Gardening 2024

[cineater]

Score!  Leslie says we can have the cinder blocks she has at her place.  She thinks we have more than we need.

Phebe inoculated the straw bales with the mushroom spores today.  And put blood meal in a couple of other bales so we can grow veggies in them.  Using straw bales is in direct conflict with the University.  I forget why but they don't recommend growing in straw bales.

[cineater]

More bush trimming with goggles on.     The bushes were putting on new growth.  It's way too early for that.  Hoping early spring holds.  10 day forecast has us above normal.

Daylight hours have increased and the chickens are laying.  I don't have chickens but my friends do and they give me some.

[cineater]

We were in the mid 80's today.  Tomorrow morning we will be in the 20's.  Two days of cold weather and then back to above normal temps.  Not sure what that is going to do to the plants already budding out.  Onion starts went in the ground today.  I would have waited but they did that last year too and they survived.

[cineater]

This was a good youtube on The Social Benefits of Trees.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMlzOmtbaKM

[cineater]

Gave up on the rosemary and oak leaf lettuce.  Seeded up milkweed, swamp and showy.  I'm in trouble if all those come up.  The extra Lobelia got transplanted up.  Could have got a lot more flats out of that but I paired them up and got it down to 3 flats.  They stay home with me until I can plant them in May.

Cool season crops are getting harden off and heading out to the garden.  The weather has continued to be above normal.  We have a bunch of plant plugs coming in later in the week that have to get planted up and will fill up the greenhouse.

[cineater]

Marsha brought up she would like to give up plant sale and be the greenhouse lead.  So while she was saying that, I brought up this would probably be my last year as garden lead.  We tossed around a few names for both jobs.  Nobody can do what Marsh does but people can do what I do.    Nothing is settled but I got the subject out there.

Plugs appear to be coming in early, tomorrow.  The green house is pretty full and we're not sure where we are going to put everything.  I can't help but there are people stepping up to cover me.

[cineater]

Wasn't the plugs that came in today but some stuff I ordered so a bill there.

Did not know that flies are the number two pollinator after bees.  Good webinar on native pollinators and their plants:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Y9kzV05RM

[cineater]

The whole showy milkweed flat has come up!  They are the stars of the milkweed group.  The flowers are in the shape of stars.  I sowed a handful of these so no telling how many plants I'll get but production is looking good.

One plant in the swamp milkweed flat has come up but I can see, believe it or not  , that others are getting ready to push through the soil.  I have two flats of these.

I didn't seed up the common milkweed, my fav, but people don't like them.  They are in the fridge but not in wet paper towels.  I think I'll soak them overnight and try seeding them.  The parks should want them and I've got the drain basin.  Brian has been slowly mowing it down.

Native plants sleep, creep and then leap.  Each stage takes a year.  The first year they are putting down roots and look like they are doing nothing, the second year they start to grow but the third year they jump to a mature plant.  So you have to baby them that first year and they don't like to be rehomed.  Where you put them is where they need to stay. 

OMG, I heard the woodpecker out there and was able to see it.  Good enough to see the markings.  Don't know what kind it was but I saw it well enough. 

[cineater]

And here we go.     Marsha doesn't like my choice for my replacement and she is taking every opportunity to point out the person's flaws.  She can't come up with a good choice though.  She's scanning for one but yeah, there's not a good choice outside of herself and she's got too much on her plate to begin with.  My choice though is having some personal problems that may prevent her from taking it and believe me she is no match for Marsha.  She just doesn't have bitch in her.   

Doesn't look like we are cooling down.  I'm going with an early spring and if we do have a cold snap, the ground won't freeze.  I can't get out there until I get through the cataract stuff so I'm working on my milkweed display.  I'm working on setting up garden tours but doing about half of what I did last year.  I have one press release set up up but not the information needed on our website yet.  I have to have it together before that is published.  All this pollen coming out I have a bad case of the spacies. 

[cineater]

Purple Coneflowers came my way.  A dozen of them.  The are going to compliment my milkweed display.  A food source for the monarch butterfly.  The milkweed is the nursery for the caterpillars.

[cineater]

And suddenly it's spring.     Bushes are greening up, trees are pollenating and bulbs are blooming.  I've got over 100 showy milkweed transplanted.  Will probably get another flat out of the seedlings.  I need to transplant the swamp milkweed but I'm out of lights so they will have to wait until the showy settle in and can be kicked out to the garage and driveway.  Cool season plant sale this weekend.  We're on hold for greenhouse transplanting until the sale as we are out of room.

[cineater]

163 on the showy milkweed.  Plant sale is getting one flat of the swamp milkweed.  Not only am I out of lights, I'm running low on the pots to transplant them up in.  I'll probably get that many out of the flat I'm keeping.  Common milkweed is having a tougher time germinating but I didn't do cold moist stratification, just cold so they may take a little longer.

I'm losing half the purple coneflower.  They were milk jug seeded.  I didn't have any luck with those transplants last year either.  There's something with the milk jugs, like their roots aren't surviving the transplant.  The transplants out of the seeding trays are doing well and I sowed them.  Meaning some of the plants were growing with each other just like the milk jugs.  Maybe they used the seeding soil mix.  I hate that stuff.  It's too heavy and gets too wet.

