.
Top photo courtesy commentor Jeff G.
I, for one, am more than ready for Spring… spent some quality time this past week cleaning all the winter cruft out of the flower bed closest to the front door, and along the sidewalk edge of the front yard. So, of course, now we’re supposed to get ‘just a little bit’ of snow tomorrow. Ah, well, the daffodils are notoriously tough, and the green iris & daylily shoots should survive too, even if they get a little ragged around the edges…
Some eye candy from the ever-reliable Ozark Hillbilly:
Here’s a few early spring pics from a couple years ago. This is about where things are right now, except a lot grayer, and a lot wetter. As usual, the magnolia is coming into bloom just in time for a hard freeze on Friday and Saturday nights…
Maybe some day I will get to enjoy them for more than 2 or 3 days.
***********
What’s going on in your garden (planning), this week?
Baud
Spring is springing. It does not care about our silly human concerns.
I wish there were a coronavirus for weeds.
Beautiful flowers, OH.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Monsieur Colette and I spent the day working in our sunny back yard. I planted tomato seedlings, bush beans, mâche, a red lettuce mix, parsley, and arugula in the raised veggie beds and stock, morning glories, cornflowers, and love-lies-bleeding in the big flower bed. The main feature in that bed will be a bunch of new dahlias – bastard gophers ate them all last year, so we had to dig out the beds and re-line them with wire mesh. And I have three new roses (Lady of Shalott, Ebb Tide, and Julia Child) waiting to go in a stone planter le monsieur says he’s going to build any day now.
The plum trees are done blooming but the cherry tree is in glorious full bloom, the callas are just coming into their own, and the existing roses and the helianthemum are developing buds nicely. Yay, spring!
Litlebritdifrnt
I’m having to hold off on any new planting at the new house as I have to wait and see what is going to come up. It is exciting though, what I thought was just a green shrub in a container by the front door turns out to be a Camellia that is just coming into bloom. I can’t wait to find out what else there is out there.
R-Jud
One of my personal goals is to eventually own a house with some magnolia trees.
Right now I’m settling for repotting all 38 of my houseplants (v. frustrated apartment gardener here).
opiejeanne
Really nice flowers, OH.
What is the flower at the top of the page, that looks a little like a daisy?
Anne Laurie
@opiejeanne: Bloodroot, according to Jeff G.
m.glafmer
I see these flowers every spring, but since they only show up once a year, I never remember the names.
https://eoapreserve.blogspot.com/2020/03/early-spring-wildflowers.html?m=1
JPL
Beautiful!
raven
It’s been gorgeous the last couple of days, things are in full bloom and the Master’s would have missed the azalea’s again. The boss lady has been working in the garden big time. We’ve had some collards and kale so that’s nice. I’m trying to replace a rotted sill on a double window and it’s a real bitch. I’m considering a pickup of some stuff at Lowes, we already have a Kroger pickup today but Lowes makes you come in the store even though you can order and pay online. Here’s some azaleas from a foggy morning.
satby
It’s 21° right now here in the semi-frozen north. The high today will be 41° but that’s going to bring 1-2 inches of snow late in the afternoon. I only have the very early tete-a-tete daffodils blooming against the south side of the garage. The rest of the daffs, tulips, grape hyacinths, squill, and crocus are coming up but nothing blooming yet. This week promises to be nicer, with sun and temps almost to 60°, so I’m hoping to get the iris bed weeded of the clover that’s already started, and then with luck, lay the 6 bags of mulch that have patiently sat against the garage since last fall. Oh, and my kale is all sprouting in the cold frame.
Geminid
Garden plan: get a few bags of lime and put some on the vegetable garden, and on pear, peach and apple trees planted by previous tenants. Lime is often used as a pH buffer, reducing pH in acid soils to make soil nutrients more accessible. Lime also has calcium and other minerals that plants use, and is the cheapest of all soil amendments. If I had a big fat gardening budget I’d buy a lot of gypsum, which is calcium and sulpher, both plant nutrients, and is pH neutral. Local garden guru Andre Viette says it is a “flocculant,” which sounds really nasty but just means that it helps break up the clay so prevalent in this part of Virginia.
