What did you do in the garden today?

[Sammster]

My condolences for your loss..

Thank you ♡

 

[jerryse]

I checked on cuttings I planted on 3/17 and I see a root! All are leafing out. I think all or at least some are rooting. Plum , mulberry and Rose of sharon. I think temperature is the key. These are at 84 degrees. I have failed on mulberry on a heat matt before. Humidity is maintained in a juice bottle I planted them in and sealed.

 

[jnicholes]

1 gallon of sap from the maple tree this morning. It must’ve dripped overnight or something.

 

[CNJ]

I feel like Americans have a different name for Dutching and Spaining plants. So I’m going to explain what it means, and you will tell me how you call it.
Dutching a plant is when you leave 1-3 branches of a plant and spin each branch around a plastic wire hung from above.
Spaining a plant, is when you hammer two poles into the ground and pass two wires between them, and then as you plant grows, you cross its branches between the wires like a zigzag.

Dutching sounds like The String Trellis Method where the tomato vine is clipped or woven on a string from above and the suckers are removed to maintain a single stem. Then when the indeterminate tomato vine reaches the top, they slide and drop the string to train the vine on the bottom to lean side ways to the ground where it can continue to slide side ways or circled around in a hoop.

Spaining a plant sounds like The Florida Weave where stakes are placed in a row between 4 tomato plants and a string is run in between each plant and tied on the second stake and continued down the row to the end and then brought back with the string being woven between the other side of the determinate plants which supports the plant branches. This method is suited for determinate plants where suckers are not pruned. The string is tied to each stake, so it doesn't affect the string on all the other stakes if a string should break.

 

[CNJ]

Thanks. I think I will plant one new fresh seed per pot, and maybe just plant a few extra pots in case some of the new seeds don't germinate.

Burpee recommends sowing two seeds per cell and clipping the weaker one if both sprout. However, I think its okay to separate tomato plants, some pros sprout a lot of them in a single pot and then transplant them when they get bigger.

I put my tomato and lettuce out in the morning sun when they sprout, they seem to like it and I don't have to harden them off when they get bigger.

 

[Swiss]

I'll have to look it up, but I have a source for canning lids if anyone needs them. I got 175 (?) wide mouth lids for something like $65. This was in 2020 or 2021, when EVERYONE and their brother realized that canning was a very valuable skill, and lids were next to nonexistent in stores.

I have some canning jars that were my moms, and I bet some of them are older than I am.

I need lids!

Monday, I started quite a few more seeds. Almost all of my wild strawberry seeds have germinated, and a couple are even getting their first (tiny) true leaves.

I have 3 of 8 new beds tilled up and got compost and topsoil delivered yesterday and today. I covered the pile last night because it was forecasted to snow today, and I don't want it to wash away! We got about an inch, and now, the sun has come out and is melting it. Apparently, my grandma said, "It always snows on the first daffodils." And our first daffodils (little tiny mini ones) bloomed on Monday, so, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

For those in zone 5b, when do you plant your potatoes? I have read to do it as soon as the soil is workable, and also to wait until 2 weeks after the last frost. Last year, I know I planted them late. Also, we bought some bare root fruit trees, and I'm scared to plant them out if we get more snow or the temperature drops. Any help there would be much appreciated!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners plants are growing in the spare room so are three peeps.
Almost April if mother nature does not get mad I may plant that month.

 

[Sally PB]

I did a search on how to get super glue off my fingers

For future reference:

"In the case of an accident, you can easily remove super glue from skin on your hands and fingers using acetone or nail polish remover. For hair, lips, and other sensitive areas, peanut butter, margarine, and vegetable oil are substances that are also able to break the bond."

When I worked in medical assembly, we used a couple of different types of medical grade super glue. We had a bottle of acetone to take the glue -- and small plastic parts that were stuck to the glue -- off our fingers.

 

[Sally PB]

Questions: Is it worth my time to try to grow some old vegetable seeds? How old is too old? Any best method to germinate old seeds?

Digging through my old gardening stuff, I have found seed packs, many unopened that are 3, 4 and even 5 years old. I was thinking of trying to germinate them in a plastic baggy with the paper towel method to see if they sprout. If they do, then I would transplant them in a net cup at that time and set them out on my seed starting racks. If the seeds don't sprout, I would have lost some time but not much effort in the process.

I plan on putting my new seeds for this year directly into the soil in the net cups. Even so, would you recommend 2 or 3 seeds (tomato, peppers) in each cup and then thinning out later? Or should I just go with one seed per net cup?

The only seeds I've heard that have short shelf life are onion seeds, like a year. Lots of seeds are viable for 3-5 years.

When I plant seeds in my (over-sized) pots, I'm generous! I plant 5-6 seeds, depending on how many I have. For my saved seeds, I have a lot. Purchased seeds are usually 20-25/packet on tomatoes and peppers.

This year, I'm trying new varieties of tomatoes. If I like them, I'll save seed. If not, I won't plant them next year. So I figure I can use the whole packet. I usually thin to the strongest 2 in each pot.

For strength criteria, I've read that at the seedling stage, it's all about stem diameter/strength, all other things equal. And I just snip the weak ones off with scissors, so I don't disturb anything.

1 gallon of sap from the maple tree this morning.

I was thinking of you this morning, @jnicholes! I had real (but not homemade) maple syrup on my pancake for breakfast. Yuuummmm!

I need lids!

I'll dig up my link...

For those in zone 5b, when do you plant your potatoes? I have read to do it as soon as the soil is workable, and also to wait until 2 weeks after the last frost. Last year, I know I planted them late. Also, we bought some bare root fruit trees, and I'm scared to plant them out if we get more snow or the temperature drops. Any help there would be much appreciated!

I just asked someone about that. She recommend to do it around Easter this year. When you think about it, missed potatoes in the soil are happy to sit there, and then grow the next spring. So why not plant potatoes now? I am going to wait at least a week or two on mine, though. Mine are from my garden last year, and they have sprouts that won't like a frost/freeze.

 

[Sally PB]

Canning lids. I think I've only had one fail to seal in the two years I've used these.

https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/70mm-generic-lids-silver-bulk.html
Regular size
https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/tlg086lidct-86.html
Wide mouth