What did you do in the garden today?

[WIchickMama]

and Saturday, they are saying we'll hit 25 degrees as a low. It was 83 yesterday. I'm going to lose all the flowers on my blueberries, and my citrus, AGAIN this year - assuming I don't lose the citrus entire.

Not sure about the citrus, but can you cover the blueberries with heavy blankets? That is what we do up here in the north in the fall

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you. I’m still a bit confused as to what exactly is a “backyard flock (non poultry). Please inform me.

"backyard flock (non poultry)" is the term they are using for the birds of us BYCers - chickens, ducks, etc which are not part of the commercial food supply. Its a term they apparently made up (as in, its not a stutory definiton), and its been the source of no small amount of confusion.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Not sure about the citrus, but can you cover the blueberries with heavy blankets? That is what we do up here in the north in the fall

Everyone is getting sprinklers - they will be covered in ice come Sunday morning - but they've survived 27 and 28 that way, earlier this year, so we'll do it again...

 

[SheaLoner]

Glad to read this.

I have some potato onions, from another source. This will be my second season with them. I treated them like garlic, in that I saved the largest ones to plant, and kept the smallest ones to eat. Even the largest ones weren't very big, so I'm hoping they "size up" a bit this year. Any tips on how to coax some size into them?

I've been working on that. Doubles produce the biggest ones obviously but then you only get one as opposed to 4+. I think there is a genetic component and you can breed a larger size into them. I let some of the larger ones go to seed 2yrs ago, but lost the seedlings to the sheer amounts of rain we got last year. I have some seed left and will be trying again this year.

 

[WthrLady]

"backyard flock (non poultry)" is the term they are using for the birds of us BYCers - chickens, ducks, etc which are not part of the commercial food supply. Its a term they apparently made up (as in, its not a stutory definiton), and its been the source of no small amount of confusion.

I know, but I want to hear it from their official. Their definition does not negate the fact that they are indeed poultry/fowl and actually the confusion causes problems, and therefor should be fixed.

 

[WthrLady]

Everyone is getting sprinklers - they will be covered in ice come Sunday morning - but they've survived 27 and 28 that way, earlier this year, so we'll do it again...

We used smoke/smudge when we lived in florida, but I saw a guy in Ft. Walton let his sprinklers fly all night to cover his formal gardens. It was a fairy wonderland. I might have a photo here some where. He said he had to replace all 30 sprinkler heads when they froze and cracked, but he saved his gardens. ::whatever floats his boat:: (He was using his inground sprinklers instead of portable, go play in the yard kids, sprinklers.
We use smoke/smudge here too.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

We used smoke/smudge when we lived in florida, but I saw a guy in Ft. Walton let his sprinklers fly all night to cover his formal gardens. It was a fairy wonderland. I might have a photo here some where. He said he had to replace all 30 sprinkler heads when they froze and cracked, but he saved his gardens. ::whatever floats his boat::
We use smoke/smudge here too.

Smoke/Smudge was very popular in the orange groves when I lived in central Fl. Its impractical for my low plants (and my citrus are both young, none more than 4' tall and widely spaced - 12' on center) - so I'm stuck with a number of sprinklers (the blueberries are in one spot, the raised beds another, the citrus a third, the new raised bed a fourth...) and a prayer. In a few years, hopefully, the citrus will be big enough to smudge - or I will ahve given up on them entire.

 

[Elyrian1]

I know, but I want to hear it from their official. Their definition does not negate the fact that they are indeed poultry/fowl and actually the confusion causes problems, and therefor should be fixed.

Go get 'em! The powers that be are entirely too dismissive of the backyard keepers for my taste.

Looks like it's time to get in high gardening gear!

 

[SheaLoner]

Does anyone temp check their garden soil before planting? I normally will wait till the dandelions bloom to tell me when to start planting things like potatoes but have never temp checked.

 

[WthrLady]

Does anyone temp check their garden soil before planting? I normally will wait till the dandelions bloom to tell me when to start planting things like potatoes but have never temp checked.

I do.
65 and things go in the ground, summer things that is
45 for all the spring stuff, peas, lettuce, potatoes etc