PAM Dirac
I have been spending my time in the vineyard. It is very calming to do the pruning, working on one vine at a time, and not being in any particular hurry. I don’t know if it is me just trying to find things to be optimistic about, but the vines are looking really good and setting up for a good year. The forecast was for a freeze last night, but it only got to 33. Might be the last chance for a freeze this season. I’m really to bottle some of last years wine, but I have to wait for the plumber to come to fix the hot water heater. My wife just let me know that she does NOT like cold showers. She needs to pay particular attention to being clean as she works in a hospital. So far they aren’t overwhelmed. Invoking as many deities and spirits as I can to keep it that way.
satby
@Geminid: I used a lot of gypsum when I lived in MI to break up the clay. Because it was mainly in the front yard I used this spray version and it really helped. Plus was easier than toting a bunch of dry powder bags.
satby
So are we all! All the best to your wife.
WereBear
Enjoying the beauty. It was 19 degrees night before last, but we heard the geese returning!
Jeffro
This post is making me think of HADESTOWN (b/c Persephone)…which is greatly appreciated. =)
Also thanks for the pics and post, OH & AL!
Lapassionara
I swung by the OK Hatchery last week to pick up some seed packages. They have exotic (for me) types of sunflower seeds, as well as a good selection of vegetable seeds.
I saw a package of seeds for a buckwheat “cover crop,” which was tempting but which I did not buy. I have since read up on cover crops, and it seems to be something for farmers and not home gardeners. Has anyone here ever used a cover crop? If so, how did that work?
satby
Ozark, what are the little red shoots sprouting in the middle picture?
debbie
Even Missouri is ahead of Ohio! A few daffodils, maybe, no trees, forsythia just beginning. What is up with this?
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: The geese are mostly past us now. During the height of the migration I will hear/see a half dozen flocks or more every day. I last heard a flock 3 or 4 days ago.
I like looking around the garden to see which of the inhabitants is the latest to emerge into the light. Yesterday I saw the first tentative shoots of astilbe poking thru.
After 3 days of rain, yesterday was gorgeous: Sunny and mid 50s. I got a fair bit done, at least enough to feel good about it. Starting today the rains will alternate every other day all week. As of now, the walkway has been extended to the trash bins and the zen garden extension is being laid out beyond it. Still not sure what I am going to plant in it.
I really need to get started constructing the hugelkulture beds but I need things to dry up a bit before I can even begin.
I also have to restart my seed tray of peppers and eggplants. Not sure what happened but nothing germinated in it. Just that one tray, all the others did fine. sigh On the bright side I won’t have to get everything into the ground all at once.
@raven: Love the azalea. Every year or 2, I make another attempt to grow them. So far the only location I have found that they like is the place where nobody can see them.
Van Buren
@satby: I’m going to guess peonies
NotMax
Was going to do a full property mowing yesterday but misplaced my gumption. Maybe can sneak it in today, if the predicted rains hold off long enough.
MagdaInBlack
@Lapassionara:
We used it with a small patch that became my garden. Just tilled lightly and hand scattered it. I recall pretty little blue flowers and bee’s LOVE it. Try a small patch, if nothing else, you’ll have happy bee’s ?
OzarkHillbilly
Oh, and it would appear the magnolia blossoms survived the not as sub as predicted freezing temps, so for once I will get to enjoy them for more than just a few days.
@Lapassionara: Some far more ambitious than I friends of mine do a cover crop in their garden every year. If nothing else it will help fight erosion in addition to adding nitrogen.
@satby: Peonies.
Lapassionara
@MagdaInBlack: Thanks! I am all for doing anything that helps bees.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: They must be coming to us. The nearby lakefront park is a permanent nesting spot, and we get to see the baby goslings grow up!
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Good news about the magnolias. A few years ago, the blooms burst and then died in a hard freeze that night. Not important in the scheme of things, but I was pretty close to tears.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
@Van Buren: @OzarkHillbilly: oh, thanks! This will be the third summer for some peonies I planted and I’m hoping for more than just a couple of straggly leaves this year.
