What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

I must be above average on this too.
I probably have 30+ house plants right now.

In my defense, some are plumeria and adenium. They are dormant right now and go outside in spring.
So they don't count.

A few are cuttings I rooted so they only count as 1/2 a plant.

Cuttings not rooted yet of course don't count.

So instead of 30+ I really only have about 12-14.

As someone just said, this is very like chicken math. It's plant math, and some of us get it BAD in the spring!

This past spring I bought some comfrey

Plant it where you want it. Sounds obvious, but once it's there, it. is. there.

I have had a spot where it didn't get enough of a start, and didn't grow. I had another that I dug up for a friend, and last I saw, one teeny-tiny little leaf was trying to make a comeback. And that was when I really was trying to get the entire root.

I have two other comfrey "areas." One is near the driving path up the hill, and I think the roots get disturbed enough that it's not ever going to grow as well as the other area. The other one has tripled in size.

 

[gtaus]

I was in Menards yesterday and saw this sale currently going on....

I'm not sure when that sale ends, but they might go on sale again at least once more before spring. I have used these seeds in the past and they have worked well for me. It's just not a very big variety of seeds - at least at my store. Anyways, they have both vegetable and flower seeds available in that sale.

 

[CNJ]

My 7-inch okra seeds I got from Bakers Creek are adapting to my garden. I have a total of 4 plants with one of them started earlier and it just started producing 7-inch okras. They are long and tender, I highly recommend this variety.

However, my Heavy Hitter okra seeds from Bakers Creek did not sprout, so I can't comment on them. I'll try again latter.

OMG, I just saw the Okra seed packet and it says Louiisiana16-inch Long Pod okra? I thought they were 7-inches, so I have been picking them. I will try to let them get longer.................what a pleasant surprise.

 

[gtaus]

Well, I posted this to the thread Hügelkultur Raised Beds, but I'll post it here as well as this thread gets many more looks. Hope the info might have value to some members...

Use Industrial Totes as DIY EarthBox

For those of you apartment dwellers who might not be able to make a hügelkultur raised bed out in the garden, there is an option to make a DIY EarthBox for your balcony. Here is a good video on how to convert a tote into an EarthBox...

For a limited time, Menards is selling their 40-gallon industrial totes for $16.99 with an additional $5.00 rebate per tote.

Many people are using these industrial totes to make balcony planters. I have had a lot of success with my sub-irrigated planters, but you can also use these totes as DIY Huglepots...

Using these 40-gallon industrial totes is a heck of a lot less expensive than the plastic 32-gallon "garden beds" sold back in the garden center...

I don't think those legs are worth $100 over the price of an industrial tote. Locally, lots of gardeners are buying up the 40-gallon totes and converting them into balcony planters, using the DIY hugelpot method or the DIY EarthBox method.

Oh, by the way, the totes can also be used for storage of items.

 

[Molpet]

Well, I posted this to the thread Hügelkultur Raised Beds, but I'll post it here as well as this thread gets many more looks. Hope the info might have value to some members...

Use Industrial Totes as DIY EarthBox

For those of you apartment dwellers who might not be able to make a hügelkultur raised bed out in the garden, there is an option to make a DIY EarthBox for your balcony. Here is a good video on how to convert a tote into an EarthBox...

For a limited time, Menards is selling their 40-gallon industrial totes for $16.99 with an additional $5.00 rebate per tote.

Many people are using these industrial totes to make balcony planters. I have had a lot of success with my sub-irrigated planters, but you can also use these totes as DIY Huglepots...

Using these 40-gallon industrial totes is a heck of a lot less expensive than the plastic 32-gallon "garden beds" sold back in the garden center...

I don't think those legs are worth $100 over the price of an industrial tote. Locally, lots of gardeners are buying up the 40-gallon totes and converting them into balcony planters, using the DIY hugelpot method or the DIY EarthBox method.

Oh, by the way, the totes can also be used for storage of items.

I was thinking about this but what about plastic leaching into the soil?

 

[Smokerbill]

I learned that the variety of Brussels sprouts I was growing isn't tolerant to temps in the teens with snow. The stem/stalk of the plants completely disintegrated and all the leaves were laying loose on the ground. I tossed them all into the run for the chickens.

 

[Sammster]

I'm going to try some winter sowing. Have any of you tried this?

 

[Acre4Me]

So <gulp> printed off my seed orders.

I think I’m set for awhile.

Of course, part of the reason for the orders is to refill what is low or gone. Part of it is to find new/better varieties. Part of it is my quest to be able to successfully have a generous amount of cucumbers…

my garden Achilles heel are cucumbers. My neighbors buys the basic cucumber plants from a local big box store and has great success…me, not so much. We have found that certain ones are better than others. This year I bought 2 pricy ones from Johnnys seeds -they are Gynoecious and parthenocarpic, which seem to help with the success for us. They also come with a decent amount of wilt and other disease resistance. Then, I also bought 2 novelty type from seed savers exchange, they indicate some disease resistance, so we will see how they do.

Oh, and I bought a silly amount of Nastursiums seeds - 8 varieties from 3 sources. I even found trailing Nastursiums at Johnny’s seeds. Nastursiums are edible, grow well, and are pretty until a hard frost.

And one more success: we bought a few fruit trees from Stark Bros last year. Two died - they had looked great, but really not sure why they up and died. One was quickly replaced bc in stock. But the other, an organic nectarine was not in stock at that time. I thought to look up the tree recently to see if in stock and it was!!! But, maybe that’s bc the price was $144!!!! We did not pay quite that much, it was pricey bc organic, but not $144. Hopefully, this new one will take off bc I won’t be able to afford a new one (they only replace 1x). We planted the one that died within minutes of arrival (we were digging the hole already when the delivery truck showed up), and was placed in a good spot. Crossing fingers for success this time!

 

[Smokerbill]

I just ordered the squash seeds I wanted from Baker Creek, Butterbush and zucchini. All set now except for the onion sets I'll buy locally when it's time to plant.

 

[NanaK]

I'm going to try some winter sowing. Have any of you tried this?
View attachment 3730432

It's been a few years but I have done some winter sowing.

Thinking about starting some perennials with this method this year. I have some sweet williams, coreopsis, foxglove, hollyhocks and echinacea seeds. Also have some cleome which are not perennial. All of these are seeds I've saved and did well last time I grew them by winter sowing.

Have you used this method before?