New England ~ May 2014

**camprn** Thu 1 May - 10:31

It it still cold and raining. I am hoping for warmer days soon. It has been so chilly for so long that we are still about 3 weeks behind.

I am thankful for the raised beds in that I know they will warm up sooner than an in ground garden. The peas are starting to poke up through the MM surface. I will be doing trellis set up and maintenance this coming weekend.

lyndeeloo Thu 1 May - 11:50

Nearly 3 inches of rain since yesterday morning. Still lightly raining and 47 degrees. It is supposed to warm up to the low 70's, in between possible showers and maybe a T storm. I definitely won't need to water the MM. Laughing

Hoping to get out in the garden today and get some more plants in. Yahooooo!

cpl100 Thu 1 May - 15:23

I erroneously thought there would be sunshine today. Was corrected by my husband to learn that tomorrow is the sunshine day.

So tired of this rain and dreariness and it makes me sluggish enough that I get nothing accomplished but the absolute necessities. UGH!

Come on SUMMER!!!!

CapeCoddess Thu 1 May - 16:02

I think we will see the sun today, cpl100...later this afternoon or early eve in my case.

I'm going to do an early tomato planting experiment this weekend. I want to plant one of each heirloom type in the old school SFG beds & either let them sprawl or make some cages out of concrete reinforcement wire - but the bottom line is no pruning will be involved. I want to see how the yields and timing compare to the ANSFG/trellised ones.

Meanwhile, all the toms are chomping at the bit to get outside! New England ~ May 2014 Photo136

I'll put them out when I go home for lunch today. QB, the shorter ones on the left side of the white tray are the Box Car Willies you sent me. They were started much later than the others & 2 sprouted - about 3 wks apart! It was weird. I figured each must be from a different batch of Ray's.

See the flower buds? All the plants have them now except the little Box Cars. New England ~ May 2014 Photo221

Once real tomato weather come (Memorial Day here) and it's time to plant them I think I'll leave flowers on half of each type and remove them from the other half. Then I'll know forever more what to do.
okay

CC

mollyhespra Thu 1 May - 17:10

Yes, it's a bit gloomy, isn't it? Cloudy & rainy for the next 10 days. It looks like I might have a small window of (rain-less) opportunity on Saturday morning to get out and move the strawberries to their new bed and put up the trellis for the peas. Mine are starting to poke out of the ground, too. Two of the four garlic varieties I planted are about 1-2" tall now. Still no sign of the asparagus. At least there's no frost in the forecast.

CapeCoddess Thu 1 May - 20:59

Gee, Molly...you live on another planet! (says the one with no room to talk)
My forecast is sunny & hi 50's for the next 10 days with one exception - Sun nite I think.

cpl100 Thu 1 May - 21:12

CC are you zone 6 or 5?

CapeCoddess Thu 1 May - 21:22

Spring is 6b, fall is 7a.

RJARPCGP Fri 2 May - 0:18

My basil, marigolds blooming and my spider plant blooming Wink

quiltbea Fri 2 May - 1:30

CapeC.....My Boxcars are only about 3" tall. I started mine rather late due to the cold and the snow and not thinking I could get them out early this year. Yours are looking great.
I like your ideas of experimenting. That's the way to learn.

NHGardener Fri 2 May - 1:34

It ended up getting sunny and warm here late this afternoon!

Like you CC, I'm doing an experiment with my tomatoes. First of all, I don't see any frosts in the forecast for the next 10 days, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Since my tomato plants weren't doing well in their molding biodegradable cups, I transplanted 16 of them into the SFG! I still have another 16 to spare so no biggie if they don't make it, but I don't think they would've made it anyway the way they were suffering. These were seeded the first of March for the science fair.

So it will be interesting to see how they do.

I got my 2 peach trees planted! Smile

Maybe tomorrow I can find that darn camera charger cord.

mollyhespra Fri 2 May - 2:13

CapeCoddess wrote: Gee, Molly...you live on another planet! (says the one with no room to talk)
My forecast is sunny & hi 50's for the next 10 days with one exception - Sun nite I think.

Yea, I know. The mountains create their own weather. It's often gloomy & cloudy up here and then we drive 30 mins South through Franconia Notch and it's sunny & bright on the other side. On top of that my house is situated in a cold micro-climate, so it's particularly challenging to grow edibles. I don't know how the old timers did it with only about 90 days between frosts.

BUT, on a positive note, the sun actually did shine for a bit this afternoon, so instead of the housework & bills I'd planned to work on, I went outside & worked in the garden. I managed to move a few of the strawberries into their permanent bed but I didn't realize what a mess of runners & babies I've got on my hands. I'm going to have to put in quite a bit more work than I thought to get them transplanted.

So until I've got any green worth showing, I'm living vicariously through you-all. New England ~ May 2014 3170584802

NHGardener Fri 2 May - 3:58

I don't know how the old timers did it either. What a hard life that must've been. So many farmhouses w/attached barns up there.

cpl100 Fri 2 May - 6:27

CapeCoddess wrote:Spring is 6b, fall is 7a.

