How is your garden doing in this wacky weather?

As this "winter" cannot decide if it is actually going to be a season, what effect is it having on your garden? I have no snow cover, the warm spells have encouraged growth on some shrubs, and I don't know about a number of perennials. What's up at your garden?
Martha

Same here except shrubs are holding their own but early crocus and mini daffs are peeking up.

I don't think my plants are liking this no snow cover and -11 one day and less than 36 hours later up to 40. I am expecting to see some corpse when spring gets here. :(

Dont give up on plants pixie.They are pretty smart.They dont join Polar Swimming clubs in order to undress and plunge in 10* weather after all.

Nope, but they are used to a little winter blanket at least! LOL

I agree they like the insulation and to hide from rabbits.

No bulbs are up here, but I do have some tender perennials like agapanthus that I'm afraid will not make it without the snow.....my blue one has been in the ground for several years, but the white was planted only this summer...

I think I lost a hydrangea that I planted late this last summer. It doesn't look too good. The hollies and the dwarf alberta spruce I put in seem to be OK.
Martha

gardenmart! what ailes the hydrangea?

New hollies are fine at my house, well enough mulched. But the three year-old hellebores in one area are looking very scortched. The wind blows the straw off that section and there's more sun there than in past years.The wind also has exposed a lot of the newer peonies, and then inquiring animals seem to dig even more, so some roots need periodic covering. Unlike years when it is colder, the rhodie's are looking better than ever, with big promising buds. My evergreen magnolias are very perky with little protection, and the Virginiana kept its leaves. This seems to mean they think they're still in the South.

Soil is still frozen here.....my hellebores look grungy right now, too, but new leaves will be coming soon......

I dug 2 big Ginger plants and tossed them in "no mans land" and filled the holes with soil and compost,ready for Poppy plants comming in April.
I am not positive because I cant believe it but there are robins on the lawn. We have the winter flocks but they just hangout in trees with dried fruit.
These four are hoppers. They would be a month early.

Wow.....hope they are migrants....they would be forecasting an early spring.....

Very soon the daffodils will be in bloom and then when it gets cold again, the frozen blooms will break off and wonder what happened.

Popping in here from the Mid Atlantic Forum....

The weather is insane here!!!! We have not really had a winter so far.
Oh--there have been a few, isolated days of deep frost, and then it is back to temperate temperatures.
Cold..cold.. in the house! But-even if it has been cold--the days have been bright and sunny.

yesterday--1/31--we hit 65*. Today--2/1--we were closer to 70*--but just shortly. Then it it cooled down to 40*.
It is like waiting for the other show to drop....We are all used to this here.........

My bulbs are all up about 3"--even have a Red Day Lily sprouting strongly.
My Roses are showing signs of new growth buds--and I pruned them all back yesterday.
Also pruned down my Butterfly Bushes....They both had new leaf-growth on them that never went away.
t has been, like, shirt sleeve weather...

The grass here has never really gone dormant. it is just so-so- green...still.
My Hydrangea is showing fat, new growth buds. etc,,,,etc,,,,,etc,,,,

My Wintersweet Shrub started blooming in late December....still at it....

I am perfectly OK with not having a "real" winter. it is just that the weather here can be VERY unpredictable.
And--it CAN ruin the garden plants if this continues.....

Gita

Whoa....you are having an early spring!

I heard the cherry trees were trying to blossom no in DC because of this craziness. I too am concerned for roses and such who like the snow cover, we have had none to very little this year.

with all the rain we've had, I've probably lost stuff to the wet.

Yeah, this winter has definitely been a very wierd one. I live up on a mountain in central PA and usually we are covered with atleast 3-4 inches of snow all winter long from, atLEAST late November through march (and soemtimes even april), but this year, we've had very little snow comparitively. We've had maybe 2 good snowstorms come through, one ice storm, and off and on flurries, but nothing major like we normally get. We've got more rain this winter than we have snow! It makes me wonder just how our spring/summer is going to start looking for us this year. I pulled up all my bulbs last year and brought them in for the winter, now, I'm wondering, if I had left them alone, if they would have still been ok all winter long! Such a wierd winter weather we've had lately. I'm now thinking about the things I want to grow this year in the garden, and wondering how accuate our "last frost date" is going to be with the odd weather we've already been having all year. Just not sure when would be the best time to get out there and put my bulbs back in, and start my veggie/herb garden. I know it's still too soon now, but, just not sure if it will still be too soon come late april LOL! When do you all plan to get out there and start some seeds and things?

I've already started some seeds indoors, such as annual scabious, annual phlox, peppers....I will plant cold hardy seeds like poppies outside around the middle of April, tender annuals the middle of May.....what kind of bulbs did you dig up?

You already started your peppers? I thought it would be too early to start peppers yet? Hm, wonder what else I can start now LOL!

I dug up my calla lily bulbs and canna bulbs. THink theres another bulb I dug up too, but now I cant think what it is LOL! Been battling a migraine today, so, not really thinking very straight right now.

http://carolynsshadegardens.com/2012/02/03/carolyns-shade-gardens-goes-international/

This post about snowdrops in bloom now is from a blog I've been following. Might be of interest to someone. I'd love to go to some of their events but Philadelphia area is too far for me in winter.

