It is so hard to believe that it is Sept already, 2007 is really flying by. What a crazy year this has been so far. I have already pulled up all the tomato plants and just waiting for the okra now to go to seed. My green peppers did not do well this year at all and that is a first. I did manage to get a few cukes before the vines died. dh is already planning what he is going to plant next year :o) He plowed up a new spot for the veggies and has been working the area over really good. I am just glad I don't have to share my flower bed with the veggies next year lol...
I do have a question on when to dig up bulbs that can't take our winters. For the life of me I can not remember when the first frost is suppose to be. Bulbs I have that will need to be brought in are, glads, caladiums, and a few others I can remeber the names of. When will I need to dig them up? I have all my caladiums in pots and was wondering if I can just cut them back and leave them in the pots and store them or do I have to remove them and clean them off to store them. My greenhouse should be here next weekend and hopefully it won't take dh long to put it together. It will be insulated but no heat installed. I guess what I am asking can I store my bulbs in the greenhouse with out it being heated? Having a greenhouse is a new experience for me so all advice is welcome. dh will be putting in 3 electrical outlets so I can hook up some grow lights (2) and a small small fridge to store seeds in lol and I can hide some pepsi in it too rofl. Hopefully next year I can ad a small propane heater out there.
Thanks
Connie
Septembers here already
nice to hear from you pepsi.... i cat believe that its september either. but im way excited that it is my son graduates from basic the end of the month. i get to see him them and cant wait.... i belive you do have to wait until after the first frost to dig ans save the bulbs. but you wont want to leave the calidiums out they will die not for our zone. very lovly foliage though usually the first frost happens in october around the middle sometime. i think i cant remember precisly either. im sure loon will know. oh im sorry i just read the thread again. you already know you have yor caladiums already for the greenhouse. you lucky lady... i have to dig up some tiger lily bulbs for a trade im doing the weather has been so beautiful im doing a hugr redo in the back your... love to be out there. im going to go steal some hostas from my parents back yard they just moved out and left some beauties there. hehehehe. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend Ronna
I can't believe it's September either! The summer sure went by fast. I still have oodles of tomatoes left in the garden. I guess I'm going to have to break down and can some of them. WE've given away a lot of them. I have to harvest a lot of butternut squash. I plan on trying to keep them in the cooler crawlspace on the end of the house. We have a basement in the middle of the house and crawlspace on either end where there were additions I guess. I have lots of cabbage to cut too. We'll just cut as we need it and give some away. I've pulled out all the beans already. I was so tired of picking beans. THe corn is long gone and in the freezer. We had cucumbers but I think the vines are dried up by now. We still have green peppers. I harvested a lot of the eggplant the other day and made eggplant parmesean for the first time in my life. It was soooooooo good! I will definately grow that again. I put 50 heads of broccoli in the freezer earlier in the season. We're still picking yellow squash and zucchini. We've been blessed with a good garden this year. I watered it though or it would have all dried up. I stretched about 150 feet of hose to reach out there and would water it for one hour every three days.
I got lazy about spraying my flowers with the liquid fence and the deer got in there and have been muching on everything. Now they are more interested in all the apples on the 7 apple trees. Thank goodness. I will have to be more vigilent next year with my spraying. I have this love hate relationship with the wildlife out here.
Hopefully, the first frost won't come till some time in October but with Michigan you never know what you're going to get. I try to do my fall cleanup in the flower garden before it gets too cold. I can't take being outside in the cold wind for hours. It just makes me so achy I can't move. We'll pull the veggies up as we're done with them and plow it under with collected leaves and grass clippings. I then look out for bags of good leaves in people's trash and steal them and dump them all over the top of the garden to protect the soil for winter dryout. In the spring I will till it all under and plan a new vegetable garden.
Brenda
Hi Connie....
Glad to hear your getting a greenhouse......If your not heating it, it gets pretty cold in there at night. As long as the sun is out during the day, its nice in there.....You may want to consider keeping your "tender" bulbs in a cool dry spot, especially if you have a basement. I have a greenhouse as you know, and stopped heating it when the cost of propane went sky high, so the only thing I keep in there now during the winter months are the seeds I collected.
Take a picture of your greenhouse when its up.....here is a picture of mine.
Deann
Ronna, where is your son graduating? When my son Nathan graduated from boot camp, it was in Chicago, it was totally awesome to see, that was almost 15 year ago. he has 5 more years then he has to retire.
Wow loon, you put out a hugh garden :o)
Deann love rhe gh, its big and tall lol. I don't have a basement so looks like I will have to store all the bulbs in my walkin closet, hmmm now where am I going to put all our close rofl. I will have to take all thr caladiums out of the pots and store them in a sack or there won't be any room for anything else. So when do I need to cut these back? do you rinse the bulbs and sit them out to dry?
Thank you all for replying :o)
Connie
Pepsi my son is in Fort Knox Kentucky, its been very hot there over 100 and more with the heat index. We went to Fort Knox and drove past the gold vault once on a vacation, but we didn't go right in on the base. So we will get to see the base when we go to see him... I will take pictures when we go and you all can see my handsome son again.... Loon sounds like you dear soul have been very, very, busy. I only wish we had more sun to grow all of those veggies there is nothing better than home grown veggies. Yes Pepsi please take a photo of your new greenhouse for us to see that would be so wonderful to have one of those. Enjoy it. "See" you all again real soon. I may be getting a newer vehicle than i have now so maybe we can finally meet. Wouldnt that be fun? Probably in the spring time.... Ronna
Do you think this glorious weather could last forever? Man...do I love it. But the gloom, rain and snow will be here in a wink of an eye...drat.
My beds are winding down...reminder to myself to plant a ton more zinneas next year- they are still going gang busters! And so are my 4 oclocks.
Time to take another garden walk
Well Ive had a very busy weekend but a fun one. My parents just moved out of there house and I went and scammed a bunch of plants from there old house. So Ive been planting... planting... and planting. I got something Ive wanted for a long time. A rose of sharon bush its very nice and full. I will have the purply flowers on it when it opens next year and I cant wait!!!!! The Hummers love those bushes... I got a bunch of all colors of hostas I have mostly shade in the yard here and they are wonderful for the shade. I got some Huskers reds. Can you tell im excited??? The yard looks so good.... Well Im going out to divide my daffiodils so I will have flowers next year. Thats the only thing I can think of why they arent blossoming. They get the leaves but no flowers I always let the foliage die down before I cut it awawy... Dont know but they are my favs in the spring Talk to you later... Ronna
Sarv48..........what color 4-0-clocks do you have.....wanna exchange....mine are hot pink and grow very tall...at least 5 feet or so....would be glad to share with you seed, and that goes for anyone who would like some for sase. I have enclosed a picture of my 4-0-clocks....Hot Pink This was a volunteer from my planting a few years ago. This plant is loaded with seed.
Deann
Sarv48......Here is a closeup when they are open.....the picture above I just took and its around 12:30 pm.....just thought you would like to see them in bloom.
Deann
deann...I have hot pinks, along with a softer pink and yellow. Mine are nowhere near 5 ft though! A good three to three and a half feet. I also have the lime green leafed ones with hot pink flowers. I don't think I need any others, but many thanks for the offer. I've been busy collecting seed from mine so I can start them in the greenhouse!! Sure seems like fall is coming quickly!