Crocuses

 

I spent some time today dividing and transplanting ornamental grasses and doing some cleaning up.  Crocus flowers only open up on sunny days.  So far the repellent granules are keeping the deer and rabbits from snacking on them which is making the honey bees very happy.  There are precious few flowers for the bees this time of year.

Yesterday I saw my first flock of migrating robins and I can hear the red-winged blackbirds.

Seedling Progress

Celosia and Vinca

Coleus cuttings, Onions and Sage

The onions are growing well.  I have trimmed them back twice to encourage them to stand up straight.  I transplanted them into pots with potting mix with more perlite and sand added to improve drainage because onions prefer well drained soil.  Next year I will sow two dozen seeds straight into one pot only and pick up some Espoma Cactus Potting Mix so I don't have to play mad scientist with my soil components in deep winter.

The dahlia tubers have been relocated from the workshop to the basement bulkhead and the workshop thermostat has been turned up to 60F.

I write generic names on my initial seed tags so I can reuse them year after year.

In the basement I have micro tomatoes and eggplants germinated and the ornamental peppers are beginning to germinate.  I was very surprised by those Little Prince eggplants. Eggplants are one seed that often take up to two weeks or more to germinate for me.  These took three days.  I went down there two days ago and all four were standing there green and growing, and only one tomato was up.

Today I seeded the broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages and one hot pepper.

 

Easing into Spring

 The snow is finally melting and the sun is shining, but the ground is still frozen hard in many places.  While the wind can be bitter cold, once you got dressed correctly, and got used to it, the weather has been nice enough to get started checking on the garden.  The weather will be unseasonably warm in the 50-60Fs this week so I am making plans as to what needs to be done to take advantage of this.

The first thing I do is check on the rabbit and deer protection and begin moving things from plants that were at risk in autumn to evergreen plants that are at risk in the spring.  While newly planted bulbs (above) may be dug up in the fall by squirrels or racoons, the daffodil sprouts are safe but the evergreen leaves of Penstemon (below), Heuchera, Hellebores or Primrose will suddenly be of interest as they emerge from the snow cover.  Even if the deer just taste them and decide they don't like them, the plants can be set back for weeks.  I have begun scattering repellent granules around the crocuses and as soon as we have some foliage to spray I will switch to spray on repellent.

The rabbits were very hungry when the snow was thick.  Thankfully I had protected all of the fruit trees and they left the other woody shrubs alone.  I can see signs of their munching on the blackberry canes in the bunny patch.

Everything looks pretty flat from having the snow weighing on it for two months straight and some things have snapped.  The Butterfly Bush below shows some damage but it is still too early to prune it.

Any ground that was bare in the long cold has heaved up.  One end of the strawberry patch has heaved because the wire mesh caught all of the snow and the sun shone in under the south end.

Perennial plants are sending up shoots.  Below are the Valerian plants in my perennial herb bed, showing fresh red sprouts at ground level.

This herb bed has a challenging section.  You see that shadow cast by the top rail of the fence?  That ground stays colder and the sun is blocked all winter until the sun climbs up from the southern horizon.  I had planted Parsley in that end of the bed.  You can see that the plants survive to the south and north of the shadow but do not winter over in the shadow.  I seed annual plants in that strip.  I have a similar problem in the perennial bed to the north of the chicken run.  I had low growing Primrose planted in that shadow and while they survived just fine, the plants that lived in the shadow were always late to bloom.  I had to dig them up and relocate them to each side of the shadow.

The end of February, early March is also the time for pruning fruit trees.  This is a chore that I actually enjoy.  Over the years I have gotten better at it or at least more confident.  I have pruned these two fruit trees their whole lives and, for the most part, I think I have done a decent job.  They are both productive and fairly well shaped.  I am very diligent about taking out water sprouts or crossing branches, but I am more timid about header cuts that reduce the height of the tree and change its overall shape.

Before:  I have drawn red lines where I think I need to make cuts.

After:  I was pretty happy with the shape. 
We used a very long, vintage pole pruner to reach these cuts.

One tree (above) is more open and puts out less new growth but produces bushels of apples almost every year.  The other is more of a beauty queen.  She is nicely shaped and puts out vigorous water shoots each year, but is much more fickle about actually producing apples and can either amaze you or totally disappoint.

