How is your garden doing in this wacky weather?

Never had any problems with it killing anything...I don't have a veggie garden so it's not an issue...

use it a lot in this garden...if anything seems things are growing bigger!

here's the ingredient list on the original
Soap (sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate and/or sodium palm kernelate), Water, Hydrogenated Tallow Acid (skin conditioner), Coconut Acid, Glycerin (skin conditioner), Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Pentasodium Pentetate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Titanium Dioxide, D&C Green No. 8, FD&C Green No. 3

Ah, I see! I need something more for my veggie garden to keep away squirrels and rabbits more than anything. I don't see too many deer in my part of town.. though I do have neighbors that say they see them occationally! They haven't made their way into my back yard yet, that I've noticed, but the rabbit and squirrels... sheesh, I think last year they were HORRIBLE here! Even remember telling my hubby "must be rabbit booming year.. instead of baby boom" LOL!

Robin... where did you find the seeds for those peppers? I'll have to see if I can track some down and buy some to try that out lol! That's really cool that your dad was able to keep them going strong every year! What's the largest size pot you'd need for the mini peppers when you bring them indoors?

I had to take my bird feeder down in the middle of the summer last year because the squirrels busted it up trying to get to the seeds, and I just haven't bought another one yet. It was just a cheapo $5 one we got at Weis, so I'm not too terribly heartbroken about it. I did enjoy sitting at my kitchen table looking out the window and watching the birds (and, I'll admit, even the squirrels lol!) eat from it though. My kids got a good kick out of it too... my daughter would sit there mesmerized every morning for a good hour just watching them eat and "talking" to them through the window LOL! Will definitely have to get another one, but hopefully find one thats better. I'd like to get a hummingbird feeder too and see if we can attract any hummingbirds!

I have seen a few birds out on the warmer days. I was actually surprised to see a rabbit hopping across my neighbors yard a couple weeks ago on a warm day. Don't think I've ever seen a rabbit out and about in the middle of January early Feb! I think this wacky winter has all life a little confused LOL!

Mrs. L, I got the seed for the mini peppers from Jung's, but don't know if they are selling them this year....the one I brought inside is in a 4" diameter plastic pot......

Do you remember what they are called? What type of pepper its called? I can do a google search and see if I can find any lol.

Gee, I'm sorry....have no idea...just that they were mini....plants & peppers both...

Mrs. L--

Are you talking about the little, red, ornamental peppers that are sold in 6" pots around the Holidays?
They are hotter than hot! Seems the smaller versions of anything are also more concentrated.

Haven't seen them since Bell took over--but we used to get them in every year--about 8-9 years ago.
Same time we got in the Calamondin Orange plants...Haven't seen them either....
We had$200 bubbling lava rock fountains with mist....and all kinds of neat plants.

Of course this was WAYYYYY back when we had different suppliers and I still "ran" the Greenhouse at my HD.
I used to get in all kinds of stuff! People remember--and they miss it.

We had a functioning Pond with a waterfall in the greenhouse and it had fish in it.
They tore it down one year--threw out all the slabs of Bluestone and filled that space with artificial,
potted Ficus Trees. UGH!

We still carry Pond supplies--but there is no one to attend to customers when they need some of these items.
It is like--self-service. What a loss of a potential money-making merchandise!!!!!

Gita

Now it seems to be --same old--same old........

Gita

Robin.. no worries hehe =)

Gita, I'm not sure. I've never heard of "mini" pepper plants before, until Robin had mentioned about them in an earlier post. I was curious about them because I hadn't heard of them before and it sounded like it was something that I could play around with a little lol! I like the "unusual" type of plants and flowers and things, so when I hear about something a little unusual or most people don't have in their gardens around here, I always make a note of it to one day get it and try it out LOL!

For 2 years I grew petite green peppers, they were great, about 2x2 inches, cute for stuffing too. I couldn't find them last year.

Debi.. are the peppers the only thing thats small with the petite green peppers, or is the plant much smaller than a regular pepper plant as well?

Mrs L.

Read that you like to have unusual things in you garden. I have many seeds for unusual plants--
like Daturas (2 kinds), red and white perennial, tall Hibiscus, and many more.
Take a look at my Trade List--except I do not, usually "trade" as I have no room in my development garden
for any new things.

