Spring is coming ... maybe

[Granny]

I'm anticipating that spring may eventually show up anyway. What with all this global warming the east coast has been subjected to this winter I've had some doubts.

I managed to winter over two corkscrew plants ... whether they will actually do anything - like maybe bloom ... remains to be seen since they are listed as "annuals." Just in case, I ordered one more and am awaiting its arrival.

My one passion flower plant has done beautifully this winter so I'm looking forward to getting them outside. The vines on those things can creep some 15-20 feet. Received a second plant of the same variety today.

I've ordered two other passion flower plants - there are several kinds of flowers depending on the color - and I'm waiting for those to arrive.

Received an elephant ear bulb today about the size of my head.

My moon flower seeds have sprouted beautifully and need to be repotted into larger homes. The black bat flower seeds, on the other hand, are a wait and see item. The instructions say patience is required since it could take 1 to 9 months to germinate. Really strange looking flowers native to China. If they don't germinate I'm only out fifty cents so what the hell.

I'll probably just buy some nice size mandevilla plants at Walmart.

Last year I had nothing but flowering vines on my balcony railings and it was just beautiful so decided to try the same thing again this year.

 

[Moonglow]

Here in the redneck Bible country it's been in the 60's and 70's.. Low tonight 59...storms a comin'

 

[gallantwarrior]

I'm not even thinking of starting anything in the greenhouse for another month! I'm hoping for a bumper crop of Calendula for soapmaking. That, as well as brassicas and potatoes.

 

[Granny]

I'm not even thinking of starting anything in the greenhouse for another month! I'm hoping for a bumper crop of Calendula for soapmaking. That, as well as brassicas and potatoes.

LOL! My "greenhouse" is inside my apartment - although I do have a little 3 shelf unit about 4 feet tall that has a plastic cover I can use outside. I put a painter's tarp on my carpet and have it sitting by my sliding doors.

Potatoes I know. I'm not familiar with brassicas. Enlighten me.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I'm not even thinking of starting anything in the greenhouse for another month! I'm hoping for a bumper crop of Calendula for soapmaking. That, as well as brassicas and potatoes.

LOL! My "greenhouse" is inside my apartment - although I do have a little 3 shelf unit about 4 feet tall that has a plastic cover I can use outside. I put a painter's tarp on my carpet and have it sitting by my sliding doors.

Potatoes I know. I'm not familiar with brassicas. Enlighten me.

Brassicas, also called cruciferous vegetables, include: cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli, and kale, among many others. They grow quite well in our cool, short summers.
I have a small place, so have built a greenhouse outside. The only way to have tomatoes is to have a greenhouse. Same for peppers, only with a green house, and even then, it's a bit touchy. Season's too short.

 

[Granny]

Ahh ... veggies. I've tried those in very small spaces both with and without success. In the interest of saving limited space I've used tomato cages for cucumbers - great little climbers those cucumbers and less dirt-covered when plucked off the vine! I suppose that would also work for summer squash as well. Small spaces require creative thinking.

I bought one of those "hanging basket" strawberry kits just for the heck of it to see what would happen. One problem I have to consider is that we have an abundance of birds of all colors and kinds and none of them appear to have strawberry allergies! LOL! I can shoo off the smaller ones, but the crows can eat to their heart's content - those things are big as chickens and not overly friendly.

Lots of people around here have the hanging tomato things. I'm in an area where summers are long and hot and also in an apartment complex that encourages tenants to call the place "home," feel free to plant flowers, veggies, etc. I have an upstairs unit with a 7-1/2' x 12' floor space and it's amazing how much can be done with that space and still have room to sit down and enjoy it. A neighbor several units down goes hog wild and takes advantage of every inch of soil at her downstairs unit. It's gorgeous every year.

 

[B. Kidd]

My roses started blooming here in Vegas a month ago. Have cut many a nice one already.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Ahh ... veggies. I've tried those in very small spaces both with and without success. In the interest of saving limited space I've used tomato cages for cucumbers - great little climbers those cucumbers and less dirt-covered when plucked off the vine! I suppose that would also work for summer squash as well. Small spaces require creative thinking.

I bought one of those "hanging basket" strawberry kits just for the heck of it to see what would happen. One problem I have to consider is that we have an abundance of birds of all colors and kinds and none of them appear to have strawberry allergies! LOL! I can shoo off the smaller ones, but the crows can eat to their heart's content - those things are big as chickens and not overly friendly.

Lots of people around here have the hanging tomato things. I'm in an area where summers are long and hot and also in an apartment complex that encourages tenants to call the place "home," feel free to plant flowers, veggies, etc. I have an upstairs unit with a 7-1/2' x 12' floor space and it's amazing how much can be done with that space and still have room to sit down and enjoy it. A neighbor several units down goes hog wild and takes advantage of every inch of soil at her downstairs unit. It's gorgeous every year.

