STARTING OUR SPRING GARDEN STAGE 4

Soil temp yesterday: 68F.

Last year it was 73F on April 1st, but it *has* been a colder March than December!

It was 54 degrees and snowing earlier this afternoon.Now, it's grey and dreary,with blue showing above the thunderclouds (but no thunder,so far). I planted some more seeds last night, and trying to get the energy to plant some more this evening. I think the cloudiness makes me tired. Or maybe it's the new baby. A red heeler/blue heeler cross, seven weeks old. Keeps me hopping. So far he's explored the greenhouse, but won't go near the chickens. He chases the cat and herds the other dog where he wants him to go. He sure is a nipper... but, I guess, hence, "heeler". I think I've gone back in time when my children were toddlers, 'cause I find myself putting toys away in the evening. He's an angel when he's asleep, lol.

My onions are starting to make a bulb.
Cucumbers are making little fruits.
Tomatoes are full of bloom and getting stronger
Fennel is almost ready to harvest

yummy !!

I am still eating a lot of lettuce ... I need to keep harvesting before it will get too large and bolt.

Solace, that sure is one cute "baby". We had a red heeler--one of the rarer smaller varieties. She was supposed to be my younger son's dog but she was so full of energy I was the one who walked her for over three miles each morning before work and usally another three miles before bed each night. YS played and walked her after school. A friend did some extensive research on types of heelers after a trip to Australia and told me that she would have been used to bring cattle in from outlying areas and would have been expected to trot for miles in very hot and dusty conditions without a break. I believe it. That dog never even started to pant unless I took her for the longer hikes on the weekends. All that exercise must have done her some good though, as she lived to be 20 years old. When we moved down here our vet couldn't believe she was that old until I found a file with all her shots records, etc. She was really smart, too.

Nola, windy and rainy with thunder and lightning here today. I'm trying to get a rose hedge going around the veggie part of my garden to help some with the almost constant winter/spring winds we get here at my place. They really tear up the young plants. The climbing roses looks like they are starting to come into their own. But something is chewing away at my Stanwell Perpetuals. I'm going to have to figure that out as I can see that that "something" will be moving on to the veggie garden if they get bored with ringing rose canes.

drthor, that fennel looks good. Do you use it in salads or cook with it? I've seen recipes calling for fennel but I don't recall eating it in anything other than a carrot/fennel salad I used to be fond of as a child.

Gymgirl, oooo I forgot about my okra seeds. Thanks for reminding me. My memory bank seems to be getting too crowded lately. It seems I have to write what I want to plant when on the calendar and then pull out the seeds at night and line them up on my kitchen counter. Otherwise I forget to get them started when I want. Thanks for reminding me about the okra.

I need to write peanuts on my calendar, too. I tried growing them last year and had marginal success. I need more experience so this year can only be better! There seems to be varieties that do specifically better in one region of growing conditions and soils over another. I'm trying to find the right one or two varieties that will do consistently well in my garden. And then just plain learn how to grow them LOL! This year I'm trying out Schronce's Deep Black peanut and Texas Red and White peanut.

Rainstorm last night. Pulled the protective plastic over the tomatoes. They were expecting hail...

The last two hits of rain have sent my tomatoes skyrocketing! Can't wait to check them out today!

terri_emory
I love Fennel. Last year I was gone too much and I missed my Fennel planting date ... I just have a few of them that made it.
You can eat Fennel raw. Just cut in very thin slices or you can make Fennel soup, saute, stir-fry ... also Fennel (similar to Dill) go so well with fish.

I just checked my garden pictures of 03 April in 2011 and 2012. My garden was full of flowers/ Also my tomato plants were already loaded with green tomatoes.
This year we are behind. It has been much cooler ... flowers will bloom soon and tomatoes will also start to produce ... maybe this year we will have a nice cool summer ... maybe?

HAH!

You wish! A nice, cool summer????? In Texas?????


