April in New England 2012

Haha. Yeah, I still love records. I don't really know what ever happened to all of mine through the years and I love high def sound, but the classics still sound better on vinyl.

Ok now....I'm lost

Oh man, records, I definitely remember those. I had to explain to my son where the word "album" came from...as in "record album"...he couldn't believe we used a 12" piece of vinyl on a clunky machine to play our albums back in the day.

He still doesn't get the fact that Mom & Dad never even had cable when we were kids, either...just three channels to choose from...and no cartoons except on Saturday mornings. When I tried to tell him that, he said "well that's not FAIR!"



Then we had to tell him that a "good" computer when we were very little took up the space equivalent of our entire yard, house and everything, and it still couldn't do everything that Mom's laptop can do now. His eyes POPPED over that, and he couldn't respond.

Why would you go anywhere to buy "the stuff" Man!

You know how many squares of "the stuff" you can get in a SFG!

A freakin lot Man! A freakin lot!

I'll keep searching to see if I can find something similar to the Quoddy Blend Lobster compost. Being a landlocked state far from any coast, I doubt it

Daniel9999 wrote:Why would you go anywhere to buy "the stuff" Man!

You know how many squares of "the stuff" you can get in a SFG!

A freakin lot Man! A freakin lot!

I'm sure someone has tried it

Hey Rooster, get yourself a few 5 gallon buckets of fish "parts" from somewhere and toss that into your compost bin. It's not the same as seafood but freshwater fish should make awesome compost.

RoOsTeR wrote:I'll keep searching to see if I can find something similar to the Quoddy Blend Lobster compost. Being a landlocked state far from any coast, I doubt it

How about Crab Meal?

I found a place that sells it in Colorado.

http://waytogrow.net/store/product/4340/DTE-Crab-Meal-35-lb/

I just discoved on the site that it is sold in Leesburg, VA. I go through there to visit my daughter about 20 mi away in Purcellville. I'm going to pick up a bag or two for my 5 blend replenishment stash on my next visit.

Kay

What the Hill? It's 88F stinkin' degrees out, too dang hot to be in the garden, though I did plant my carrots this morning. Guess I should just sit inside and do my stoopid taxes. I hope I get a return that is worth more than a cuppa joe.

Not sure what the temperature was earlier but now it's about 87. It was a warm one, but I at least got some gardening done. Nothing with the boxes yet though.

After complaining about the cold all winter, it was just too hot to do anything today.

I had to replant my peas because the chickens got em before I could get the fencing up. So those are replanted, lettuce is planted, onion sets that I may have been too late on but we'll see. Waiting for strawberry plants from Johnnys....

And here I see it's carrot time, so tomorrow I'll plant those. I kind of wanted to do a double raised bed for those, but time factor might mean just plant as is and see how they do. I'll put the seed potatoes in as soon as I get those.

It's been so warm I'm half tempted to just seed things in right now. Do you really think we'll get another frost?....

I hear you NHG, I am basically out of time to start new stuff in the house. It's all about direct sowing and finding good transplants at the local nursery. I put in more onion sets and shallots yesterday.
When are you getting your bees?

I'm sowing seeds regardless. I don't think any freezes will be too drastic now but for those seedlings already up or transplanted, I've got old towels ready to cover them against a cold nite. I need to get my garden in gear.

I started my lettuce in the coldframe which I can cover if it gets cold and my greens are in the A-frame and showing so they, too, can be covered in a minute. My peas are popping, both sugar and snow.

I plan to roast the parsnips (harvested last week) tonite with carrots and potatoes for our supper. Everyone was too busy or too warm for an oven-roasted meal the last few days so tonite's the nite.



I hope to see more pics of progress in our N.E. gardens this year.

Okay garden warriors, I just planted my pole beans, carrots, and even sunflowers. We shall see. I don't have the guts to do tomato and pepper seeds outside tho. We'll see what the long-range weather forecast says in a few days.

camprn, I have to pick up the bees this weekend! I think somewhere over in your neck of the woods. It's been a bear getting the hive boxes ready - first assembled, now I have to get primer & paint. I have no idea what I'm doing yet but hopefully it'll all fall into place - ha. Has anyone's bees ever died the first week?

