SPRING GARDENS thread!

Well it's definitely frosty here. Another chilly morning tomorrow and then it looks like we are done with the cold weather. Hopefully!

We too in NE Mississippi. I am sick of the cold (and we got approximately 6" of rain from those two fronts that came through last week). I had to move about 3 dozen plumeria, 4 dozen tomato and pepper plants into my porch yesterday and about 100 (total) bromeliad, fiddle leaf ficus, and staghorn ferns back into their greenhouse. I will rest up today, it is still going to be pretty cold here, but tomorrow I will begin the chore of (really) putting my tropical plants and vegetables out. I will end up with approximately 150 bromeliad, 75 fiddle leaf ficus, 100 staghorn ferns, and at least 100 orchids outside, under oak/cedar trees. That's where they will all stay until October. The plumeria will either go into the landscape or into large pots.

Ken

Well, it froze here this morning and yesterday morning...just enough to kill my friends' gardens, they didnt realize how cold it was supposed to get. I have sowed some seeds and they are bringing to germinate but my tomato and pepper plants are still waiting to go out. It's too windy to cover them, if there is a freeze. I planted out later then this last yr and it was one of the best seasons I've had in the 20 yrs I've lived here. I'm wondering if this is the last freeze of the season?

I put my tomatoes inside Monday night, but left them out Tuesday night. The low in my area was 34 Tuesday morning but warmer at 40 degrees today. I had no problem with frost.

Wow, klrkkr! What a busy day.

We froze two nights in a row. I did cover the sweet potatoes but they didn't make it anyway. I'll leave them in the ground just in case they come back but not much hope on my part really. I drive past several fields of sweet potatoes on my way to work. They were all at least partly planted out and they lost whatever was planted from the looks of it. These guys are commercial growers with specialized equipment and all. I don't know if the long term weather forecast was off or if they had crews scheduled in and decided to take a chance or what. I based my decision to plant the sweet potatoes based on watching their crews plant out that whole week driving into work. I figured they knew more than I do. I'll just replant when we get back from vacation.

My cannas look pretty sad and the figs got frosted back but I think they will come back fine. All the roses look fine, they love this kind of stuff. And the radishes are really tasting great after this latest frost cycle.

Kind of worried about my two desert willows. They were just budding out and the frost just killed back those leaflets. Gosh, I like those trees. Hope they are OK.

Well, today I start putting my tropical plants out (again!). I am just glad that I previously only put about 1/4 of what normally goes out. That was plenty to bring back in. I will again start with the more cold-hardy of the tropical plants, the plumeria, staghorn ferns, ficus, rubber trees, tillandsia, and bromeliads. Of course the vegetable will all go out. My chives and onions all stayed out and they look fine. They thrive in cold/cool weather though. My orchids will be the last to go out and I will put some 200 out (everything except my "baby" ones). Other than the vegetables and plumeria, all the other plants will go under/in my oak and cedar trees.

What's a desert willow, Terri? Post a picture if you have one. My canna and ginger had just started coming up and they look fine. In fact, I just mailed out 6 rhizomes of the "White Butterfly' ginger, and those rhizomes looked plump and healthy. I think my Irish and sweet potatoes came through OK. The garlic, like the onions, look great. My asparagus looks unfazed as well. All those vegetables are in my raised garden.

Ken

Klrkkr, desert willow, Chilopsis linearis. Mine are little babies, this will be their second year so I don't really have an photos of them yet. But here is a link to a nursery that carries them. They have nice photos: http://www.soonerplantfarm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.kwsearchpost/variety/Chilopsis/index.htm

Even though last year was the first year I had them they bloomed and bloomed for me starting maybe in June or July if I remember correctly. And the bees and hummers loved them.

Well, tomatoes and peppers are in the ground, along with assorted other plants that have been waiting. Hopefully next week doesn't turn to ice again!

Names can really fool you. The desert willow is not a willow, not even similar to a willow. It only has willow-like leaves. The shrub/tree is related to the Begonia genera. I saw that there are several of these Chilopsis varieties. When your plant matures, I bet those flowers will be gorgeous!

