Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[21hens-incharge]

Crikey, that's Australian dry. You definitely have more challenges in gardening than I do.

Yeah it can be a challenge. Once we hit ground crack any attempts to water just run into deep cracks or run off. The deep cracks can split tree roots killing the trees too.
Mixing in organics helps SOME but the fine particles of the clay rise to the top and the organics disappear.
It is CRAZY that this lot was a sugar beet field at one point.

 

[Farmdog267]

We have clay, so drainage can be poor, especially in spring, or years we get a lot of rain. So standing water here a lot until it dries out, than hard cracked ground. It's always a mystery what we will have each year here.

We have clay soil here as well. It drys and absorbs the water fairly well unless we get a really heavy storm. Part of the backyard is on a slope so we get run off from the road behind our house and it goes through our next door neighbors yard and continues lower through the cul de sac we are on. Garden did decent last year and waiting for soil test results to come back to see how things are going!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have a problem area........I may have to fully dig out to 6+ inches.

So many years ago we cut, pulled, chopped, sawed, hacked, and struggled to remove an extraordinarily large evergreen aka snake and spider home. Beneath its sprawling self were hidden and non growing things....That sprang to life once they saw the sun.
Not all of those were awesome. There were red and yellow tulips, yellow Columbine and lady bells....dreaded, invasive, stubborn, pretty but awful ladybells.

I dug that bed down 4", amended the soil, planted a rose garden. I placed weed barrier around the roses and mulched. I thought all was well....until they came. They sprouted right through the weed barrier. They grew like weeds....which they actually are.

Every year I weed whack the daylights out of them, pull them, trample them, pull again, whack again and repeat often.

I am thinking of lifting the roses. They are large....really large. I have a desire to keep the roses. I would like the lady bells to die though. If they would not keep spreading to other beds and the grass I wouldn't mind them.

Maybe I need to move the roses completely from that space and dig it out....putting that dirt in the chicken run or using it as fill in the dog kennel.
I COULD do that then kill the ground there and add pavers.



Since I don't have a picture of that space here's some ducks.
They came for my sprinkler.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Heading out soon to pick up a load of pea gravel. We are forecast to be warm the next 2 days then back to the deep freeze. I want to move a least 2 pick up loads before that cold gets here.

It will still be cold in the mornings until around noon. I figure I can get one unloaded tomorrow and pick up another to do on Sunday.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have a problem area........I may have to fully dig out to 6+ inches.

So many years ago we cut, pulled, chopped, sawed, hacked, and struggled to remove an extraordinarily large evergreen aka snake and spider home. Beneath its sprawling self were hidden and non growing things....That sprang to life once they saw the sun.
Not all of those were awesome. There were red and yellow tulips, yellow Columbine and lady bells....dreaded, invasive, stubborn, pretty but awful ladybells.

I dug that bed down 4", amended the soil, planted a rose garden. I placed weed barrier around the roses and mulched. I thought all was well....until they came. They sprouted right through the weed barrier. They grew like weeds....which they actually are.

Every year I weed whack the daylights out of them, pull them, trample them, pull again, whack again and repeat often.

I am thinking of lifting the roses. They are large....really large. I have a desire to keep the roses. I would like the lady bells to die though. If they would not keep spreading to other beds and the grass I wouldn't mind them.

Maybe I need to move the roses completely from that space and dig it out....putting that dirt in the chicken run or using it as fill in the dog kennel.
I COULD do that then kill the ground there and add pavers.


View attachment 2015234
Since I don't have a picture of that space here's some ducks.
They came for my sprinkler.

Nice ducks. Your yard looks better than I expected out of your dry climate. You must be doing something right.

It is near impossible to remove invasive plants once they take root. Here it's bishop weed. It has taken over a few spots. I can't get it under control and I have mostly given up trying.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Heading out soon to pick up a load of pea gravel. We are forecast to be warm the next 2 days then back to the deep freeze. I want to move a least 2 pick up loads before that cold gets here.

It will still be cold in the mornings until around noon. I figure I can get one unloaded tomorrow and pick up another to do on Sunday.

