We are 20 minutes north of Keene, 40 minutes south of Concord along RT 9. Yes plant trading will be in order!
Second Chance Wishlist Swap #2 - Chat & Questions
I don't know if this will work but heres a map-http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=42.87531&lon=-71.78444&mag=8&q1=hudson%2C%20nh&q2=nelson%2C%20nh
Ooops gues not!
It worked when I copied and pasted it though - It looks like it's just 101A and 101 to get to eachother.
Yep, Well I've been to Nashua plenty of times. Not lately though, but I know 101-101A.
Meredith79, I WS my balloon flowers around the first of March, but you could probably do them now if you wanted to they do reseed a lot so I wouldn't worry about it.
Meredith, I put several Balloon flower seeds in the baggy method. It took 4 days to germinate, I had 100% on them. All are in dirt now and they are at least 1 inch high, this took less than a week.
Hope this helps.
Thank you everyone for advice on balloon flower.
Robyn - how long before your last frost are you?
Lebug- I am just worried about starting them indoors too early - I am going to have so many plants to grow after this great swap!
Usually around April 1 to 15th. Some times May 1, So far this has been a mild winter for us. So we can count on the last hard freezes in March and light frosts through April 15th. After that it could be dumb luck to get something.
All the weather everywhere has been screwed up, so actually it's a crap shoot as to when to plant things. But this is what I generally go by. Most of my planing is done at the end of April, all my house plants and tropicals start going out on warm days to get acclimated, then around the middle of May they stay out unless we have some flukey cold.
I also go by the Farmers almanac for our area. It really does work.
Check this out.
http://www.almanac.com/weather/index.php
My sis and I were just reading the Almanac last night, trying to figure out our seed starting and transplanting! Looks like we're in for another wild season this year....
Marvelous - looks like the NE will have snow, then more snow, and yes . . . more snow, then when I will be away in late May - all my little plants will fry . . . sigh. . . How accurate is this?
welllllll......it was pretty accurate last year, although I think I recall reading/hearing that there was another Almanac that was a bit more accurate. Of course, I don't remember the name now....big help, eh? I'm not at all tickled about the freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw thing for my area, as this is my first year for WS and I'm a big chicken...
OFA has been pretty accurate. My grandparents always planted by it, so did my mom and dad and yep you guessed it, so have I. In fact you might be surprised that a lot of Fairs and Festivals schedule their events using the almanac.
It predicted all of our ice storms last year to within hours of when they happened and the small ones we've had this year. I'd have to say it's better than the weatherman.
I was this earlier this morning... and i cant recall if i've seen the link on Daves yet.... but its about how with the "warmth", the zones are changing....
http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
The freeze thaw thing is something that happens every year and the seeds need that to germinate. There are a lot of people who don't realize this happens year after year until they winter sow. But it is the natural order of things.
Thanks Robyn - Suzy's also been encouraging me to not be so chicken - and I know they need that change to help them germinate - but you know how us "first timers" can be - LOL!
Robin
This message was edited Jan 21, 2008 4:15 PM
tcs, isn't that something else, I saw it too and can't remember where. I am now on the cusp of 6 and 7. And it feels like it every summer. Even though we have mild winters more often than not, it still feels like zone 3 winter, I hate anything below 65 degrees.
THANK YOU Robyn for the OAF reference - that was the one I was thinking of and couldn't remember - LOL! Very dependable thing.
Yes I know how it was when I started about 20 years ago. Since then I throw and say grow or die. I am not too polite when I do it anymore either. I have learned that some flowers don't go out in the early winter, but do better in the very early spring when you can still get frost. Like Zinnias, mild winter areas you sow them in November but here I wait till March. It just seems to work better. Poppies, I can throw them out in November, December and January.
You're welcome. I love it now that I can see it online. It is getting harder and harder to find at the stores. I do love the hard copies more so because I can take it with me anywhere.
I just grabbed a copy this weekend from Wallyworld...the first I'd seen them this year.
They are late getting them in, I'll have to go when I get to town next week and pick it up.
I picked up a copy of the Farmers Almanac a few months ago at Home Depot... i really need to take some time and read it... but again, so much to do, so little time.
Amen to that. I can't give up time on the puter and talking and doing my sowing and all that just to read a book. lol
ROFL Robyn... no kidding.
Robyn- thanks for the link I'm going to check it out. Around here everyone always says memorial day weekend is the 'safe' time for planting. I think somewhere I've seen my area has had a frost as late as June 4th but I don't think that has happened since the 50's. Our springs are usually safe by May for hardy perennials, but I like that time for hardening off - So going by your start time -If I start them in a month from now -that will probably be good.
