We here in the south do have to chill bulbs like tulips, daffodils & hyacinths in the fridge to fool them into believing it´s the winter period, you up north don´t have to do it, you just plant them and the winter will perform the chilling even in pots. So there´s no need to prepare for next years chilling all you need to do is purchase quality bulbs in the right time, you have to order them as soon as they are available ( around September ) and plant them and you can continue to plant as long as the soil is workable condition ( not frozen solid ). What we do here is purchase bulbs in September, chill them for 8-12 weeks and plant, "spring" in the south ( actually it´s mild temperatures ) begins in late January. In my case I plant bulbs in Dec and by late January they are already blooming or about to bloom.

I have bad soil, half your garden size, and it greatly improved for things not effected by juglone, squash, corn, melons, etc. You wouldn't believe the size difference of the year before, so I'll always compost or at least throw leaves all over garden area. All you have to do is dump bags of leaves about a foot or two high over the whole garden area, maybe mow them to speed up decomposition, and you will have given your garden lots of great leaf mold, plus you already have your manure. I think the manure could be new because it can age all year before you throw it down. I wouldn't waste the manure until about a month or 2 before planting, or maybe even half at the end of the year, save the other half at the beginning, but some in the middle of the year too. I've got beds for next year, waiting to put them in, but I'm waiting for the leaves to fall and looking into local pastures for manure. I couldn't give advice on weeds being I'm going to plant some good weeds over the area until the beds are in. Try ragweed, dandelion with the flowers pruned off, yellow dock, and a few other deep rooted types of weeds that bring nutrients to the top of the soil. They will make good compost.

I dont think you want to fall fertilize, usually you dont want a flush of growth before winter. Someone advise when the best time to fertilize and why please? 75% petal fall. I dont agree with spraying pesticides while bees are still interested. Usually a storm knocks the flowers off here before it even gets to 75% petal fall. If you dont want to use imidan, spectracide trizide once and done labled for fruit, has worked well for us in pc alley. Its cheap also, and is almost odorless unlike imidan. I stopped spraying on 1 tree june 20th , the others july 12th. Just to see what I can get away with. Seems like im in the clear. I think my schedule here next year looks like this: Green tip to pink oil and immunox ,100 % petal fall (imidan immunox + captan) and 3 cover sprays(also imidan immunox + captan). I am channeling harvestman.. "OK, I don't know where you live and your spray issues are going to be greatly affected by your location but here's my spray schedule for the scores of orchards I manage around SE NY. No dormant oil- do an oil spray somewhere between the point where emerging shoots are 1/2" and the flower clusters begin to show pink. Mix Nova (myclobutinol =immunox) at highest legal rate with 1 to 2% oil. If it's closer to pink use 1%.( Remember oil and captan are not compatible.) Don't spray again until petal fall when petals have mostly gone from latest flowering varieties and bees have lost interest. Than spray Imidan + Nova + Captan mixed together at highest legal rates. Repeat in 10 to 14 days. Where I manage orchards, the space between earliest flowering Japanese plums and latest flowering apples is only 2 weeks or so which usually allows me to wait until the latest flowering trees are ready to begin spraying anything. Plum curculio seems to time its appearence conveniently to the rythm of the last flowering varieties. This may not be true where you are. Sometimes it leaves me with plums too far along to spray oil by the time I do the apples and Euro plums sometimes get mites because of this- so you may need to spray oil on different trees at different times. If you can't find or bear using Imidan- an organiphosphate that is restricted in a few states, you best use Sevin instead but add an extra spray and apply at about 7 day intervals. (OR spectracide trizide once and done labled for fruit 10-14 days) All this is based on plum curculio being your primary insect problem which is the case most areas east of the Mis. River. These sprays will also absolutely control scab, CAR and Mildew as well as most of the crop fatal insects. Apple fly maggot is an exception, but I haven't had much of a problem with this pest in the orchards I manage. This pest can be controlled with a lot of fake apples smeared with tangle trap. If you don't want to use synthetic chemicals, you will probably have quite a battle on your hands. You'll probably have to do at least 4 applications of Surround about a week apart. Stone fruit will require the addition of another fungicide application or 2 (Indar) starting 2 or 3 weeks after final insecticide spray. Because I manage so many orchards so far apart I have to resort to a spray schedule that is based on expectations rather than actual monitoring. You may be able to reduce insecticide sprays with monitoring but PC are quick and sly. Other problems may occur later in the season and you will in time learn to monitor and react to the pitfalls. Good luck, Alan Haigh- The Home Orchard Co.

thanks so much everyone! After a sweltering hot mother's day weekend I managed to get everything planted/sown out in the garden. Peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, and eggplant, and basil got transplanted out finally. Cucumbers (both pickling and garden varieties), zucchini, beets, cilantro, beans, several annual vines, nasturtium,and peanuts. Most everything is up and growing now, except for the peanuts, which is kind of worrying. (wonder if the soil temp has anything to do with it?) I'm really excited to see how things grow and fill in. I took these pics while the water was on last Sunday morning. here's how it turned out. the front perennial flower/herb bed. I have, oregano, tarragon, a couple types of thyme, parsley, sage out there. The wire fence around it is temperarily in place to keep out a well meaning, but destructive, mastiff puppy. and yes you can see that the front arbor is not yet finished. that is no. 1 on the to do list when i get a chance. this is a view of the south side of the fence. I have forsythia, butterfly bush, heritage red raspberries, and black currants. all planted this spring. Lolauren- hope you didn't melt on mother's day weekend! i was down in tri cities and the temp in the car read 96*!!! you had asked about my sprinkler system. I really like it except for how touchy the sprinkler heads are. they plug/ stop spinning for no apparent reason. The coverage they offer though out weighs the periodic checking of every nozzle. In fact it may cover too well! (see the soaked soil) in the desert summer that definitely wont be too much though! I had to share a close up of my favorite pot I did this year. I've never done a succulent pot arrangement before, but I'm excited to see how it grows. the pot i found was a steal in my opinion. solid stained concrete for $120! I couldn't pass it up. as far as the blueberries go, every source i've looked up said that they will do ok without another variety. live and learn I guess. we'll see what they do for a few years before i pass judgment. anyone else have any pictures of their "finished" product?? or any picture of your progress?