NHGardener wrote:Okay garden warriors, I just planted my pole beans, carrots, and even sunflowers. We shall see. I don't have the guts to do tomato and pepper seeds outside tho. We'll see what the long-range weather forecast says in a few days.

camprn, I have to pick up the bees this weekend! I think somewhere over in your neck of the woods. It's been a bear getting the hive boxes ready - first assembled, now I have to get primer & paint. I have no idea what I'm doing yet but hopefully it'll all fall into place - ha. Has anyone's bees ever died the first week?

LOL, follow the book (which book did they give you?) Just paint the out side of the hives, do not paint the inside! BUT you gotta get going on that today if they are coming this weekend. If you cant do them all do at least two boxes. One for the bees and one for protecting your feeders that you will put on top. Are you using deeps or mediums?

Your bees will survive the first week! When you go to install, I suggest doing it in the morning so the girls have a chance to orient themselves. Remove 3 frames from the new hive box and just pop one of the screens off the side of the package and gently dump them in, place the queen and replace the frames and then let the rest of the bees in the package walk into the hive.
Do you have a bee buddy?

Thx, camprn! Yes, I do have a bee buddy, but she's had some family member health issues come up so she's away a lot right now. I'm not sure if she's going to be available.

But I did figure there must be several youtube vids that would guide me thru. Thx for the heads up about the painting deadline today - right now I'm trying to get taxes out, and tonight is science fair, but in between I'm determined to at least start. Maybe if I get primer on today and paint tomorrow I can cheat my way thru.

NHGardener wrote:Thx, camprn! Yes, I do have a bee buddy, but she's had some family member health issues come up so she's away a lot right now. I'm not sure if she's going to be available.

But I did figure there must be several youtube vids that would guide me thru. Thx for the heads up about the painting deadline today - right now I'm trying to get taxes out, and tonight is science fair, but in between I'm determined to at least start. Maybe if I get primer on today and paint tomorrow I can cheat my way thru.

LOL< I know how you feel, this past week I was treating the hive prep chores like laundry, stack em up and paint one coat in 1/2 hour, then onto the next thing while paint dries.

camprn - you're adding new hives? How many?

NHGardener wrote:camprn - you're adding new hives? How many?

I am getting a nuc from a fella in Albion, Maine probably in later May or early June and I am hoping to split my current hive. I saw my Queen the other day...The first time I have seen her since last summer. She is the long skinny one in the middle of the pic. You can also see capped brood, uncapped brood and come cells the bees are filling with honey. Sorry it's so blurry.

Oooh... pretty... you must've gotten the beauty queen.

I noticed several of you are planting your pole beans this week. Are you soaking them overnight? I'm trying to improve my success by following your leads.

Thanks

I have no plans to plant my pole beans for the next 3 weeks. I just have a healthy respect for the curveballs Mother Nature can wing at me this time of year. If I plant my beans in 3 weeks I will still get an incredible harvest. I don't normally soak the beans, but I do soak the peas.

I planted them, but it's more an experiment than anything. I may have to replant. And no, I didn't soak them. I'm not in a hurry for them to sprout at this point.

I dunno tho. I'm holding out that we're not going to get another (measurable) frost. [I could end up being really wrong]

Today is April 19, 2011, in the US it's Patriot's Day, the 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' day. A good day for planting. I have finally finished excavating all of my boxes to remove all the crazy tree root hairs that choked everything late last summer. I lay in cardboard and weed barrier. I replaced and fortified the MM with homemade compost. The peas have been in a while and the shallots and French Breakfast radishes are up, as are the red and gold beets and spinach. Today I transplanted the brassicas, cabbage red and green and savoy. Also put in Brussels sprouts.

peas, shallots, radishes


Garlic


Brassica bed. Cucumbers will go in the back 4 squares.


I am not a master of working with tulle, but this worked out pretty well.


bonus photo:2 boxes of onion sets planted, the terrace bed is going to have the sweet potatoes and the vines can train down the hill. There are about 40,000 bees in the hive there, I am hoping they double in number in the next few months so I can split the hive in two. There is a basin of water in front of the hive. Did you know bees get very thirsty?

Those look like white collars around your brassicas. Is that to guard against cutworms?