Well, it’s snowing here now, and while we’re not supposed to get to freezing tonight, it might get close in the next couple of days. We have our new hedge completely planted; I might be out with the sheets trying to cover all of it if it gets too cold - it cost us a lot of money, and I don’t want to lose it to frost. I hate this frigging spring. :mad:
(I didn’t get my edging finished, either, and now it’s going to rain for the next week.)
It’s snowing? I hope the bushes can take it. I’d cover them just in case.
It’s still May, right?
We have a tiny cement back “yard”, but I have a tiny box of mixed lettuce, box of jalapeno seedlings, a built-in brick container full of dill and basil.
I also finally managed to grow a dill plant in a big clay pot and my parsley has turned into a perennial. It wintered over from last summer and is growing like crazy in a big clay strawberry pot. I planted the little side pots with cilantro (keeping my fingers crossed with that!) and put chives on top.
So, tonight I’m making a dilly-parsley-mustard glaze for salmon and a mixed green salad on the side! Yum! And more parsley will be used this weekend for a chimichurri marinade on the steaks.
Jalapeno seedlings will be transplanted to big pots and moved to the sunny front porch this weekend.
I dunno; I think we slipped back a couple of months. I didn’t cover the hedge, because it wasn’t supposed to go below freezing, but maybe I should have. It’s supposed to go down to -3ºC tonight - I’ll cover them up later today. We’ve got a big roll of plastic around here somewhere - I’ll dig that out and cover the whole row.
Ah, dill - that’s the one I keep forgetting for my garden! I’ll have to pick up a couple of seeds.
Here’s an update on my planter garden, with pictures. I planted these at the beginning of May as seedlings from local greenhouses and I have done nothing but water them, and taken the advice here not to add any more fertilizer to the miracle gro potting soil. Although, I am thinking about giving them some fish emulsion when they start to bear fruit.
The Better Boy and Early Girl Tomatoes are growing gangbusters. They must be around 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and they each have at minimum 5 or more buds/flowers.
The 4 Cayennes and 1 Portugal Hot (middle) seem to be doing surprisingly well despite the cramped conditions. They too have several flowers already.
The single Portugal Hot is growing pretty well in its tiny pot, and the Better Belle green Pepper is getting a lot of vegetation and has really sprouted flowers/fruit buds, but it seems to be stunted as it is not really growing vertically very much.
Yes, that is our ever vigilant “Guard Goose” in the background.
All of the early budding/flowers does have me a bit worried. I’m afraid the miracle gro has put them into overdrive. Is it normal to have so many budlings/flowers so soon?
Some grubs ate my jalapenos during summer. I didn’t think anything would touch them.
It’s a bit strange here. It is autumn (fall) so it is time to plant those things you can so they will be set come spring and will be able to see out the very hot summer.
Parsley is a biennal. it is treated as an annual by many people, right now I am pinching off the flowers of my parsley, hoping to extend the season a bit. I plant new parsley every year, though, so I always have some to make tabouleh salad.
I took some pictures of my pansies today. I’m not sure if you can tell or not, but before last fall the area where they are was totally overgrown with ferns - I was never kidding in other threads when I claimed to live in the woods. The mulch is helping keep the ferns at bay.
Nice pansies and web page! I finally got the rest of the weed bags out of the back bed and now I just need to get a hose to reach back there. I love the yellow ones brcause they smell the sweetest.
I can’t find my seeds I bought or my video camera so I spent yesterday searching all over for them. No luck. I really hope I find the camera, the seeds can be relplaced…
[QUOTE=Cat Whisperer
Old Joe, are you finding your plants really delayed and strange this year? I’m hoping once we get some warm weather and some warm rain it will help all the plants start growing properly.[/QUOTE]
Not really delayed, all my perennials are up, my rhubarb is over waist high and my martagon lily is about 3 feet. The hops has hit the top of the fence and is right on track. I did lose a rose, I cant remember if it is a Apothecary or Tuscany Superb. Neither is rated for this area so i am not all that suprised.
I thought you all would enjoy this: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_domestic_terraforming/all/1
I’m dying to have room to have one of the two biggest gardens (with extra room for my kiddo to run around in, too).
One of these days it has to stop raining, right? I mean, it’s nice that I haven’t had to go water my containers in more than a week, but I would like to be able to take some pictures without getting my camera wet!
I was able to get my edging mostly done today - on the plus side, the ground was soft and easy to dig in. A few plants are starting to come up in my garden - peas and lettuce, I think (it doesn’t look like lettuce yet, but it’s in rows where I planted lettuce). Everything appears to have survived the frost, but all the new plantings are struggling with such unseasonal weather. My existing peony, however, has gone nuts - it’s huge! I love the way peonies turn into what are practically shrubs each summer.
That’s fascinating, stargazer. Calgary is experimenting with allowing people to keep chickens in the city; I don’t know if I’m ready to have chickens in my back yard.
I cannot WAIT to have a house with a yard big enough for me to have chickens. I want bees, too, but that seems like it might be a little trickier with a small child. I met someone last week, though, who has a beehive on her roof! I thought that was perfect - you get the benefit of bees without the problem of disturbing them by walking through your yard! Genius.
I have chickens. My husband built me a big coop. I just started this year, so they’re not laying yet. I plan to eat some of the roosters too. It’s been a very fun project.
They haven’t found the garden yet. When they do, I’ll have to clip wings until I’m ready for the garden to be tilled under; they’re very good at that.
We got a bunch of tomatos started yesterday. A little late but it’s our first time to try them so we’re excited nevertheless. Our problem now though for all things outside is the heat. It’s routinely 90 to 96, thus limiting the time you can work comfortably outside. I need one of those safari hats with the solar fan.
My grape tomato plant has two tiny little green tomatoes on it! (This is Minnesota so having fruit on a plant in late May - I saw them yesterday - is pretty exciting.)
The calabrachoa didn’t make it in my new annual bed, but all of the other plants are looking good. The calabrachoa in a pot is doing fine, though, so I’m thinking it must not have liked the still-pretty-clay-like soil. (My husband mixed good black dirt in to the new bed, but it’s still got a decent amount of clay in it.) The dahlias are surprisingly not picky about that, though, and they’re doing great.
I love just sitting on the patio and looking at my flowers and vegetables.
I’m thinking of getting a misting fan and a long extension cord for working outside.
My newly-transplanted-last-fall saskatoon berry has berries on it, too, which surprised the hell out of me - I thought it would be establishing this year, not making berries.
They’re thinking about allowing hens in the city, but not roosters. I can understand that. 
I give up! I have been trying for a few years to find out what type of rose bush is in front of my bank. It blooms only once in spring but is gorgeous. I may have to propogate a piece of it if I can’t find out what it is.
I think it’s an old rose because it grows on old wood and I’m zone 4. It also only blooms once. I’ll leave a pic of the mystery rose and any help will be appreciated.
I found my Flip! I was about to get a new one so my son wouldn’t find out I lost it and decided to pray to St. Jude. I found it by accident 30 minutes later! 