Aside from seeds, I also grow 3 or 4 Brugmansias (my cuttings are now huge!), Pregnant Onion (I have starts available),
Climbing Onion (aka Sea Onion), Ric Rac cactus and two different Red Epis (the latter 3 bloom).
Also--the Wintersweet Shrub--which is blooming right now.

Take look and let me know. I share gladly--just for postage.

Holy and Ric will be hosting this spring's Plant Swap. They also live in PA. Don't know the town, off hand, but just go to
the Mid Atlantic where we are all getting ready for out Seed swap this Saturday, and you will find their names.

Gita

Gita

I did read a little about the plant/seed swap events being planned in the mid Atlantic forum, but everything I seen they were doing was a minimum of a 3 hour drive for me (closer to Harrisburgh area for the most part.... and I live closer to the Johnstown area). There's no way possible I'd be able to coax my hubby into going that far for a seed/plant swap LOL! It can be hard enough at time to get him to drive an hour away to go some place LOL!

I'll definitely check out your trade list, but I'll admit, I may not be able to contact you about anything until closer to spring, after I replant some bulbs I got last year, and see how much room I have left. Currently, I only have a small flower garden to work with, and this year we are putting in a raised garden bed for a veggie garden, since we found out last year that our soil is too bad to grow much of anything where I wanted a veggie garden LOL! I have a few projects like that in mind to split up over the course of the next 3-4 years, so for the time being, unless I find that my current flowerbed has enough room for additions, my main focus this year is the veggie garden lol.

Gita, the peppers were sweet, not hot....just like what Debi described.....

The pepper plants were normal size, just petite peppers :-)
hope to find them again.

ahh gotcha!

I believe the peppers your referring to are put out by 2 different companies. FERRY-MORSE & LIVINGSTON SEED CO. carry the sweet bell peppers variety pack. The plants are normal size but the peppers are smaller.

Took me a few to find them. ^_^
http://www.seedpackets.com/Ferry-Morse-Pepper-Seeds-Milligram-Packet/dp/B003V1WR9M?ie=UTF8&id=Ferry-Morse%20Pepper%20Seeds%20Milligram%20Packet&field_product_site_launch_date_utc=-1y&field_availability=-1&field_browse=3584572011&searchSize=12&searchNodeID=3584572011&searchPage=4&refinementHistory=brandtextbin%2Csubjectbin%2Ccolor_map%2Cprice%2Csize_name&searchRank=salesrank

Thanks pixie!!!

Actually, when it was mentioned "mini pepper plant" I was actually thinking the plant AND fruit were smaller than a regular pepper plant... possibly making it an easier/better option for indoor growing. Have been considering for a while now, trying to grow a couple veggies in pots indoors throughout the winter months (more as an experiment I guess, than anything) lol. My biggest concern with trying to do this, is knowing what size pot they would need.

Yes, the peppers I bought were small, but the plants themselves were mini.....that's why I never planted them in the garden...there were 3 originally, 2 died....the last one is down to 1 leaf....

You never planted them in the garden? What size pot did you use then? Would Miracle Grow garden soil in the pot work well, or should I use a specific kind of soil to try this out? I'd love to be able to grow fresh veggies indoors in the winter months if its possible LOL!

Finding the right pot size for things, to me, is about the most difficult part about indoor gardening lol.

The pot was plastic, 4" in diameter, used potting soil with Miracle Grow....I didn't expect the plant to produce peppers during the winter, I'm just trying to keep the plant alive until I can put it outdoors again.....

Mrs L, our finer supermarkets are selling packages of red, yellow and orange peppers. In addition, they are selling the same colors in peppers that are about 1/4 to 1/5 in size.

Planting the seeds extra early doesn't guarantee early harvest. When the package lists growth to harvest, it is usually after they have been hardened offf and planted outdoors. My general experience with veggies is that they like warm summer nights as well as nice, full sun. We have plants indoors under lights, but they never achieve the same spectrum of light in 12 hours that they get in 6 hours from the sun.

Robin... oh, so you basically keep them in the 4" diameter pots till its time to plant them outdoors? Or you just move the pot/plant outside in the spring without putting the plant actually in the ground?

cathy... Yeah, I stopped at walmart today and decided to browse the garden center there to see if they had any packages available yet. I picked up MOST of the veggie seeds I wanted for this year (only thing I didn't find was garlic, strawberries, and lima beans), which I'll keep my eyes out for what I didn't see out yet. I was planning to start the peppers on Monday, since the package said to start 8 weeks before last frost date. For whatever reason though, I have this feeling that it is still a touch too early to start those yet?

