Almost Spring '16...what are you doing (or have done) Today?

[applestar]

I started the last batch of tomato seeds for this season today. I am NOT going to start any more, no matter what anybody says to tempt me.

But have you tried... just kidding

But all seriousness aside, I used to grow a tomato called Golden Boy but haven't seen it for years. Wonder if it's still around?

@Taiji --

I haven't heard of Golden Boy. Is it a hybrid?

Today I took some cuttings from trees with swelling buds and hope to pot them in a little while after dipping them in some rooting powder, just to see what happens. Lilac, pear, arizona ash, mulberry, aspen (took a drive up to the national forest for that one!).

Not sure about other trees like pear, ash, and aspen, but mulberry could definitely root, and lilac might. I have the vague memory that either ash or aspen could, but can't remember which. Have you rooted hardwood cuttings before? You want to keep the humidity high (some kind of cover and frequent misting) and some of them do better with bottom heat. --it's best to look up the best temperature for each -- Shaving the cambium off in narrow strips or making bunch of razor cuts also helps to expose more of that critical bark edge where root cells can grow from.

...and everybody who is prepping their gardens to plating-readiness -- I'm getting anxious. I want to plant too and I NEED to plant the broccoli and sprouted peas. It's seeing Lots of earthworm activity out in the garden soil surface.

[Gary350]

It rained all night the yard and garden are under water. Fog was pretty bad until the sun came out.

[lakngulf]

I checked the weather and saw this for the next few days:



So I put some of these in the ground. I know I will have to cover them at some point, but first growth looks great.



Here's hoping

[JayPoc]

I got out and planted 4 rows of peas in my 4 x 8 bed...just ahead of a steady rain. I love it when a plant comes together!

[jasonvanorder]

Well got the bunny poo spread and tilled into the garden yesterday and my garlic showed up in the mail Friday so I'm fixing to go get that in the ground this afternoon. Next is to start the pepper seeds in about two weeks

[Allyn]

I got some of my SiPs planted this weekend.



Sorry I didn't pick up the debris. It's from another project just out of the frame and since Better Homes and Gardens isn't on the way over (ha!) I'll neaten up in the morning when it is cooler.



I have pole beans, dwarf tomatoes, parsley, par-cel and a bell pepper in the SiPs so far (the big tomato plants on the porch that are producing are from last fall's planting.) Leaf and head lettuce are in the upper tubs on the ramp. Those were already done before this weekend, too.



I ran out of planting-mix ingredients, so that's all I could do right now. I have about 10 more 5-gallon SiPs, and a few 27- and 33-gallon ones yet to plant.

[imafan26]

I weeded my community garden. Only 5 or 6 corn seedlings popped up from last years seeds. It has been cold, but it did not stop the weeds from coming back. Since, the weather is still cool, I figured I'd try again with kai choy cabbage and spinach. Those seeds are pretty old too. If nothing else, I am cleaning out my seeds. If the weeds are back next week. I think I'll bring more back up seeds. I will have to get fresh corn seeds for this year too. I also planted some melon seeds from last year. I hope they are still good. They are from a small cantauloupe type frut called sunburst.

[jal_ut]

Quote: "But all seriousness aside, I used to grow a tomato called Golden Boy but haven't seen it for years. Wonder if it's still around?"

I reckon if you do a Google search for Golden Boy, you can likely turn up some seeds.

[Allyn]

Golden Boy Tomato Seeds

[Gary350]

It is still raining here. Rain in the forecast for 7 more days. It is going to be in the 80s next week. Spring seems like it is here but that is TN weather for you. I have seen this before we can still have snow. It has snowed here several times in late March. I always try to plant tomatoes first week of April if I can it all depends on how much rain and mud we have. East of us, TX , LA and east TN have floods. South of us Alabama they are getting lots of rain too. We are in Tornado alley soon it will be a war zone every night until June. We have to stay up many nights watching TV until sun comes up to make sure a funnel cloud is not coming our way, lots of very close calls. I stood in my driveway once and took video as the F4 tornado passed by 1 block away, wind was barely blowing in my yard. The sky was full of furniture going round and round.

[jal_ut]

Overcast, breezy, 38 degrees, 0.11 in the rain gauge. Good day to stay indoors. Look at seed catalogs, cruise the internet?

Gary350, you can keep your tornados. We don't get them here, thank goodness



Took this picture this morning. My Garden.