Nora
Can someone explain to me why my flowers — crocuses, daffodils, tulips, irises — always start blooming days after everyone else’s in my neighborhood? I can understand why they’re later than the ones in my father-in-law’s garden, since he’s an hour south of us, but these are people a block away, and their flowers are ALWAYS blooming earlier than mine.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love seeing the flowers. Satby and I are in the same general area, so it’s still too cold here. I’m hoping to get a walk in before it snows this afternoon.
WereBear
@Nora: Micro-climates. How much sun? How near the foundations that are often heated? Even different strains of the same plant can behave differently. Soil, moisture, and wind patterns make a difference.
MagdaInBlack
@Nora:
Some folks just dont like to be first to arrive ? ?
Gvg
We have had 1 day in the 90’s here already and most days are in the 80’s, to give you an idea of how different gardening in Florida is. We are ahead of you seasonwise. spring is nearly over and Summer is on the horizon. azaleas are past. Our spring is marked by several weeks of heavy pollen that turn everything yellow and the evergreen live oaks grow new bright green leaves push the older leaves off so this a time of heavy heavy leaf fall at the same time many nice things are blooming. It’s very pleasant out and people seem to like raking their leaves. Most people aren’t as serious about gardening as I am and put their leaves out as trash. I think they are daft. If the leaves are bagged in paper, not in cans, I go around when I have time and get them for composting in my garden. It’s like they don’t know they are throwing says gold. Florida normally has poor sandy soil. I have learned that if you take care of the soil, the garden and the lawn will thrive.
I have just received my 2nd round of seed from the North American Rock Garden Society and have 80 packets of seed to plant hopefully today. Most kinds are not usually available from catalogs though I didn’t pick many rock garden types as that doesn’t work well in Florida. NARGS donors tend to do all kinds of gardening based on the donations. I picked kinds I know can grow and also a few I have no idea, but it will be fun to try. Cheap fun for me. I recommend seed exchanges.
Geminid
@Lapassionara: My friend Joan used crimson clover as a cover crop on vegetable beds. Among other benefits it fixes nitrogen, and is an annual, unlike red and white clover. She planted it in the fall, and it came up strong at the end of winter, bloomed mid-February. Very beautiful.
Immanentize
Cold but clear here near Boston today. Then it looks like cool and rainy with (as AL said) some snow tomorrow, but no serious accumulation.
My forsythia are out, yellow fire. I have pretty big plants — both are at least 4×8 tall. Pretty. Various crocuses in bloom and the day lilies near the house are sprouted.
I am waiting for next weekend to till the garden area. I solarized it all last year trying to kill off wilt and nematodes. I intend to plant yellow pear tomatoes again to test my success. I love them so.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: I was very happily surprised to find that our place was on a major flyway (I presume from the Mingo to Swan Lake) It brings great joy to me when I hear the first honk of the spring migration from a leaden sky. Even better when it is robin egg blue, and my eyes strain for a glimpse of a white vee pointed north. Sometimes they are flying so high I can barely see them.
One of my favorite memories came from a miserable hitch hike north on US Hwy 53 from Duluth to International Falls one Oct night. Standing on the edge of some nameless north country town at 3 am, hearing geese and looking up to see them southbound not 50′ over my head, their white bellies etched against the night sky by the glow of streetlights.
OzarkHillbilly
Never mind the neighbors, the same damned yard! But yeah, @WereBear: has it, micro climates.
Immanentize
@Nora: Your flowers just need coffee grounds in the soil.?
Lapassionara
@Geminid: thanks. There was a crimson clover seed packet there too, but I did not consider using it because I thought it was a perennial I love the look of crimson clover in the spring.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Here in the Adirondack Mountains, the geese are one of the spring/fall standards. It often surprises people how many seagulls we have, but their base is in Lake Champlain. They will gladly make the trip, once we ice-out, for the chance to steal sandwich crusts from each other.