Ken

I need a comparison between the onions I am growing this year and somebody else onions in my area.
This year I follow the suggestion of a friend and I transplanted the Dixondale onions in mid December, which is at least one month earlier that I normally do.
At the beginning I thought I did a mistake, because they onions just seat there under ice, snow and cold.
But lately they have started to make huge bulbs.
Can anybody compare their onions to mine?
Are they big or it is just my imagination?
They are much bigger than the ones I planted in the past 2 years ... but I am not an onion expert !

Terri - those desert willow are pretty, aren't they? They're used a lot in the landscaping around here.. I'll snag some seeds eventually :)

Glad to hear that for the most part, everyone's gardens are still okay despite the late frost! I was so depressed I hadn't planted my tomatoes out yet, then the cold weather came and I was so relieved I hadn't! Gardening is NOT for the faint of heart! Lol! Any who, got all 32 of them out, and they are still so small, but I planted them right up to their chinny chin chins and hopefully they'll be happy and grow for mama! My Captain Lucky and Oxheart Pineapple seedlings didn't look so good, so I decided not to use them and ended up planting 19 varieties instead of the 21 I had planned on. Next question is, does anyone grow any quick to harvest crops between their tomato plants while waiting for the tomatoes to get bigger? I was considering soybeans but figured I'd ask around a bit first :)

My tomatoes, chili, cukes and guardian flowers (marigold) are all still indoors. The seed warming boxes and grow lights we built have worked really well. Direct sown lettuces, spinach and peas are up outside. I really need to construct the boxes for my raised beds pretty soon! That, and I think I'm going to sew some bags for my potatoes.
This is my first year starting my tomatoes from seed, so it's my first year growing 13 varieties, 'though two haven't declared yet. I'm really looking forward to this year.

Is anybody growing onions in my area to compare with me?

drthor ; You might ask here ;

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/region_tx/all/

Still at greens here .. buds on trees today ,

A little garden temptation.

13Turtles - how hot do your summers get? I ask this because I feel I'm so behind compared to lots of folks in Texas. But I see you're in just the next zone above me (I'm 7b and you're 8a) and looking at what you're doing, I'm right on track. I just direct seeded all my corn, squash, and transplanted my tomatoes. But indoors, I'm still nursing along some various peppers and herbs under lights. I need to get them outside to harden off, keep forgetting!

Drthor, sorry I can't help you out on the onions. If you ask me, they look wonderful! I don't grow them though..

Nicole, your pics are motivating! I can't wait til all my beds are planted and I have little veggies growing!

Hi Becky ~ our summers get to or into the 90s for about one week of the summer; for the other two months it's more like mid 80s, which to me is perfection. You might not want to judge by me though because I am new to this zone and hadn't gardened for 15 years prior to moving here from Boston. But where you are does sound right on to me.
My tomato-ettes are just starting to get true leaves, nowhere near planting out yet. And we have not been getting the freezes you-all have been. Go figure, lol.
But speaking of hardening off, which I just started with some things today -- I thought tomatoes were not supposed to be hardened off??

Turtle

Turtle, all your plants should be hardened off when moving from inside to outdoors.
We have a light frost on roof this morning- I'm glad I put my babies in the greenhouse last night.

Wow Turtle, your weather sounds like perfection to me also! Lol! Everything here just dies or lies in wait until the triple digits are gone. Usually we have 90-100 high temps for the entire months of July and August. Sometimes June will kick it off, hope not this year, like I said, everything I planted are still wee little things. It would be nice to have milder weather to help them get established, then I'll nurse them through the summer for a bountiful fall harvest! I hope, anyway! Yes, tomatoes need to be hardened off just like any other seedling raised indoors, to help them acclimate to the great outdoors.

Jo - good call! And thanks again for those fish pepper seeds, I have 6 I need to repot soon. You have any experience growing them in containers? I think it would be pretty to pop one in a mixed planter :)

Becky, I have one in a pot that I started mid winter- it's slow since it has been so cold, but according to what I have read, they do very well in containers. I think if they were always inside they would become acclimated to it and make pretty houseplants-(of course watch out for aphids & spider mites!) Let me know how they do if you try them. I'm not sure if you would get the vivid white/green variegation in lower light-

If you don't acclimate tomatoes and even onions (chives in particular), their leaves will sunburn and will turn whitish, looks like frosted leaves.

