Whatcha Up To???

[w_r_ranch]

The winter took its toll on her flowerbed... of the 2 of the 4 'Cuban Gold Durantas' are dead & the remaining 2 are barely clinging to life & both of the 'Mexican Firebushes' bite the dust . One of the day lilies perished as well. As expected, all the 'Esperanza' died back to the ground, but are sending up new shoots... and the 'Yucca' needs the dead leaves strip off. Guess I'll finish tomorrow.

I gave here my 'Texas Super Star' brochure & told her to pick her replacements from it & then we'll go shopping.

 

[majorcatfish]

dogs woke me up at 5 am guess they did not read the memo that i had the day off, started coffee let them out. looked at the temp 60*
so took the children out to the greenhouse.with coffee in hand walked out to the gardens, spring has sprung time to clean up the bed area.
grabbed the rakes and weed eater, raked around the fence line and between the beds made a burn pile got that started. took off and started to weed eat the bed area, stopped at something familiar it was a tuff of miners lettuce along a bed <grew it last year> did not have the heart to kill it, so carefully dug it up and transplanted it.
the beds are trimmed and ready for planting.
noticed that some of the garlic in different beds was looking a bit yellow<pale>, since i had to run and get some more garden sulphur picked up 10 lbs of blood meal <12-0-0> spread that in the garlic beds. otherwise the garlic is loving this warmer weather.

did a general clean up though the gardens till felt a pop in the back. so that was time to quit.
figured time to play with nola abit, she is learning frisbee now.

for all her retrieving, her reward

since the wind has picked up will repair the greenhouse tomorrow morning....

 

[w_r_ranch]

Finished trimming the Yucca in the backyard flowerbed, so it's ready to go once I take her to the nursery. Did some stuff in the vegetable garden...

 

[Mr_Yan]

The winter took its toll on her flowerbed...

Seems like there wasn't too much winter damage around here. I do tend to look for plants about one zone colder than what USDA officially calls us though.

We did have a good snow cover to protect the plants but the frost line still pushed 72 inches deep and froze over 250 water supply lines (on the city side of the meter) in my town.

Can you tell which branches of this holly were not under the snow this winter?

 

[Mr_Yan]

This is what rolled through this morning. Heard NOAA break into the radio just as we were about to go to get grass seed and rawhide dog chews and decided to stay home for a bit:

We're currently in the 70's F for the first time this year. Today, after kid's naps, we'll plant tomato, spinach, and beet seeds in soil cubes.

 

[majorcatfish]

wow..strange weather the only thing you are missing so far this season is a tide wave....

 

[w_r_ranch]

Jeez, Catfish!!! Don't jinx the guy!!!

 

[ErnieCopp]

I picked some asparagus this morning but having a problem with all the seedlings from the female asparagus plants. I may have to excavate the bed, sift out all the roots, and throw them away and start over again with all male plants. With so many plants the size of the stems has been disappointing this year, so will stop cutting and let it go to fern now. If the fall crop does not give me bigger stock, i will dig out half next winter and replant, and then the other half the following year.

Trying something new on my grapes. Lots of grape bunches, have formed, so i am pruning the vines at the first leaf above the bunches, hoping that will divert more of the energy into the fruit. Both the older grapes on the Arbor and the new one from the hardwood cutting stuck last Spring have lots of grapes.

Warm winter did the same thing for my Babcock Peach tree. Started thinning peaches this morning, and had to remove from 3 to 5 to get a spacing of four to six inches between the keepers. I will have to have my helper do some of that, as the tree is about ten feet tall, I had a big crop from it the first year, but not many last year, and now a whopper. this year

All of my direct planted melons are up except for a couple where the shade from the Apricot tree has kept the ground cooler. Blackberries are covered with blossoms and half grown berries, but Raspberries that were transplanted are leafing out but no blossoms yet.

A good time of year to be a gardener.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

I watered the vegetable garden this morning & then all the hanging baskets (that have spent little time hanging due to the wind) & the pots.

I agree with Ernie, it is a good time of year to be a gardener. I enjoy watching the day-to-day progress of the plants & anticipating the coming harvest!!!

 

[Mr_Yan]

wow..strange weather the only thing you are missing so far this season is a tide wave....

