New England, April 2020

All right fellow New Englanders. We've got to get our little region represented again!

What are your plans, have you bought seeds yet? Do you live in a state where apparently seeds are considered non-essential and can't be bought in the store even though they're on display?

https://alt1053.radio.com/blogs/dallas/some-parts-of-us-banning-sales-of-non-essential-items

Fortunately, I was able to pick up a few of the more common varieties at HD and Walmart earlier this month, but I'm concerned about some of my less common seeds having lost some viability in the more than 3 years since I've been able to garden due to DH's accident, but I'm starting some seeds today, so we'll see how it goes.

What are the rest of you up to?

Today felt like Spring up by me.  I was able to thoroughly weed a 2x8 and a 4x12, and I found some garlic bulbs sprouting. A good day!

mollyhespra wrote:Today felt like Spring up by me.  I was able to thoroughly weed a 2x8 and a 4x12, and I found some garlic bulbs sprouting. A good day!

That’s great news, Molly!  My garlic is looking promising as well (bad year last year—mostly my fault).  I put in a cold frame this spring, and man, am I glad!  We have had some cold snaps like crazy!  I weeded my 4x4, and a new galvanized steel 4’ fire ring I got and filled with MM.  They are ready, but Mother Nature isn’t!

Yea, that's about the way of it SR: we've got one set of plans and Mother Nature has another.  

Glad your cold frame is working out. What have you got in it?  The garlic?  They're pretty hardy usually.

"Tomatoes on Tax Day" is a saying up by me, so I started the nightshade seeds yesterday and today.  LF isn't until June 6th, so I've got quite a few weeks of coddling ahead.

We did Square Foot Gardening years ago but gave up as our yard got shadier every year and I got a new job. 
Will have to cut back branches to have enough sun.

Everybody trapped in the house here.

So we are starting again. We have some seeds ordered.

Thank Goodness my husband resisted the chicks.

Hi, FKM! Welcome to the Forum!!!

So glad to have you with us. Gardening is such a good antidote for these interesting times we're all going through.

What kind of seeds did you get? You were fortunate to be able to order some as many places are really far behind or have stopped taking orders.

My local big box stores still have seeds, but I have such a short growing season up by me (90 days ish if I'm lucky) that I have to go with short-season varieties that aren't readily available, which means researching and sourcing seeds from smaller seed houses. I'm talking about things like melons, tomatoes, peppers, etc. that have a better than average chance of actually ripening before FF. Alternatively, cold-weather crops do great!

I was really anxious about the seeds I had no longer being viable but so far so good, most have germinated.

We have a neighbor of yours from the Cape, "CapeCoddess", maybe she'll pop in soon.

Again, welcome! Post pictures of your garden when you get a chance, makes things more personal.

FKM wrote:Thank Goodness my husband resisted the chicks.

Welcome, FKM!  Glad you are back at it and found our little group here!  I can’t wait to hear what you are planning to put in your SFG this year...

Feel free to go anywhere on the site, we roam freely!

Well, so much for gardening today.

What a gorgeous day we had today up by me!  60 degrees, sunny and slightly breezy!  



Quite the contrast with the forecast for tomorrow night: winter storm warning!!!  5-7" of heavy mushy snow.



Good thing I was able to get my asparagus crowns planted today!

Enjoy it while you can, because the jet stream is bringing a big old kibosh!  Froze here last night, of course I didn’t cover my 2 newly planted lettuces....grrr.

I have been waiting for 3 days in a row of dry seasonable weather to put my lettuce out into their window boxes for a few weeks now. I am still waiting but the good news is I will be able to start eating the lettuce soon. I thought with the unseasonably warm winter with hardly any snow, we would have a fairly warm spring. I would normally be able to put plants in my temporary greenhouse on the deck by now. The procession of plants through the Grow Room (one time computer room) is starting to back up and plants are getting bigger. I will soon be knee deep in plants soon, not because of the amount but because the plants are getting that big. Just when I think I know what I am doing, I get into a scheduling conflict with Mother Nature.

Dan in Ct wrote:Just when I think I know what I am doing, I get into a scheduling conflict with Mother Nature.

And, She always wins, doesn't she? 

OhioGardener wrote:

Dan in Ct wrote:Just when I think I know what I am doing, I get into a scheduling conflict with Mother Nature.

And, She always wins, doesn't she? 

Dan, you've been having cooler and wetter weather than usual for this time of year?

Love the idea of putting your lettuces in window boxes. I might have to steal that idea!

SR, sorry to hear about your lettuces. Do they look like they're going to make it?

mollyhespra, I would think we are having colder than normal when yesterday, we set a record for the new low, high for April 27 but I am going to plant some lettuce today. They are doing okay. Two views of the same lettuces. The Growing Degree Days have hardly moved the entire month. Yep, you can take that meteorological information to the bank, but to the drive-up windows, the lobbies are closed because it makes no sense having people wearing masks walking into a bank with money to make a deposit. That is unheard of in the banking business. Bank personnel wearing masks to tell you your mortgage has been approved and you asking, "are you trying to rob me" ?, just borders on hilarious to me.

