Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the middle of a Wisconsin winter

What an ingenious and artistic use of space! I'm always a little sad to see an old barn come down but preserving even part of it is a nice way to show the history of the property. I've cleaned enough gutters in my life to say that filling them up and planting is a perfect use for them. Do you have a greenhouse for wintering all your pots?

We are under a winter weather advisory again today, another 2-4" expected. I think that when it's all over I'm going to dig out some old windows, shovel off one of the raised beds and use them to cover and warm it a bit. Maybe by the end of next week I can at least get some lettuce, spinach, etc. seed in the ground.

Hello all, Wausau here and I am trying really hard to think of the snow coming down as pretty rain... sigh. Started my peppers, this weekend I will start tomatoes. After adding lights and heat mats, things grow fairly quickly and I don't start as early as I used to.
Someone posted a while back about using hog panels, I don't remember where I saw it, but they work very well for heirloom tomatoes. I have used them for several years at home, weaving the plants through every so many days as I pruned back the side shoots. It takes 3 t-posts for a 16' panel and I had no problem with them falling over with the heavy plants. I went a little tight on the planting, squeezing in 10 on that panel, would do a little less, but got great tomatoes.
We ended up using that system at the community garden I helped start in Weston as well. There we have 100'+ rows and we just lapped 2 feet over each other at a t-post. Found a photo on the website while I was typing this out. I have been on that project since it started. New stuff in the works for this year.

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That's a great idea, thanks for adding it. Are you enjoying another morning with snow on the ground? I am getting tired of opening my shades in the morning and seeing white.

Huntress78 said:

What an ingenious and artistic use of space! I'm always a little sad to see an old barn come down but preserving even part of it is a nice way to show the history of the property. I've cleaned enough gutters in my life to say that filling them up and planting is a perfect use for them. Do you have a greenhouse for wintering all your pots?

We are under a winter weather advisory again today, another 2-4" expected. I think that when it's all over I'm going to dig out some old windows, shovel off one of the raised beds and use them to cover and warm it a bit. Maybe by the end of next week I can at least get some lettuce, spinach, etc. seed in the ground.

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I planted that stuff about three weeks ago, or three snows ago. It is coming up but would appreciate a little warmer weather.

I have a shed most pots go into during the winter, some remain outside. I water the ones in the shed a couple times during winter, about three times, then I pull them out before the spring gets too warm so they can wake up naturally and not be affected by the warmer temperatures in the shed which gets about 10 degrees warmer due to south facing windows.

I have two big boxwoods which aren't hardy here, they have been in their pots about 10 years, they need reporting at some point and maybe some fertiliser. They seem to do fine without it though. I also keep some roses and a few other shrubs like arborvitae.

oldhenlikesdogs said:

That's a great idea, thanks for adding it. Are you enjoying another morning with snow on the ground? I am getting tired of opening my shades in the morning and seeing white.

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I think I will be very ready when spring finally decides to land.

There is snow on the ground, some drifting some melting and the frogs are croaking away. Its Spring in Wisconsin.

I keep forgetting to ask, am I the only one overrun with the lady bugs coming out of the woodwork. I can't take them anymore and they just keep coming, I didn't know I had so many winter visitors. I can't stand that smell and am tired of getting bit and finding them in my drinks.

Oh yes, lady bugs, they are everywhere. The ants have been in the house already too. Seriously thinking of getting pest control in soon...they can take care of the summer spiders also. I know it's my own fault for living in the woods but dislike them all the same. Only good thing is I can't smell the lady beetles.

Thanks for the tip GranolaGirl. Thought about using the cattle panels for tomatoes this year but only planned on two posts...now I'll try three instead.

Anyone start yet? I hear the snow shouldn't be too bad tomorrow...

Hello, I am trying to start. I got a bunch of seeds started and a ton of plans in my notebook. I heard frogs croaking last night so the frost must be out of the ground. A little bit of snow ain't gonna stop me. I have plans to plant my cold crops in the next week or two as they can take some snow and light frosts. Gardening season has begun.

I shouldn't shared this over the winter, but I had a knee replaced and wasn't in the mood. My husband built me some lovely raised garden boxes so I'm excited to give them a go this year, hopefully it saves my knees and back.

We still need to put gravel in the walkway and fence it off from the chickens. I plan to lazily sit in a chair and tend my garden.