T-storms and hail in the spring are par for the course in the midwest. We've had hail larger than this three or four times since I moved here 7 years ago. Three years ago homeowners insurance bought us a new roof, gutters, window wraps, and siding due to 1.5" hail. That storm spawned a few tornadoes and peeled the roof off a large middle school. The ones that hit hard are when we get 7 inches of rain in three hours.

No tidal waves here. No bodies of water here either. In theory I could get from here to the gulf of Mexico by walking about 10 blocks and kayaking down two rivers (one is the Mississippi river).

50 new seed starts in my rubbeemade tote incubator and all my previous starts were potted up today.

 

[Mike]

View attachment 818

What type of soil mixture is that?

 

[Mr_Yan]

wow..strange weather the only thing you are missing so far this season is a tide wave....

On second thought @majorcatfish may be on to something. We had another line of T-storms pass through this morning around 2:30. This second line also dropped dime size hail - though the amount of hail was significantly less . One or two hail storms a year is not uncommon but two in 18 hours is a tad unusual.

 

[majorcatfish]

What type of soil mixture is that?

the soil is a combination of top soil/ garden soil from the nursery <mixture of screened fill dirt and 2 year leaf mulch> with the addition of
black kow compost from lowes..

 

[majorcatfish]

On second thought @majorcatfish may be on to something. We had another line of T-storms pass through this morning around 2:30. This second line also dropped dime size hail - though the amount of hail was significantly less . One or two hail storms a year is not uncommon but two in 18 hours is a tad unusual.

we are waiting to see what mother nature has in store for us this season....

 

[w_r_ranch]

I do tend to look for plants about one zone colder than what USDA officially calls us

That doesn't work for us here. A plant that has winter survivability would perish in our summer heat, as it is not uncommon to have 30 straight days of 100+ temperatures. At our ranch we hit 110 some days - a few years ago we hit 117 on the 4th of July (THAT was hot!!!).

For instance, raspberries are said to be suitable for up to zone 8... They wouldn't make it through June (here in zone 8), let alone August. Same with peonies.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I got a call at work from my wife asking if I wanted my broccoli and leek seedlings brought inside because it started snowing. We've gotten about 1/2 an inch of snow since 3 pm.

 

[Mike]

Well woke up this morning with 32 degree weather and snow flurries. I thought winter was over...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Took Mrs. Ranch to the nursery to pick out her replacement plants. I'll plant these tomorrow if the bed is sufficiently dried out enough.

I'm sure there will be a 2nd trip planned for more perennials for the front beds. She said my garden budget is shot, but hers isn't, LOL!!!

 

[majorcatfish]

hum... guess your bride won that conversation .
do not feel bad sam mine says the same thing about my garden every year...

 

[w_r_ranch]

guess your bride won that conversation.

She usually does. I've learned over the years to pick my battles carefully... one must think 'long-term' in cases such as this, LOL!!!

Reminds me of something my grandpa used to tell me as I was growing up: "Be careful who you marry... 90% of your happiness & misery in life will be determined by that single decision."

 

[majorcatfish]

last nights freeze burnt the yukon potato tops a little, and tonight they are calling for the same so covered the tops with some dirt.
mentioned the other day about the wifes treasure hunting skills found another one this afternoon..lol
otherwise everyone handled it quite well..

 

[majorcatfish]

She usually does. I've learned over the years to pick my battles carefully... one must think 'long-term' in cases such as this, LOL!!!

Reminds me of something my grandpa used to tell me as I was growing up: "Be careful who you marry... 90% of your happiness & misery in life will be determined by that single decision."

no comment on my first marriage..
been happy the last 16 years....

 

[w_r_ranch]

LOL!!! I learned from my 'mistake' too!!!

Mrs Ranch & I are working on 31 yrs together...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Dang, the wind is out of the north again & it rained this morning (I really wanted to get the stuff from the nursery planted this morning)...

Decided to pull some more crabgrass from the lawn & then fixed an ornamental flower pot that got busted during the storm last Sunday (was in about 10 pieces). Gorilla Glue works great for projects like this. Tomorrow I'll trim the excess, sand it a little & repaint it before putting it back in service.

 

[majorcatfish]

with this late cold front did not do a thing....
but the vacation clock is ticking have only 3.4 hours of work tomorrow..