Venomous_1
Cool Member
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:59 am
Location: Murfreesboro, TN - USDA Zone 6b

Who's got Spring Fever?

Who's got Spring Fever? ME DO! ME DO!

Ohhh...these days leading up to the season are the worst. Seems like that first planting day will never get here. Growing the seedlings indoors will only tide you over so long. I go outside almost every day and walk around my garden, imagining what will be growing there soon and trying to think if there is anything at all I could be doing. Am I crazy?

As Always: Better Boy Tomatoes, Green Beans, Nantes Carrots, Little Finger Carrots, Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Jalepeno Peppers, Anaheim Peppers, Banana Peppers, Sweet Onions, White Onions, Romaine Lettuce, Black-Seeded Lettuce

New This Year: Pepperoncini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Strawberries, Cantilope and numerous herbs.

Can't wait to taste that fresh goodness that Mother Earth provides.

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

ME TOO, ME TOO!!

I couldn't wait any more. I've planted out my tiny broccoli, cabbage, and romanesco seedlings, barely getting their true leaves, onion seedlings just unfolding, and some well grown lettuce. They are all under cover. One 4'x4' 16"H raised bed has a 12"H wind barrier of combination thick plastic sheeting and floating row cover.

So far, despite a couple of dips into high 20's, they're looking good. The onions have been tucked in among the 4~6" straw mulched bed planted with garlic last fall. I have one area with no additional protection, one area with a scrap of floating cover over it, and one area with a portable vinyl umbrella-like thingie. Vinyl cover is tilted up or comes off when it's sunny since it can get as hot as 75~80ºF in there. I put another vinyl umbrella thingy over the leafy lettuce UNDER the floating cover in the 4x4 when overnight is forecast to be in the low 30's.

So far so good... :wink: I'm looking around thinking of other ways to protect the transplants and beating the calendar. :lol:

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hendi_alex
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Posts: 3604
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

Spring fever, not here in zone eight, we've got spring! Temperature was in the 70's and 80's a week ago, and will be there again in a couple of days. We had cool weather inbetween but no freezing temperatures. All of the cool weather crops are in the ground, lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach, radishes, turnips, sweet peas. All of the tomato, bell pepper, egg plant, cucumber, and squash transplants are up and growing strong. Will seed flower transplants this week. Heat loving plants will go in the ground in about five weeks. So the gardening activity is well underway and is accelerating every week as that last frost date nears. Our hot, humid summers may be a challenge, but the early spring weather that often comes in late February and March more than makes up for it. My daughter lived in New Haven for a couple of years. Gotta feel for those folks, having to tolerate cold, gray and rainy weather all the way into April or later.

2cents
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Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:04 am
Location: Ohio

Looked this morning and the onions are breaking through the ground, one is 3 inches tall..WooHoo :D

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BrianSkilton
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Posts: 547
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:59 pm
Location: South Dakota

Temperatures finally got into the 50's and today even the 60's! So for the midwest this is good news. Hopefully it doesn't turn on a dime and snow in the next few days. Just so it doesn't snow in April again (yes I did say SNOW in April), that would be great :x .

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rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

I planted cabbage and broccoli this weekend (!! :) YAY something's actully in my garden) under cloches (some bought, some made from gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut off). I already had planted lettuce, swiss chard, onion, spinach seeds the week before. I also put up my temporary green house yesterday and have some things in it (thyme, fennel, coreopsis, more cabbage and broccoli).

The first wildflowers are up (not blooming, just up) in my native woodland shade garden: spring beauty, cleavers/bedstraw, celandine poppy, trout lily, appendaged waterleaf...

Snow drops, winter aconite, and crocus are blooming and hyacinth and daffodils are getting ready to.

Happy spring!!

green~acres
Senior Member
Posts: 271
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Kershaw,S.C.

Just the thoughts of a good home grown tomato is exciting.Pair that with some squash and beans and thats a meal. I cant wait.
Happy Gardening All.

