# The SDMB 2013 Gardening Thread (Yes, Very Early This Year) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513 "2013-02-16T16:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MsBatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MsBatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsBatt)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/81 "2013-04-19T23:55:26Z")
Biggirl, which ones are you calling ‘tiger’ lilies? The ‘Night Flyer’ ones look like Asiatic lilies to me. What I’ve always called tiger lilies are Lilium lancifolium. In any case, they _might_ flower this summer. I believe my lilies flowered the first year I had them in the ground. Someone was asking about basil. Basil is SO easy to propagate! It needs to be pinched back to keep it from flowering, so what I do is take 2- or 3-node cuttings and just poke them back down in the pot. About 90% of the take root, and by summer’s end I’ve got a TON of basil through my gardens. Do any of you start your seeds via winter sowing? Beats the heck out of starting stuff under lights, indoors. There’s a great forum about it at [www.gardenweb.com/](http://www.gardenweb.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/82 "2013-04-20T00:00:09Z")
That’s what Burpee’s calls them, Night Flyer Tiger Lily bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/83 "2013-04-23T03:45:01Z")
ARGH the temperature dropped a few days ago (not below freezing) - just for a day, it was raining - and my begonias were not happy. The leaves have turned yellowish brown and the flowers as well. It doesn’t look dead - the base leaves are still green - but I’m still pissed. Any advice? Should I prune the yellow bits and let it grow out again? The hydrangeas and basil also do not look very happy, but the begonias suffered the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/84 "2013-04-23T08:47:24Z")
The first sprouts of my Beaver Dam peppers have poked above the soil for my indoor pots. Meanwhile, we’re still getting very cold nights, so just as well I didn’t plant early. I’m still think end of the month for the cold tolerant stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/85 "2013-04-28T19:08:41Z")
My daughter and I manage a 21 bed community garden at our UU church. We have one private bed and manage 5 other beds, the produce from which is donated to our local food bank. We have taken 118 pounds of fresh, organic, local stuff to the food bank since January, but have been in a between season slow down for the last couple of weeks. I may be taking a bunch of onions and some ‘this and that’ tomorrow though. We have had a very good winter that is just winding up and have been putting in our spring and summer stuff. I may have to go to "Tomato Plant Anonymous’ as I have over 20 tomato plants of different kinds. (Better Girl, Beefsteak, Abe Lincoln, Cherokee Purple and yellow pear.) I do have a question about the onions, though. Many are not bulbing. I had read that you could knock the tops over to encourage bulbing. I did that two weeks ago, but the onions managed to straighten themselves out and continue to not bulb. I think I may have planted them too close together. Any opinions on how to encourage bulbing? It may be too late as I’m in zone 9a and it’s getting to be 75-80 degrees already. These onions were planted last fall. Some pics are located here: [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](http://imgur.com/a/rXuqb) and here: [04/01/2013 zone 9b - Album on Imgur](http://imgur.com/a/lruSe) For spring, I have put in corn, tomatoes, red and sweet potatoes, bell pepper, snow and sugar snap peas, some watermelon, pumpkin, cukes, eggplant, okra, and some other stuff. I have one carrot bed finishing up as well. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/86 "2013-04-28T22:54:38Z")
I haven’t been to the community garden I normally volunteer at for a while, due to an arm injury. I know in March we hit half a ton of fruits and veggies donated. In my personal garden, I currently have a few strawberries, some bell peppers, and some second generation lettuce. It’s always fun to see where the lettuce seeds ended up, once the new generation sprouts. I also have some herbs - basil, rosemary, etc. I don’t spend enough time taking care of these. Luckily, I have a friend who lives by who likes to garden, and doesn’t have a yard. So I think he’s going to start taking care of my garden for me, and add some more stuff. > [@Ca3799](#): > > I may have to go to "Tomato Plant Anonymous’ as I have over 20 tomato plants of different kinds. (Better Girl, Beefsteak, Abe Lincoln, Cherokee Purple and yellow pear.) You might want to check out [Ample Harvest](http://ampleharvest.org/) for other banks to donate extras to. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/87 "2013-04-28T23:34:34Z")
