New England April 2014

NH - you might check at Sam's Club.  They have a smallish one that I've heard good things about on here.

68carguy wrote:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/85-Qty-Seed-Starting-2-1-4-square-x-3-1-4-Deep-Rose-Pots-Durable-reusable-/141241995144?pt=Planters_Pots&hash=item20e2adcf88#ht_830wt_1018

These are the pots I bought last year, and again this year.  Most are now washed and stored for next year.  That means at least 3 seasons with the first batch and they look great. The seller is aaa mercantile

If you don't hear from me for a few days or a week, don't worry.  I'm switching my desktop Windows XP to a new laptop Win8.1 which I hear is a horror to learn.  I'm not techy, so it'll be worse for me.  Luckily my DDIL who has Win7 and has been playing with it and says she agrees its tough to relearn, will be showing me how to run it.  She's been getting help from her techy friends when she hits a wall.  I don't have high hopes for knowing anything really soon.  At my age, I learn new things slowly or not at all. Duh.

Out in the garden I noticed the cress and arugula peeking thru the soil in the coldframe on Friday morning when I watered the seed beds.  That's all at that point.  Raining here today in a steady drizzle so I haven't been out again.

I'm sorry QB! The spouse just got a new laptop which came with Windows 8 and it's like learning the computer all over again. Takes patience.

I'm hoping with the rain we've gotten my lettuce will germinate soon. I have to get the chard and beets into the ground soon too.

I think my spinach is coming up (unless those were weedettes). You direct seeded lettuce, camp? I have some in pots here, maybe it's time to stick those in the garden.

NHGardener wrote:I'm sorry QB! The spouse just got a new laptop which came with Windows 8 and it's like learning the computer all over again. Takes patience.

Lots of patience you better believe it!  I got the 8.0 version a few months ago.  Upper left hand  keyboard has a question mark on the key.  It brings up a world of instructions.  I'm still trying to learn the system.  It seems to have a life of its own and does certain functions automatically that I didn't ask it to do... first, I'd like to strangle the mouse function. It is fiendish.

camprn wrote:I'm hoping with the rain we've gotten my lettuce will germinate soon. I have to get the chard and beets into the ground soon too.

I'm hoping my lettuce, chives, carrots, flowers and other seeds will germinate also. I purposely planted them before this long rain spell hoping it would be a light drizzle and not torrential. So far so good. It's just so bloody cold here - low to mid forties yesterday and today. If I were a sprout I sure wouldn't come out...
  
CC

Ooh. Is it time for 5B to direct seed carrots? I'm thinking yes.

Anyone in 5B done that yet?

It was a perfect rain. Everything got a good soaking, just about an inch of rain, but not torrential. This morning I could see a big difference in my raspberries, strawberries and potatoes. They are so happy.  Things are really starting to green up.  

Still drizzling here. I just remembered that I had two six packs of chard that hadn't been planted yet. I rushed out and planted them . I was surprised to see that the MM wasn't at all wet a quarter of an inch down. So I had to water them in along with watering all my other seeds and seedlings. It doesn't seem fair.

Somehow, it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who stands in the rain while watering their garden!   

boffer wrote:Somehow, it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who stands in the rain while watering their garden!     

Put that way it's incredibly amusing, isn't it? Lol

Well, it looks like the garden is now full up except for 9 squares in the old school SFG on the left.

That used to be my squash garden but I won't be growing squash this year unless I try it in a five gallon bucket. The svb and powdery mildew beat me down... for a while. I think I may try  some early tomatoes there instead.

I also have the fixins for a new box in my garage....
  
CC

It's turned cold and gray this afternoon. They say Rain is on the way again,  but spring is here because my dwarf Elberta  Peach started to bloom.         

Oooh, what pretty peach blossoms.  I can't wait for my Red Haven to blossom.

I'm writing this on my new Win8.1 puter.  Took me a long time to get into the online sites but I'm finally here.  My DDIL was very good about learning things first before trying to teach me how to run it.
So far only the emails and some of my favorite online sites are available to me at this time.  I can't do photos.  I still have lots to learn after she learns it first.

I hope my seed beds are doing OK out there.  I haven't trod up to the garden beds yet today and won't til tomorrow.  All day on puter.  Ugh.  It takes time for me to 'get it.'

CapeC....You are doing great with your garden.  Go for it girl.

Thank you for posting about the Elberta peaches, lyndeeloo! I just looked them up and they look ideal. Next spring I hope to plant peaches.

The site I looked at also mentioned the Red Haven as being very similar. I'd like to try those too. So glad to hear the names of 2 varieties since I haven't looked much into peaches yet.

QB, glad you're already on board! That was fast! You must be a computer whiz.

And CC, that's a beautiful outline.

By the way, I just got an official compost pile going. I had been sheet composting, just throwing things on the beds, in order not to lose the good compost into the soil. Tree roots completely stole my original compost pile, so I stopped using one. But now I just twist-tied chicken wire to the inside corner of my garden fence and made a nice bin shape. I put leaves in it, then a layer of chicken manure, then more leaves, and I add kitchen scraps to it too (and added some hay), but mostly what I have are leaves and chicken manure, so that will have to do. After the rains I can see from the window that it looks about half the size it was, so when I gain use of my leg again (the calf started mooing again, with bruises) I'll fill it back up. We'll see how long it takes to break down. It's nice to have a bona fide pile.

Hoping tomorrow to seed lettuce and carrots outside.

Hi NHGardener
I love my little Elberta. This will be it's third spring and it produced the first spring I planted it. Last year we got 60 peaches from it and it's only 3 feet tall! It was $29 at HD. I know they say you should have at least 2 peach trees to produce, but it seems very happy with my two little apple trees. I'd love to have a few more fruit trees but space is very limited.  I've planted something in every possible spot.  Hope you can get one soon!

Wow Lyndeeloo, that's amazing.

Edit: Just because I like to support local biz, I looked online and the local nursery has the 2 types of peach trees for $60 each! Yowzers, a little higher than HD. Online place sells them for $7.95 each (2-4') (plus shipping).

CC, I love the way you filled in your planting chart, complete with little notes.

Lyndeeloo, Can you post a photo of your dwarf Elberta? Is it planted or potted?

Hark! Am I not seeing any temperatures dip to freezing in the long range forecast?

Could it be..........................?

 


Bwaaahaaahaaa..  


  

sanderson wrote:
Lyndeeloo,  Can you post a photo of your dwarf Elberta?  Is it planted or potted! 

Here she is Sanderson 

I bought and planted the tree in the ground in late March of 2012. $29.97 at HD. Found the receipt but can't find her tags. The tree was about 3 ft tall when I got it. The ruler in the photo is 4 ft.

I bought a Gala apple tree at the same time and it has yet to flower or fruit. It had doubled in height to about 16 ft but I pruned several feet off the top in early spring this year. I also have a Gravenstein apple very close to it because they say you should have at least 2 apple trees. The Gravenstein has done very nicely and given us lots of apples.  If anyone knows anything about Gala apple trees l'd love some input as to why it hasn't flowered.

Ooh, beautiful. I have 2 small gala trees that I grafted at a workshop but they're real slow to grow - maybe because the first year they were completely neglected, we just moved them to their permanent home last fall, so they're 2 yrs. old now (or yikes, maybe 3). I've heard pruning sets them back a bit.

NHGardener have the Gala trees ever bloomed for you?
Wow a grafting workshop. That must have been really interesting!!

No, I see they're just sprouting little leaf buds now. Probably too young to bloom yet, for a while.