Before

On this tree I will still need to thin more out on the left (south facing) side.

After

There are a few basic principles to remember when pruning fruit trees. 

• Take out anything dead, damaged or diseased
• Take out anything growing straight up (usually water sprouts) or back towards the center
• Trees send growth hormone to the tips of each branch

That last one is the key principle and must be remembered each time you make a cut.  The last live bud on the end of what you leave, will be the bud that produces a branch.  Below I illustrated this principle on a water sprout, drawing lines from four of the buds.  If you were to keep the branch below you would want to make a cut above one of the buds that is pointing outward away from the trunk.  You would also need to remove the upward pointing sprout to the right of the one I have highlighted because these future branches would eventually cross and rub this branch.  This principle extends to rose bushes and woody shrubs.  There are many factors to consider when pruning a tree, but that is one of the most important.  Next chore: spraying them with dormant oil before they leaf out.

My raised beds have been heavily covered with snow for two months and look as perfect today as the day I prepped them for winter.  And there is not a weed to be seen which is never the case with a mild winter.

We have many snow piles left on the property.  My husband uses the tractor to spread them out where we have room.  This helps them melt faster and also helps control the melt water.  Some of the piles he scoops up and dumps in the roadside ditch where the melt water can run off without causing any problems.

Next spring chore: Clean any remaining leaves from the landscape beds and begin edging and mulching

Green Things in the Great White

 We have been living in an arctic tundra.  When we go to town, the roads are melted and the sun is shining but up here on the hill, the temperatures are in single digits and the wind drifts the dry snow until the country roads fill back in.  Our driveway is so thick in ice that we ordered and installed a Bluetooth/WiFi mailbox alarm that lets us know when the mailbox has been opened so we don't waste dangerous trips down the driveway to check.  We are used to being able to hear the mail truck clearly, but this amount of snow absorbs so much sound that the only road noise we hear now is the snow plow barreling along like a freight train shaking the ground.  Indoors it is warm with the south rooms of the house bright and cozy from passive solar heating.  I actually have to dust twice as often or the low winter sun shines through the window at such an angle that we can barely see the image on the TV screen for the reflection and layers of lint.

Preparation for warmer days is already under way.  The first seeds up are the Candy onions.  I have many times grown onions from both plants and sets but this is my first foray into seeding them.  I figured that I could be much more flexible with quantities and save the leftover seeds for several seasons making this route more efficient than either ordering plants or buying sets.  They are in the basement on a heat mat now but in a week or so I will transplant each cell into a larger pot and move them to the workshop with the Coleus cuttings. 

The Coleus cuttings are still doing well with 50F degree air temperature and weekly watering.  Some of the plants on the edges are getting a little pale so I rearranged the pots to see if that helps.  The workshop will have to be raised to 60F when I begin adding warm weather transplants.  Right now I have my tub of Dahlia tubers in there where they keep a steady 48F on the floor under the saw.  When I turn up the heat they need to be moved out, probably to the basement bulkhead, but right now outside temperatures are way too low to make the bulkhead a safe storage spot.

I have my seeding schedule mapped out and room for seven trays of seedlings.  Most people in my town are complaining about seven solid weeks of snow and cold with no break, but for me looking out and seeing the great white tundra is easier on my gardening psyche than mud and grass would be.  Come March when the weather is turning I will feel that the work season is imminent and patience will completely desert me.

This Year I'm Gonna.....

 Every year we go into the gardening season with some goals.  This year I am going to stick mostly to the standard plan.  Peas, Beans, Tomatoes... the usual.  But there are always little fun things that we add or concentrate on that make each season a little different from the rest.  The cake mix is the same, but the frosting can be a little creative.  I have several new ideas to keep gardening exciting this year.

Last fall we took a trip to North Carolina.  We visited an amazing Garden Center which was all decked out for autumn planting.  That's something that our local nurseries do very sparingly because our snow can start in October, but this place had pansies and pumpkins and gourds by the truckload.  They also had some beautifully potted ornamental peppers.  Oooo... I would love to have ornamental peppers on the deck in the fall instead of the usual Chrysanthemums.  I've grown them before and I already grow peppers in pots every year.  It seems a natural choice.  So I added three different types of ornamental peppers to my seed lists.  The best part about them.... they are too hot and spicy to be palatable to deer.  That oughta teach 'em!

