Plant Propagation: The Basics Spring 2016

OH WILL YOU GET PLUMS? R THEY PLUM PLUMS OR SAND PLUMS?

Isn't JU cheerful Debra? But he is right. I am sure it looks impossible right now, but it will get done. Especially because you are so anxious to get a garden. I know exactly what you mean tho about the pots taking so much soil. It is amazing you think they will never get full.

Bob bought me 2 big bags of Happy Frog, a bag of Miracle gro, and something else, thinking manure. LOL, yeah, happy birthday. Anyway, it's a start. I already have a big bag of ProMix. So, OH, and I found my seeds. Will plant those pansy seeds today and get them outside. Do any of you know if I should put them outside in 55 degree weather tops, or should I start them in the house and then move them out? I have never grown pansies before. I do know they prefer cool weather tho. Not sun.

Lots to do today and the first thing I was going to do was in the kitchen, and Bob is in there grinding meat up for sausages. He is not good about sharing kitchen space so I told him to put me on a half a dozen chicken thighs for the rice and vegetable food for Candy. I decided she just has to have a rice/chicken/vegetable diet to lose some weight. I got some green beans and carrots for it, but couldn't think of any other vegetables that she might like. She doesn't like corn for some reason. She likes the cob after the corn is off but only because she likes the butter we put on it to eat the corn. Any ideas? I won't give her asparagus, B. Sprouts, or broccoli 'cause if we have those we will eat them.

The cat is driving me crazy out here, gotta go let her in. ttyl

Red Plums , some years many , other years ,,not so good , Giant red plums at the Back of the yard , bugs usually get most of those ,

Waiting for my gears for the device I am contemplating a multi tier garden for flowers,

Bottle pots , to fit over the edges of the triangles to stack as planting areas become full , I can see some difficulty putting these over the edges , only ideas to work that out I have ,,

Hi Jen , enjoy the sausage and greens casserole ,,,

Kitty Kat inn zzz snooze

Robin Like some of the plants here , it's little winter tips are lightly frost burned , but it has beautiful structure and ribbing .
Almost looks like a bloom stem forming the next leaf does , Shouldn't bloom for some time time yet ..(early Summer )
It will be a grown up in no time

Yes it's got a little frost-bite on the tips but healthy otherwise. I can't wait til it's warm enough for me to inspect it further. I HOPE you're right about the bloom stem forming. Woohoo! This is seriously exciting!

I am hoping to see the pink poodle also , and the milkshake with more than one stalk , it always seems to ripped up out of the ground , cut down or something
Hopefully the Hemerocallis will develop some more root (it will ) that way it won't frost burn as easy ..
Hopeful , bright beginning for us !!!

Hello Debra and Ju, I'm having one of those "What am I going to do this summer because the new puppy is destroying my backyard!" seasons. lol

I've been lurking on different forums trying to learn new techniques and ideas. This thread sounded interesting. Pleasantly surprised to run into both of you. Happy Spring gardening!

This message was edited Mar 26, 2016 11:30 PM

well my tiny little seedlings in the greenhouse didn't die of the roof coming in, but I think soggy soil and a bug ate the top off of my nigella sativa and stevia seedlings. All gone. not sure if any of the borage will survive either. I have today and tomorrow off, housework to do (not a clean dish in the place) and laundry and replanting I guess. Kids all have stuff to do, and I am so tired and getting over cold, I am just not trying to join any of them. Nice to see spring stuff popping up here. 3 of my tulips managed a new bloom this morning.

I had just taken photos of all the flowers before the hail hit the other day. And Kitt, I have never seen an armadillo here, but I am going to set up a wildlife cam as soon as I can.

Beautiful colors on those flowers Gypsi. What damaged your roof? A storm? Or is it an armadillo you think? I don't know anything about them, but they don't look like anything that could get up high enough to do damage to a roof. Legs are pretty short for that?

Hail from picture number 4 took out the greenhouse roof. They are pretty, thank you

Fiberglass roof? Or plastic? I have to get a fiberglass patch kit for some of our fiberglass roofing on a shed. The trees throw spears at it occasionally. Home in a week, dirt to play in. Its a trademark armadillo sign.

Wow, that is some damage done by hail. You now have a porous roof. On the upside, those are beautiful blooms.

Fiberglass. and it is so shattered it will be easier to go to home depot and buy new panels and just remove and replace. I had some nice safety glass doors I was going to put on for a new roof, but with what hail does to safety glass I am sticking with fiberglass. Spent Thursday pulling busted safety glass bits out of a koi pond, wind threw a glass table into it

Sounds like quite the mess, how did the Bee's do?

Bees seem to be fine, will see tomorrow, as much as I can. Newly caught swarms don't always stay if I mess with them. Planting front flower bed with overwintered bargains, hope no more hail

Their feeding here

Happy Easter

This message was edited Mar 27, 2016 1:16 AM

Sure hope your bees are there Gypsi, and they stay there. Did they swarm because of the storm, or because maybe their hive was crowded? Probably the storm huh? I have heard they will swarm if they are crowded. Is that when you divide them and put some in another hive? Or do you always find them? I suppose unless somebody calls and says they have a swarm somewhere on their house, trees, etc. you may not ever find them? That would be too bad. How long does it take to build up another hive? Very interesting. Do you do it to sell the honey, or as a hobby, or both??? Bob got into it in Seattle and he went out one morning and the bees were gone except for a lot of dead ones and ants were hauling them off. Do you think the ants drove them off? Going to bed, 'nite, jen

And so they are. Happy Easter

Have a Happy Easter everyone!

