On a Gardening Note

[thistlebloom]

& checking emails. Quick views of Theeasygarden.com. Using location App to get easy directions to places-especially in towns. On trip, to do a quick check on gas prices, etc.....

You will soon be a smart phone junkie, addicted beyond hope.

Nope nope and nope. Won't happen.
You have really underestimated my capacity for stubbornness Seed.

 

[seedcorn]

No, I understand addictions..... lets visit later & see what other things you've found it useful for. Love programming dates into calendar with alerts so I don't forget. People's numbers plays addresses and any info I need to remember..

 

[digitS']

I will set up the hoophouse over 2 garden beds this weekend. I'm a little late but "pressure" from too many plants in the greenhouse hasn't happened yet. I have just moved my first tomatoes out of their community containers into 4-packs. It's been about 20 years that I've been putting plastic over those beds mostly to grow early greens which then start quickly and are (mostly) protected from frost. Potted plant starts will show up for a few weeks as the greenhouse runs out of room. Those plants will stay in pots and trays set across the center aisle and, hopefully, be protected from the final spring frosts.

The hoop house is a simple affair with short pieces of rebar driven in the ground holding pvc pipe hoops. Those bars and pipes are now in place. The 2 by 4 frames for a door at one end and a window at the other are there more-or-less permanently. Tomorrow I hope to pull construction grade plastic film over everything and nail lathe to the frames to hold it. A rope will be stretched crossways over the top to hold it against something like those 40mph + wind, we had Friday. A little work and I have another 180 sqft of protected growing space! The plastic will come off in June.

This location is near 48° North latitude. That means I have right at 13 hours and 17 minutes between official sunrise and set, right now. By the time the plastic comes off, we will have 16 hours of sunlight . However, today's 13+ hours of sunlight never hit the ground! Air temperature never reached 50°f! Yeah, I'm behind setting up that additional protection to grow something!

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Plant starts have spent a second night in the greenhouse with the furnace out there turned on.

The best locations in the South Window are completely taken up with seedlings. (Of course, the drapes are now closed since the sun isn't up.

There are only a few containers in the kitchen with soil and seed yet to emerge. I will climb on a stool soon to see if there have been any changes ...

Steve
more and more committed in 2017

This heat lamp has the seedlings outside at 60 right now and weather says 39. They actually look like they grew a little. I did not have enough room for the marigolds and brought them in and put a light on them and they really perked up. I have the heat problem fixed, but the light problem is getting sad.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

careful standing on that stool!

i had to take 1 tray of tomatoes that still haven't come up & move those pots into a new flat tray. the dang thing had holes in the corner i didn't know about till i went to water it again! DOH!

i've been reusing the seed flat trays for more years than they probably should be kept. last year i started doubling up the trays to make them sturdy, did it this year too. well, now i have to use epoxy in the end corners of the grooves to cover the little cracks to get another year or 2 before replacing a few more. maybe i'm too cheap but having to replace a bunch of them is expensive.

I have been doubling mine too. I need to get new ones.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

View attachment 19169

That is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I will set up the hoophouse over 2 garden beds this weekend. I'm a little late but "pressure" from too many plants in the greenhouse hasn't happened yet. I have just moved my first tomatoes out of their community containers into 4-packs. It's been about 20 years that I've been putting plastic over those beds mostly to grow early greens which then start quickly and are (mostly) protected from frost. Potted plant starts will show up for a few weeks as the greenhouse runs out of room. Those plants will stay in pots and trays set across the center aisle and, hopefully, be protected from the final spring frosts.

The hoop house is a simple affair with short pieces of rebar driven in the ground holding pvc pipe hoops. Those bars and pipes are now in place. The 2 by 4 frames for a door at one end and a window at the other are there more-or-less permanently. Tomorrow I hope to pull construction grade plastic film over everything and nail lathe to the frames to hold it. A rope will be stretched crossways over the top to hold it against something like those 40mph + wind, we had Friday. A little work and I have another 180 sqft of protected growing space! The plastic will come off in June.

This location is near 48° North latitude. That means I have right at 13 hours and 17 minutes between official sunrise and set, right now. By the time the plastic comes off, we will have 16 hours of sunlight . However, today's 13+ hours of sunlight never hit the ground! Air temperature never reached 50°f! Yeah, I'm behind setting up that additional protection to grow something!

Steve

I think I am going to fix it where I can cover my tomatoes after planting and at night put the plastic down and in the mornings take it off IF it is warm and sunny.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I need to edit this for clarity!

I moved pepper seedlings into 3 flats, today. Could start moving the tomatoes seedlings into 4-packs also but they are small.

The furnace has failed in the greenhouse 4 times. Unfortunately, it worked when the repair guy was here. Hopefully, he determined what the problem is and has ordered the part. It's warm enuf that an electric heater can provide heat as insurance for overnight failures. I have been out twice in the dark, restarting the gas furnace and I will have too much of that checking in the middle of the night when the hoophouses are set up, on colder nights and with only those electric heaters. It begins to weigh on a person after a few weeks.

Steve
edit also: the 40mph wind gusts today make the greenhouse a kind of crazy place! That's my excuse for the poor wording 15 minutes ago! Maybe I need a nap ...

Yesterday DS asked me if I took the plastic off the swing set greenhouse. Wind was blowing and my little tomatoes were blowing in the wind. They seem okay today. We put sandbags on the bottom of the plastic.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

went to Home Depot last night with a friend to get some stuff & as i walk in i see those huge carts loaded up with......tomato plants!?! you have to be kidding me! we can't get those in the ground for at least a month, usually not till Memorial day! if they were a variety like Subarctic or Glacier i might have thought to get some & keep them under a small hoop house till the right time but they were just Patio Tomatoes which just aren't hardy enough for our wacky spring weather.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

went to Home Depot last night with a friend to get some stuff & as i walk in i see those huge carts loaded up with......tomato plants!?! you have to be kidding me! we can't get those in the ground for at least a month, usually not till Memorial day! if they were a variety like Subarctic or Glacier i might have thought to get some & keep them under a small hoop house till the right time but they were just Patio Tomatoes which just aren't hardy enough for our wacky spring weather.

Our Walmart has them out and last time there the pineapple sage were dead, marigolds looked a little damaged and the tomatoes were big enough to be planted now and we might get a SNOW SQUALL this morning the weatherman says.