[cineater]

Got 124 out of the first flat of swamp milkweed.  I'm waiting to transplant the second flat for later in the week when I can start kicking flats out to the garage.  Everybody seems to be taking the transplants well.  I need to prep the area where I'm doing the milkweed display but not going to risk another eye problem until after the surgery.   

Cool season plant sale went well.  For the moment the greenhouse isn't full.  We'll fill it back up Wednesday.  We're having trouble getting evening watering crews.  I also took Sunday night but I'm not building a crew.  They are getting the hose.    We can over water in the morning and they may not need so much at night.  Keeps me there working in the gardens all day which I like, nobody is around and I can get some stuff done.

[cineater]

First full day of spring.  Don't feel like we had much of a winter.  Was listening to an expert on climate change.  She said our springs will be more stormy with flooding and droughts in the summer months.  More reason to plant native plants but is it?
Yes our native plants can tolerate that but it's not their normal growing conditions.  How long can they thrive under conditions they are only tolerating?  Native plants are only a help, not the solution.

I noticed some of the pots I had cool season seeds in got the shit pounded out of them by hail.  There's a few things coming up.  I got some plants at the cool season plant sale so I'll have fresh salad.

Marsha called, someone donated some heat mats and she grabbed some for me.  I hate heat mats.    I've told her that several times but I guess she forgot.  And I guess I'll be using heat mats.  It's just the plants in them require more attention and electricity. 

[cineater]

Total of 177 on the swamp milkweed.  88 have gone to the plant sale.  My plant room is full with flats on the table and on the floor.  I'll start moving some of them out this weekend to be harden off.  I need all my lights by the 30th for the warm season veggies.

I'm not sure what we did but we got all the pansies through with no aphids!  We had onions by them, peppermint oil spread around and new fans that blow more air at fan level.  Not sure if any of that did it but lets do it next year if it means I don't have to give pansies baths.

[cineater]

Quarterly leads meeting.  I didn't have much to talk about till the end when I announced this would probably be my last year as overall lead.  Crickets in the room when I asked if anybody was interested in the job.  And then somebody asked if the next overall lead could be somebody besides one of us.     It should be one of our senior leads, you know, somebody, who knows what the hell we do!

Anyway, I'm still in charge for now.  Regular work sessions begin on Wednesday.  I need to get back to work.  I'm out of shape and overweight.  I noticed our donated wheelbarrow showed up.  It's blue with padded handles and on the smaller side, perfect for me. 

I'm getting a donation of spider milkweed and whorled.  Phebe has the vine milkweed in her yard and will get me seeds this fall.  Maybe I can combine that with the common milkweed in a more wild section of the garden for a second display.  For now I'll be showing 5 types.

[cineater]

All the plants went outside for an hour today to start hardening off.  Their first night in the garage.  I've only got 4 flats under lights but Saturday I'll bring home 9 more.  Need to move those 4 out so I can start my seeds for personal use.  17 flats in the garage so far but I'll start getting the transplants for the park in.  I'm on light duty at the garden until Wednesday.  I'm ready to get out there.

[cineater]

I know I say it every year but I was in such good shape at the end of the season last year.     Drugged my ass around my own yard.  No joy in doing that yard work.  Good news though, everything is coming up.  I need to kick my ass in gear.  Had my sunglasses on my head and poked myself in the eye.  Not bad but are you fucking kidding me!

The plants had their second day outside.  I was going to be gone so they were in the shade and protected from the wind.  Did some of them good.  Some of them really need a good dose of sun.

[cineater]

Just too beautiful out today.  I planted up all my spring stuff.  May regret it as we may get hail again tomorrow.  First grass mowing and I threw out some nitrogen for the grass.

Started removing all the Soapwort at the garden to make way for the milkweed display.  Mowed down the the Liriope.  Wore the eye protection!    So far I've found 2 takers on the Soapwort.  I'm not real fond of it.  It needs deadheading to look nice and some trimming back on some of the branches.  It tends to act like a vine across the ground.  You can make a cleaner out of it.  Not a native but an old world plant in Europe.

[cineater]

Weather alerts have been going off all night and the worst is still coming.  Plants I couldn't get in the garage are under boxes outside, including the moose.    Hopefully the greenhouse doesn't get hit.

Marsha has been really cranky and of course she calls me.     I didn't answer the first call.  I got the brunt of it on Saturday and it was too early in the morning for it to be a good call.  But I took the second call.  Apparently she found 2 six packs of pansies in my flat in the greenhouse.  I was suppose to know those were to be out of there by the last sale.  No big deal, my flat wasn't full, I've been messing with my eyes and they don't have bugs.  But she harps on I should know better.  Actually I didn't know.  And then everything I said after that she had to argue with.  We're taking a road trip tomorrow.  She's picking me up but we are taking two cars so I think I'll ride with the other folks.    But I can tell you, already I need some peace and quiet at the garden.  I'm hiding from my staff.