That's great that you are making maximum use of small spaces. A lot more people would find how great home-grown food tastes if a few more would try.
I'm in temporary digs right now, so I am limited by what the landlord will tolerate. Goats are OK, but chickens are not. I don't blame him, chickens can be messy and noisy. Even though I have some space to garden, my ridiculous partner insists on letting the goats out, so they eat my garden down to stumps almost every year. Partner says I need to put a fence around the garden. I tell him that I put a fence around the goats and that should suffice to keep them out of the garden.
I've been building up at my permanent place, out-of-pocket, so it takes a little time. I'll have a decent garden up there, chickens and a couple of pigs, too. Most of the acreage will under hay when we finish.

 

[gallantwarrior]

My roses started blooming here in Vegas a month ago. Have cut many a nice one already.

Roses, like tomatoes, are pretty much hothouse, indoor-grown up here. I tried roses, too. Had to settle for peonies and lilac instead.

 

[Moonglow]

I'm not even thinking of starting anything in the greenhouse for another month! I'm hoping for a bumper crop of Calendula for soapmaking. That, as well as brassicas and potatoes.

LOL! My "greenhouse" is inside my apartment - although I do have a little 3 shelf unit about 4 feet tall that has a plastic cover I can use outside. I put a painter's tarp on my carpet and have it sitting by my sliding doors.

Potatoes I know. I'm not familiar with brassicas. Enlighten me.

Brassicas, also called cruciferous vegetables, include: cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli, and kale, among many others. They grow quite well in our cool, short summers.
I have a small place, so have built a greenhouse outside. The only way to have tomatoes is to have a greenhouse. Same for peppers, only with a green house, and even then, it's a bit touchy. Season's too short.

we have the opposite problem with short cool seasons....

 

[Granny]

My roses started blooming here in Vegas a month ago. Have cut many a nice one already.

Roses, like tomatoes, are pretty much hothouse, indoor-grown up here. I tried roses, too. Had to settle for peonies and lilac instead.

Roses are a bit of a pain in the butt I think - they require a lot of attention. Peonies and lilac on the other hand are favorites of mine. If I had any land I would want some lilacs, mock orange and crepe myrtle ... a few good memories of my childhood.

Peonies are gorgeous but if I had them I'd have to put them someplace away from my house. While ants are essential for peonies I consider them a huge nonessential inside my house!! And they would find a way to get inside my house.

 

[B. Kidd]

My roses started blooming here in Vegas a month ago. Have cut many a nice one already.

Roses, like tomatoes, are pretty much hothouse, indoor-grown up here. I tried roses, too. Had to settle for peonies and lilac instead.

Roses are a bit of a pain in the butt I think - they require a lot of attention. Peonies and lilac on the other hand are favorites of mine. If I had any land I would want some lilacs, mock orange and crepe myrtle ... a few good memories of my childhood.

Peonies are gorgeous but if I had them I'd have to put them someplace away from my house. While ants are essential for peonies I consider them a huge nonessential inside my house!! And they would find a way to get inside my house.

At my old house I had 22 rose bushes I took care of. In my new house, I have 6 which is a breeze. The biggest mistake that people make with roses is over watering them and the second biggest mistake is cutting them wrong.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Roses, like tomatoes, are pretty much hothouse, indoor-grown up here. I tried roses, too. Had to settle for peonies and lilac instead.

Roses are a bit of a pain in the butt I think - they require a lot of attention. Peonies and lilac on the other hand are favorites of mine. If I had any land I would want some lilacs, mock orange and crepe myrtle ... a few good memories of my childhood.

Peonies are gorgeous but if I had them I'd have to put them someplace away from my house. While ants are essential for peonies I consider them a huge nonessential inside my house!! And they would find a way to get inside my house.

At my old house I had 22 rose bushes I took care of. In my new house, I have 6 which is a breeze. The biggest mistake that people make with roses is over watering them and the second biggest mistake is cutting them wrong.

This far north, it's just too cold, and too short a season.
I do like lilacs. The smell when they bloom is almost beyond compare. The other smells of Spring are cottonwoods (the buds make Balm of Gilead), and the birch. Other then the smell, cottonwoods are a totally pain in the ass, though.

 

[Granny]

Lilacs do smell wonderful - as does mock orange. Those are what I call "old" bushes - don't see them as much as when I was a kid - especially mock orange.

I like the redbud trees - they grow wild around here. Tough little things. If you're out on the highway you can see them growing between the boulders and rocks in the mountains.

I introduced myself to ggggggggggggorilla tape today. Damn that stuff is sticky and tough as whit leather. I bought these little solar powered LED dragonfly lights a month or so ago and had to anchor them to my balcony/deck railing. OMG, I thought I was going to strangle myself. Thought they might look nice at night in between my vines.

