April in New England 2012

You've been busy camp All your beds look fantastic!

Yup the little tubes are toilet paper tubes cut in half, sliced up the side and wrapped around the stem and pushed into the soil a bit. Put in place to prevent cutworm damage.Thanks Rooster, they are coming along. Fingers crossed for rain.

Uh, we need rain so bad

Beautiful!

Camp, when I lived in Vermont, and I can't remember if it was spring or fall, everyone seemed to go crazy over fiddleheads. It's been about 20 years since I was there, so I'm having a hard time remembering, but as I recall they looked similar to a curled up green bean? Can you enlighten me?

@camprn....Your garden is looking great. I love seeing the green.

The little tissue tubes also help keep the water around the base of the plant until it has time to be absorbed. I personally put a couple of toothpicks, one on either side of new transplants, to foil cutworms but I like the tube idea for watering purposes.

RoOsTeR wrote:Camp, when I lived in Vermont, and I can't remember if it was spring or fall, everyone seemed to go crazy over fiddleheads. It's been about 20 years since I was there, so I'm having a hard time remembering, but as I recall they looked similar to a curled up green bean? Can you enlighten me?

You can't get them where you are? It's just about fiddlehead season! Come about two weeks early but it's so dry; they are YUM! I have not been into the woods yet this year so I am not really sure how far along they are. I have not yet seen them in the market.

Here are a few blurbs about Fiddlehead greens:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/fiddlehead.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead_fern

http://www.orionn49.com/fiddleheads.htm

We have those in our yard - in the damp areas where ferns grow. But I'm never sure if all curled newbie ferns are fiddleheads or whether it's just a special kind. One of these days I'll figure out what to do with them. I know they're really expensive to buy in more urban areas. They disappear quickly.

From your wikipedia link: "Certain varieties of fiddleheads have been shown to be carcinogenic."

Well. Maybe I'll just skip on those.

I have a couple of those growing next to my compost bin.

NHGardener wrote:We have those in our yard - in the damp areas where ferns grow. But I'm never sure if all curled newbie ferns are fiddleheads or whether it's just a special kind. One of these days I'll figure out what to do with them. I know they're really expensive to buy in more urban areas. They disappear quickly.

From your wikipedia link: "Certain varieties of fiddleheads have been shown to be carcinogenic."

Well. Maybe I'll just skip on those.

LOL, some mushrooms aren't good for you either. If you have never had a fiddlehead, go ahead and buy some to give them a try! Delish!

You can't get them where you are?

Heck no! I remember them being very tasty! I've never heard them refered to anyplace else, but the New England area.

camprn wrote:

NHGardener wrote:We have those in our yard - in the damp areas where ferns grow. But I'm never sure if all curled newbie ferns are fiddleheads or whether it's just a special kind. One of these days I'll figure out what to do with them. I know they're really expensive to buy in more urban areas. They disappear quickly.

From your wikipedia link: "Certain varieties of fiddleheads have been shown to be carcinogenic."

Well. Maybe I'll just skip on those.

LOL, some mushrooms aren't good for you either. If you have never had a fiddlehead, go ahead and buy some to give them a try! Delish!

Years ago I used to work at a high-end restaurant and they would serve fiddlehead fern salad in the spring. It was tasty

Okay, well I may have to eat my hat, because the forecast is lows in the 20s the next few nights.

Sprouted in my boxes are onion sets, peas, tiny amount of lettuce, and I think that's it. Planted but not sprouted are pole beans, potatoes, carrots, sunflowers. We also have a tilled area nearby to plant wildflowers, and I am planting some of the same seeds in there too, just to see how they compare to the SFG box plantings. I'm pretty sure the SFG garden will beat the tilled soil hands-down, esp. since I'm not adding anything to the tilled soil - just an experiment to see how they compare "in the raw".