LOLOLOL!


sorry. I got carried away.....

More likely to just be extended longer into the fall than cooler, like it has been doing last few years. plan a 2nd summer garden?

2nd summer garden....you betcha! I've been getting more and more into that.

Thanks, drthor. I think I'll start experimenting with it. I saw some fennel in the grocery store the other day. Probably not as good as home grown but should be good enough just to see if we like it....

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1145889/?hl=growing+fennel#new
terri_emory this is the thread I started a while ago during my learning experience on how to grow Fennel in our area.
It does grow really well ... it just needs to be seeded at the right time.

Thank you ☺

Greets: man, I have missed a LOT! Still a slow starter on my veggies, but this year was earlier than last. Enjoying the thread very much. Nice work, everybody.

A.

I was wondering where you went to....

She was "barrister-ing"... LOL!

It was COLD this last night and this morning! Into the mid-40s. I turned on the heater!

Ya'll know several of us have been pushing the weather envelope, right? Well, my BEETS, MUSTARD GREENS, CARROTS, and CABBAGES, are doing wonderfully well! I had almost decided to rip 'em last weekend, but, because ya'll were talking about a cold front, I let them be. Soon as the chill came through, they started growing faster.

I'm contemplating sowing seeds for more of the above, to see how far I can take them in a shady, breezy spot in my yard, between now and the end of July. If I cover them with the tulle (which, BTW, is doing a FINE job of keeping moths off of the bell peppers that have been hardening off), and spray them, periodically with some Bt, I might manage to keep the buggies at bay.

The breeze could be handy for keeping the air flowing through the plants, even though it will be relatively warm air.

What do ya'll think? Go for it? No? Too late?

Lemme know.

P.S. Does anyone use Microlife in their RBs? I have a 40 lb. bag that I bought to try out. I mixed it into the tomato bed as recommended, but wanted to get some feedback from a real live user. Please lemme know how it works for you.

Thanks!

Linda

This weather is a buzzkill! We're finally gonna get a warmup this weekend - yay! It's been so cold - it was in the mid-low 20's when I got up yesterday!

Got my tomatoes out into my Wall-O-Waters last weekend and they're safe and snug. I'm gonna set up some for my peppers this weekend and get them out of the house. I need some room to start cukes. My kale, brocolli, lettuce and peas seeded outside are FINALLY starting to come up but I'm worried about them cause I have a feeling that next month at this time it's gonna be in the 90's.

I'm a soft cast and the weeds are taking over my flower beds. I was able to stand there and cut down alot of the grasses and other dead stuff from last season (I leave it up over winter for the birds and then cut it in spring for nesting material) but now I can't get in there and pick it up and dispose of it. My DH has no interest in gardening so I'm considering hiring a neighborhood kid to do it.

I'm so tired of this bi-polar weather! I need to get my stuff planted, but it's been so dang cold that I'm afraid to put anything else out. My tomatoes are hanging in there. They're still green, so that's a plus!

Like I said...my winter veggie hold outs are VERY happy!

Uh, Microlife?

We have a lovely looking forecast ahead of us for the next week, and my 'mater transplants are about the right size to go outside soon. Another week or two and the soil temp will probably be high enough with a warm forecast. I hope.

I'm guessing this:

http://microlifefertilizer.com/

It seems to be a product line with organic liquid or granular fertilizers, and multi-purpose innoculents.

"... with a very comprehensive grouping of positive soil/plant microorganisms."
...
"47 strains of beneficial bacteria and fungi including Streptomyces, Trichoderma, Pseusomonas, Gliocaldium and a extensive variety of Bacillus "

I'm not affiliated with them. And haven't tried their products.

I do push screened pine bark, Bok Choy and Chinese cabbage at every opportunity, but I don't know much about organic fertilizers other than my own compost heap.

HA! Stephanie "bi-polar weather!" I laughed out loud. Thanks.

A.