 

[tinydancer]

I'm in tears. Happy tears. My sand hill cranes flew in today and my geese are down the road. Life. Life has come back to me. Its been a long long winter. This is the part of year that my husband hates though. I have to start everything inside. My growing season 60 to 90 days and then we have to cover everything till we get it harvested.

 

[tinydancer]

Lilacs do smell wonderful - as does mock orange. Those are what I call "old" bushes - don't see them as much as when I was a kid - especially mock orange.

I like the redbud trees - they grow wild around here. Tough little things. If you're out on the highway you can see them growing between the boulders and rocks in the mountains.

I introduced myself to ggggggggggggorilla tape today. Damn that stuff is sticky and tough as whit leather. I bought these little solar powered LED dragonfly lights a month or so ago and had to anchor them to my balcony/deck railing. OMG, I thought I was going to strangle myself. Thought they might look nice at night in between my vines.

Up here you don't get red bud unless you order it. I got mine from a good place out west of me. Sometimes you just think you have it forever eh? But then one day you don't.

I have here a lot of siberian bushes. Well mostly Ukrainian and Russian stock. I have 45 day tomatoes. We have to grow quick. I miss Tennessee that way. Two gardens coming in till December. I miss that so much. Looks like only a couple of years and I'll be south again.

 

[Granny]

Lilacs do smell wonderful - as does mock orange. Those are what I call "old" bushes - don't see them as much as when I was a kid - especially mock orange.

I like the redbud trees - they grow wild around here. Tough little things. If you're out on the highway you can see them growing between the boulders and rocks in the mountains.

I introduced myself to ggggggggggggorilla tape today. Damn that stuff is sticky and tough as whit leather. I bought these little solar powered LED dragonfly lights a month or so ago and had to anchor them to my balcony/deck railing. OMG, I thought I was going to strangle myself. Thought they might look nice at night in between my vines.

Up here you don't get red bud unless you order it. I got mine from a good place out west of me. Sometimes you just think you have it forever eh? But then one day you don't.

I have here a lot of siberian bushes. Well mostly Ukrainian and Russian stock. I have 45 day tomatoes. We have to grow quick. I miss Tennessee that way. Two gardens coming in till December. I miss that so much. Looks like only a couple of years and I'll be south again.

Oh, don't we have beautiful springs in Tennessee though??!!! Flowering cherries are busting out right about now. Lady I take care of has one in her front yard. Dogwood is right behind it.

 

[Granny]

Well ... if these rain/snow mixes and frost warnings ever go away ... maybe spring will come. In the meantime, all my plants are now sitting on my dining room floor. I went to a local nursery today that was recommended by one of my home-healthcare clients and got 3 very healthy looking varieties of passion flower plants. One is the fairly familiar "Maypop" which has a purple flower, and one will have white flowers, the other yellow flowers. The thing I find fascinating about passion flower is the variety of colors and that each color has different shapes/characteristics from the other colors. They're different - "not your average tulip" when it comes to characteristics! Also picked up a package of nasturtium seeds just to add some bright orange, red, and yellow to my color mix.

I also got some solar light diffuser sticks that might be pretty - not exactly sure how the different colors work but what the heck - it will be something different and I won't have to plug the things into a wall outlet!!

 

[FuzzyCat]

Spring sprang down here in the SE and then retreated.
We had over 5" of rain yesterday in less than 24 hrs. so we are a bit soggy today and cool for us...only in the mid 50's!

I have green beans, corn, cabbage, English peas, radishes, celery, 3 kinds of lettuce, 2 kinds of carrots, onions, tomatoes & bell peppers in the ground. My onions were planted either in Nov. or early Jan. since that is when we do it down here. This is also my second planting of English peas. Opps, I forgot the taters and 2 swt. tater plants too.

The radishes and carrots are big enough to use as they grow, the English peas are about 1' tall, the corn & beans have been up for about a week, the lettuce is finally starting to grow, and I forgot that spinach that is about 1" tall & just sitting there!

Lilacs won't grow down here....I miss them since I grew up in central Ill. Our dogwoods are done as are most of the fruit trees. I have had humming birds since March 9!
Peonies will grow, just won't bloom down here and the same with tulips...unless you dig them & chill them every year.

 

[Granny]

It was about 65 degrees here yesterday and I damned near froze my arse off. Some cloud cover but no rain. What's up with that? More global warming? It was a little better today - at least the sun came out a little. I'm going to risk leaving my plants out overnight tonight except for a few that are still pretty tender.

I should repot some of my stuff tonight but should and will are two different things. I just want to get my stuff out and get my deck all fixed up. Until then ... no way to get my living/dining room CLEAN ... big tarp on the floor housing my plants for right now.