California - What are you doing this month?

Breakfast. The flowers are surprisingly sweet.

Broccoli? Pretty!

Yes.

Better use them quick! If an aphid sees those they'll invite friends over for a feast.

trolleydriver wrote:Sanderson ... that is just not fair!!! I've got about 2 feet of snow on my property and the temperature is well below freezing. I want to be growing things but it is nice to see what others are doing at this time of the year.

Don't be jealous, TD.  Like me, try to be thankful for what you  do have. :-) 

I look at it this way.  when the snow and cold comes, I can do other things, and when spring is on the way I am champing at the bit to get started again.

I must admit sanderson does a wonderful job in her yard. I love her analytical ways, makes my style of gardening  so hit and miss.   I am always trying to do a bit better following the great examples on this forum.

KJ,  thanks.  But I do have quite a few "hits and misses".

YS,  My aphids seem to show up more in March/April, if I remember correctly.  I am enjoying snapping off the tender florets and munching raw. The snow peas are finally growing out of their flowers, and one tomato is blushing in the greenhouse!!

I placed my Baker Creeks order last night.  I'm trying a huge pumpkin/squash type http://www.rareseeds.com/boston-marrow-s/  They make 15 lb fruit and bigger.  


And I'm trying some chinese long beans that are supposed to adore our heat
http://www.rareseeds.com/chinese-red-noodle-bean/



As well as an orange watermelon (my son in law loves growing watermelons) 

And a larger sweeter variety of butternut squash.  We LOVE butternuts and do so much with them so it will be fun to try a new one.  

http://www.rareseeds.com/butternut-rogosa-violina-gioia-s/



I need to get hopping and get my seeds started.  Our last frost date is mid-march but it often stops freezing well before that date.

I grew the red beans in 2014 and they did well.  I tried rogosa butternut last spring but they didn't sprout.  Something I did???? I loved the Canada Crookneck, the neck was pure meat. Just peel and slice.

Some winter photos. The hope of spring to come:

Greenhouse Rutger blushing -

Orange tree, shooting upwards -

Climbing Iceberg Rose with cold weather pink coloring-

Yellow rose -

Mrs. Tingley Camellia near the front door-

sanderson ... very nice indeeed ... keep them coming to encourage us northerners.

Beautiful! Thanks for the hope

LOVE that camillia, Sanderson!!!!

I will try to remember to go out to my greenhouse and take some pictures for you guys who haven't seen anything green in a while    My tomatoes are looking spectacular this year.  I have romas that are almost 3 inches long and should be ripening soon.  I have Snow Fairy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes a A. Grappiolas.  

I have to get my seeds started, we're 6 weeks away from our last frost date.  I've found rushing to get plants out early doesn't really make a difference where I live.  They won't out produce the ones that are planted later so I'll be patient.  

I can't wait for my seed order from Rare Seeds.  I have a squash that produces 15 lb fruit coming!!!  It should be spectacular.

Is it spring yet?!!!

Photos coming! I'm hoping the painting and new carpet are done by Feb 7 so I can set up the lights in the dining room. The garage and living/dining great room are filling up with everything from the 4 bedrooms. How did so much come from them? This is a good opportunity to get rid of some things.

Boy - I could spend a week just throwing stuff out myself!  *deep sigh*  I'm always "going" to spend time decluttering, but then I wouldn't have time for my garden 

Here's my greenhouse photos this morning.  The first are "Snow Fairy Tomatoes" they can handle cold down o 28 degrees as long a no frost touches them.  Smallish 2 inch fruit.


These are my staple Cherry Tomatoes - the cold seems to sweeten them.


The entire large garden, to the far left are the Romas, Snow Fairy, A Grappiola (plum style), Red Bell Peppers that are beginning to ripen, mini red bells, hot peppers, Swiss Chard and I'm sure there's other "stuff" I'm forgetting about!  The secret is to have things growing in the fall and then they S L O W L Y begin to ripen over the winter as the days get longer.  The fruit has been on the bell peppers for a few months.  