I don't understand that. We have different zones for fall and spring? Really?

**camprn** Fri 2 May - 11:27

cpl100 wrote:
CapeCoddess wrote:Spring is 6b, fall is 7a.
I don't understand that. We have different zones for fall and spring? Really?

Nope. Hardiness zones are about winters coldest weather.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

http://www.plantmaps.com

NHGardener Fri 2 May - 12:16

camp, I didn't realize you were in zone 5a and I'm in zone 5b. I guess it's being closer to the coast that does it.

RJARPCGP Fri 2 May - 15:40

camprn wrote:
cpl100 wrote:
CapeCoddess wrote:Spring is 6b, fall is 7a.
I don't understand that. We have different zones for fall and spring? Really?
Nope. Hardiness zones are about winters coldest weather.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

http://www.plantmaps.com

IIRC, it's based on average winter night temps.

This winter was a cold one, even when it don't look like it got as cold as 2003 and 2004. But, even 2003 and 2004 for the weather records look like the same type of thing. Didn't 2003 and 2004 have like almost -40 F?

**camprn** Fri 2 May - 16:03

NHGardener wrote:camp, I didn't realize you were in zone 5a and I'm in zone 5b. I guess it's being closer to the coast that does it.

Yes I think that's right. How far are you from the sea, as the crow flies?

NHGardener Fri 2 May - 16:08

Probably 20 miles.

CapeCoddess Fri 2 May - 21:22

l can't believe it but it rained here all morning. So I did electrical work and cleaned the basement. By the time I was finished the sun came out but my back was so sore I couldn't get out into the garden accept a walk around and look at everything, and even that was difficult. Crud.

When I went by the hardware store to pick up an electric socket this morning I stopped and looked at the concrete reinforcement sheets. I was thinking of using them for tomato cages in the old skool SF G. Has anyone tried them before? I'm wondering how long it would last. They're rather expensive by the sheet and the nearest roll is at Lowes witches off cape in where ham.

(oh good grief...)

RJARPCGP Fri 2 May - 21:49

I have 61 F on my thermometer out front. (Never mind my banner, ATM, major discrepancy once again, because there's no stations in downtown)

yolos Fri 2 May - 22:38

CapeCoddess wrote:l can't believe it but it rained here all morning. So I did electrical work and cleaned the basement. By the time I was finished the sun came out but my back was so sore I couldn't get out into the garden accept a walk around and look at everything, and even that was difficult. Crud.

When I went by the hardware store to pick up an electric socket this morning I stopped and looked at the concrete reinforcement sheets. I was thinking of using them for tomato cages in the old skool SF G. Has anyone tried them before? I'm wondering how long it would last. They're rather expensive by the sheet and the nearest roll is at Lowes witches off cape in where ham.

(oh good grief...)

I used cages made from the concrete reinforcing mesh in my old row garden. They lasted for years and years. But I did not like the looks because of the rust.

boffer Fri 2 May - 22:45

CapeCoddess wrote:I stopped and looked at the concrete reinforcement sheets. I was thinking of using them for tomato cages in the old skool SF G. Has anyone tried them before? I'm wondering how long it would last. They're rather expensive by the sheet and the nearest roll is at Lowes witches off cape in where ham.

(oh good grief...)

"and the nearest roll is at Lowes witches off cape in where ham."
Are you going to blame that on your tablet? Razz

This is a pic of a basket that Quiltbea made. Mine look similar. I love the stuff-very versatile.
New England ~ May 2014 06-07-18

I figure the rust adds a little iron to the soil! Wink

quiltbea Fri 2 May - 23:52

I used the reinforcement wire to make two cucumbers cages. Works good and will last forever probably but like yolos, I dislike the look. The fact that is rusts also gives me pause that it could be dangerous if one gets a cut on their hands and uses it. I'd rather string my tomatoes or even use stakes instead of that rusty stuff.

CapeCoddess Sat 3 May - 0:11

boffer(oh good grief...) wrote:
"and cthe nearest roll is at Lowes witches off cape in where ham."
Are you going to blame that on your tablet?

I'm not even going to blame my tablet anymore because it's so obvious that that's exactly what it is. I'm sure everyone's getting tired of hearing me say it and we'll just understand that that's what's going on.

is a pic of a basket that Quiltbea made. Mine look similar. I love the stuff-very versatile.

I figure the rust adds a little iron to the soil!
this is interesting because my mother told me once that she had red that when metal is used in a garden it adds some kind of energy from the air and puts it into the soil. And the other night I was thinking about one particular trellis I have that goes directly into the Mel's mix. I have had such great success with anything I have put on that trellis that I'm beginning to wonder if there may be some truth to what my mother read. Which makes me believe that these reinforcement wire cages could be excellent seeing as I can't find cattle panels anywhere nearby or far away. Now if I were to post this exactly is it came out nobody would understand a word I said.even ignoring the fact that I can't get it out of the quote box.

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