They are talking nearly 40 degrees here on Sunday before back to the teens for temperature. We hope to dump out the bunny bins. Hopefully they are thawed enough.

My back hurts thinking about 2 loads of gravel.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Nice ducks. Your yard looks better than I expected out of your dry climate. You must be doing something right.

It is near impossible to remove invasive plants once they take root. Here it's bishop weed. It has taken over a few spots. I can't get it under control and I have mostly given up trying.

That was last summer I forget exactly when but judging by the bind weed I can see it had already been hot a while.

Those visiting ducks had set up camp two doors down under a big shrub. They were well protected there. It was after nesting time as I recall talking to the neighbor (an avid hunter) who theorized their nest had been destroyed or they lost all the ducklings to the fox. It was bittersweet having them visit. It would have been nice if their lings were with them.

They are talking nearly 40 degrees here on Sunday before back to the teens for temperature. We hope to dump out the bunny bins. Hopefully they are thawed enough.

My back hurts thinking about 2 loads of gravel.

Still waiting on my relief pitcher to get home so I can go get gravel. He is an hour late already. I may end up having to wait til morning. The yard closes in an hour since it's winter.

 

[Acre4Me]

I'm drooling over fresh produce. Strawberries are one of my favorite, but lately I'm having problems finding a good variety and getting it established. I used to have a wonderful one, but I moved my bed, and decided to try new varieties. That was a big mistake. I can't remember what the original variety was because it was about 25 years ago.

I used to can, but now I just do some freezing of some tomatoes and any extra stuff. I love vegetables, and fruit.

These may not be what you are looking for, but they seem pretty hardy and cold tolerant. Very small berries. Seems to have established pretty well. We were picking berries up to frost.

Started as seed. Some popped up in about 14 days, some took about 30 days to germinate. We did place the seed packet in the fridge for about 1 month before starting them bc others on the Burpee site indicated they had better germination success that way. We had 60% or better germination.

Here they are this winter (the ones with many green leaves). They are in our unheated garage, and getting some indirect sunlight from the window in the door. The strawberries with few leaves are a more typical type that produce a June crop.

Here they are outside, in a pot on the deck. They have stayed outside all winter so far.

A berry and flower

Last summer in a mixed pot of plants on the deck.

 

[LaidWithLove]

Oh yes. Dreaming, scheming, and sneaking a few seeds into some indoor pots.
This year marks year 1 of the big garden (25X25 ft) being ready to go. 8 ft fencing all around.

the hugulkultur beds need mulched back up, the raspberry canes need pruned and trained, and I need to start prepping the herb garden. bleh. it's grey and dreary outside.

I'm challenging myself to wait until mid to late February to start the slow growers like tomatoes and peppers. Last year I started too early and then everything died off in a cold spell that hit us mid April.
patience is hard. lol. I'm off to ogle the beauties at tomatofest.com

 

[LaidWithLove]

These may not be what you are looking for, but they seem pretty hardy and cold tolerant. Very small berries. Seems to have established pretty well. We were picking berries up to frost.

Started as seed. Some popped up in about 14 days, some took about 30 days to germinate. We did place the seed packet in the fridge for about 1 month before starting them bc others on the Burpee site indicated they had better germination success that way. We had 60% or better germination.
View attachment 2016020


Here they are this winter (the ones with many green leaves). They are in our unheated garage, and getting some indirect sunlight from the window in the door. The strawberries with few leaves are a more typical type that produce a June crop.
View attachment 2016021


Here they are outside, in a pot on the deck. They have stayed outside all winter so far.
View attachment 2016024

A berry and flower
View attachment 2016025

Last summer in a mixed pot of plants on the deck.
View attachment 2016026

those look very similar to one of the varieties I put in!
I bought a 75 pk from Stark Bros during their sale. I mean, 75 plants for like 20 dollars? SCORE!
That said, I may have underestimated the power of those runners. Up till July I kept everything snipped away.. then the tomatoes went wild and I couldn't get to them. so now I have an absolute strawberry jungle out there.