What to do in Zone 3?!

OK, I have finally put all my Christmas decor back in their perspective places. Now what? Since moving from zone 9 to zone 3, I haven't a clue as to what to do here! There is still snow on the ground and expecting more. The temps are to cold to start germinating. Back in zone 9 I ran a high school green house and if I had not ordered my plugs and started my seeds by now, my spring sale would be a disaster! Please give me some advice on what I can do now! The soil is still frozen and I cant even get my hands dirty!

You could always start some seeds indoors. Or else spend some time browsing through catalogs and thinking about what you want to buy in the spring!

I am actualy doing that at this moment (Burpee's and Parks). Im from Porterville, where is Dublin?

It's in the Bay Area, a bit southeast of Oakland and northeast of San Jose.

If you're already starting seeds indoors, I can't think of too much else you can do until spring unfortunately. That must be quite a shock going from CA to MN, I used to live in OH where it wasn't even as cold as MN and I can't imagine going back to that weather!

Try winter sowing.

Hi Shrib, you must really feel the cold, I live in Scotland and know how cold the east coast gets compared with me here in the west coast, and that's only about 2 hour drive from one to the other. The best remedy for cold winters is either the library or book store where you can browse through all the wonderful gardening books for free till you find one that suits you and your new living area, there are so many to choose from, some with plants that grow in your zones, some for landscaping to get your head around jobs for spring should you want to alter your new garden, some for which plants can be started this time of year from seeds on a window ledge indoors, then get your seeds of to a good start. Also, as Ecrane said, send off for some plant/bulb catalogues to help you write up a wish list, that can pass a good few weeks, believe me, I personally never get to the end of my wish list nor my things to do come spring list, but half the fun is drawing it up and starting to tick it off as you go through the seasons, so by next week you should have some reading material beside a cosy chair, paper to hand and am imagination as big as you can stretch it. good luck. WeeNel.

Thanks WeeNel, I will take you up on that advice. Scotland ey? I bet it is beautiful across the pond. I am Scotch myself. My maiden name is Munro. I'm told that there is a castle and I have seen our family motto 'Dread God'. One of the things I plan to do until the soil is tillable is to do some family ancestory research. I am also told that Munro is a very common name. My father is from a long line of George Munro's and I also have a brother and his son's name is George. I would love to come visit Scotland and see for myself the beautiful country side. Thanks again for the advice!

Take up cross-country skiing or snowshoeing and go outside and enjoy the beauty of the world covered in snow. Often golf courses or city parks will have good places to ski or snowshoe, and you get a whole different perspective on the world when it's snow-covered: evergreens, interesting tree bark, patterns of twigs and branching on shrubs and trees, shadows on snow, etc. I know it's not the planting part of gardening, but it can be the enjoying the fruits of your and others' labors, and then planning how you will plant so that next year's 7 months of snow will be a bit more lovely than this year.

I agree with you too NHBabs, the shapes of box and other plants in a snow covered area is quite spectacular, the trees look like they have a new dress on and the frosted grasses that are so colourful in summer are breathtaking, like they were frosted specially for us. the winter time gives us time to take stock of what we could do to enhance next years winter garden with shapes and forms, so never a wasted moment for that. happy gardening. WeeNel.

Hi Shrib, so your a Munro for your sins eh, he he he, well you will have great fun doing your research as there are latterly millions of Munro's about, you will need a definite birth date to get you started off as just looking up Munro is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but if you get onto the web sight for UK gov.com you will get lead through to the births/marriages etc where you will find some helpful info, you may need to go for Scottish birth etc but that ain't hard either, it can become as infectious as gardening, by the way, there may be a fee for the search engine, I also believe the Mormon Church has a huge data base of births/ deaths and marriages, so that could be a help for starters. good luck, hope your search turns up the goods for you. Oh and yes, there is the ruins of a Castle, and ofcourse the beauty of Scotland is a sight to behold, May is about the best time weather wise for any visits, our summers can be a bit hit and miss. best wishes, WeeNel.

Shirb, I understand your pain... I am in the tundra too- and it's mighty cold this weekend! I do winter sowing. Planted up 58 containers yesterday. You might want to give it a try. Life is very different her ein Zone 3..and you are farther north than me.. yikes...It's a little early to start seeds inside. Do you have a greenhosue or cold frame? that would help.
good luck~

Hi WayUp North!
Thank you for the reply! No I do not have a cold frame. I just moved here a little over a year and we concentrated on building a garage last summer. I do want to build a cold frame in the future though! I have been told to wait for seed germination until the end of February. So what did you plant? Shirb

shirb...there are a alot of seeds that can take a long time to germinate properly so I think everyones suggestion of catalog perusing is a good one...for example Penstemmon can take up to 30 days to germinate...some seeds need stratification for several weeks...so knowing what you like and what you want to raise from seeds is very beneficial. I am reading a book right now called Plant Progation A-Z: Growing Plants For Free by Geoff Bryant and it has numerous tables listing germination times, stratification times, live cutting times and division times...it's been a huge help to me this year in deciding what I start and when...

why not just feed the birds? they'll do the fertilizing, and you might just get a few sunflowers spring up next summer!

oops I meant 'propagation"

Hi Shirb..I live in cold and windy Wyoming, from Nebraska. I know how you feel with winter and no gardening. When I bought a house 6 years ago, I started 54 varieties of perennials in flats. I had 4, 4ft x 12" shelves on my office wall equipped with flourecent plant lights.