Wow...I'll never look at a snowdrop in the same way again....had no idea there were so many cultivars.....I've never grown any, usually because they're covered with snow at this time of year....of course, this would have been the perfect winter for them! Mrs L, yes I started my peppers now because I don't have grow lights...just grow them in front of sliding glass doors in the basement, & it takes awhile before they get to be garden-sized.....

I don't have grow lights either. When I started my peppers last year I just put them on my kitchen table in the sun and they took off real fast. Maybe I'll start my peppers next week (cuz I've been itching to do something anyway lol) and see what happens. Do you get an earlier harvest starting them this early?

This message was edited Feb 5, 2012 6:26 PM

Camellias are starting to bloom,so are cyclamen and violets.

I told my wife about people on this thread seeing daffodils sprout in midwinter, and that I was glad ours hadn't. She said I evidently hadn't looked at the plot north of our driveway...Sure enough, we're now included in the daffy weather crew!

Mrs. L, last year I started mini peppers.....never got large enough to plant in the garden, so I kept them in pots....had a few peppers in late Sept. ....then I brought them in the house for the winter....1 out of 3 is still alive, but barely....

Lol wow, never even knew there was a such thing as a mini pepper lol! How big do the plants grow? You said they are still alive but barely... so would you say they wouldn't make a good indoor plant?

lots of bulb foliage popping up here...I need to keep spraying for rabbits though, they do like to munch on all that new foliage

Jen,

What do you use to spray for rabbits? They are my main pest as well...

Do you spray ON the olant? Around the plant? or around the whole bed--with
"Liquid Fence"----or???? Maybe you have a home made concoction. What works???

Thanks, Gita

LOL I'd be interested in this as well... rabbit AND squirrel repellant. Lil stinkers ate the few crops I was able to grow last year... including my strawberries! LOL!

I change it up since they say they get used to the smell..... I rotate these products Liquid Fence, Irish Spring soap, garlic and Deer Scram. apply again esp after heavy rains every 3 months or so. Seems to help as long as you keep on top of it

I agree with Jen I use Liquid fence and Repellsall every 3 weeks in rotation. I started last week spraying the whole garden ground and emerging spring bulbs to keep deer out. Rabbits too.
I used Deeroff but its way too expensive when the other 2 products are just as effective.

so do you only apply the irish spring soap to the ground as a barrier around your garden, or can/do you apply it to the plants themselves?

I'm actually planning to plant some garlic this year... do you think between doing that and spraying irish spring soap, that would be enough to help repel them? Or do you think they would still get too used to the garlic smell? Are there any plants you shouldn't spray irish spring soap around/on?

I read somewhere last year that lemon juice can also help repel squirrels. I tried it but it didn't really seem to help, unless of course, I just didnt use enough of it LOL! I initially tried it on our bird feeder to try to get the squirrels to stop eating all the bird feed and leave some for the birds LOL!

Jen--

I also had a question re the Ir. Spr. soap. How do you use it?
You do not lay bars of soap all over the garden--do you? Do you make a solution of some kind>
Do you, perhaps, flake it with a peeler? How????

Also--how do you apply the garlic? In cloves? crushed? sliced? How????

Here is a site that is very useful. It always takes me forever to find it in my Bookmarks....

http://www.ghorganics.com/page6.html#Rabbits

Hope it helps someone........You will see where "they" suggest mixing an egg in a gallon of water
and spraying it all around--even ON the plants. Safe and organic.....:o)

Gita

I break up the soap using a knife and just scatter the chunks thru-out the garden, the liquid fence or deer scram gets sprayed around perimeter
I chop up garlic cloves without peeling them(most of time I do it when I get down to the last few cloves on of the bulb or end of the jar of minced garlic) this also just gets scattered thru out

I don't know that I would try the egg solution. Ive read on several websites that eggs could actually do more harm than good with a lot of plants. I could be wrong though.

Mrs. L, my mini pepper plants matured at about 8"....I remember my Dad wintering over regular pepper plants in the cellar....he's get at least one to live for several years, & produce peppers.....I'm hoping this one that's left will hang on until May.....My son's FIL lives out in the country....he just places bars of Irish Spring here & there around the perimeter of the garden....better keeping away deer than rabbits....

Thanks, Jen----

Will the soap, in any way, damage plants or veggies growing in the beds? Like--leaching into the soil?

I am sick and tired of having to put up this green, plastic fencing all around each bed just so the rabbits will not enter.

Guess what? They chew out a perfect little "door" so they can come and go anyways.
I never find these until fall--when I remove all this fencing. Then--I have to mend it, again, with smaller
pieces of this plastic fencing using the green wire, plant ties as "thread".....

Squirrels do not do any serious plant damage here--except in the winter, when they eat up all the bird seed.
I know they dig holes everywhere to bury the nuts and acorns. That is just their way!
I really do not think they ever find them again....:o)
I HAVE seen a bunch of Oaks sprouting , though, from these buried acorns. YANK! Gone!

Off this topic a bit-----I have NOT seen any birds at my Bird Feeder yet! SOOOOO strange!
It has been up for 3 weeks already--under my high Patio roof, where i always keep it. safe from squirrels!

We have been hashing this in the MAF--that so few birds have been visiting the feeders. I am not the only one!
T'is a Mystery I tell you!! However--maybe this warm winter will save me a lot of $$$ because of it.

Gita

Not many at my feeder either, but I've noticed a hawk around a few times....