I forgot, I have to shrink the size of the photos. Maybe tomorrow need to finish an online course at Cornell before the 30th. Stay healthy and stay safe.

Update, got all of (14)The Black Seeded Simpson planted into 2 window boxes and half (6) the mesclun mix planted into one. Got tired, quit, now today going out to finish before it rains. Will have to start other varieties now. It has been awhile since I was able to get things growing and I am liking it. Spent time learning and then teaching others the last few years but this stay at home was a nice reprieve from the Governor. I forgot how much I enjoyed my alone time. In Square Foot Gardening, you get to see what you sow, grow, then reap and eat or share.

mollyhespra wrote:Dan, you've been having cooler and wetter weather than usual for this time of year?

Love the idea of putting your lettuces in window boxes.  I might have to steal that idea!  

SR, sorry to hear about your lettuces. Do they look like they're going to make it?

Well, I had 2 to plant out...the others are plain pathetic.  I restarted 6 today...undetermined as far as survivability!

I did get the last 6 mesclun mix plants into a window box yesterday. Now as things slightly warm up to seasonal temperatures between today and tomorrow should get at least 2" of rain. Which if I were a logical gardener I shouldn't have to water the lettuce for two weeks if lettuce only needs an 1" a week. That reminds me, need to order another rain gauge as I left the old out made of plastic over the winter and it cracked. You would think in this day and age you could get a clear metal one at a reasonable price that might last a lifetime. I had a great uncle who had one but it broke the next year so they sent someone out who shot and killed my uncle. Couldn't argue, a lifetime warranty is a lifetime warranty and now everyone in the family reads that tiny little printing on everything before signing.

Raining today. Was supposed to be only cloudy, but it's drizzling.

I'm not complaining, mind. Yesterday was HOT (for us) and sunny and lovely. I actually had to stop working in the garden because I got a little overheated and it wiped me out.

My little garden helper got all but one 4x4 bed in the unfenced area out back weeded, so that's good. I'm putting in more garlic (I keep finding descendants of forgotten cloves here and there), some onion starts I bought, some fingering potatoes and some cherry toms in that area. Need to get a couple of cattle panels to make some trellises for the cherry toms.

The 'Chucks are going to be mighty disappointed (they usually leave those crops alone), though I had one one year that had a taste for potato foliage. Darwinism at work, hopefully.

Dan, what side of the house are your lettuce window boxes facing? My only feasable windows are facing NW ish. I wonder if they'll get enough light. They'll be cool enough probably, but I don't want them to get too leggy either.

mollyhespra wrote:Yea, that's about the way of it SR: we've got one set of plans and Mother Nature has another.  

Glad your cold frame is working out. What have you got in it?  The garlic?  They're pretty hardy usually.

Radishes, white turnips, cabbages, Bok Choi, Swiss chard, and trying broccoli again...grrr!

Scorpio Rising wrote:

mollyhespra wrote:Yea, that's about the way of it SR: we've got one set of plans and Mother Nature has another.  

Glad your cold frame is working out. What have you got in it?  The garlic?  They're pretty hardy usually.

Radishes, white turnips, cabbages, Bok Choi, Swiss chard, and trying broccoli again...grrr!

Always hit and miss for me. I share your "grrr!."

Hi mollyhespra, my window boxes sit on the back deck railing which faces south  but the backyard sits at the bottom of north slope. Gardening was not the high priority it is now when we bought the house. I don't if you blind-folded me and spun me around three times if I could have picked a worse place to try and garden. Too many trees on the property lines and almost all the trees are on the neighbors property.  The shade though allows the lettuce to grow and be slow to bolt. And it is about as close to being wetland as possible. Why I am looking at setting up a mushroom laying yard in the back corner. if weeds have taught me anything, it is to try and figure out what would Mother Nature grow there if I got out of the way. Just finished a Small Farms course online at Cornell, Woodland Mushroom Cultivation. I just have to figure out how much sawdust and wood chips I need to set up a small 4' x 4' Wine Cap mushroom bed. I have a friend dropping off a couple of inoculated Shiitake bolts/logs. I thought you had to wait for garlic, you inoculate logs this year to get mushrooms next year.

Dan, how interesting about the mushrooms! I wonder if it's like that for all varieties? I've been seeing "Grow Your Own" mushroom kits in the box stores. They must be pre-aged a year? I wonder if you could use those to innoculate the bed.

SR and Suz: Brassicas are hit and miss for me too, but mostly due to the crazy number of white cabbage moths in my area. I've got too much on my hands with getting the garden tamed to get set up with tulle, this year, but maybe next...