I was dreaming about rabbits , hatching from eggs ,,
Happy Easter .

Making pots , waiting for gears , trying to motivate ,
Put some mulch around Echinacea yesterday ,Planted some more brussel sprouts .
Being hopeful , enjoying the early blooms

Breezewood, Pa not much is blooming tho it is beginning to barely green up. Happy Easter everyone

Digging through my kitchen table i found a bag of sweetgum seed pods, they are looking a bit moldy and may not be any good. I got them for someone on DG. Guess I should dump on some moist dirt and see if anything sprouts?

Nothing to lose Gypsi.

JU, will you not get any more snow?? Or do you think the BS seeds will just wait to germinate after the snow? Crazy weather, don't know what to do. We got an inch of snow this morning and that is the first we have had in weeks.

April first soon and that is normally when we get our hummingbirds. Wonder when they will be here this year. Is there any truth to the myth about the hummers riding on the backs of the swans to get here? The swans are coming in now. Hmmm, good timing anyway. What!!?? Nobody ever heard that myth??

Jen I don't know about the snow , 75 degrees and partly sunny today , thunderstorms tonight ,,
I went out and chewed on a tip of Garlic , re set a phlox seedling ,
Planted some red salvia seeds that seemed to have dried out ,
Thinking more than doing , I am ,,
I think the seeds in your Alpine climate are a guess , anytime it gets above freezing , my guess .
I saw some Butterflies today , besides cabbage white , first I have seen , A red Admiral and a tiny duskywing maybe , seen a few toads hanging about ,
Still trying to get my motives going ,, I keep cranking and my motor says (are you kidding "??? lol ???

Home Depot supposedly carries the Lemon Queen sunflower, yup they are supposed to get tall, mine never survive...but I think 7' is norm...not 12/15' like some of them. Sweetgums- if they dont sprout, let me know and I will send you some of those nasty things Gypsi. Already sprouted even...

oh I don't need any sweetgums Kitt, I have one. I think I was going to send them to Debra and Ju

Hey you guys, just got a short email from Sharon. She is up and walking with a walker, plenty of care, mostly son, daughter, and sister (family) and Home Care Workers, for both she and Vern, neighbors bringing in food and good dishes, garden workers brought over several flower bowls to spruce up the yard, the weather is wonderful, and she has an appt. this week with doc.

That's it for now, will let you know more after her appt. this week. jen

Hey you guys, just got a short email from Sharon. She is up and walking with a walker, plenty of care, mostly son, daughter, and sister (family) and Home Care Workers, for both she and Vern, neighbors bringing in food and good dishes, garden workers brought over several flower bowls to spruce up the yard, the weather is wonderful, and she has an appt. this week with doc.

That's it for now, will let you know more after her appt. this week. jen

Jen Thank you for the update It pouring down rain here

Sharon get Well . , Easter guy prayers for you

Good to hear Sharon...sounds like you're healing fast, keep up the good work!
Here's an Easter present, I think it's Scilla siberica from a yard down the street.

Pretty flower , I have all kinds of little bulbs that look like grass coming up around iris and Daylily beginning shoots ,
Monarda is up in a place where the earth fell in ,
Gaura is up ,
Clematis are up ,
Raining and 47 degrees now ,

Frost here tonight, now that I put some plants out, at least the greenhouse roof is enough for a light frost. Glad Sharon is up and taken care of, thank you Jen for the update

Wow, I saw you all had that hail, Gypsy and was wondering if anyone had damage.
glad you get a couple days off, Kitt, nothing like working that last few days before the anticipated home time. Beautiful Blooms on those tulips , too Gypsy. Ju your spring is sprung!
we woke up to snow here yesterday, and then they sun came out and it was gone by 5 pm, we went for a walk.
Joe announced he is going to dig a tomato patch for me, curious as to WHERE> LOL ...Have a great day,, everyone.

Debra and Gypsi I have seen it snow here late but it gets crazy ,,

Hey Debra , Maybe the tomato bed will use to have been the driveway ,, lol
it is 48 and cloudy with a 41 chill here , it was 75 degrees ,sunny. yesterday ,, goofy weather , 50 today or about .

More of the Scillia Bulbs Robin ? I really do not remember what mine are ,
I will find out later
Little Iris starts from last year are doing well . I have a lot of little green things ,,
Weather is Martian ,

Kitt- I have Lemon Queen Helianthus. It even climbs up the neighbors tree. I would say 8 feet tall (even after a "Chelsea Chop" each year), much more if it finds a tree!. But anyway, I wanted to say that High Country Gardens has several varieties, it seems they should have one that would survive in TX, some were bred or found in Denver. Mine is in heavy clay, and I think it is likely you have clay. Mine is acid, but the books say they take "any type of soil" and I think yours may be neutral or alkaline.
If you like them, try again.
I had trouble establishing them, tried a few times before it worked. What I found was the emerging growth is Manna to slugs, they eat every speck as it emerges. I had to bait for slugs the first two years, just as it was emerging. Now it is big and strong, no bait needed-so many sprouts so fast the slugs can eat some and it just grows beyond them. it is only the emerging growth they eat, so later all is well.

Yes, more Scilla siberica. You can't have too many of these (I'm guessing). You can't have too many little green things either, especially when it's all going to be a surprise.