[rainbowgardener]

Starting to rain now, but I was working on digging out what will be my potato patch!!

[jal_ut]

11:25 AM........... Its snowing! Really coming down at present.

[Taiji]

11:25 AM........... Its snowing! Really coming down at present.

I was just going to say, looks like from your pic the snow is about gone!

Wow, so many Golden Boy hyperlinks, so little time. Thanks. I will probably choose one and get some. Tomato seeds last a long time. I don't know if Golden Boys are a hybrid or not (don't ask me such hard questions!)
I think they are very close to Golden Jubilee, maybe a bit more orange? They are very mild and non acidic for those who are sensitive to that. I'm not, but once in a while it is nice to have a really mild luscious tomato.

The only wood cuttings I have rooted in the past have been cottonwood and poplar. They are so easy, just stick in the ground and keep moist. These are all in 5 gal. buckets (with holes). I did nick the stems below ground. I might put each bucket in a garbage bag for humidity. Didn't really want to go to a lot of trouble. I'm thinking the easiest tree/shrubs to root are the ones that use lots of water for some reason. (cottonwood, poplar) This weekend I want to go down to a lower elevation along some streams and get some sycamore cuttings if possible. I think they might be easy.

[Taiji]

[quote="tdump]

I wonder how close to the same these are,much better price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Golden-Jubilee- ... SwYGFUtHLs[/quote]

Actually, I think I might go with that Jubilee, thank you. It looks plenty golden to me, is non GMO and heirloom. And cheap! Good suggestion. Thx.

[jal_ut]

Tsiji: "I was just going to say, looks like from your pic the snow is about gone! "

Yep, snow was gone, then it snowed all day and melted as fast as it hit the ground.

OK what got you off on starting tree shoots? Willows are probably the easiest to start. Just cut some little
twigs and put them in a bucket of water. They will grow roots, then you plant them. If you have a damp area
you can just push the twigs in the mud and they will root and grow. It won't hurt to try soaking some twigs of
your other trees you mention and see if they root. Sometimes rooting compounds are used too.

[Taiji]

Yes, it would make sense that willows would root easily being water lovers. We have a new property this year, well, last year, and I want to get some new trees going. Don't want to pay nursery prices! I realize it will take a while though before we see any significant results.

Keeping with the topic, I just planted some onion seeds in a flat to transplant out later. I realize by now you should already have onion sets ready to put out, but it says 100 days maturation time. Theoretically, they should make it?

[jal_ut]

Snowing some more. My garden is white.

Onion sets: I buy some from the local garden store. They are small dry onions about half to three quarters of an inch diameter. I have already pushed in the onion sets. This moisture should get them going? These go for large onion bulbs.

I will plant some onion seeds about April 1 to go for little green onions. These will make small dry bulbs if let go full season.
I can't get large onion bulbs from seed here. Onions are day length sensitive and bulb up when the days are of a certain
length.

[imafan26]

I did not do much. My seedlings were wilting and somebody helped water them for me at the garden. At home, I think one of the garlic is trying to bloom. This is the first time that has happened to garlic although it commonly happens to green onions in cold weather. Maybe I gots some green onions mixed in with my garlic. It is entirely possible. They look alike when they are young. The broccoli is putting out a little head and a couple of more my oncidium orchids are starting to bloom. Just in time, the orchid show is this week. I brought home some papaya seedlings to give my neighbor. They were seedlings from his papaya and he wants to replace his trees since they are getting too tall to pick.

[tdump]

Well from what everyone around home here is telling me I need to have my corn and taters in the ground any time from now till April first. So Monday I used my little tractor to lay off my first 4 rows in my large garden spot at the neighbors.
I got 1 125 foot row of Ambrosia corn planted today. Since I had sinus surgery feb 29, bending over is still not a real good idea. so I had to crawl Monday to put out a 125 foot row of onion sets.
When I planted the corn today I used a piece of aluminum tubing to drop the seed thru to the ground while standing straight up. Worked ok, I am slow regardless of the way I do something but this method worked well and kept me from getting dizzy and hurting my head!
In my large garden at the neighbors where this stuff is I put the rows 3.5 feet apart. I use a 1962 Springfield garden tractor that has a small hitch on the back for Brinley attachments . 3.5 feet apart in the rows gives me room to ride thru each row with the rear cultivator and saves my back and alot of walking and hoeing. I also have a 1963 Springfield 2 wheel garden tractor that I can cultivate with as well. I use it when my back is not hurting
I ordered my Red Bliss taters last week from Potatogarden.com and they got shipped today. So I will plant them as soon as I get them in the mail.

