On Sat, 17 Jan 2015 09:31:05 -0600, George Shirley
wrote:
On 1/17/2015 9:10 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
But I managed to till up a couple of strips out in the garden . I'll be
planting some lettuce/spinach/bok choy soon , I'd like to get some harvested
before it bolts this year .
I was going to plant some other stuf for the bees yesterday , but it all
wants to wait til after the last frost . I did manage to get the rose bush
and tulips I got the wife for Christmas planted , hopefully early enough the
tulips will bloom this year .
I think today I'll be setting up the shelf in the south window that I use
to start my veggies . Nothing like getting a jump start on ol' Ma Nature .
Got my plan made as to what goes where and how many of each , just gotta
implement it now . Much of this year's garden will be from seed saved from
previous years , and not a single seed from WM will be used - after last
year's debacle with the tomatoes , I no longer trust them to be what the
package says .
We're in the same mode, yesterday we cleared the frost bitten eggplant,
sweet chiles, and cherry tomatoes out of the 4X16 raised bed. Used a
rake to break up any clumping and leveled out the square foot gardening
mix. Today we're going out to buy composted cow manure, some more peat
moss, and a few other items. Still have a large bag of vermiculite and a
couple of small bales of peat moss.
I think our blueberry bushes drowned due to the shallow pits in the fill
clay we dug to plant them. As a consequence we will be deepening and
making wider the planting holes. This property has about three inches of
sand on top of five feet of gumbo clay. Rather than dig out the clay to
a depth that would help I use a steel pry bar to poke holes into the
bottom of the planting hole as deep as I can, helps the roots start
breaking up the clay.
Our seed order from Territorial should be here next week and we can
start growing out some seedlings. Most of the plants we can buy at the
big box stores, etc. don't grow properly and seldom prosper.
Also have to amend the beds dug around the back fence line. The clay we
dig out goes behind the fence to keep the fence from falling over.
Eventually will have to redo the eight year old fence as it was badly
built to start with. I was out yesterday afternoon putting screws into
fence boards that originally had really short nails somewhat holding
them on the rails. The houses here are thrown up in about a week and the
fences in about a quarter of a day. Slowly all the residents of this sub
division are rebuilding their fences, we're next.
A slight warming trend, 34F predicted for tonight, then into the fifties
tomorrow again. We should be transplanting by early March.
Yesterday I started my Granex onion seeds in the greenhouse. Planning
a lot less this year. I was out of commission a good part of last
year and still not up to par. Everything in the garden and planter
boxes has been overrun with weeds. I did cut back some dead herb
foliage in one of the boxes. DH has decided to burn off all of the
weeds in the asparagus bed. He figured that the rhubarb was too close
to the surface to try to burn it off.
I am going to put as much as I can in the boxes. Beans did well there
a couple of years ago. Maybe I will put a few rows of lentils on one
of them. After I harvest the spinach I plan to put in one of the
boxes.
Now back to the greenhouse with a large garbage bag to get rid of the
mess.
The Mexican and Key Limes are blooming right now in the greenhouse.
The Meyer lemon hasn't started yet. They will go onto the deck when it
gets warm here.
Think I will see about making a pie from the last Key limes I picked.
--
USA
North Carolina Foothills
USDA Zone 7a
To find your extension office
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html