Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[cgw]

I planted some tall phlox and every time it gets a bud, it’s gone the next morning. I’m hoping next year when they get taller the bunnies won’t be as interested. Right now it’s only about 3 inches tall because they’re newly planted.

Side note - I just ordered more tulip bulbs! I’ve been ordering from dutchblooms.com and they sent me a discount coupon and free shipping so I got a good deal but now I have more work to do.

Can you plant dahlias on top of tulip bulbs? My tulips tend to come back every year but I’m wondering if I plant dahlias on top in this one bed if all the water that the dahlias need will end up rotting the tulip bulbs?

Up here, dahlias get pulled up, stored and replanted--not winter hardy. We're 5B to 5A in rough winters. Talk to someone local for their take on dahlias. We plant 'em separately.
We're moving to winter lockdown: leaf-mulching, late-pruning, rain barrel draining, planter storage, clean-up for last chance city yard waste collection next week. Moving old roses next week to new homes in the obelisks.

 

[SquarePeg]

Up here, dahlias get pulled up, stored and replanted--not winter hardy. We're 5B to 5A in rough winters. Talk to someone local for their take on dahlias. We plant 'em separately.
We're moving to winter lockdown: leaf-mulching, late-pruning, rain barrel draining, planter storage, clean-up for last chance city yard waste collection next week. Moving old roses next week to new homes in the obelisks.

Dahlias don’t over winter here either- 6b. This is my first year planting them and I planted dinner plate dahlias. They require a lot of staking and has issues with leaf hoppers. If I dig those 4 up they’ll go in large pots next year. One of my friends has beautiful dahlias and she doesn’t dig them up - she plants new tubers every year. I don’t really have anyplace cool and dry enough to store them so I may do the same. We have a finished heated basement and converted the garage to living space a while ago. Attic and shed are too cold.

 

[cgw]

Dahlias don’t over winter here either- 6b. This is my first year planting them and I planted dinner plate dahlias. They require a lot of staking and has issues with leaf hoppers. If I dig those 4 up they’ll go in large pots next year. One of my friends has beautiful dahlias and she doesn’t dig them up - she plants new tubers every year. I don’t really have anyplace cool and dry enough to store them so I may do the same. We have a finished heated basement and converted the garage to living space a while ago. Attic and shed are too cold.

Have always listened to experienced locals who've learned the hard way.

BTW, we like these tough little customers, the first commercially-raised tulips from the late 16thC.

Tulipa tarda (Botanical Tulip)

First cultivated commercially in 1590, Tulip 'Tarda' is by far the most important real botanical species and looks just as Mother Nature introduced her. A top all-around performer, this diminutive species tulip displays bunches of elegant six star-shaped little flowers with chrome-yellow petals...

www.gardenia.net

 

[Rickbb]

Going out of town for a few days so I picked what may be the last of my fall green beans and had them for dinner. Supposed to be in the mid twenties for the next few days and it may take them out. That’s right about the limit with the row covers.

The winter broccoli is starting to head, should be able to start cutting in a few weeks weeks.

Got a row of spinach and carrots coming up good, another row of kale and various lettuces showing up.

Looking at seed catalogs, will be time to start them in the greenhouse/cold frame soon.

 

[SquarePeg]

It's almost Spring!!!

 

[SquarePeg]

What is everyone planning for this spring/summer?

I've started "winter sowing" some flowers. If you are not familiar, winter sowing is planting seeds in clear covered containers like milk jugs or clear storage totes, outside any time after the winter solstice. Winter sowing allows them to sprout and harden off on their own. The theory is that this produces hardier plants. It's also less work than cold stratifying, tending to indoor seed starting pos, grow lights and slowly hardening off seedlings.

So far, I've planted seeds for swamp milkweed, cone flowers, blue false indigo, two types of salvia and poppies. They should sprout soon. In March I'll start zinnias and cosmos so they will be ready for transplant and have earlier blooms than if I waited until after last frost date which is May 1. Last year my direct sown zinnias and cosmos didn't flower until very late summer. Luckily we had a mild fall so I was able to enjoy them for a bit.

As for now the garden is mostly bleak. But, I can see some tulips poking up through the mulch already as we have had very mild weather except for that arctic blast.

 

[cgw]

Trying "winter sowing" too this spring for flowers and veg. Fingers crossed. Nasty cold snap overnight with freezing rain and flurries today. Lots of imagination needed to envision spring!

