Spring Fever Anyone?

newbeone 1/21/2017, 12:11 pm

Got a bad case of spring fever yesterday! With the new beds toped off with mel's mix, the grid's in place the temperature in the mid 70 F. Just couldn't stand it any longer I went out and started planting. I transplanted onions then planted carrots lettuce and radishes Today I feel a little better.

**Scorpio Rising** 1/21/2017, 1:05 pm

newbeone wrote:Got a bad case of spring fever yesterday! With the new beds toped off with mel's mix, the grid's in place the temperature in the mid 70 F. Just couldn't stand it any longer I went out and started planting. I transplanted onions then planted carrots lettuce and radishes Today I feel a little better.

Yes! 60 here!

countrynaturals 1/21/2017, 1:36 pm

We have 3 more days of rain, then the rest of the 10-day forecast is gorgeous, ending in 2 days of 61 high and 42 low. I am counting the hours until I can get back outside. bounce

Ginger Blue 1/21/2017, 4:08 pm

YES, but several more weeks of cold/cool temps and winter weather ahead. Rolling Eyes

**trolleydriver** 1/21/2017, 4:11 pm

Ginger Blue wrote:YES, but several more weeks of cold/cool temps and winter weather ahead.

Same here. Sad

In fact I just spent some time chopping and removing ice which is a couple of inches thick at the end of my driveway. I have to do this so that the melt water (it's been above freezing) can reach the drain on the street right next to my driveway. If I don't do it then a lake forms on the street at the end of the drive. That work took the spring fever out of me.

**Scorpio Rising** 1/21/2017, 7:55 pm

I walked out in my soggy backyard today to measure my old window boxes to get a ballpark on squares available. My mache is going strong! I am going to sow that stuff thickly next year, it is very tasty!

**sanderson** 1/22/2017, 3:28 am

No spring fever here. Three more weeks of not having to tend seedlings, water the beds or turn compost. Once I start seedlings and get that delayed compost cage filled, it will be non-stop until October. I still want to go over to the coast for a mini vacation if the rain will knock it off. Laughing

runsamok 1/22/2017, 5:49 am

Today I started the onion seedlings. I have spring fever too! I am ready to start planting because of the nice weather we have been having (70's during the day). Grass and weeds are starting to come up around the yard, even though they will likely die back during the first frost.

MrBooker 1/22/2017, 6:44 am

newbeone wrote:Got a bad case of spring fever yesterday! With the new beds toped off with mel's mix, the grid's in place the temperature in the mid 70 F. Just couldn't stand it any longer I went out and started planting. I transplanted onions then planted carrots lettuce and radishes Today I feel a little better.

Yup.. Bad case here also. 70* F and sunny here yesterday. Removed the old rope grids which were turning brown. I'm going to try the bright yellow nylon "ski rope" for grid markers this year. Snacked on a few carrots and parsnips from the hoop houses.

Contemplating removing my old apple, pear and peach trees. We don't eat much of the fruit and can't even give it away. Getting tired of mowing over the fallen fruit. Of course I will save the wood for BBQ.

Bought a 3 ft LED, 3200 Lumens grow light at HD yesterday for about $30.00. The instructions says it will last 32 years or 35,000 hours of continuous use........ Uh.... yea, OK. thinking

My seed box is full, I have a pallet of mixed bagged compost, extra vermiculite, peat moss and worm castings for my compost tea. We usually wait til the end of the season when everything is marked down then we load up for next year.

countrynaturals 1/22/2017, 1:10 pm

Ginger Blue wrote:YES, but several more weeks of cold/cool temps and winter weather ahead.

There's just a slim chance that spring will start here on Tuesday. Right now the 10-day forecast supports my dream, but that could change in a heartbeat. Tuesday and Wednesday will still be pretty cold and soggy from all this rain, but if the forecast is still looking good by Wednesday, I'm gonna go for it. I'll risk a late freeze on the chance of getting an early start on the season. geek

countrynaturals 1/22/2017, 3:09 pm

Taken this morning. cheers

BeetlesPerSqFt 1/22/2017, 6:25 pm

A daffodil! So pretty! Pennsylvania won't have those for a while yet...

Today was foggy, yesterday was very foggy, and the day before was foggy. So it's 'warm' (40s in *F), and I've got the spring fever from looking at everyone's lovely pictures (thank you!) so I went out to garden.

I removed a heaping handful

of slugs from on/around the kale and one of the collards. The good news is that the locations I repeatedly removed slugs from in the late fall had no slug occupants when I checked them today (wormies, though!)

Then I leveled a new 4x3 box, and filled it up with MM! It was dark when I was done, so the grid will have to wait (but I have a few months yet.)

I also harvested two small parsnips. I apparently did a bad job thinning them because I found another pair that were on top of each other.

Of note, the MM isn't frozen at the surface right now -- except for the squares I put straw bale pieces on to protect the garlic.

**Scorpio Rising** 1/22/2017, 10:48 pm

Planning....the second to best part, second to that first bite of mater! Or the first BLT! YUM...dreaming... And gonna try some new stuff!

plantoid 1/23/2017, 6:32 am

newbeone wrote:Got a bad case of spring fever yesterday! With the new beds toped off with mel's mix, the grid's in place the temperature in the mid 70 F. Just couldn't stand it any longer I went out and started planting. I transplanted onions then planted carrots lettuce and radishes Today I feel a little better.