Gvg
@Nora: you have what is called a microclimate, which is normal and means all kinds of little local things add up to either cooler or hotter that general around you. Being cooler may be caused by a bit more shade, or being in a slight valley that catches cold air (cold air flows down hill and can get caught in a hollow) or by being further away from heated buildings. Most likely guess IMO is shade. The sun is not warming and growing your flowers as quickly as you neighbors. Sun is the fuel of plants. A little less sun, is slower plants. Look at your site in comparison to your neighbors and measure with you eyes. If you can’t figur it out, see if your area has something like Florida’s master gardeners to help.
MomSense
Since it looks like I’ll be home for awhile, I’m thinking of starting seedlings and what I want to plant. I have two large raised beds in the neighborhood garden, but there’s a lot of space around the raised beds. I’m thinking blueberries, squash and pumpkins for those areas. I’ll probably switch all the pots I usually put flowers in to lettuces, herbs, chilis, etc. Raised beds are usually full of tomatoes.
schrodingers_cat
I need all the gardening help I can get. I have a little more than acre and most of my flowering plants are inherited from the previous owners. We are getting 10 flowering trees from arborday.org. Last year I grew some 3 varieties of tomatoes, basil and cilantro. So there is scope to do a lot more. I am only constrained by the elbow grease I can put in.
ETA: I am in such of awe of all you gardening gurus.
ETA1: What are the best places to get seeds and how long to seedlings take to grow before you put them in. I got my tomato and basil seedlings last year from Walmart of all places.
I have also bought seedlings from a local garden supply store which is a coop in the past.
BTW AL@top I have elebenty succulents would you be interested in them for a gardening thread?
MelissaM
Here in central IL it will continue to be overcast, cold, rainy, snowy? and I am just going crazy for lack of sun.
I have seeds to start, all flowers/herbs because I gave up veggies due to marauding squirrels. Out in my garden I planted 11 prairie seeds last fall, hoping for stratification over the winter. I figured if I get one per packet, they have paid for themselves. I have roses to prune, and a bed to get ready for more roses, coming in April (?) from David Austin Roses. But I don’t want to take away too much leaf litter right now given the cold, so I guess I’ll start trying to clean up behind the garage, where I’m planting raspberries this year. There is a pile of rock that I’ve never done anything about since we moved in, so I guess I can sort through that piece by piece while I have all this free time.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
I would love to see them! They are my latest challenge as someone who overloves her plants
ETA: And also tips on keeping them alive (other than the watering part), like how to transplant, when to water after transplanting, etc.
Amir Khalid
@MazeDancer:
The frontpager has designated this thread off-limits to coronavirus-related comments. We need to respect that, and reserve comments on that topic for some more appropriate thread.
OzarkHillbilly
Never mind Anne, ;-) I am.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Plenty of sunlight, watering sparingly once a week. And occasional fertilizing with coffee grounds and used tea leaves
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
I’ve killed one after transplanting it into a larger pot (clay). I watered it that same day like I would for other houseplants. Should I have waited? How long? How often do you water in winter?
WaterGirl
@raven: I love azaleas! I tried several years ago, but I could never get them to make it very long.
Last Easter I ordered an azalea – hope apparently does spring eternal – and planted it in an entirely different side of the house, and did all the soil amending I was supposed to do.
Looking forward to seeing how it does. I hope it makes it!
Yours are beautiful.
OzarkHillbilly
@schrodingers_cat: I had to get my seeds from a number of places this year because no one location carries all my favorites. My current top 3 are:
Baker Creek
Renee’s Garden
Heirloom Solutions
Baker Creek’s website is down today because of CV panic buying and CV work they are doing in their shop, but they say they will be up and running again tomorrow.
WaterGirl
@satby: I always have to check the weather after I read your sunday comments – i had no idea, but we are about to get snow, too. I noticed something flowering out there yesterday. I will have to check it out and take a picture before the snow.
HinTN
We have had what seems like weeks of endless rain here. That hasn’t stopped the forsythia, the redbud, and the Yoshino cherries from blooming and now, this morning, old Sol peeked through and wow. Just wow!