**Ca3799** , I merged your thread into one already underway in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/88 "2013-04-29T00:15:03Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > I do have a question about the onions, though. Many are not bulbing. I had read that you could knock the tops over to encourage bulbing. I did that two weeks ago, but the onions managed to straighten themselves out and continue to not bulb. I think I may have planted them too close together. Any opinions on how to encourage bulbing? I find the only sure way to get onions to bulb is to make sure they’re sufficiently far apart. If they’re in a line, pull out every other one, or every two out of three, to allow the remaining ones more room. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/89 "2013-04-29T01:30:55Z")
Cleared the leaves off the herb garden today (the chives clump had come up with the daffodils as usual, looking bright green and happy), and whaddya know, there’s parsley sprouting from last year’s plant! It has a slightly bitter taste, though. Tell me, parsleyphiles, will parsley do well as a self-sown annual or will I get better results just putting in a new parsley plant? Also, last fall my housesitter kindly harvested seeds for me while I was away but put them all together into the same paper bag, so I’m just planting a bunch of dillantro seeds and hoping I can tell them apart when they sprout. Also ordered from the seed catalogs (but forgot to order the marigold seeds, doggone it! and I don’t want to incur shipping costs on a separate shipment just for one little seed packet) as well as that white clematis I was talking about back on the first page of this thread! If all goes well the clematis should look really cool twining through the bronze-red leaves of the Norway maple. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/90 "2013-04-29T03:38:41Z")
I’ve got marigold seeds up the wazoo, mine always go nuts. PM me your address I’ll send you marigold seeds for free. I’ve had volunteer parsley do well at times, and other times not so much. It does seem to be slightly more bitter. Only time will tell in your case. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/91 "2013-04-30T14:14:39Z")
Here’s my usual MO. Clean up one or two areas so they are looking nice. This takes from the time it’s just warm enough to go outside without a coat to the time to halfway through the planting season. Plant the areas I’ve got cleaned up. Go do all the housework I’ve been ignoring for months. By this time it’s too hot to do anything but spend 5 minutes outside looking at the jungle that hasn’t been cleaned out and feeling guilty. This year I got a contractor to clean out selected areas. He mulched one of the beds, but left the other two as bare dirt. Bob and I cleaned out a fourth bed(the rose bed in front and we didn’t dig up the roses, just the other crap), took down a crepe myrtle that was too big for it’s britches, and put down mulch on top of a cardboard/newspaper layer in two bare beds. Now hopefully I can keep these beds clean by just pulling up the occasional weed that finds a way around the cardboard. Which, by the way, the holly and ivy are doing by growing up right by the stems of the roses, sneaky bastards. This weekend I bought several butterfly friendly plants, and a hosta for a particularly dark part of one of the beds. Buddleia, lantana, dill, Texas Hummingbird Mint (not really a mint)… they didn’t have any milkweed, so I’m on their will-call for that. No veggies yet, but my strawberries from last year are blooming, and I had a perfectly ripe one yesterday. Nom, nom. Also, one apple tree is blooming, and the other is still acting like it’s February. They were supposed to bloom together. Hopefully someone else in the neighborhood has a blooming apple tree! If anyone wants to grow roses from cuttings, let me know. I have a bunch of antique roses and they grow wonderfully from cuttings. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/92 "2013-04-30T14:26:07Z")
Well, the Beaver Dam peppers I started indoors are not filling me with optimism. I’ve gotten two sprouts out of 6 pots. Maybe they’re just late starters? Still not time to plant them outdoors yet, so I’ll continue to nurture them indoors. Today is the day I go outside to actually start planting. I already spent one morning hoeing the garden patch and clearing the winter trash out of it, so basically today I just yank any incipient weeds, make rows, and plant. Going to start with spinach, bok choy, lettuce, and a radish/carrot row. The other early stuff - the kohlrabi, beets, onions - I’ll do my next day off, weather permitting. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/93 "2013-04-30T16:28:24Z")
Yay! Happy dance! Distributed half my “cooked” compost pile and planted radishes, carrots, spinach, bok choy, chard, and the lettuce mix. On my way! ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/94 "2013-04-30T16:45:59Z")
