Do you like to garden ?

[Don Alaska]

I Finally got some answers about my fruit trees by sending a photo to the dep of agriculture, and I also showed photos to a small garden centre/ shop @Don Alaska

(The lady in the small garden centre - originally worked for dep of agriculture)

both agreed it’s a chemical , weed spray issue that’s effected the roots of the trees , they may survive by treating with Seasol spay on ( again) which was done yesterday ..again …with a new bottle I purchased while out shopping ….Hub did it as soon as I got home …its stinks like fish / seaweed ….,so he came in and had a shower right after spraying

I hope you can save your trees @Kate Ellery. I am definitely an anti-herbicide guy. They do make things easier, but the risks are considerable.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I hope to get back to gardening once Jake is done with the truck, which may be today. he will take a break first of course. At times I need jakes help.
I have been doing work in the greenhouse getting it ready.

 

[Kate Ellery]

I remember you had a beautiful, nicely painted ( was it white ) green house @Marie Mallory ,we used to chat quite a bit about our gardens

 

[Marie Mallory]

I remember you had a beautiful, nicely painted ( was it white ) green house @Marie Mallory ,we used to chat quite a bit about our gardens

Thank you Kate, now a days it's , wishful thinking more than anything else.
I do need to get back to it.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

It looks like we have moved out of the arctic freeze weather and headed into spring now, which is awesome news ! I moved the tree kale that I had transplanted from the aerogarden into a container out onto the porch along with a couple other plants that should be fine outside now. We are looking at days in the 60’s mostly and warmer nights.
I started more tomatoes seeds and kale in the Aerogardens, and once they are growing good, it should be warm enough to move them outside for the summer.

I went through my garden seeds, and I can’t find the packets for the dwarf tomatoes, so I suppose I will have to order them again before I find the envelope that they are in. Anyway, I had some seed packets for the Atomic tomatoes and San Marzano, which is similar to a Roma tomato. I don’t do well trying to grow the large tomatoes, so we just go to the farmers market in the summer and buy those.

 

[Mary Stetler]

Daughter said they had fruit trees already at Menards, where she works. Unfortunately they are often blooming when delivered and if you don't have a greenhouse or (?) there is no point to getting any. She said there were Contender peach trees that would grow here but I think we have enough. What I want is Stanley or Italian plum trees. Last year someone roped them all off the first day to buy them. This year should be a good plum year so I will save the pits to sprout. Hope they stay true to breed.

 

[Smithy]

Spring is around the corner I cannot wait to see plants and the grass going back to green for a few months.
Anyone else excited?

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Spring is around the corner I cannot wait to see plants and the grass going back to green for a few months.
Anyone else excited?

YES ! YES ! YES !
So, after saying last fall that I “for sure” was not going to garden this year, some how that Gardening Bug bit me anyway, and it bit me hard. I have been buying seeds for several different kinds of tomatoes, and herbs (basil, oregano, thyme) several varieties, and then found some giant sweet red pepper seeds at the dollar store, so I got those, too.
I ordered and planted some catnip seeds for the kitty-cats, hoping they come up and spread.

I like to order from eBay, because they have such a huge variety and so many back-yard gardeners who grow the heirloom seeds. Also, many of them are military veterans, and i like that I am helping a vet to earn a little more pocket money.

I have several aerogardens, and the generic ones that are like an aerogarden, and that is what I start my seeds in, and then transplant into containers once they grow large enough to do that and be outside. They are so easy to use, and with the herbs, you can harvest as needed while they are growing.

 

[Mary Stetler]

Spring is around the corner I cannot wait to see plants and the grass going back to green for a few months.
Anyone else excited?

Oh yes. Our farm store sets up the seed shelves right at the beginning of February to dream with. I bought some more zinnia and morning glory seeds at the dollar store yesterday. I usually save those but didn't last year when I thought I would cut back.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Oh yes. Our farm store sets up the seed shelves right at the beginning of February to dream with. I bought some more zinnia and morning glory seeds at the dollar store yesterday. I usually save those but didn't last year when I thought I would cut back.

Our Dollar General has the Fordhook heirloom seeds, and they are much cheaper there than at other stores or online. What brand does your dollar store have, @Mary Stetler ? Walmart also usually has lots of seeds at good prices, although not a whole lot of variety like an actual farm store has. Our farm store here closed down a couple of years ago, and the new Tractor Supple Store is somewhere north of town and we never go that direction,

 

[Don Alaska]

YES ! YES ! YES !
So, after saying last fall that I “for sure” was not going to garden this year, some how that Gardening Bug bit me anyway, and it bit me hard. I have been buying seeds for several different kinds of tomatoes, and herbs (basil, oregano, thyme) several varieties, and then found some giant sweet red pepper seeds at the dollar store, so I got those, too.
I ordered and planted some catnip seeds for the kitty-cats, hoping they come up and spread.