I never got to my indoor seeding this year so will have to buy tomato, pepper, and eggplant plants from as local of a farm as I can find. Just too many new projects this spring to get to everything. Next spring ought to be a cinch. (That's what I said last year too) Altho already on the list for next year is a sheet mulched asparagus bed...

BTW camprn, got the bees! It was harder to install them than the youtube videos showed. One hive looks more active than the other judging from the activity at the hive entrance. It's been 6 days and I'm thinking I should probably open them up and make sure the queen is out of the cage and remove the cage. But it's supposed to be very windy the next couple days so probably not yet. (Going to put a cement block on each hive so they don't blow over.) When the bees give me dirty looks when I refill their feed bottles, it still makes me nervous. Have to acquire the zen attitude. Running and screaming isn't really the best approach...

OH! the bees arrived!! Nice! so just pop the lid and make sure she has been released. It should not take very long to do this; she need to be out and start laying eggs. Do it today.

Breathe in breathe out, relax!!!. They only really get feisty when they have something to defend and if you have your cover protection, they wont get you. Focus on the task at hand. I'll be here on and off all day if you want to ask any questions. But really, the queen must get into the hive and onto the frames. No need to do a full inspection.
Ok, off to work. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad it's Friday!

Stopped at Walmart for something yesterday and they are selling tomato and pepper plants. Way too early for this area. We'll get several freezing nights in the next few weeks. I just shook my head and passed them by. I'm glad mine are happy under the lights at home.

Freezing tonite and tomorrow around here so the old towels and sheets are piled up and ready for cover service over the brassicas and the lids will be closed on the cold frame and A-frame later today. Had more rain last nite and its overcast right now so more rain acomin' again. We need it so I'm not complaining.

Love the idea of bees. Love reading about it. I won't get any, but I can live vicariously thru you neighbors. I'll see you all when it warms up a bit more.

I just got my bees too & I'm loving every moment with them....despite my 1 sting during installation. So nice to find fellow NE gardeners.

Well, my Bee Buddy advised against trying to open them until the wind subsides, like Sunday. I guess they're just going to have to rough it until then.

NHGardener wrote:Well, my Bee Buddy advised against trying to open them until the wind subsides, like Sunday. I guess they're just going to have to rough it until then.

I am not sure but good luck! Until the queen is released and there is eggs & brood, the temperature situation is not nearly as critical. I am planning on doing a split tomorrow.... somehow I ended up with a new queen bee this afternoon.

Huh. I guess you're not going to let the wind hold you back.

Do you think working with them during chilly temperatures might make them a little slower and easier? Maybe I could peek in the hive tomorrow morning when it's really cold and maybe they'll behave...

NHGardener wrote:Huh. I guess you're not going to let the wind hold you back.

Do you think working with them during chilly temperatures might make them a little slower and easier? Maybe I could peek in the hive tomorrow morning when it's really cold and maybe they'll behave...

yup, I would wait until mid day and then just quickly take a peek to see if the queen is out of her cage. It should just take a minute or two. I wouldn't even bother lighting the smoker... Did you hang the cage between frames??

Yup, tapped a nail on each side and hung it that way. I also saw where you can use a rubber band. They could make it a little easier by coming pre-hangable...

Do the bees get upset when you open up the hive to take a look? I wonder if they consider that threatening to the hive.

If you go into the hive mid day most foragers will be out, the house bees will be in residence and maybe a few guard bees will come out, but in all likelihood it will be fine. You just wont be in there very long. If the queen is out, you're done. If the queen is still in the cage you just poke the candy out if the hole and place the cage between the frames and put the lid on. The Queen will exit the cage shortly.

Well, I am sure the days are going to get warmer, eventually. This morning with the temp at 36F it was too cold to work the garden so while it was still cool I have moved 5 tons of wood pellets into the basement while waiting for some warm up...yeah, pellets moved, temp is 39F. Hmmm... could be a good time to turn over the monster compost pile. Other things on the list today, build a space for the rest of the strawberries and the potatoes...
May have to wait until tomorrow to split my hive