I am the "fearless" gardener. I have everything transplanted out apart okra and watermelon.
So far so good.

I am still harvesting a lot of Lettuce ans Swiss Chard.
I think my skin is turning "green".

I am tempted to order some of Dixondale LEEKS, am I still in time to plant them now?
or will they flower during our hot TX summer?

I have zero experience with leeks.

Theyb would have been better when planted with onions, they like the cooler days, but you can plant them now... I prefer flavor in my onion veggies and these are usually too mildly iffy for me...

Some of my onions have started sending up flower stalks! Eeek! I've been cutting them off. I don't remember my onions doing this in previous years.

Stephanie, I, too, chuckled when I saw "bi-polar weather". Describes it exactly!

As to the onions sending up flower stalks - I seem to remember someone on DG saying that if onions stop and then start again they think they've gone through a growing cycle already.

I have onions that are sending up flower stalks, but they are onions that were left in the ground from last year. I'm hoping they will set viable seed and self-sow for next year.

I planted some onions on purpose last year that someone brought over when they were cooking. I don't eat onions! I figured since they were alliums . . . ... And they had lovely white blooms and the bees loved 'em. :D

stephanietx
I also found maybe just a couple of flower buds in my onions.
I did remove them right away.

Set out long beans (thanks, Drthor!), more tomatoes, okra, and a couple of squash today, along with seeding a few shaded containers with microgreens/arugula.

I had a rotten day to start. I run online communities for work, like this one, but with not nearly as many nice people, and people were just awful to me today.

But then! I went to a street fair, and one of my favorite local garden gurus recognized me as "Our Compost Girl!" and gave me a hug and a t-shirt. Plus, a box of ladybugs arrived, and the kiddos and I let them loose this evening. Plus, my peppers put their heads up finally, and some ramps I potted up, and a garden show tomorrow. So all's well that ends well in the dirt!

drther, I have leeks in my raised beds, that were planted last year. Due to unforeseen promblems was not able to harvest last year. They have doubled in size and even grew little ones.

My plants are so much smaller this year due to the cold weather. It was freezing here Friday AM. I also direct seeded some squash and cukes but they too are taking longer then usual to sprout. I sowed some radish seeds and have beet seeds soaking (going to sow tomorrow). But I looked at the temps for next week and they are forecast to be lower then this week. I usually don't do beets this late but when I saw the forecast I thought I'd give it a try.

I'm going to try tulle also, if nothing else, to keep the pea fowl from messing with my plants. First they broke a couple of tomato transplants by knocking a pot over. Now they got in the upper garden and messed with the transplants in the garden. They did this to some onions I have in containers but they stopped after a day or two. This is the first year I've ever had problems with them, I don't know what the difference is. I want to find something to stop them before I plant out much more. Once the plants get big it won't be a problem. Still haven't started my Roselle, I usually start them in 4" pots at the end of Feb. but it's been too cold.

Txtea
thanks for the info. I did order some from Dixondale.

HA! The air conditioning came on in the house today!!!

Whether that is a good thing or not, I can't say, but at least I can tell there's a change in the air.

Hope everybody's enjoying the same.

A.

My A/C will be on today and the heat tomorrow.

It's snowing, here. Getting down in the mid 20s at night. Enjoy your air conditioning (must be nice, said the envious gardener here); our air conditioning is pretty chilly. Glad I didn't set out my seedlings... more on that in the Rocky Mountain gardening forum. Aargh.

Cucumbers are making fruit and Eggplants flowers ...
ohhh I hope I will not lose everything this week ...
Okra is ready to be planted ... maybe on the 20th ... Still harvesting lot of greens and green onions.

I haven't set my seedlings out either. What's the point if I have to keep bringing them in?

AC is on full-blast in our house today, and it looks like nasty weather ahead for those of us in the Gulf. I'm heading to Cali for work for a few days, so I hope everything's still here when I get back!