These red bell pepper were grown from seeds harvested from Costco bell peppers.  They have been phenomenal producers but I don't know which variety.  In the summer they produced 8-10 large fruits per plant

Oh, wow! And here I thought my Rutger was a nice surprise. If I win the lottery, I'm going to buy my neighbor's house and expand! There is a perfect patio for a green house with TTs. It has a pool. . .

Great idea!  When you get too hot from compost turning you could just jump into the pool, clothes and all then drip-dry to finish 

My tomatoes are super healthy this year.  I think it's that they're getting watered from deep down.  It's a large raised box and the water from the hillside is soaking everything - it's a muddy mess but their roots are above it all and taking only what they need.  I'm opening things up every day that I can so there's good circulation.

I have got to get up the hill and see your garden!! Obviously I can't buy the house cuz I would have to really win something! But, I can dream. Plenty of room for all the kiddies! And the pool would be a magnet!

Yikes! I'm panicking that I can't start my seeds until after Feb 10!

We received 0.1" of rain last night and rain expected Sunday with up to 19 mph winds. I have 3 pineapples so I can start dehydrating them tomorrow. Plus 4 lbs of beef bones to start a pot of beef broth. I think I am getting a little cabin fever, especially with all the painting going on inside the house. I may sound like it's taking a long time to get the job done, but the painter is good and we trust him even if we are both are gone. So, it's just a trade off between speedy or good.

The heirloom black krim (?) I bought was mealy and tasteless. :-( It will go into a hot dish as a sauce.

Nothing else going on here. crickets

I'm with you... Good over speedy!

Have you got everything planned out for the garden this year? Are there some things you can go ahead & seed early to make sure they're nice & big for planting?

Just trying to give you some ideas to keep you out of trouble, lol! :-)

Good point - I need to pencil in a plan. Maybe I can start this afternoon after I get the bones and pineapple going.

The floor space I normally use in the formal dining room (in between the elegant 7 course dinners we host - ) is currently being used to store things from the 4 bedrooms. No place to set up lights until after the carpet is down and heavy furniture back in.

It looks like we have received 1.1" of rain since early morning.

My wife "evicted" my 2 pony packs, heat mat, and grow lights from the guest room, so the Heatmasters and black krims seedlings are in the shop. The seedlings have their first true leaves and don't seem to notice that the heat mat is off. They are getting 16 hours of light and look pretty happy with the peat/vermiculite/worm carting mix, but I am wondering when I'll have to give them a feeding and when I should pot them up and make them ready for eventually moving them outside into a makeshift greenhouse. I'm not going to buy any more starts from the nursery as people can't keep the ID stakes matched with the proper plants. I've wound up with too many mixed-up, misidentified plants to bother with. Besides that, I'm not going to be bringing home any scale or whiteflies from the nursery this season.

Yardslave wrote: I'm not going to buy any more starts from the nursery as people can't keep the ID stakes matched with the proper plants. I've wound up with too many mixed-up, misidentified plants to bother with. Besides that, I'm not going to be bringing home any scale or whiteflies from the nursery this season.

I'm going to join you in this pledge because of the insects I brought home in the fall/winter 6-packs.

I planted my first squash plants on Friday - I ran out of potting soil so hubby brought me two big bags and I'll start up again as soon as I'm well (cold bug got me).  It is a true luxury having all the space I need in my greenhouse.  I pot at the spacing equivalent to a 4-6" pot and transplant from that size directly into the soil.  I have very little if any shock when transplanting, they just take off and grow.

I was planning on doing some direct winter sowing with wide mouthed jars for cloches but since we've gotten 7 1/2 inches of rain in January everything is pretty waterlogged and I think the plants will do better in controlled circumstances, what do you guys think?

Just to be on the safe side with dampening off, a little extra time in the nursery might be the best course for this spring. 1.2" here during the last 24 hours.