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N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
+3
Dan in Ct
trolleydriver
OhioGardener
7 posters
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N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Well, another year in the history books, mates! Seed catalogs accumulating here, along with some early bird online incentives in my inbox! Not ready to do any real planning as of yet. Walked out to my backyard lake yesterday to get a mental plan; my legacy boxes are in a terrible location, but will fall apart if looked at too long...going to put a succession plan together for their eventual demise.
For this year, a new box; either another 4x4 or another 3x7 after committing that one to the strawberries. Getting pencil and paper out...
What’s going on in your heads, Midwesterners?

For this year, a new box; either another 4x4 or another 3x7 after committing that one to the strawberries. Getting pencil and paper out...
What’s going on in your heads, Midwesterners?


Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Went out this morning to look at my beds to see if anything needs to done, and everything looks good to go! The cover crops are growing nicely - it hasn't been cold long enough for them to go dormant yet - and I could see holes of evidence that the night crawlers have been coming up to get to the coffee grounds scattered on top of the soil. Anxiously awaiting late March when I will be redoing the soil of the beds to add charged Biochar to the top 6".
I, too, have a large collection of seed catalogs, but already have all of the seeds for spring planting - I have a lot more seeds than square feet to plant them! Ha!
I, too, have a large collection of seed catalogs, but already have all of the seeds for spring planting - I have a lot more seeds than square feet to plant them! Ha!
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
We had some cold, but it was brief and not really cold...what’s biochar?OhioGardener wrote:Went out this morning to look at my beds to see if anything needs to done, and everything looks good to go! The cover crops are growing nicely - it hasn't been cold long enough for them to go dormant yet - and I could see holes of evidence that the night crawlers have been coming up to get to the coffee grounds scattered on top of the soil. Anxiously awaiting late March when I will be redoing the soil of the beds to add charged Biochar to the top 6".
I, too, have a large collection of seed catalogs, but already have all of the seeds for spring planting - I have a lot more seeds than square feet to plant them! Ha!
I dont need any seeds either, OG, just dreaming! Maybe a pickling cuke type. Wasn’t hugely impressed with the “Early Opener” tomato, neither early nor an opener. Had brandywines before any of them!
Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Scorpio Rising wrote:We had some cold, but it was brief and not really cold...what’s biochar?
I don't need any seeds either, OG, just dreaming! Maybe a pickling cuke type.
SR, Biochar is pure charcoal that is added to the soil to retain moisture and provide a home for microbes, etc.. I experimented with adding it to one raised bed this past summer, and had better results than I expected, so I am going to add it to all beds next spring and hope for a repeat of the results. There is a whole thread on it here: Biochar
I am going to try these Cool Customer Pickling Cucumbers this year from Johnny's Select Seeds. The description sounds too good not the try them! Ha!
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
The lettuce is looking nice on its 15th day from seeding under the grow lights. There is a mixture of Black Seeded Simpson and Oak Leaf seedlings. In another week or so I will be thinning them down to a couple plants per pot, and eating the thinnings....
The Spinach is just coming up, but it is looking good so far.



The Spinach is just coming up, but it is looking good so far.


"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Those are looking real good OG.
trolleydriver
Forum Moderator-
Posts : 5390
Join date : 2015-05-04
Age : 76
Location : Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Will check them out! So, no composing, just directly on the beds?OhioGardener wrote:
SR, Biochar is pure charcoal that is added to the soil to retain moisture and provide a home for microbes, etc.. I experimented with adding it to one raised bed this past summer, and had better results than I expected, so I am going to add it to all beds next spring and hope for a repeat of the results. There is a whole thread on it here: Biochar
I am going to try these Cool Customer Pickling Cucumbers this year from Johnny's Select Seeds. The description sounds too good not the try them! Ha!
Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Scorpio Rising wrote:Will check them out! So, no composing, just directly on the beds?
Still composting, and topping off beds with it as much as possible. The Biochar is a one-time soil amendment to enrich microbe life of the soil - one of my latest experiments.
The weather was so nice today that I was able to pull back the straw mulch and add some compost with Biochar to the one bed that does not have a cover crop on it. I was amazed how many earthworms there were when I turned the compost and Biochar into the soil - I thought they would have gone down deeper in the ground with the cold weather, but apparently it hasn't been too cold for them. There was at least one, and usually several worms in every shovelful of soil that I turned over. This one bed did not get a cover crop because it will be used for planting onions in mid-April, and the cover crop would not have had time to get its spring growth.
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Interesting! I am trying to figure out what to do... I have a bunch of coffee grounds (mine) and miscellaneous kitchen offing’s. Frozen solid. Hmmm
Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Anyone besides me ready for spring?
"Gardeners, I think, dream bigger than emperors."
~ Mary Cantwell

