Re: N & C Midwest: March 2016

**Scorpio Rising** 3/24/2016, 10:49 pm

GOOD NEWS! For me and you..... Lol. My plants are on their own, so our snap hopefully won't mess with them too much. Sometimes snow is an insulator,

**Scorpio Rising** 3/25/2016, 5:08 pm

Just covered seedlings, gonna freeze tonight.

CitizenKate 3/25/2016, 7:02 pm

It got down into the teens here last night, everything still going. So I still don't know how much cold these plants can take, but that's a good thing. To find out firsthand would cost me some plants. But I now realize I've been babying them too much.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/25/2016, 10:02 pm

Weirdly, my kale and black seeded Simpson look the most bit.

CitizenKate 3/26/2016, 6:43 pm

Photos shot yesterday and today. We have a few lettuce and kale just put outside that are just getting started. Still lots of lettuce, kale, and cabbage waiting to go out yet. The spinach is producing! I've had a few of the plants go down, and am starting more seeds to take their place. I'll just keep doing that as long as they'll keep going.

N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 16032610

N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 16032610

N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 16032611

The tomatoes are spending a lot of time outside now. I start putting them out as soon as the leaves appear, for shore periods at first, but now they sit out most of the day if it's not too cold. Then I bring them back in most nights, because it still freezes some nights. That time outside really makes a difference.

N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 16032612

N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 16032612

**sanderson** 3/26/2016, 7:14 pm

Looking good!

CapeCoddess 3/26/2016, 7:17 pm

That spinach is beautiful, Kate. You're moving right along! What are your daytime temps these days?

CC

**Scorpio Rising** 3/26/2016, 8:36 pm

Sweet! I have to start my maters & ground cherries this weekend. All my stuff is covered as we speak...

CitizenKate 3/26/2016, 8:51 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:That spinach is beautiful, Kate. You're moving right along! What are your daytime temps these days?

The daytime highs have averaged in the 50's and 60's, but we've had some really wild temperature swings in the past week. One day last week it was up around 80, but today it barely got into the 40's. After a cold night (like, around 20F), it usually warms up enough to put them out by around 9-10am.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/26/2016, 9:00 pm

Lovely, Kate! N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 3170584802

CitizenKate 3/26/2016, 10:03 pm

[taking a bow]

Hope the rest of the season goes this well. What a Face

**Scorpio Rising** 3/27/2016, 9:09 am

I am going to plant out a few stragglers, another black seeded Simpson, a spinach that must have been in the mesclun mix, and a random red lettuce, my 3 onions that germinated (grrr). This week is supposed to be mild, and freeze for next weekend again....

Will pot up my marigolds and peppers. Start tomatoes and ground cherries, but need a new flat to go under my dome thing.

So a Happy Easter to all of us here in N&C! And Happy Gardening!

Will try to get some pics when I go out there! sunny

**Scorpio Rising** 3/27/2016, 12:45 pm

N & C Midwest: March 2016 - Page 6 Image10

Here are my potted up King of the North, sweet bananas, and Big Red peppers, along with my Cottage Red marigolds. Variety of things that are going to the SFG right now!

CitizenKate 3/27/2016, 3:44 pm

Got a lot going on there - looking good. Happy Easter!

**Scorpio Rising** 3/27/2016, 7:00 pm

Happy Easter!

**Scorpio Rising** 3/30/2016, 8:22 am

Well, a couple days now that we will be above freezing, hopefully will give the seedlings in the beds a break. Hail damage took out a couple of my spinach plants Sunday into Monday morning....will direct seed in replacements and see what happens!

Decided to drag my falling apart window box to the south side of my house for a squash box. It was just sitting in my driveway rotting, so I may as well fill it with MM and let it house some plants while it becomes compost, right!!? And the squash really do take over the SFG. Win-win.