Ken

Jo - I think you're right about the variegation.. I'll try only one, the rest are getting split between my veggie garden and flowerbeds. I love well rounded plants that serve both edible AND ornamental purposes :)

That makes sense to me about the tomatoes. I was surprised when I read a couple of times not to harden them off. Oh, and thanks for the tip on the chives Ken.

I do know what you all are talking about with the heat. I grew up mostly in southern Arizona; they've already been in the 90s for over a month -- and then I went to Boston MA for 20 years! Pacific Northwest >really< feels like paradise. Although, I have seen the cold rain last until July 2nd here, which makes for a short growing season. But even here we are short on precipitation this year; which means I'm gardening much earlier but have already had to water.

Hmm, I just got an image of us humans trying to practice agriculture. We keep thinking we've got something pinned down, like weather, then whoops. I think of a cat chasing a light beam or crystal reflection...pounce/whoops.....

drthor, I did not plant any onions this year. But I just walked about a mile from my house and there is a field of onions, I would guess 20 acres of onions and they look just the same size as the ones your are growing. Enjoy your hard labor.

The reflected light is the deception, or I am employing a PTD here?

Stillplayswdirt- all the USDA zones indicate is how cold it gets not how hot. I have a DG friend that lives near the coast in SoCal zone 10, the temps rarely get above 80 but they don't freeze either. He can grow pretty much all yr round. It's taken me 20 yrs of living here ( after living and gardening in So Cal, where it gets 105 during the day), to understand that the reason my plants set during the summer is that we normally drop below 70 at night. Ok, I'm a slow learner...lol. The zones are not an indication of how hot it gets but how cold it gets.

One way to get more information on summertime heat is the American Horticultural Society heat zone map. It shows the average number of days above 86F/30C per year. It still doesn't capture micro-climate, where some variant of terrain, ground cover, water, or other feature that affects the specific temperatures at your location. As Lisa said, the night time temperatures are important for tomato production.

For AHS heatzone maps check this link: http://www.gardeningplaces.com/heatzonemap/

David

All I am sure of , besides cold weather greens , night temperatures here make gardening darn near impossible until June ,,
Then poof .. it is almost to hot to garden , good for most plants , not good on the old cooling system ..
Got to fast sometimes to keep up . I am not always good at that ..
It went from 80 to 36 one night a few nights ago .. impossible situation .. That kills plants here ..

David- you are the DGer that pointed this out to me,just a few weeks ago. That's why I'm a slow learner, but I get it now. Lol. It's supposed to be in the 90s in Llano this week strange that it's so much warmer there.

Juhur-I remember being in your area a few yrs ago. It was so hot and HUMID I thought I was going to die. I couldn't even breath. But everybody's garden looked great,

Here's my indoor setup:

Lisa, thank's for the zone info.. I had no idea.. I mean, I figured there were multiple factors taken into consideration when designating zones, but never really knew :)

David, I clicked that link too, checking it out as soon as I can! Last summer I had a dozen kentucky wonder pole bean vines that took forever to get full size. I nursed them through the summer because I had heard they'd produce as soon as night temps were below 70 and voila! I got 2 gallon bags full, not bad considering me and my kids snapped and ate them right off the vine most of the time. Oh and the squash blossoms.. I can't wait for my veggie garden to take off!

Nice setup, Turtles :)

Thanks Becky :~)
It was a home-design-and-build project. Soil temp 78*.
Pleased with our first go at this. And I hope everybody else is going well also.

So I shouldn't plant my Kentucky Wonders until autumn here?

I was gonna plant them this week.

Thanks for the temperature tip!!I

I planted some for the first time last summer and they did take forget to take off. Then they developed rust...

GG, call me stubborn, but I'm still gonna plant my beans this week! LOL I'm still hung up on that 3 sisters garden and they are going in whether Ma Nature likes it or not! Still debating if I should plant soybeans between my immature tomato transplants.. Now would be the time to do it

I'm planting mine this week, too!

Are you bean folk direct planting or starting them inside?

Okra is hardening off outside in the back porch
Tomatoes are 4-5' tall and loaded with green tomatoes
Artichokes are making fruits

Lots of green tomatoes everywhere