This has been such a cold and wet winter! My 3rd planting of spinach, lettuce and sugar snap peas have FINALLY sprouted-but just barely. And I keep checking my asparagus...no new growth yet! It's so frustrating! I was so careful over the winter to cut down the ferns, spread composted manure and mulch the plants and I just fertilized last week. This is the 2nd spring for them...maybe they're still asleep like everything else? Any thoughts?
Are anybody's spring veggies as slow to grow as mine?
You said it. Cold and wet and cloudy. I can't stand it either. The only thing prospering around here is the onions.
Here, too... my peas all popped up, but the beans (which I planted on the same day), are FINALLY beginning to sprout (they should have been up 2 weeks ago)... still no tomato or melon sprouts, but I think I was too optimistic to think trying to sprout them in February was going to work.
And we had FREEZING temperatures last night... the last freeze is usually in February.
I just planted Asparagus for the first time about a month ago... waiting to see something peek out of the furrows, but nothing yet.
The potatoes ARE starting to peek out, and the brussels sprouts that have been doing nothing for three months are finally starting to show some mettle. (yes, I can grow all year long... at least theoretically!)
It's certainly been a frustrating spring...
Glad I'm not the only one. I go out everyday and check to see if my asparagus are peeking out yet-no luck so far even with a 5 day stretch of 60+ degree temps. I gave up on brussel sprouts-they take too darn long to grow!
Brussel Sprouts do take a long time about 108 days or more but after that they keep coming and you pick then from the bottom up. Can't beat ther fresh off the stalk flavor though...
Guess that means I should quit checking my asparagus for a few weeks. since I'm about zone 6b. :(
My strawberries are starting to leaf out, though, so that's encouraging. Haven't planted any seeds outside, yet. Everything is inside in seed trays.
and we are still here with snow on the ground. LOL
The only thing doing well here are the weeds! I'm so tired of the cold, wet, cloudy days. We've had a few teaser good days, though, so I have hope that "normal" weather will return soon!
Everything is taking longer here too (except the weeds). We have had the worst winter in over 20 years, cold, cloudy and rainy, then 80 degrees, then cold again.
I think all the wet, cold weather did was fertilize the weeds and make them propagate like rabbits! I've had more weeds this year than in any of the years previous.
Boy just my luck I guess, my first year growing veggies and this weather just does not cooperate. I really hope it pays off at the end though. I am wondering something, since the cold weather is lingering longer than usual, does that mean the heat of the summer will last longer as well? Just wondering.
After witnessing the crazy weather that has been going on here for the past 10 months, I'd say anything is possible.
About the only defense I can think of is steady succession planting and using anything I can think of for extending the seasons. Last year after June it seemed I was always out of sync with the weather and the insects. I'm going to try some shade cloth for the first time.
Without shade cloth I would not have a summer garden as my veggie beds are in full on Arizona sun. It's been consistently in the 80s here, so by the end of the month I may need to put up the shade. The plants will tell me when it's time - lol...
Edited because I can't spell worth a darn today!
This message was edited Mar 19, 2010 9:50 AM
This message was edited Mar 19, 2010 9:50 AM
Kelly I am sure I've told you before, but I absolutely love your set up it just looks so organized. Now is this in your backyard or on your fron lawn, I love the privacy fence you have it definetely beats mine.
Also living in Arizona, I am wondering, do many people grow grass there? I absolutely would imagine it would be a waste of money, but also wonder if it even can grow there with you extreme temps.
The veggie garden is in the backyard. As you can see in the pic, the block wall is missing the top row. Two days before this pic was taken we had a freaky microburst and 60+mph winds that took out about a 40' section of that wall. It was crazy. The wall is 6' tall - definite privacy and I love it, except it adds seriously to the heat island effect. I plan to grow things on it to help with the heat problem.
Believe it or not, people do grow grass here. The problem is that the one grass that does best in our heat is Bermuda! The devil of all grasses - lol. I personally do not have a lawn. It is a lot of work and $$ to maintain it in the heat. And the Bermuda is dormant in the winter so you have to overseed with rye grass or something similar. I have better things to do with my time and $$ than maintain a lawn like that - lol. Though I do plan to do a small area outside the back patio, mainly for the doggies and to keep them from tracking in so much dang dirt. Probably will plant something like dichondra that can take a little traffic but isn't invasive.
Man, we've got 4 inches of snow on the ground with 5 to 9 more expected overnight. I had my wife start knitting little snow suits for the sweet corn I planted that's about an inch tall, but after 13,877 of em she said "to heck with this!" :)
My veggies are slow to grow because it's freezing again and we've got snow flurries. What happened to today being the first day of spring???
The leading edge of the front hit here about 2 hours ago. It will rain til it can't and then the cold. As for spring...I heard a loud car go by and it was Mother Nature waving her middle finger as she hurried NE toward Carminator's house.
Twiggy, I think I saw mother nature pass by my house today waving her middle finger here as well, we are expecting a cold blast tomorrow as well and more rain, I guess I'll have to bring out the litlle blankets out again.
And the experts said we are entering the global warming era, well it sure does not feel like warming to me, maybe the glacier era is more like it.
Woke to a light dusting of snow this morning and 29º. This could be why my veggies and flowers are slow to get going.
Maybe. But it'll be alright...
All my plantings are way behind. Onion plants I set out 6 weeks ago don't look like they've grown at all. I put in a few 6-packs of Bonnie lettuce to get a head start on eating fresh and they are just sitting there after a month under a covered grow tunnel. Maybe now that it's officially Spring, everything will take off and grow. Gotta have hope.
Stephanie I feel so bad for you, you guys are definetely having the strangest weather, let hope that this will be the last.
roseone, I feel the same, it's been a month since I've had any veggies from my garden and missing it already, I really hate having to go to the store to buy veggies. I think I have to get better at this succession planting as well since I had tons of lettuce and arugula growing all at once in my garden and then nothing. There is a really good book I am reading called the substainable vegetable garden, that deals with this concept as well.
lol - I'm cleaning up on radishes... Normally they would have started bolting weeks ago, but this year their season has been about twice as long as it should be...
I just took this about an hour ago. Iceberg lettuce anyone? LOL
Oh no! We covered our lettuce just in case we got the heavier snows predicted for just north of here. What a bummer for you!
I went out this morning and I'm hoping that the radishes that have come up survive. Some looked rather wilted.
ImaTulsa, I am so sorry, I am wondering if you were to place some warm water in the lettuce bed it might not be too late, I did that wit some of my veggies this winter when I forgot to cover them, I had a horrible frost but I was able to save a lot of it by placing war water on top of my lettuces and oher veggies.