I like to order from eBay, because they have such a huge variety and so many back-yard gardeners who grow the heirloom seeds. Also, many of them are military veterans, and i like that I am helping a vet to earn a little more pocket money.

I have several aerogardens, and the generic ones that are like an aerogarden, and that is what I start my seeds in, and then transplant into containers once they grow large enough to do that and be outside. They are so easy to use, and with the herbs, you can harvest as needed while they are growing.

Good for you @Yvonne Smith ! I think it is always great for everyone to grow something within their means and ability, even if it is just a few herbs or flowers. We are moving more into containers and buckets, but we still have large gardens. I want to move more into "permanent" gardens where we can grow things such as leeks, parsnips and some other stuff that will over winter here many winters. Of course we have the greenhouses as well, and those need to be tended.

 

[Mary Stetler]

Our Dollar General has the Fordhook heirloom seeds, and they are much cheaper there than at other stores or online. What brand does your dollar store have, @Mary Stetler ? Walmart also usually has lots of seeds at good prices, although not a whole lot of variety like an actual farm store has. Our farm store here closed down a couple of years ago, and the new Tractor Supple Store is somewhere north of town and we never go that direction,

The Dollar store has seeds by American Seed. I know it sounds a bit cheap but they seeds do grow. I love their larkspur type. I had collected a lot of the seed but spilled them all over last year. (not where they could grow. ) I got stung by walmart seeds one year and never went back. I think they were Burgess. We often have tomatoes and other plants just grow up wild and we transplant them, like tomatoes.
One year we had the best cherry tomatoes grow up at our back door off the garage. We didn't plant them. They just grew there. We called them Simon tomatoes because that is where we tied Simon (our old dog) out.
Beans are my most important crop. Some squash and pumpkins but I don't worry much about what variety for them. Potatoes are what grew eyes over the winter in storage. I sure hope the weather cooperates this spring.
Cattails, nettle, lambs quarters, amaranth, asparagus and many others just growing wild...

 

[Tony Page]

Gardening is one of my favorite things to do.
I started 70 seedling, a good amount has germinated.

I too have purchased seed packets from the Dollar Tree. Most of them are for outdoor Direct to pot or ground type. Some can be started indoors to get a jump on the season.

Something about seedlings I've noticed and I just read an article about it and my thoughts about it are correct. I like to store unused seeds, some of my seeds date back to 2008. What I've noticed is the older the seed the longer it takes to germinate. Old seeds that take 7-10 days to germinate, may take 3-4 weeks.

 

[Don Alaska]

Gardening is one of my favorite things to do.
I started 70 seedling, a good amount has germinated.

I too have purchased seed packets from the Dollar Tree. Most of them are for outdoor Direct to pot or ground type. Some can be started indoors to get a jump on the season.

Something about seedlings I've noticed and I just read an article about it and my thoughts about it are correct. I like to store unused seeds, some of my seeds date back to 2008. What I've noticed is the older the seed the longer it takes to germinate. Old seeds that take 7-10 days to germinate, may take 3-4 weeks.

I sometimes do germination testing on older seeds. You can do that in the winter and it lights the gardening bug a little. I usually set a time limit, often 2 weeks at optimum temperature, as lower vigor seeds won't yield here. Seeds have to get up and growing to make it in our 90-day growing season. You can "chit" your seeds (which is a fancy name for presprouting) and I often do that with beans and peas. I transplant a lot of stuff that is not recommended for transplanting using soil blocks. You can also use peat pellets for small quantities. I routinely transplant beets, corn, pole beans, and most herbs in addition to standards of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash and pumpkins, cucumbers and most flowers.

If I store seeds for long periods, I freeze them in a sealed container, and bring the container to room temperature before opening. I store commercially-marketed seeds as they are, but my saved seeds I dry in a drying chamber to make sure there is not much moisture in them. The only seeds I have not been able to store long-term is pea seeds. I have not figured out why. There is a seed technician as a plant materials center near Palmer, and I might ask him some time if he knows the reason. It takes a long time to become an accredited seed technician, so there are not many of them around.