[B-T-S]

Got the plastic on Sunday after noon, then we had 30mph winds with 45mph gust on Tuesday and the plastic held on. We would have the side curtains on, but the company shorted us a couple hundred washers so we are waiting for them to send some to us. Hoping to get the plastic on the ends this Thursday.

[imafan26]

It was very windy today. I went to the community garden and the Pearl City garden to water and came home and watered my yard as well. It was very hazy, I could not really see the top of the Waianae's and I don't think it was raining. Everything is drying out in the wind and I had a few casualties in the pots that may not come back. I really need to weed my yard, but after making potato salad and getting a new battery for my camera, I am just not in the mood to do anything else today. My cats are still insisting on getting their foot rubs though.
My seeds came in from Pumpkin Nook. One of the packages of alyssum was leaking but otherwise the rest were intact. I am still waiting on seeds from Baker, Kitazawa, and the UH seed lab. I spent way too much on seeds again.

[jal_ut]

B-T-S some greenhouse!

Here cold but sunny after snowing all day yesterday. Guess I will water the two pots of tomatoes I am growing in the house and play on the computer.

[tdump]

Well I used the troybilt tiller and re-tilled up a section of garden here at home and planted a row and a half of Maestro sugar peas and some Indian corn and then some more of the Ambrosia corn . Rows in the gardens here at home are not but about 20 feet long. I used the metal tube trick again today to put out the seed and it saved my achy back.Only time I bent over was to pick up a dropped seed.
Now to figure out a way to keep the deer out of my peas. I put them in the garden nearest my dog lot thinking maby 2 barking mutts would help keep things scared away. I also think I will take them for a walk around the garden and maby that will "mark" the spot for critters to think twice.
I have some of that orange mesh stuff from a construction site I was thinking of driving a few post and put it up as a fence but that sure is going to look tacky.

[imafan26]

Today I went to work at the farm. It was harvest day so a lot of cleaning and weeding. Tied up another 100 tomatoes and pruned them. Somebody cut some of the trellis lines and I cannot reach the spool, so I did not tie those up. At home, I grow tomatoes in cages, it so labor intensive to have to prune tomatoes to a line trellis, but I only have 3 at home, not 700.

After work, I went shopping and barely got home in time to drop things off and load the car with the plants for the orchid show store. Tonight was our kick off dinner and I will be spending the next 3 days working the show. I am already tired. I have to get up early and make a salad. I picked some watercress at the garden today, so I have to clean it so I can put it in the salad. My gardening friends gave me won bok, and a papaya which I have to do something with very soon. I had to kick some seeds out of the fridge for a while to make room for the lettuce. My seeds from Kitazawa and tomato growers supply. I also got my camera battery just in time for the show. I am still waiting on Baker Seeds and UH. I just ordered the UH seeds. Kitazawa and tomato growers were fast by 2 day air.

[SPierce]

Even though it's supposed to snow tomorrow night, I planted some onion seeds, spinach, two types of lettuce, radishes and some carrots outside... I just needed to work in the dirt a bit, had a craving, so just went for it. All of them are coldish weather plants, and 30 or 65 day harvest times. So I figured that if they succeed they'll be ready as soon as I go to plant the rest of my stuff outside I keep telling myself I'm never going to use the garden boxes out back again (not enough sun during the Summer) but then realized the trees haven't filled in yet, so they get plenty of sun until that happens. It's an experiment I suppose.

[rainbowgardener]

Mowed the lawn for the first time this season! Since it is mostly weeds, it looks pretty raggedy grown out, but it's amazing how when you mow it, it looks just like a lawn again, very neat and crisp, with the edges all weed whacked. There's already a lot less grass than there was when we moved in.

[applestar]

= Lots of composting materials!

I need to turn my compost piles -- one of them was starting to smell like moldy orange peels-- but I wasn't up to it so poked a bunch of holes in it with the compost tool (the kind with wings, but mine is broken/rusted in closed position -- need to soak in oil or something....) and then left the lid of the bin off while it rained yesterday. But apparently that was enough to get it cooking again because the odor has dissipated and the temperature is up.