I used to grow a lot of eggplants.  Sometimes three or four varieties.  The flea beetles finally took the fun out of it and I haven't grown any for the past four seasons.  The last time I grew them, I put them in containers up on the brick patio which was fairly manageable and the plants didn't sustain too much damage.  But they weren't really productive.  This time I am going to try a variety bred specifically to thrive in containers.  This should be every bit as ornamental as the peppers.  And the eggplants are single serving size which is also helpful.

Little Prince Eggplant

There are a couple of things I am going back to.  Last year I sort of took a gardening break and eliminated the crops that are a bit of a challenge in raised beds The main one is sweet corn.  Last year I didn't grow corn because I was tired of watering it every day.  And I was grateful all summer because it was a very dry summer and it would have used up a huge portion of my water resources.  But yet again, I was disappointed in the taste of locally grown sweet corn.  I even tried a new farmstand.  The neighbors were very complimentary of the sweet corn there so I bought a dozen.  They were even sh2 super sweet varieties so I was very optimistic.  They were exactly what I would have chosen to grow myself.  The ears were huge and beautiful and the taste was like... cardboard.  How does one mess up sh2 sweet corn?  The husks were fresh.  They didn't appear to have been sitting around for days.  Did she plant them too close to non super sweets?  That has to be it.  If you do not isolate sh2 from the non super sweets by either pollination time (14 days) or 200 feet (some sources say 350 feet!), then the cross pollination will ruin the taste of the same year's crop.  You can't trust nobody anymore.  I guess I'm going to have to do it myself.

The other thing I am going back to is white potatoes.  I like to grow potatoes in containers, but those are also a huge resource hog.  Not only water but potting soil too.  I do have some room to plant a small crop in the ground.  I do not have a great place to store potatoes over winter, but I love new potatoes so I will concentrate on that.  I'll grow myself some nice new potatoes and not worry about growing a large crop to store.

And my last main gardening novelty is going to be something I have never tried before and that is Dahlias from seed.  And I'm not buying seed, I am using seed I collected from my singles and collarettes last fall.  You see, when you dig Dahlia tubers and divide each year you get a clone, or exact copy of the same plant.  If you allow them to cross pollinate freely and collect the seeds, you have absolutely no idea what color or characteristics you are going to get.  That is how new Dahlia varieties are created.  Yes, many breeders purposefully isolate and control crosses to breed for certain traits, but some also leave it to the bees.  And that's what I am going to do.  Maybe I will get something fun and unique that I can save year after year.  It sure is cheaper than buying a dozen different tubers to get a pleasing color range in the flower bed.

These are the plans that keep me going through the long winter months.  I am looking forward to new potatoes in early summer, hot days of watering the corn patch, and the anticipation of each new Dahlia opening to reveal a surprise.

Ice Ice Baby

 This is the second day in a row we have had to sand the driveway.  Yesterday was sunny but cold and the driveway has built up quite a bit of packed snow which has now turned to ice.  We sanded it well and the sun warmed it and everything was softening up.  Then early this morning the freezing rain started and we're right back at it.

I didn't think to bring my phone out while we were working, but I caught up with my husband helping the neighbor next door.  If you spread from the loader you don't run the risk of anyone slipping. Now we need a new stock pile of sand.

This kind of weather is hard on the deer.  Now that they have gone through most of the acorns on the ground they are getting pretty desperate.  Anything remotely edible this time of year like Primrose, Myrtle or Heuchera that isn't safely buttoned up like this...

Looks like this.

Black Eyed Susan in the Dry Creek Bed

They are ravaging the lawn, digging through the snow.  Deer are not very precise excavators so they end up throwing mud and grass all over and leaving nice little pot holes everywhere, 

If we would get some sunshine everything would sparkle, but it is overcast and still drizzling and fog is setting in.  I had lunch plans put I postponed them.  So sense going to town in weather like this,

Bringing in Supplies

 Believe it or not it is time to start thinking about starting seeds.  There are a few things that can be started now and then come March there will be a lot to do.  I have been bringing in my supplies and setting things up.  I keep a list each year and check my quantities in the fall.  Then I can keep an eye out for sales throughout late winter.  