Need to go to work, after checking on my tomato and ground cherry seeds in the basement.

landarch 3/30/2016, 11:22 am

funny about weather, germination temps, frost, hail, snow, rain...while planting more carrot seeds and lettuce starts last night I see that volunteer tomato seedlings are coming up in the SFG strong as ever.

Kate, I did not take pics, however picked a bunch of spinach for simple salad...spinach, red onion, sliced almonds, strawberry, and a vinaigrette...I may add a little goat cheese tonight.

Big storms in the forecast for rush hour today.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/30/2016, 1:24 pm

Salad sounds delish, landarch! I love goat cheese in my salads, too. We are getting your weather tomorrow, and looks like a cold stretch follows. Radishes are up for the most part in the SFG. Maybe a pea or 2...

landarch 3/30/2016, 1:57 pm

just like BLT's, it's hard to make an early season salad without having to pick up a few ingredients at the store...by the time tomatoes are ready the lettuce is gone...can't wait for garlic, dill, basil.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/30/2016, 6:14 pm

landarch wrote:just like BLT's, it's hard to make an early season salad without having to pick up a few ingredients at the store...by the time tomatoes are ready the lettuce is gone...can't wait for garlic, dill, basil.

Just like comedy, timing is everything! Landarch, do you have your basil and dill started indoors? I have always bought basil as a plant, but read last year that dill makes a great pollinator attractant in between my milkweeds. I love dill with salmon on the grill with a bit of mayo.

I also got a packet of this:

http://www.rareseeds.com/dara-flowering-carrot/

I love Queen Anne's Lace, and this looked so pretty! I will put this in with the milkweeds I think.

CitizenKate 3/30/2016, 11:54 pm

landarch wrote:funny about weather, germination temps, frost, hail, snow, rain...while planting more carrot seeds and lettuce starts last night I see that volunteer tomato seedlings are coming up in the SFG strong as ever.

Kate, I did not take pics, however picked a bunch of spinach for simple salad...spinach, red onion, sliced almonds, strawberry, and a vinaigrette...I may add a little goat cheese tonight.

Big storms in the forecast for rush hour today.

Glad to hear your spinach is doing well! We had some from the garden this morning with breakfast - steamed with fried eggs. It was amazing. Hello springtime.

I see the storms missed you, today, too. We had a 70% chance of thunderstorms today, and got nada. I didn't want my seedlings to get flooded or too beat up by the winds, so I kept them inside today. But it's nice to have a second night in a row to not have to cover up my beds, and tomorrow looks good for the seedlings to go out for the day.

herblover 3/31/2016, 9:54 am

Our weather is crazy; almost 80 on Sunday and half that on Monday! That is spring in OH for you!

landarch 3/31/2016, 11:09 am

severe storms that were supposed to hit at 5:00, 9:00, 2:00 am never showed up...not a drop.

I have my basil started indoors...it germinated in 2-3 days. no luck with rosemary. I love dill for seasoning, pickling, and for the tiger swallowtails. I tried to start some indoors but it is awfully leggy...it direct seeds so well in the garden trying indoors was probably a dumb move.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/31/2016, 5:54 pm

We got rain today, predicting storms tonight. Maybe your luck will hold for us Ohio folks!

Weird thing; the Matchless heirloom lettuce that I really wanted to try just germinated 3 out of 4 plants after an entire month! What the heck?! I am going to try the Ruby Crunch again....looks so pretty. All I have is green lettuce.

CitizenKate 3/31/2016, 9:55 pm

I know, I've had some that I had given up on, their "siblings" had sprouted weeks earlier, and... what the...???

With the basil, I've been starting it indoors, too, because it grows fairly well indoors, and they can't go outside until fairly late. They do not tolerate temps even as high as the low 40's(F). So to start them outdoors after it's warm enough for them would make for a pretty short growing season for them. I grow a lot of it - make huge batches of pesto and freeze it, and also dry the leaves in the dehydrator. I store the dried leaves whole in a plastic tub, and crush them when I add them to recipes. One of these days, I'll try some home-grown garlic, too, and my Italian will be the bomb! hungry

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