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: I water once a week. I have killed a jade plant by watering too much after transplanting. I usually transplant before I am going to water it . So I too water after transplanting.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly:
Cause for celebration! That only seems to happen about every 5 years here.
Kristine
Still chilly here in NE Illinois. I’ve left the leaf cover in place for now, and may not move it for a while. A couple inches of slushy snow due tonight. Then it’s back to 40s/50s daytime with off and on rain.
Sedum started budding at ground level weeks ago. Irises starting to show through the leaves. Daffs are a few inches tall, crocuses have put forth greenery, and the hellebores are budding (esp the Pink Fizz). The grass is greening in spots, and the mini roses by my back door are leafing.
I don’t plan on adding much of anything this year. I need to work with what I have, which is already bordering on Too Much.
WaterGirl
@satby: It’s your third year, there you go.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
Thanks!
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks! I will go and take a look.
MazeDancer
@Amir Khalid: Sorry, I missed the verbotten part. Thought info was helpful.
Anne Laurie, feel free to delete comment, and this one, will post another time.
satby
@WaterGirl: yeah, hoping so! Fourth year for most of the shrubs I put in, so about one more year to lilacs (I hope, because I relocated at least two).
My crab and columnar apples are just beginning to show signs of buds, as is one of the three current bushes. But my blueberry bushes didn’t survive the overgrown garden bed, or the gardening crew cut them down ?.
JMG
@WereBear: The geese are early spring and late summer regulars at our local public golf course. Local rule is you get a free drop if your balls lands in goose poop or if poop obstructs your stance.
schrodingers_cat
@MazeDancer: It was useful. Thanks for posting it.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear: HONK HONK!
Josie
@Immanentize:
My oldest son loved yellow pear tomatoes. I hardly ever got them into the kitchen because he would eat them from the vine like candy. I still plant them every year in his memory.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: I thought the information was important, so I moved your comment to the previous thread. :-)
sherparick
Thanks for the pictures. Daffodils have been blooming for the last 3 weeks here in Virginia’s Piedmont, and this week the Forsythia and Bartlett Pairs blazed forth. Our Redbuds, a Virginia native will burst out next week. Going to the store with our latex gloves & jerry-rigged masks
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:
Many thanks!
GregB
Hey all.
For years I was a frequent commenter, now mostly a lurker these days….and Balloon Juice has always been my on-line home for sanity since the Bush error.
I am not sick, and no one in my family has been touched yet, but that day will clearly come.
I want to thank John for offering this redoubt of discussion, sharing, laughter, love, compassion, information, pet pics, knowledge and of course John’s epic rants.
The garden chats and Adam’s updates have always been nice and informative….and John’s epic rants.
I hope we can all go to a rollicking meet up when this all ends.
Thanks to all the posters and commenters.
Perhaps we can run a gratitude thread sometime soon.
Going to pour one (coffee) out for E.F. Goldman around a fire soon.
See you on the other end of the curve.
Peace,
WaterGirl
My striped squalid started blooming yesterday. I don’t know if they can survive the snow. Wondering if anybody knows before I try the google.
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: Snow is good, it will help insulate them from subfreezing temps.
chris
Bert and I went to visit the Mother of Pine Trees yesterday. It’s still the end of winter here, -3C as I type, but this is the last sub-freezing day in the longterm forecast so, yay! Spring has sprung, sorta.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh, good. Thank you!
oldgold
In seventh grade I had an English teacher force me to memorize the first stanza of William Wordsworth’s ode to daffodils: “ I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” Then, required new to recite it in front of the class. Hated it. My knucklehead “buddies” razzed me without mercy. Made me feel like a pansy.
Now, decades later, I realize what a favor my ”tyrannical” English teacher did for me. Ever since, every Spring, more than most, I appreciate the emergence and beauty of daffodils.
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
WereBear
@JMG: Likewise here, though with so many lakes for the geese to enjoy the water hazards do not beckon.
charluckles
@debbie:
A post about succulents and cacti would be excellent.
How often to water in winter would depend on several factors like temperature and exposure. My succulents and cacti that I keep in my cold sunroom might get watered once or twice per winter. Since succulents and cacti are extremely susceptible to wet and cold I will usually wait until we have one of those unusual warm spells and then make sure everyone gets a drink.