Part of the problem of honing your methods down to a science is that you become dependent on certain products and brands.  I'm not at a stage where I want to experiment with my methods because I have had very good success.  I recently brought in all of my consumable products.  Most of these can be sourced locally if you have a good garden center, but the Pro-mix has to be mail ordered.  Nothing like getting a huge, heavy box of dirt left on your porch in the middle of winter.  Its a bit of a hassle, but sometimes it must be done.

For the initial germination Seed Starting Mix I always use Jiffy Mix.  You can also sift regular potting mix to a fine particle size or use compost. Jiffy Mix has the added advantage of being readily available at Walmart and one bag will last me several seasons.

When I sow my seeds I immediately cover the surface with a sprinkle of ground Cinnamon and Espoma Organic Vermiculite .  The cinnamon is just regular cinnamon you would use in the kitchen but it has anti-fungal properties which prevent fungus and white mold from forming on the damp soil surface.  The Vermiculite helps hold the right amount of moisture on the surface where the seeds are.  Also, if you are sowing tiny seeds which require light to germinate and must be surface sown, a light layer of Vermiculite will surround them with moisture yet not block (too much) light.   Seeds and seedlings should initially be misted with a spray bottle of water or mister.  I use a Mesto Mister which pumps up and will spray in any position, even upside down.  This is my second season with this mister and it is a terrific product.

When the seedlings are ready to be pricked out and planted in cells or pots, I use Pro-Mix Organic Vegetable & Herb Mix as my potting mix.  Pro-Mix also makes a seed starting mix which I use under some circumstances such as winter sowing in plastic jugs.  It is a little more coarse than Jiffy Mix and will support seedlings longer than Jiffy without being bumped up to potting mix.  Jiffy Mix is basically just pH adjusted peat moss while the Pro-Mix Seed Starter has added fertilizer for an NPK ratio of 6-1-2.  You do not want to give newly germinated seedlings much food, that should wait until they have their first true leaves.  Hence the pure peat, coir or compost for germination.  I currently have my onion seeds sown in the Pro-Mix seed starter because I plan to leave the plants in those cells until they are set out the end of April.

The most permanent elements of your seed starting set up will be your grow lights.  I have seen everything from large bakers racks set up permanently in a basement to a more decorative bulb that is geared more towards keeping a house plant in your living space.  I think there is the most variation and personal preference in the grow light set up.  Mine has not changed much over the years but it is in a stage of flux.  Ten years ago I invested in two table top models which have obsolete fluorescent tubes and must be raised and lowered as the plants grow,  Because you can no longer get bulbs for these, I am switching over to LED lighting which frankly, works better.  So if you are shopping for grow lights, you have a million choices to sift through but be sure to get full spectrum LEDs and preferably high output.  They do not have to say "grow light", "shop lights" are the same thing as long as they are full spectrum.

Another must have is a heat mat or two.  I have found that the heat mat is an indispensable tool to get seeds started early.  I do not want to keep any space artificially heated to 70+ degrees in the spring.  Placing a heat mat under the tray will warm the soil and create a microclimate in your seed starting set up that is enough to keep seedlings happy without heating the whole house/basement/shop.  A thermostat control is a nice addition but not necessary.  It will drive the price up but is nice to have around when you really need it.

Finally, these items I also consider to be necessities:  a good timer and a fan.  My favorite timer is a strip that has one side timed and the other side on constantly.  I plug the heat mat in on the constant side, and the lights on the timed side.  I set the lights to come on at 6am and go off at 9pm giving them 15 hours of light.  The fan will encourage your seedlings to stay shorter, to develop stronger stems, and make it easier to harden them off for outside living.  It will also keep the soil a little drier on top and minimize rot and fungal issues.  I have kept the fans on their own timer going on one hour and off one hour all day.  I have also plugged them into the timed outlets with the lights and left them on all day.  I either move the fan around, or if space does not allow that, just turn the trays each day so the seedlings get wind from multiple directions and strengths.  The seedlings closest to the fan will be buffeted more than those on the end further away.

Below are links to some of my other seed starting posts.

• 2014 The Waiting Game - Seed Germination

• 2020 Starting Seedlings Indoors

• 2021 Seed Starting - Step #1 

• 2021 Seed Starting - Step #2  

• 2023 Managing Expectations