I started my seeds according to their size and germination time. The smaller the seeds, the longer they take to transplanting size. The earliest I started was end of January. When spring came, I built a coldframe out of scrap lumber to transplant the seedlings to. I also built a top frame to hold shade cloth. They stayed in the coldframe throughout the summer and following spring. By spring, they were husky plants. I dug them up early spring, and many of them bloomed that season.

I also sowed seeds in late summer (Aug) since I didn't have room during the winter for all I wanted to grow. I started them inside under lights, and when large enough to handle, I put them in the coldframe over winter. All did great. Now I have enough plants so concentrate on crocheting and sewing to pass winter time when I'm home

The photo is of a coldframe I used when I operated a small commercial greenhouse in Nebraska.

Hi Shirb!
I just found this thread--sorry I am late. You've gotten some excellent suggestions above. I'd just like to second grannymarsh's suggestion: Try wintersowing. It's fun, it's relatively inexpensive (compared to starting seeds under lights, which I also do); and it's very easy. There's a forum dedicated to it on DG.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/coldsow/all/
Also a database of wintersown seeds and their success has been started on DG:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/ws/
(Note that the listing is often by common names, and it doesn't seem to be in alphabetical order. After some puzzlement, I figured out that the seeds are in fact in alpha. order by their Latin names.)
Finally, there is an Internet site at www.WinterSown.org that is very useful.

I feel your pain; a few years ago I moved from central coast California to Cape Cod, from a place where we might dip below freezing for one day every ten years, to a place where it does indeed freeze a whole lot!! Getting involved in winter sowing was a real boon.

Hydroponics

Well, I can't believe I missed some of your replies! Thanks to you, rednyr, Len123,
blomma, CapeCodGardner and turgidcelery I have some great advice. I have been busy painting my house on the inside. Now I am ready to do some seed starting.
rednyr, that sounds like an awesome book. Does it give advice to the zones?
Len123, I did put bird seed out for my feathered friends and the deer had a tasty snack, so I decided to wait on that!
blomma, I would love some advice on cold frames. I have never seen one in person to know how to build one.
CapeCodGardner, I will definately look up those websites! I sure miss the central coast of Cali! San Luis Obispo is about the most beautiful! Sure miss the farmers markets and all the fresh produce!
Turgidcelery, thanks, I do plan on hydroponics when I get the right place to start that!
I do appreciate all the advice that you nice fellow gardners have given me. I will look into wintersowing!
Thanks again! Shirb

Some suggestions while waiting for spring also. If you have oak trees and apple trees they can be pruned now. The extension site has information on pruning. Also if you have raspberry or black raspberry you can check this site also for helpful hints. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG0628.html

Shirb,
I moved from "Up Nort" to Kentucky, and
(I can't belive I'm going to say this...)

I MISS MINNESOTA!

Take heart, the lakes usually thaw out around July! LOL!!!

Hi,

I live in Finland, it is a VERY cold country....sadly, in January, there is nothing else to do garden-wise than to order new seeds for spring and summer!

I did sow some tomatoes, chili and peppers in February and continued in March. Also, basil etc.

Now, it is time to tend the seedlings and wait for the oh-so-short summer! :O)

Hi Shirb. I moved to the highlands of Maine a year ago last January and I feel your pain. I have done the homey crafty thing for as long as I can and am starting to go crazy. Not only are we still frozen here, we have feet of snow and more on the way. sigh... Well, what I have done is a lot of research and I am putting up Raised Beds this year. Yes, you still have to wait for the cursed white stuff to melt, but on the other hand, you get glorious undepleted soil! I am planning out not only my flower beds and vegetable garden, but also what I am going to plant all around the yard (we have a fairly empty lot). I plan to start seedlings at the end of the month because I was told by the neighbors that no one transplants outside up here until Memorial day and I don't want the seedlings to outgrow their containers before I can get them in the lovely dirt.

If this is your first spring, you're going to love 'mud season'. That's when the first couple inches of ground thaw and get nice and muddy, but underneath is still frozen. (with two kids and a dog, this is the bane of my existence!) Good luck! :)

Hey siobjuan...Nice to see a fellow Mainer on here. I just started DG last week. I am down in Limington.
I hear you on the mud season. I complain about the evil white stuff all winter, but forget how miserable mud season really is.

I went seed happy about a month ago and now my house looks like a green house. I just needed "out" of the winter blues! I don't have flourescent lights and I have taken over every horizontal space available in every south and east facing window. I am surprised to say that all seem to be doing great!! Watering, turning, and checking on my far too many veggies and flowers keeps me busy. Especially now that they are mostly up and about half have their true leaves! Not to mention chasing my 1 year old son...who like to 'help'!!!

FYI do not ever start the floral sweet peas this early! They are over a foot tall and I swear they will start climbing up my walls any day now!! :)

Just want to wish you a Happy Birthday!!

Love,
Mom