Meredith - I couldn't agree with you more on the wacky "last frost" dates. I was looking at those in the OFA last night - and my last frost date is April 20 - yet in PA they have earlier "last frosts" - go figure! And I guess I should have paid attention to that date last year - it rang true. I'm crossing my fingers that my wisteria will at least bloom before a later freeze. Yes, I inherited a wisteria when we moved in - but I plan to whack off the blossoms when they fade to at least not have the seeds winging all over the place. And the way the cheap arbor they put in is being bowed by it, I may be taking it out in the next year or two. But I have to tackle the 15' Tree of Heaven in the neighbor's yard first - LOL!
And thanks again for that link Robyn - there's so much crammed in that book the link DOES make it easier to find what you need!!
Oh man . . . . I made this wonderful inserts announcing the Fantasy Seed Swap for September ('cause I'm terrified I will host a swap and nobody will show up!) and now my computer is in for repairs and I am hoping they can save the stuff on the hard drive . . . sigh. . . . Okay to wait until tomorrow to send the seeds?
Seandor - I know how you feel! I had my computer sent in for repairs in August and was out of commission for months! They lost it in the mail and they had to send me a replacement- and It didn't get all straightened out and sent to me until mid December! The replacement I finally received doesn't fit my old hard drive so I still don't know if I can recover anything from it. I keep meaning to have it checked out. Hope you have MUCH better luck with yours!
Well, mine is a college computer - so one way or another, I will have a computer this afternoon - I just hope the IT guys can rescue most of the stuff from the hard drive :-)
Edited to add: sorry to hear about your difficulties. I would have been ballistic!
This message was edited Jan 23, 2008 9:10 AM
Well it's good that you'll have a computer -but bad that you may have lost everything! I feel your pain. I may have lost a butterfly and hummingbird plant guide I had put a lot of time into. It was going to be great! I did print the pages that were completed at least. I would love to have some pics of my garden from last year to cheer me up in all this cold and snow. My garden had come a long way this past summer too so I'm bummed.
Rats! Well, I will cross my fingers for you :-)
oh dear, it's so painful to read when anyone loses anything from a computer. Being an old geek it immediately brings the "backup, backup, backup" mantra into my head. This being the proverbial advice after the horse is miles away from the barn - do yourself a favor and get one of those USB Flash drive thingies - they can hold a lot of stuff - and copy the most important files you have to that (pics, docs, etc.). If a 1 gig Flash drive won't hold everything, seriously consider getting an external hard drive. They can cost as little as $100 (or less) and can hold darn near everything you would want to cram onto it. My family learned this the hard way.
I was very fortunate - my PC got nicked by a lightning strike as it was shutting down, and that jumbled up the part of the hard drive that told it how to boot up. I got a new hard drive, installed it as the primary, and then was able to access my jumbled hard drive and save everything - pics, years of client work, family stories... I was VERY fortunate - and immediately got a nice external hard drive and backed up everything I could get my hands on. I now do this on a regular basis, like cleaning the sink... I have a dear friend who had done two year's of market and recipe studies to open a restaurant, and was about a month away from signing a lease, and her hard drive crashed - taking her whole business with it. The geeks here were of no help, so she shipped it off to a friend in Singapore who knows a Phd candidate who claims he can retrieve anything from a hard drive - so we're keeping our fingers and toes crossed that she gets her info back.
I have given external backup hard drives to dear loved ones as Christmas or birthday presents to make sure they're "covered".
After the last time my computer crashed I subscribed to www.box.net. I now store my stuff online. Now it's safe and accessible wherever I want it.....
Excellent point Tuink - I had completely forgotten about that wonderful option. I tend to want to keep my hands on my files though, so I've never been brave enough to take that leap!
Just for sure, I keep copies on cd-r's as well, but I'm hitting 3.5 gig by now. That's a lot of discs.....
I started on the cd-r's too, but like you, found I was collecting them much faster than I wanted - I was so happy when the Flash drives came out - LOL! Now the old CDs are down at my sis's, used to keep the birdies away from her apple trees (or at least, that's what we think they're doing!). I back up "everything" to the external hard drive, and keep a second copy of the most important files (clients, family stuff) on a dedicated Flash drive. I'm going to have to look into the online storage you use Tuink, it's about time for me to get comfortable with such a handy resource.
You go, girl!!!!
OK Tuink - boxnet owes you a finder's fee!! Thanks for the link!!!