"Gardeners, I think, dream bigger than emperors."
~ Mary Cantwell
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Understatement of the year!!!! Well, the year is early, right?OhioGardener wrote:Anyone besides me ready for spring?![]()
"Gardeners, I think, dream bigger than emperors."
~ Mary Cantwell

Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." Audrey Hepburn
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." ~ Chinese Proverb
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Do we have a thread for great gardening quotes? Those are gems!!!

Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
You have robins???? Not here. Snowing like crazy. But it’s January in Ohio, ya know? It has been a strange season as far as abrupt changes.
Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
SR, we have a pair of Robins that stay here year around. They have 2 or 3 nests of babies in the apple tree each summer, and in spring all of the ones that were raised here return to make their nests as well. Sometimes they become a little of a pest in digging for worms in the raised beds, but we love having them here.
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
My sister lives in Columbus, and she says a lot of the robins don’t leave there anymore, weather patterns, and the fact that there are so many developments with ornamental fruit trees that they can rely on for food over the winter. Not here. We will see them in early spring.OhioGardener wrote:SR, we have a pair of Robins that stay here year around. They have 2 or 3 nests of babies in the apple tree each summer, and in spring all of the ones that were raised here return to make their nests as well. Sometimes they become a little of a pest in digging for worms in the raised beds, but we love having them here.
Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Scorpio Rising, I used to think the same thing until about 10 years ago when I saw hundreds of robins flocked together early in the morning in January near a local shopping area. At The Crazy Half Acre I never see more than a few flocked together feeding on the plentiful earthworms here beginning in March. I am wondering if it is a migratory thing, there aren't the enough food sources along the trek route to make the trek or the robins just got lazy, toughened up a little and stay cation. There maybe be grant money in it. Now I am wondering how far south they originally migrated?
Dan in Ct-
Posts : 295
Join date : 2014-08-10
Location : Ct Zone 6A
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Interesting, Dan. You know, the Canada geese used to do the same thing, leave here, go wherever they go. But because of the no-till farming practices, some now overwinter here, and a lot of them do in the urban areas where there are lots of ponds and food sources. Maybe the global weather changes also play into it?Dan in Ct wrote:Scorpio Rising, I used to think the same thing until about 10 years ago when I saw hundreds of robins flocked together early in the morning in January near a local shopping area. At The Crazy Half Acre I never see more than a few flocked together feeding on the plentiful earthworms here beginning in March. I am wondering if it is a migratory thing, there aren't the enough food sources along the trek route to make the trek or the robins just got lazy, toughened up a little and stay cation. There maybe be grant money in it. Now I am wondering how far south they originally migrated?
OG, we got about 5” here, yes, wet, packable snow. It’s pretty!
Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Robins one day, snow the next. You guys get some wide swings in weather.
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
"In short, the soil food web feeds everything you eat and helps keep your favorite planet from getting too hot. Be nice to it." ~ Diane Miessler, "Grow Your Soil"
Re: N&C Midwest: January/February 2019!
Dang! Great visual, OG!!! Lol!

Scorpio Rising-
Posts : 8612
Join date : 2015-06-12
Age : 61
Location : Ada, Ohio
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» N&C Midwest: January & February 2023
» N&C Midwest—January February 2021
» January & February 2020 - Northern and Central Midwest
» Mid-South: January 2019
» New England January, 2019
» N&C Midwest—January February 2021
» January & February 2020 - Northern and Central Midwest
» Mid-South: January 2019
» New England January, 2019
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