What did you do in the garden today?

[ChocolateMouse]

Maybe you can offer a friend a pizza if they do it for you? That's what I always do.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Possibly. It would depend on whether the ground would freeze under the straw bales. Do you think there's a decent harvest to be had?

No telling. I just dug up the one spot. I planted late and then some varmint chewed all the leaves off so it had to come back from that. They are in a raised bed unless some grew from the vines that spilled over the edges. I do have whole bales of straw i can put on there. Just not feeling up to digging since i fell on my knees. Maybe i will feel better in a while and will try to dig some more to see what is there.

 

[lazy gardener]

So, toss the straw on them, then if you feel like digging later, the straw will have helped keep them from freezing... unless, the straw makes a cozy habitat for a mouse or rat so they can enjoy the fruits of your labor in a nice cozy straw bed.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Maybe you can offer a friend a pizza if they do it for you? That's what I always do.

My hubby has kidney stones and he dislodges them when he digs. I know no one here, my friends are in FL or TN ...or BYC! So i will have to do it or give up on it.

 

[CapricornFarm]

So, toss the straw on them, then if you feel like digging later, the straw will have helped keep them from freezing... unless, the straw makes a cozy habitat for a mouse or rat so they can enjoy the fruits of your labor in a nice cozy straw bed.

I put the bales of straw over the side where they are supposed to be growing. Covered the carrots, and cauliflower with cloth tarps and the cabbage and peas are under glass. Best i can do. I knew i would probably not harvest the stuff because of my late start but i wanted to try.

 

[lazy gardener]

It's been said, and I will repeat it: "If you don't loose some crops to early or late freezing, you are not pushing the envelope enough." Seed is cheap. So, to plant it a bit early or a bit late involves very little risk. You just might harvest an extra crop. What's the worse thing that will happen? It gets frozen. So, you've just planted a green manure crop!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

That's a really good practice!

Today I burnt myself out a little. We got our chimney fixed up, a friend brought me a bunch of slabwood and I put together a yule songs list. Nothing gardeny TBH.... Because it snowed another 2". But I'm really feeling some wear.

 

[henless]

It's been said, and I will repeat it: "If you don't loose some crops to early or late freezing, you are not pushing the envelope enough." Seed is cheap. So, to plant it a bit early or a bit late involves very little risk. You just might harvest an extra crop. What's the worse thing that will happen? It gets frozen. So, you've just planted a green manure crop!

I have kale & lettuce growing right now, plus my granddaughters school cabbage. I planted a store sweet onion that had sprouted. I just wanted to see if it would grow and maybe go to seed. I also planted some carrot seeds. Surprisingly they are coming up. I don't know if they will grow through the winter, but I wanted to give it a try. They have until the mid/end of Feb to grow, then it's potato time in that bed.

 

[deepbluesea]

Welp, we had a hard freeze last night, so everything that is/was tender bite the dust. So it goes. The greens are still ok, I think. The broccoli remains to be seen. I was lazy last night (or rather doing holiday-ish things rather than garden things in the dark), so nothing got covered and the sweet potatoes remain in the ground. I may try the straw bale thing--I've got a bunch of them out there.

 

[GardenTillers44]

What kind of organic spray do you use?

My plums are American seedling plums. Nothing fancy.

The American plum is native and seems to be the hardiest. Most of its cultivars should do well enough to produce in the northern states.

I stopped by a local green house to get pics of the products I use on my fruit trees. I spray the Orchard spray (sulfur and pyrethrin) right at bud break in the spring to control fungus and canker, again right after the blossoms fall to control blackspot and plum curculio (a weevil particularly bad in our region). I won't spray during blossom time to save the bees. I may do a couple more sprays as needed throughout the summer, especially if we have a lot of heavy rains. I have tried the Neem oil spray as well, but it has not been as effective controlling mildews and fungus. Both products are safe enough for responsible use around livestock and humans, and break down quickly in the soil. I have also used them on blueberries and brambles. I really like the "ready to spray" (RTS) version that hooks right up to your hose and is good to go. I always use rubber gloves, long sleeves and my repiratory mask when I spray anything.
There are much better places in the world to grow fruit crops than in southeastern Ohio. We get a good crop about every 3rd year, the late freezes get the rest, even with late bloomers. Two years ago the 17 year cicadas severely damaged the trees, but they set heavy bloom this year on the surviving wood to compensate. The orchard looks really ragged but survived.
I added a photo of the fertilizer spikes I use twice a year, in March and October for our region. It really helps get the trees up and running with new plants, and with new growth each year. Helped get the apple trees in shape after the cicada outbreak.