I don't have any grow lights in my house. I just have an indoor/outdoor mini greenhouse that I have set up in front of my livingroom window (best spot for most sunlight). Under that window, we have the type of heater that runs the length of the wall along the baseboard, so I figure, since the plastic covering for the little greenhouse doesn't go completely to the floor, between the heat coming from the base board heater, and indirect sunlight from the window, the plastic holding the heat in, it should provide ample amount of warmth and sunlight. Ya'll's thoughts?

Last year, what I did (before I had this indoor greenhouse) was (since I'm up usually all night anyway) I'd have all the plants sit on my kitchen table during the daylight hours, then at night, I'd turn on my oven on very low heat (lowest setting) and put the plants on the stovetop, providing them with a little "bottom heat" for 6-8 hours at night. It seemed to have worked out well for me. My plant's didn't die till after I put them in the ground... and that was mostly because, I realized how bad my soil is here. This spring though, we are going to be building a raised garden in hopes that it will fix that problem.

Last year, I had considered getting some grow lights and bottom heat pads to attempt some indoor growing throughout the winter, but, I just couldn't justify the costs to do it.

as long as it's indirect light on that greenhouse sounds like a great set up with having to use grow lights, direct sun would be too much for the little seedlings

Yes, I'll keep the pepper in its pot all summer...hopefully will remember to water....I've started seeds on top of the furnace....that's where this year's peppers got their start......

Looky looky!!!! these are from today

When I saw those blooms I was clapping my hands like a little kid...woo hoo, here comes spring!

Lucky girl! ^_^

That's great flow! I don't have anything blooming here yet... but I did notice *something* green growing in my one flowerbed the other day when I was getting my daughter off the school bus lol! Don't remember what all seeds I direct sowed out there though, so, not sure what it is! I know there was some cosmos there, and I think I did some snapdragon seeds there. But I don't recall the cosmo leaves looking like these, and the hollyhocks never sprouted for me. I tried starting some of them indoors but they sprouted then died (prolly overwatered), so decided to try direct sowing them outdoors, but they never sprouted there. So, not sure WHAT this is growing in my flower bed LOL! Next time I go out, I'll have to snap a pic and post it, see what ya'll think LOL!

I have poppies that have germinated during the winter...several in the garden now...and daffs up, but no crocus....I'm a wee bit jealous....

My pink heather has opened up....just a few blooms....when I stopped at the mall the other day, there was a huge heather ablaze in pink....

2 Weeks early
'Harmony' Reticulated Iris

and the 2nd pic was a total surprise...I had quite a few plants I never got around to planting this fall was hoping they would all make it thru, 'Winter Jasmine"(have no idea where I'm planting this yet

The reticulated iris has poked through the ground, so we'll have to do some raking tomorrow. It has a distinctive triangular blade leaf. Rhizomatous irises have been poking for a while (2-3 inches tall).

The tree peonies are showing their dark red growth. Daffs/narcissus have leaves about 4 inches long, but I'm betting they'll freeze and break off.

my early daffs in the rock garden area are up with buds. the rest are starting to poke through but are shorter.
Martha

I also have a reticulated iris blooming...first year for this one....

I was just raking a few leaves from the front garden where the daffodils are popping up. To my surprise one of the giant allium plants are begun its 2012 journey. About 2 inches high, the thick green leaves have red tips when they start out. The leaves are not attractive when the plant is in bloom, but the rosettes are pretty on the young plants.

Everything wants to wake up even though we're expecting some snow tomorrow.

The CT coast is only getting rain, Cathy...you should be OK.....3-5" here ...UGH!

Well, crocus are up and blooming, daffodils are up where they are supposed to be with buds and I was gifted with a half dozen pots of pink tulips from a display at the Boston Flower Show on Sunday. I just sank those into the soil in their pots down where my son is redoing the giant rock border. So, instant Spring! Weather nice and sunny, instant tulips, what else do you need?
Martha

My Clevand Pear Tree and Magnolia Tree are flowering, my daff's are also flowering, My Clematis's and Daylilies are growing like crazy. I have some iris starting to peek trough the ground, my peonies have started coming up. It's nice to see these flower's coming up, but it's a little scary

daffs are blooming here. I've been to afraid to uncover anything as it's only March.

Here's the temporary garden.
Martha