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smokensqueal
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Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:36 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO Metro area

You better believe I do. Temps have went from below normal to well above. And I'm really itching to get out and get more going but I know as soon as I do we will have another hard freeze. I am planning to try something out this year. I have 3 water cooler jugs that were given to me. I have them on my garden in 3 spots warming up the ground underneath them. I'm will then try and plant something a little earlier the normal and put them back over them to keep them warm through the night and warm them up through the day. The tops have the hole where the heat can escape if it get's to hot. Maybe I'll get a few tomato plants going early.

I'm SO EXCITED!!!!! :P

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

How did you cut the bottoms off the water cooler jugs? Sounds like a neat idea!

I just had my first salad out of my garden! Yum. The Red Sails lettuce were actually looking even better than when they were inside -- firmer, crisper, and shiny. I decided I'd better eat those lovely outer leaves before something happened to them 8) Some pecan halves and early edible weeds -- wild cress, mustard, and garlic, dandelion, as well as flowering henbit and sweet violet blossoms to add some complexity and visual appeal, then freshly skinned and segmented grapefruits and granny apple pieces, bit of the fresh grapefruit juice and a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil. Salt and freshly grated black pepper. YUM YUM! :wink:

[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image3860.jpg[/img]
Last edited by applestar on Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

eshenry
Senior Member
Posts: 109
Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 9:36 am
Location: Tennessee

<comes running in and squealing>

ME!ME! Fever has hit a high! My radishes are up, english peas are sprouting, as is my lettuce!


<does the happy dance>

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smokensqueal
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Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:36 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO Metro area

applestar: I just use my dremel cutting/grinding tool. Just put on a cutting blade and zipped them right off. 8) Make sure you wear your safety glasses. :lol:

pepper4
Green Thumb
Posts: 636
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:08 am
Location: Ohio

Watching my seedlings grow in the house and can't wait to get them in the ground and really take off. Trying not to be too impatiant though and risk everything. Maybe someone can give me some advise as to when it's safe to plant. I am growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. I am going to plant onions from plants and green beans from seed outside. I live in the unpredictable state of Ohio.

2cents
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Posts: 616
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:04 am
Location: Ohio

pepper4
Onions and other root crops can go out now. My onions from sets are already up and growing.
My lettuce and beets have sprouted, they are just little guys.
I put a test batch of bean seeds in 3/7, may have jumped the gun with these cold nights. Time will tell.
3/16 put in more onions, parsley, radishes. It supposed to get warmer next week and they will likely pop up before the 25th.
I have potatoes and swiss chard and will be planting them this weekend.
Too early for the tomato, cucumbers and pepper. They will start to show up at the gardening supply stores next month. This website will tell you historical data in your area for last frost and those plants will be safe after that, https://climate.usurf.usu.edu/reports/freezeDates.php
Good growing

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I've planted out my onion seedlings -- much smaller than the recommended "about 6" tall" at 2~3". Some of them are under row covers and light straw mulch with the bareroot strawberry crowns I received last week, others are nestled among the heavy straw mulch with the fall-planted garlic already 5~6" tall and peeking out from under the straw.

Finished prepping a sheet mulched/lasagna'd 8'D Keyhole design New Kitchen Garden and a 4'x10' Veg Garden Extension (AND a 4'x4' Rice Paddy - but that's another story... ) yesterday (boy am I sore today! :wink: ). Planning to set out the rest of the cold/cool crop seedlings (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower; also pre-sprouted spinach, peas, and swiss chard) under floating covers this weekend after setting up fences around them. 3 big bunnies running amok in my fenced-in back yard -- I guess they crawl in underneath for the delectable weedy offerings in my lawn, not to be found elsewhere in the neighborhood :roll: Yep THEY HAVE SPRING FEVER. :D

We had a snow flurry this morning, and they're predicting low of 26ºF tonight and 29ºF tomorrow night. But my new Japanese Ume (apricot) flowered yesterday. I wish I could paste the fragrance so you could enjoy it too! :) I actually went out yesterday to prune it down to about 24" (it's around 36" right now) but I just couldn't. I'll wait until after the flower show. :cool:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image3880-1.jpg[/img] [img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image3876.jpg[/img] [img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image3877.jpg[/img] [img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image3879.jpg[/img]



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