Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the middle of a Wisconsin winter

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Once when we were at the coast and the boys were little, one of them really, really wanted to bring a starfish home. Wanted to bad enough he hid one in the trunk, and of course forgot about it once we got home. Talk about stink 

Just like the movie Grumpy Old Men.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I am going to set up some seed starting lights in the laundry room this weekend. I think a test run of radish should let me know if it is right or completely wrong. Those lil buggers pop up like mad so I should know in short order.

I am hoping to get some onion seed planted too. I may be a bit late getting them started but will give it a go. If I am to late then they will just be smaller when I put them in the garden.

Lots to do and time is FLYING right now. At least until the snow hits us again....

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Not too late to start stuff, I haven't started anything yet. I have never grown onions from seed, only sets, I have grown leeks. Hopefully my husband will put up my second set of lights and shelves this weekend, so apparently we are doing the same stuff. I'm still debating if I'm going to start any perennials this year or not. Are you gonna try and grow eatable radishes in the house, they take like 30-60 days, when can you plant cold crops in your area. Sounds like fun.

 

[MistyMountain]

Hi all, joining in here with some serious spring fever. We are planning a large garden this summer. I am certain I will not fill the whole thing this year, but the ground will get tilled and fence in place anyhow. We always had a large garden (growing up in WI

). Dad's tomatoes were always OVER productive. I remember peppers, eggplant, asparagus and rhubarb growing as well. Since then I have only had smaller gardens. We have the big equipment, and I have two sets of mini hands to help out this year.

I hope to grow heirloom tomatoes (I LOVE brandywine tomatoes for eating raw) and little cherry tomatoes for the boys. I would also like to grow some for home made salsa. Any suggestions? Cucumbers, peppers, bush beans, zucchini and yellow squash will probably round out the rest of the veggies.

As far as herbs go, cilantro, basil will be planted.

I will add thyme and rosemary as perennials, along with some rhubarb and asparagus from the old family farm.

Very excited to put down some roots here!!

I planted 4 paw paw trees this past fall along with 3 figs that I hope will do well on their hillside. Below that a flat area that meets a rock wall will be perfect for strawberries in the future… once we get a chance to build mini hoop-house structures that will open like a grill top to keep chickens, dogs and other varmints out of it!

I am taking a bee keeping class right now and hope to add a couple of hives to the garden/orchard area NEXT summer!!

I just can't wait for all those spring smells!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Welcome, you have some great plans, and you came from Wisconsin. I made salsa back in the day, it's best to use something like a Roma that has low juice or else your salsa ends up watery. I get tons of tomatoes out of six plants, I freeze some and eat some and the poultry love their share too.

I like longer burpless cucumbers as they don't get bitter as fast as the shorter fat ones. What does a pawpaw taste like and what do you do with them?

I would suggest getting your asparagus going this year as it takes three years before you can get a good harvest. Such exciting stuff.

 

[MistyMountain]

Paw paw trees are native to the Eastern US, bearing custard apple type fruits. When ripe, they taste like a mix between banana, pineapple and mango. You can make bread and muffins out of them, like bananas, or use the flesh in smoothies or ice cream. My personal favorite, though, is to score the flesh all the way around, twist the two halves apart and dig in with a spoon. They have rather large seeds, but that doesn't bug me. I tried my first one two years ago and I am hooked. I love that they are native and require little attention. We have around 7 young wild paw paws growing along the spring in the back of our property. The four that I planted are Neil Peterson cultivars, each a different variety.

I will add burpless cukes to my list. I would also like to make pickles, specifically dill chips. Anyone have any suggestion as to what type of cuke I should look for for those?

I am definitely going to get the asparagus in the ground this year, just have to wait for someone to dig up a bit and bring it my way on their next trip!

 

[21hens-incharge]

For the radish plan lol. I am more looking to see if the lighting is enough to get sprouting plants and good growth before I commit to the tomatoes and larger plants.
Onions from seed need at least 12 weeks in the seed starter trays before they are anywhere near ready for the garden. I think 16 weeks is the more recommended time. They take forever to grow. I think I still have time since we don't really get good enough weather to plant until the end of April. We can still get heavy snow in the second week of April.

If they manage to get to eatable stage indoors that would be a bonus.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Onions are cold crops, I put mine in pretty early and they can hand frost and snow, every year I miss at least one and they come up in the Spring, I try to get my cold crops in by mid April, our last frost date is June 1. I will be curious if your radish scheme works out, that would mean I could have been growing them every winter in my spare room.

I like the sound of the Pawpaw fruit, what zone are they MistyMountain?

 

[MistyMountain]

Some advertise 4-8 as a possibility. I know their native growing area covers some of southern WI and MI.

They do not last long once they ripen, which limits the sale of them commercially. I was really just drawn to the low maintenance idea of them, just let them grow as they would in the wild. They are an understory tree, but will produce more with better sun. Also, they tolerate black walnut trees!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So far I am only finding the pawpaw up to zone 5, and I think it gets too big to be a container plant. Though maybe I can find a micro climate in my yard where one will survive. The hunt continues. The fruit description sounds delicious.

We cannot grow sweet cherries here, and I have tried repeatedly to get a sour cherry tree to grow but every one dies within the first year, I have tried different areas of my yard but no luck, anyone have any tips, I do know I tend to plant trees than forget to water them, most seem to grow anyways, maybe they need a more constant watering, and how sour are sour cherries, too sour to eat straight?