at last.
peas i'm not worried about some cold giving them problems. the beans i just planted have done ok the past few years planted two weeks earlier than now, but this has been a cold spell enough that i held off.
we'll see if i can manage to get these beans to survive and give me an early crop.
songbird
Yeah, the chill is a bit odd. It is "just the beginning of May" and all, but the mild/hard frosts we got out of nowhere were a bit concerning (I mean, okay, yes I am playing the odds, since technically my 90% last frost date is, well, this coming Monday).
It's interesting digging into the USDA maps, less than 10 minutes north or west, and I'd be out in 6a, but there's like a valley here of 5b, with a little touch of 5a right in the middle, as you head east (again, probably about 15 minutes).
Just had to replant mine (they're in containers though). 2/3 never sprouted, and the one that did got murdered by inquiring fingers (or pet noses). Hopefully this batch planted the 24th(ish) fares better :).
Sowed a few carrots at the same time in some extra pots, which thanks to being inside are now beating out the ones sown in the actual garden beds!
i'm in a local low spot where frosts and fogs can settle out so i do not go by the weather forecast (because it is often wrong) especially for frost or fog warnings.
it sounds like we have nearly the same kind of climate because we're often on the edge of things here too for the weather/temperatures.
when it comes down to rains/precipitation i can also rarely count on the forecasts to be right. instead i have to watch the radar to see what might be coming and then go from there. because of the large valley here it can happen quite often that smaller storms coming at us will peter out once they hit the valley. i remember one summer dry spell i counted a few dozen small storms that faded out or split to go around us (and then i stopped looking at the weather because it was so depressing).
i hope they'll grow!
songbird
cauliflower, broccoli, kale, carrots, and brussels sprouts seeds went in the soil a cuople weeks ago. got some sprouts of everything despite the squirrels rearranging my nice straight rows, the lack of rain, and really cool to cold nights.
planted asparagus crowns in whisky barrels last year. had a very warm snap for a week around easter and it took off. harvested twice off each crown and am letting them grow now. picked up two more (half) barrels and a pkg of crowns yesterday. is one of this weekends projects.
garlic is doing amazing. only 7 of 120 cloves planted didn't grow and most of the stalks are already bigger than the largest half dozen we had last year.
snipped-for-privacy@sdf.org wrote: ...
yes, we just had a frost last night but i'm hoping it is the last. aforementioned peas and beans did sprout and are growing but i covered the beans last night due to frost warning and they're still alive today. no more frosts in the forecast for this coming week.
those are all cool weather crops so they should be ok.
were they pretty large crowns? that sounds a bit heavy on the harvest, but i hope they'll be ok. :)
it has been really dry here so i've had to water anything i expect to be sprouting or growing much including the garlic. it looks to be doing ok. i hope the forecast for rains tomorrow holds.
songbird
we had one frost last week and i didn't cover anything. all cool weather plants. i never planted vegetables outdoors that early and took a chance. got lucky i guess.
last year was the first time i even seen an asparagus crown so i wouldn't know small from large i think. bought them in two three packs. the ones i bought last week were in a ten pack. i have them resting covered in damp peat moss at the moment. the largest in that pack as not as large as last year and the smallest are what i'll say tiny. by the end of this three day weekend i'll have them planted in the new barrels.
the two barrels i set up last year were at opposite ends of the garden. the west side of the garden gets hammered by wind, the east side is more protected. the asparagus in the barrel on the west side didn't do as good as the the other side.
we harvested once from the "weaker" plants and twice from the larger ones. all crowns are growing at least several stalks.
i've been watering daily for weeks to keep the seeds moist. saturdays rain was very welcome. the garlic i've taken your advice about not letting it dry out. am growing grass too so there's that. once the veggies are taking off we'll be working on planting a natural & native habitat. we just planted flowers in seven hanging pots with a couple more still go. i'm working on being smarter and more miserly with water usage, i think we're over watering our very well draining gardens. the 12-14 thousand gallon per quarter twice a year water and sewer bills are nearly twice what we use in the winter. :)
snipped-for-privacy@sdf.org wrote: ...
we're on a well so we pay for the electricity, well and plumbing and hoses, but not on how much we use. i try to minimize what we do use because i don't want to run it dry or have other problems come up. its pretty deep and relatively good water.
what many people have happen around here when they put in a well is that they have salt water which won't work for gardening.
also, if i really wanted to i could pull water from the large ditches that run through our property. one is better than the other but i would also want to test it before i did that since this is an agricultural area and i don't want to water my gardens with runoff if it has a lot of *cides or fertilizers in it (but i don't think it does as it doesn't get green like the other ditches do).
not enough rains recently. out to water and get back to weeding. :)
songbird
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