 

[terri]

I went from having a near-acre lot to a tiny one in a semi-urban neighborhood. When we arrived last fall, all we really had time for was clearing out all the dead stuff! That entailed removing not one, but 3 tall dead pine trees. My back yard has only one large tree, a maple, and I would like to make a natural privacy fence from something hardy: maybe a line of some kind of holly.

No ideas yet on flower planting. I know there are some day lilies on the property line and I'm still not sure to whom they belong. It will be slow going this year and I might even consult a landscaper to make sure I stick with native plantings.

 

[SquarePeg]

Trying "winter sowing" too this spring for flowers and veg. Fingers crossed. Nasty cold snap overnight with freezing rain and flurries today. Lots of imagination needed to envision spring!

Looking forward to comparing notes and results! What flowers did you sow?

I went from having a near-acre lot to a tiny one in a semi-urban neighborhood. When we arrived last fall, all we really had time for was clearing out all the dead stuff! That entailed removing not one, but 3 tall dead pine trees. My back yard has only one large tree, a maple, and I would like to make a natural privacy fence from something hardy: maybe a line of some kind of holly.

No ideas yet on flower planting. I know there are some day lilies on the property line and I'm still not sure to whom they belong. It will be slow going this year and I might even consult a landscaper to make sure I stick with native plantings.

Sounds like you know what you want to do and just need to decide on the specifics.

 

[Rickbb]

I’ve put in the spring/summer broccoli, sugar snap peas and carrots. Carrots are starting to sprout. Had so much rain I’m way behind at getting the garden turned and the all over winter mulch worked in.

Will start tomato and some flower seeds soon in the green house. Bees are starting their build up and I need to get equipment ready for swarming season by mid March.

Shaping up to be a late planting year. Oh well.

 

[SquarePeg]

I’ve put in the spring/summer broccoli, sugar snap peas and carrots. Carrots are starting to sprout. Had so much rain I’m way behind at getting the garden turned and the all over winter mulch worked in.

Will start tomato and some flower seeds soon in the green house. Bees are starting their build up and I need to get equipment ready for swarming season by mid March.

Shaping up to be a late planting year. Oh well.

Late is relative! Here in New England we have a much shorter window and can’t really put anything in the ground before May 1-15 depending on specifics. Do you direct sow these in the ground or are you using raised beds? Are they covered?

I’m jealous of your greenhouse! I have room for a very small one but not sure if it’s worth it for me as the only food I grow is tomatoes. Planted a larger veggie garden many years ago when my daughter was small and wanted to help. We spent a lot of our time giving away the harvest! It was too much for us. The tomatoes are easy as we can make a sauce and freeze it with any extras.

Weather has been crazy here. 2 wks ago -12°F, Thursday it was 60° and this morning it was 23° I’m pretty sure that arctic freeze killed all the buds on my hydrangeas

 

[cgw]

Still waiting for seeds to arrive. Basement grow-op set-up today. Hard to envision spring with icicles hanging off the eaves and shrubs encased in ice in S. Ontario. Still, it will warm up. Looking to hook-up more rain barrels at an old family property to save some $$$ and facilitate watering remote restored beds and shrubs that require way too much hose otherwise.

 

[Original katomi]

Hi all just started to get back to my garden... photos to follow when there is something to show

 

[Rickbb]

Late is relative! Here in New England we have a much shorter window and can’t really put anything in the ground before May 1-15 depending on specifics. Do you direct sow these in the ground or are you using raised beds? Are they covered?

I’m jealous of your greenhouse! I have room for a very small one but not sure if it’s worth it for me as the only food I grow is tomatoes. Planted a larger veggie garden many years ago when my daughter was small and wanted to help. We spent a lot of our time giving away the harvest! It was too much for us. The tomatoes are easy as we can make a sauce and freeze it with any extras.

Weather has been crazy here. 2 wks ago -12°F, Thursday it was 60° and this morning it was 23° I’m pretty sure that arctic freeze killed all the buds on my hydrangeas

I do both direct seed and start in flats in the greenhouse. I use row covers in early spring and late fall/winter. If we have a mild winter I can grow something year round. This year we had a cold spell down in the single digits, when it does that all that survives is some kale and a few lettuce varieties. Usually I have the ground turned raised rows setup and ready by now, but not when there is water standing 3 inches deep. Lol.

 

[smithdan]

Tomato babies