I’m still trying to find something I like to eat using all the chard. It’s such a beautiful and easy growing plant. Healthy to eat as well. My first tomatoes are starting to turn color! Somebody put either squash or watermelon or something like that in my sweet potato bed (community garden weirdness) but I’m gonna leave them there. They will either share the space or they won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/95 "2013-04-30T16:48:30Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ve got marigold seeds up the wazoo, mine always go nuts. PM me your address I’ll send you marigold seeds for free. Thanks **Broomstick** , I did that! Very kind of you! 🙂 > [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ve had volunteer parsley do well at times, and other times not so much. It does seem to be slightly more bitter. Only time will tell in your case. I went a-googling and found [this info](http://botanical.com/site/column_rita/parsley.html): > [@](#): > > There are several varieties of parsley available for the home gardener. All are biennials, producing foliage the first year and flowers producing seeds the second year. But most people grow them as annuals. This is a shame because the flowers are a beautiful chartreuse color that looks great in a bouquet of red or purple flowers. > > […]the leaves of second year parsley are tough and bitter and it’s going to die as soon as it sets seed […] So, looks as though I should put in some fresh parsley this year but keep the volunteer around for flowers (and seed-saving?). ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/96 "2013-05-01T06:31:55Z")
[Hydrangea leaves | hazelolive | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/89690686@N05/8695970480/) - Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my hydrangea leaves? Some of them have started taking on this reddish tint that does not look healthy. Thanks for helping a novice gardener. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/97 "2013-05-01T10:46:37Z")
Probably fungus. It won’t kill it (nothing kills hydrangeas!) but it ain’t pretty. [See here.](http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/faqs/hydrangeafaq2.html) > [@](#): > > There are several fungal leaf spot organisms that attack Hydrangea. Leaves develop brown to gray lesions surrounded by purple halos (see image at left). These leaf spots are most common in late summer and early fall, and seem to be more common among plants grown in sunny locations. Again, plants are rarely killed, but severe infestation can be very unattractive. All the cultivated species of Hydrangea are susceptible to one or more of these leaf spots. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/98 "2013-05-01T12:17:24Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Probably fungus. It won’t kill it (nothing kills hydrangeas!) but it ain’t pretty. Hm, that’s annoying. Maybe I should move it into a less sunny spot? Thanks for the link! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/99 "2013-05-01T19:36:02Z")
My three coldframes are filled to bursting and the weather is supposed to be mild and dry through the weekend. Looks like I’ve got no excuses for not planting, except laziness. On the vegetable front, I have 17 brussels sprouts plants in (I know, too few, but more are on the way), half a dozen celeriac (too weird not to try) and the garlic crop is making excellent progress. Tomato plants are nearly hardened off and could go into their tubs within the week. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513/100 "2013-05-01T19:54:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Planted my seeds yesterday to get them started. Looking to transplant May-ish. I only do the chile peppers from seed, so this year we got: arbol, aji amarillo, aji limon (lemon drop), corne de chevre, piri-piri, rooster spur, fatalii, mustard habanero. I’m not bothering with the ghost pepper (bhut jolokia) or Trinidad scorpion this year. I’ll probably also get some Thai red seedlings in May. > > The rest, we’ll see. I plan to get some greens going for a change. I always neglect the rest of my garden to concentrate on chile peppers. Oh, and tomatoes. There’s always tomatoes. I’m also thinking of getting potatoes in, using one of those vertical methods for growing them. So far, everything’s going great. I’m still going to wait two weeks or so before I get the seedlings outside, but everything sprouted well except for the habanero types. Those I grew from old seed and from peppers I dried last year, and I guess I must’ve dried them at too high a temp or something, as not a single one sprouted. Last year, they all came up easily. I didn’t buy a new supply of habanero-type seeds this year as I’m getting a bit burnt out (no pun intended) on those peppers. I’ll pick up a couple plants at the nursery, though. At any rate, I have about 50-60 pepper plants in the basement, so I’m going to give away about 40 of them. And that’s from pruning them down from well over 100 viable seedings. I’m excited this year to try some of my new peppers, like the aji amarillo and the aji limon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2013-gardening-thread-yes-very-early-this-year/650513.md?page=6)