steady because they have to go outside.  Matter of fact I am going to Florida on the 26th, so I really need to get all the vege garden bed up and running by end of next week.   So many plants to get outside!

One thing I did find, which I was surprised at, was one of the lemon seeds I planted for the fun of it has sprouted!  Should be interesting to see in time how far I can get it to grow.

No new seeds started, mostly because I am out of room. Had to repot the shasta daisy and nasturtium seedlings that I have for my campground garden because the wind knocked them off the shelf they were on in the greenhouse.  Lost all but two marigolds, but have tons of that seed and they grow fast.  Still so mad that they fell.   GRRRRRR

So ends today's chat.  Have a good evening everyone....I will be back in a few days with some pictures!

deb

Cool rainy spring so far.....

As I am writing tonight, we are expecting rain later......it sprinkled after dinner, a cold rain.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a high of maybe 49 and rain, rain, rain.  Weekend looks good though.   Seems that we will be getting rain every third day or so.  Daytime temps will (after tomorrow) be in the low 50's at least so that is somewhat a start to spring.

What has been happening in my garden?  Have not planted any seeds of plants that I would like to get started because, quite frankly, still out of room!  LOL!!   The adventures of my mammouth sunflower seeds is that four days ago I potted up another 5 sprouted seeds, and one doubled up pot.  I tossed out one of the seeds because it started to rot.  There are still about 10 seeds left, not sure if they will sprout or not, but letting them sit for another week.    Alot of the sunflowers from the sampler pack that I planted are sprouting, those are for the campground garden bed.   Some shasta daisies and nasturtiums are up (also for campground gardening).  My newest planted lettuce seeds are also coming up.  I have been taking some trays outside these past few days as it has been partly cloudy and cool so I knew they would not dry up.  Yes they are inside at night.

Today I planted two hanging planters (campground too) with the sprouted sweet pea seeds.  Alot of morning glory seeds are up but the nights are still too cold to leave them out overnight.  May be another week or so for them.

Worked on my herb bed section of the garden today.  Was able to move alot of the saffron crocus from the side bed to this permanent herb bed.  I have more that can be moved, but no more room in that bed.  Hoping for a large crop of saffron threads this year.  Will have to find another spot for them or just give them away.  Planted my chive plant too, cold won't hurt that.  The old thyme plant is still going strong and found my french tarragon plant coming back to life!   In that bed also was planted more spinach seeds (around the three garlic I planted last fall), turnip and parsnip seeds.  With the parsnips I used a technique I saw years ago.  I used a stick to wiggle a long hole where I wanted each parsnip to grow.  Then I filled it with vermiculite (can use light weight planting soil), added seed, and covered with soil.  This is supposed to aid the root in growing long and straight.  Will see at end of season when they are fully grown.  So there are 18 parsnips planted and 9 turnips.  Didn't bother watering any of the newly planted items because the soil is damp and it is going to rain for the next 24 hours.    I also replanted four snow pea seeds because they have not sprouted, and the one I had inside in a pot did not sprout either, just rotted.  Bought a brand new pack of seed today.......may just plant them on Monday as I am not sure the old ones (three yrs old) are still viable....they were last year.   Hmm, maybe will plant three or four seeds in the sweet pea hanging baskets so when they are done the snow peas will grow.......not really sure if I want to do that.  I do have other places at the trailer where I can plant peas......will depend on my mood tomorrow.

Last weekend attended an herb growing seminar.  Not really anything I didn't know, but I enjoyed seeing the farm it was at.   Too bad it was raining that day.  :-(    I bought myself a couple of bay laurel plants, a couple of scented geraniums and an oregano that was labeled "hot and spicy"....we will see!

I am sure there is something I am forgetting to put down.  Oh yeah, my chinese giant pepper has sprouted, no hope for the last three large peppers.   Speaking of which, they are growing slowly but that is ok.  I did have to transplant my supersteak tomato into a larger pot.  The other ones will be transplanted to bigger pots next week.

That is all for today folks.  Keep thinking spring and keep planting!

Deb