Got some mushroom compost and a bag of topsoil to put in my pallet-sided raised beds, which has sunk down considerably over the winter -- only half filled now and need to be re-plenished before I can plant... In hind sight, I should have grown some cover crops in it. Maybe I could just do that for now -- sow some cool weather ones like oats or rye. vetch.

Picked up something via craigslist. Still have to see if my idea will workout... but I think it will.

[digitS']

Gardening, almost.

What's it say about where we live that the first step into the open garden is to cover it up? With DW's help, I cleaned up the leaning framed path, drove stakes, and set pvc hoops over 2 garden beds, yesterday. Pulled a 32' by 20' sheet of plastic film over the hoops and tacked it down to the window and door frames. Installed the window and door and today, will move a cookie box of bok choy in there. That's here at home!

The temperature is supposed to climb above 60° for the first time in 2016, tomorrow! It was 19° yesterday morning and I rolled the 6mil plastic out on the lawn for the sun to warm before we stretched it above the beds. It was toasty warm in there in no time!

Today, I'll visit the mud of the little veggie and dahlia gardens. Need to know the path leading forward! Tiny seedlings demand it ... I figure there will be 4 or 5 days to get into the mud after next week's rain and before the month of March runs into April. Oops! We will be beyond, "almost spring!"

Steve

[SPierce]

I have spent most of this morning trying to keep a cat away from my seedlings. Augh!

[Mr green]

It was entertaining reading about what you all are up to in different parts of the world. I still have some snow and ice on my property, but it is making a good effort to finally leave. I have been cutting some different bushes. Trimmed my blueberry plants. Also I trimmed my gooseberries slightly. Been turning the compost, cleaning up the garden from all old sunflower canes and other old dead flower I have abundance of, and it grows out from some rocks, its wildsown so I let it produce compost for me.

Some garden patches close to the house is snowfree, ive been mulching them and remowed a few weeds.

Waiting for the garden plot to become snow free, so can temporarely remove the mulch layer in order to heat up the soil, so I can start some early planting of carrots, leaf lettuce, beets, parsnips and what else, these ones I safely sow before last frost date.

[SPierce]

My last two pepper plants are coming up, so now I'll have 9. Normally I don't have ANY sprout. I'm so happy and excited!

[HoneyBerry]

I'm getting ready to fertilize my rhodies and honey berries. Spring is a good time to do that. I'm going to use some compost from my compost pile this year. I weedeated the grass. It always looks so nice this time of year, very green. And then the rhodies and lilacs bloom in May for a show of color. The flowers don't last long but they sure look nice. My red lilac is the showiest. The dark purple lilacs are showy too, but everybody comments on that red rhody when it's in bloom. I want to plant a few seeds this year. Millet for one, for my bird. I'm going to pick up some Early Girl tomato starts at the farmer's market. Applestar is way ahead of my on the seed planting. I need to think a bit on what seeds to plant this year. I don't have much time this year so I need to be careful about what I plant.

[HoneyBerry]

I am planting some Fingerling Potatoes tomorrow. I hope I'm doing it right. I am not using any fungicide. They will probably end up with black scales on the skins. I'm not sure how to control that. Fingerling Potatoes are sooooooo good. I am excited about growing some this year.

[Mr green]

Today I have been sprinkling some woodashes around my garden to in time increase PH and increase soil fertillity.

I do like the red rhodies better than the common pink and purple ones! Maybe because those I see everywhere, the red ones feels more exotic!

[jasonvanorder]

Planted garlic a week ago Sunday and this weekend I'm hoping to get some onions in the ground and get my pepper seeds started indoors. We will see what gets done I'm sure my wife has a list of things to do also

[Gary350]

Today I have been sprinkling some woodashes around my garden to in time increase PH and increase soil fertillity.

I do like the red rhodies better than the common pink and purple ones! Maybe because those I see everywhere, the red ones feels more exotic!

Wood ash contains lots of lime. Save some for later to use on tomatoes, bell peppers and squash.

[Mr green]

Wood ash contains lots of lime. Save some for later to use on tomatoes, bell peppers and squash.

Yes I actually saved an good amount for just that! So most of my non food plants didnt get much or any at all.
A handfull in each pot is quite good!

[Gary350]

I tilled part of the garden today.

[ButterflyLady29]

Yesterday I planted eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos in pots in the greenhouse.