Jades and other crassulas can easily sit for weeks after transplanting without water. And if you are propagating them the wound should be healed and ‘scabbed’ over before you place them in the dirt.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: OK dude, you haven’t had to deal with my no-nothing ass for a while so here goes. I’m replacing the rotted sill on a double window. I have the old one moved and I’m looking at the profile and it has a ton of grooves cut in it that does seem to be compatible with the framing it came out of. The basic question I have is, as I walk around my old house it looks like every window sill that has been replaced is basically horizontal and all the old sills are at an angle. I realize why they are angled but if all the newer are flat should I juts go with that?
scav
There are, as of yesterday, about three varieties of pea starts waiting to be planted in the front garden. The scarlet runner beans will go in as seeds— and actually as seeds we gathered ourselves last year (here’s hoping). The miscanthus in back is looming; it’s going to be a big year for dividing it.
Our personal set of microclimates means we get daffodils first in a single clump in a corner and then slowly they sweep across the yard as the sun moves further north. One year some were still blooming in June.
WereBear
@oldgold: For me, it’s:
p.a.
Got some yard cleanup done yesterday- 50 deg w 15mph breeze, no carryover today- 40 deg 10-ish mph. My legs saying “yes you need the break”. Rain predicted from Mon afternoon into Wed?. Get to sit home and watch my retirement funds melt away.*
“I got a head full of dreams I got a pocket full of nothin”- Paul Westerberg
* not at ‘awful’ yet, but hovering at ‘oh crap’
OzarkHillbilly
And…. it is snowing.
JPL
@p.a.: I’m not looking .
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: The problem with a flat sill is that the sash is angled to match the existing sill for a good seal. If the sill isn’t angled the seal won’t be as good. Not able to see the new sills I can’t say for certain, but they should have trimmed the sash to match it.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: OK Pony Boy. ;-)
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: got it
MoCA Ace
Here in northern Wisconsin we still have snow in the shade but sunny days are melting it fast. My tomato’s sprouted last night and peppers are lifting little bits of potting soil in the flats. Think I’m going to put the hoop house out next weekend to get the ground warmed up for peas and spinach. I have planted as early as April 5 before in the hoop house.
On a side note we were cleaning out the basement and found that mice had gotten into my supply of suet cakes and I was going to toss them but that’s such a waste. Today I’m going to walk through the woods and hang them all on branches for the birdies… It’s Jubilee for the wildlife here at MoCA acres!!
Nora
@WereBear: Oddly, I memorized that one because it was in S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, which I loved when I was a pre-teenager. Not so fond of the book anymore, but very glad of the Robert Frost.
OzarkHillbilly
the SASHES, the new/existing sashes.
GregMulka
3 bee nucs next weekend.
354 plants arriving at some point.
It’s snowing.
Hunter
Spring is coming slowly in the Urban heartland, with Chicago’s typical up-and-down temperatures. We could use more sun, too, but the snowdrops have been up and blooming for a couple of weeks now, and the hellebores opposite my front door have finally bloomed — although everything closed up last night when it went below freezing. But daffodils and tulips are pushing up, and within a couple of weeks should be in bloom. Something to look forward to.
No One You Know
Began executing on this year’s plan to eat more salad by growing it. Trying out tomato patio planters for the first time: they have handles so I can chase the sun. Stakes in my yard show where the sun is at 11, 3, and 6 so I’m sure to get better exposure for the more particular plants this year.
The bird feeders have been wildly active! Downy woodpeckers, red- headed woodpeckers, red- shafted flickers, yellow-rumped warblers, two kinds of chickadees, two kinds of nuthatches, Townsend warblers, Bewick’s wren, lesser goldfinches, house finches and song sparrows have a complicated pecking order. They all scold the starlings and scrub jays. A Coopers Hawk stopped by to check out the offerings and left with a scrub jay dangling from its talons. I have a great pic locally of a warbler-finch standoff but it won’t load. I assume pics have tp be somewhere special to share