Is the Noro virus considered to be spring fever ??? Laughing

I aint' putting any seeds in anywhere flower beds , seed trays or heated propagation bed till the daisies on my lawn have to be cut . I think we will be catching the tail end of some of the " cooler " weather that you guys on the stateside of the pond have recently been having around the 16 Feb .

We've had almost no rains for the last six weeks & we've had quite a few hard frosts & had to fill top up the pond with 8 inches of tap water to give the fish a bigger room to play in . We have also had severe sea flood warnings due to NAO sending North winds screaming down from th Skaggerak
1953 was one such year & the winter was horrific along with ( I think ) , 1963 , 1976 & 1982

When we get British winters like that February tends to come in with a vengeful dose of bad weather , though it seems hard to believe when today is a cloudless bright blue sky sunny morning .

Zmoore 1/23/2017, 9:35 am

Yep, here too, but dealing with it differently. I did go ahead and turn my compost pile, which is dormant. Need to get a good dose of coffee grounds to just bump it along a little. Still have a couple months before I even go out to do bed prep.

In the meantime, I pulled out all my fishing reels and started going through them for repairs and maintenance Smile

Several months away before I go jumping on the water, but spring fever makes you do crazy stuff.

countrynaturals 1/23/2017, 12:21 pm

Our 10-day forecast is deteriorating a little. The sunny days have turned cloudy and there's more rain at the end, but I should be able to plant parsnips, turnips, and radishes. That should help alleviate my symptoms for a little while longer. Rolling Eyes

**Scorpio Rising** 1/23/2017, 6:27 pm

Hahaha! My compost pile is frozen.

Robbomb116 1/24/2017, 2:14 pm

My compost pile is still under 5 feet or more of snow. I can't even get to it, let alone turn it. And it's a pretty safe bet that it's frozen solid. Yet I somehow still have spring fever too. I want to get things rolling, but there's a couple months yet before I can do anything...

**donnainzone5** 1/24/2017, 8:21 pm

My local newspaper suggested today that we spring-fever gardeners might want to start leeks. Since I have the seeds, I plan to do so any day now.

My snow berms are now only 2' - 4' or so. However, I have a musical chip from an old Christmas cookie jar ("I'm dreaming of a white Christmas") that's been playing intermittently today. I checked the barometric pressure on my amateur weather station, but saw nothing unusual.

MrBooker 1/25/2017, 2:42 pm

Spring fever..?? Buying compost already. Went to a local Rural King store today and bought 10 bags of composted cow poop for $1.79 per bag.
I already have a pallet of mixed bagged compost but hey, can't pass up a deal on poop.

I removed my three fruit trees today which made room for more SFG beds. bounce

**sanderson** 1/25/2017, 3:09 pm

Sale times are great for stocking up on supplies. I tried the My Old Castle website to see why there is chlorine in the cow manure and compost mix, but I couldn't get to a detailed product site. Just wondering. Do you know?

BeetlesPerSqFt 1/25/2017, 4:13 pm

sanderson wrote:Sale times are great for stocking up on supplies. I tried the My Old Castle website to see why there is chlorine in the cow manure and compost mix, but I couldn't get to a detailed product site. Just wondering. Do you know?

I believe chlorine is used as a representation for the chloride present. I think it's provided as a sort of proxy for how 'salty' the product is. I suspect chlorine declaration may be required by law, in at least some states.

Chloride is present naturally and required for life, in small quantities. You and cows eat salt (sodium chloride), and other chlorides, and ...don't keep all of it. Spring Fever Anyone? 4223211841

I don't know what number 'small' is. I know too salty hurts plants, and again, I don't have numbers (plus, it varies by plant.) I doubt they are selling something that is so salty it will kill plants -- but the saltiness of manure is a reason to make sure we include some plant-based composts in our MM. (To be clear, I am not recommending skipping animal-based manures in MM.)
Here's more about chlorine/chloride in soil: http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/Management/pdfs/a3556.pdf

**sanderson** 1/26/2017, 4:13 pm

Beetles, sounds like a reasonable explanation. Thank you.

MrBooker 1/26/2017, 4:38 pm

sanderson wrote:Sale times are great for stocking up on supplies. I tried the My Old Castle website to see why there is chlorine in the cow manure and compost mix, but I couldn't get to a detailed product site. Just wondering. Do you know?

Sorry "Sandy" Sanderson. I can't help you on that.

**Scorpio Rising** 1/27/2017, 9:17 pm

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:
sanderson wrote:Sale times are great for stocking up on supplies. I tried the My Old Castle website to see why there is chlorine in the cow manure and compost mix, but I couldn't get to a detailed product site. Just wondering. Do you know?
I believe chlorine is used as a representation for the chloride present. I think it's provided as a sort of proxy for how 'salty' the product is. I suspect chlorine declaration may be required by law, in at least some states.

Chloride is present naturally and required for life, in small quantities. You and cows eat salt (sodium chloride), and other chlorides, and ...don't keep all of it. I don't know what number 'small' is. I know too salty hurts plants, and again, I don't have numbers (plus, it varies by plant.) I doubt they are selling something that is so salty it will kill plants -- but the saltiness of manure is a reason to make sure we include some plant-based composts in our MM. (To be clear, I am not recommending skipping animal-based manures in MM.)
Here's more about chlorine/chloride in soil: http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/Management/pdfs/a3556.pdf

I agree, I think the Cl is a representation for chloride, the salt form of chlorine, combined with a positively charged ion...too much Chem 101. Anyways, that is why any single compost is only one component of MM compost!

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