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Getting Ready for Spring! A few questions and thoughts.

19 years ago

Hey NYC Gardeners,

This will be my first full season in my deck garden. We moved in in June last season, and I owe the folks here another big thanks for helping me get the garden going. (Large container garden, about 15 x 35 ft deck) It has become a passion, and I even snow shovel it because I still go out in the Winter! I really was happy that I decided to use a good amount of evergreens (suggestions from some gardenweb folks) - everything looked so nice through the Winter. Love seeing the snow on the dogwood and the little spruces!

Two questions - any ideas?

1. With March upon us, I am itching to get out there and start some gardening in a few weeks. I've been doing some clean-up already. Any ideas for what I can do (or plant to get going) early in chilly March?

2. I have ivy in pots. Some of the exposed "arms" browned in the cold. I assume I should just leave the browned parts alone and it will green up by itself?

Thanks all. Here's a picture from sunny early September.

Here is a link that might be useful: September Deck

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Comments (7)

albertar
19 years ago
Hi Phil
My suggestion to you is to head over to the Winter Sowing forum, and you can start gardening now instead of waiting a few weeks. Give it a try, its a lot of fun and will produce some wonderful plants for that nice deck.
Alberta
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Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening
19 years ago
I think we're all anxious to get Spring going-it's been too long a winter! After tonight it's going to be finding the plants under the snow again so Winter Sowing sounds good to me! How about some Cornell Cooperative Exrtension Gardening Classes to get a feel for Spring? Have fun!
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dtaddonio
19 years ago
Hi Phil,
I just did some "virtual" gardening : Looking thru catalogs for roses.How about ordering a rose bush or climber for the spring? If u dont have 2 much sun, Gruss an Aachen flowers well in shade. You can plant it in a container. Wayside gardens will ship when it's time to plant in spring. I live in Brooklyn too, and it's doone well in our brownstone garden environment.
good luck,
denise
0
too_many_pets
19 years ago
I second the Winter Sowing suggestion. If you're afraid of that, at least try starting some seeds indoors, maybe around April. Last year I stared all my vines indoors. Good luck!
Lynn
0
BrooklynPhill
Original Author
19 years ago
Took the seed-sowing idea to heart and headed on down to Lowes yesterday - and got some good advice from the Winter Sowing forum (thanks to Alberta).

Very exciting! I bought two of those plasic mini-greenhouse-peat-starter things and started 100 annuals via seed for $25 - Zinnias, Cornflower, Alyssum, Bachelors Button, and Impatiens. A whole new world! That many annuals would have cost a small fortune in April!

Really fun and a huge savings for those of us that use annuals! I know this is probably common knowledge, but I found the info on the seed packets about how-long-till-flowering really helpful, and it was really fun to "time" the garden.

I have them on top of a big radiator cover in a South window with lots of bright Sun, and I have little tiny Zinnia sprouts only 36 hours later (which is freaking me out a little).

Here is a link that might be useful: Last Season
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Lotus_Studio
19 years ago
Hello Everyone :)

Just stopping by to let you know about these two flower shows -

The Orchid Show : February 26 to March 27, 2005
New York Botanical Garden
Bronx River Parkway and Fordham Road
Bronx, NY 10458-5126 Tel: 718.817.8700

Ticket include admission to the Garden
$15 Adults, $13 Students/Seniors, and $5 Children 2Â12.

Orchid Show Information
http://www.nybg.org/orchid_show.php

Directions to the Botanical Garden
http://www.nybg.org/visit_the_garden/directions.php

- and -

The 2005 Philadelphia Flower Show
Dates: Sunday, March 6 - Sunday, March 13
Place: Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2299

Hours: Sundays, March 6 & March 13: 8 am to 6 pm
Monday, March 7- Friday, March 11: 10 am to 9:30 pm
Saturday, March 12: 8 am to 9:30 pm

Tickets: $20 Adult $12 Child

General Information
http://www.theflowershow.com/home/index.html

"... can Spring be far behind?"

Enjoy!
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gordonhawk
19 years ago
well there's alot of non plant preperation also.. good time to work out the drip irrigation system.. getting the parts and fittings in...
Also a good time for the warer feature... the pond and waterfall/fountain .. design.. getting materials in.. pumps... foggers and such...planters can be assembled in reddyness..
seed starting .. and catalog work...
It's getting quite busy here ..as the plants overwintered ase starting to blast away in the longer days and stronger sun..[ or is it just the sun reflected of the daily snows..]
The Phil show was lovely... I've today to start then new plants I got there... It's months away.. and already I'm behind in my work... goingto be a great year for it.. Gordon
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