NOT ready for spring, Digit! Well, I am ready for the warmer weather, and the "longer days"--which are already getting way longer! But not ready with all the Gardening Stuff I need to get done! One thing at a time!!!

Skybird

M 03.01.24 @ 1335 MST

Way too early to be ready. :-) But my husband has started to get the old dead stuff out and into the trash each week. It is easiest to do it in small batches each week than wait until it all needs to be done at once.

Hello gardeners. Started some seeds yesterday onions and leeks. Been working on some cuttings rosemary, sage, red currants, thyme and lavender which will mostly be for the spring swap (if it happens this year). Will be starting peppers seedlings in about a week.

Go Spring Go!

The rosemary in the unheated greenhouse looks real good. It is freezing in there most every night in recent weeks but it is dealing with that okay uncovered. Only as it drops below 15° will I cover it and it tolerates that treatment.

Very foggy this morning but a sunny afternoon, the temperature in there soared and I opened the door a little. The onion seed has begun to sprout and emerge in its flat of soil mix.

In the sweet spot above the kitchen fridge, the first 2 Giant Marconi peppers have begun to emerge. There are 4 other pepper varieties that will, hopefully, be joining them. Sunday, seed went in for 8 varieties of tomatoes and a couple of eggplants.

For the first time, I have celeriac seed sown really early. Hopefully, it will make a difference in the size of the roots by the end of the season.

Bok Choi seed will be started next. Those plants will grow quickly and can take some cold. They can go under the temporary hoop house. A succession of plantings can occupy us from here, through the growing season.

Steve and where he's at

I'm really looking forward to Spring and warmer temps, though the gardens at home are still quite muddy (!). The irises are beginning to show green as well as tulips and daffodils that I thought I had removed. Still waiting for the mums, though I know there will be many.

Vegetable seeding is slow as we're trying to downsize, just not good at that. Hopefully we'll have a plant/seed swap this year. Some of my best plants came from the swaps - the Sheffield mums from Skybird, asters from catnohat, ice plants from ashley, and many more. It's always fun to try new flowers.

Should we start a "wanted" section for the swap(s) and also a "I'm hoping to share" section? Can you tell I'm looking forward to garden season, just not moving too fast yet.

I'm with all of you - both in ready for warmer temps to stay (this is the roller coaster time of year with some daytime temps in high70's then right back down) as well as so many things to do gardening wise! The broccoli and cauliflower seeds have sprouted, and just got some other seeds planted (tomatoes, peppers, etc.) in the trays. I'll wait to direct sow others (pumpkins, gourds, carrots, etc.) once we get the garden beds prepared and temps are right. My DH has been doing work in the garden area - removed a large tree stump so now we have more room. We still are going to plant directly in the ground again this year, but will be adding more amendments.

Digit I'm interested in knowing how the rosemary does. I thought it wouldn't grow in cold areas. Would love to grow it if it does!

Tomatoz - my irises are greening up as well! Along with the peonies, daylily, and some others. Love this time of year seeing the new growth!

@mstywoods , keep in mind that the rosemary is in the greenhouse through the Winter and even covered with a tarp if the temperature drops below 15°f outdoors.

They will go outside before long and enjoy the growing season.

This location has just a few LESS annual Growing Degree Days than the Denver area. However, as Colorado folks know, there is a lot to that state at higher elevations. (The border of ID/WA isn't very high elevation, it's 2000 feet here, but we are quite a bit further north.) Back when the Weather Service made the GDD easy to find, I liked to check now & then on Devils Lake North Dakota and see how our growing seasons compared. Usually, but not always, we picked up more heat during the season than Devils Lake.

Something that was a little disappointing was that I moved here 50+ years ago from the coast of California, not far from the Oregon border. I had a garden there and had a difficult time with corn maturing, for example. There was just too much cloudy, growing season weather. Moving inland but this far north, I learned that I'd lost some growing season warmth compared to that cool, coastal environment. Doggoneit!

Steve

Doing well on seeds, not so much on winter cleanup. I've pruned the pear and my two peaches, still have to tackle all the berries (raspberry, black raspberry, blackberry...oh and the mother of all pruning jobs, the Concord grape)

Cole crops were started Feb 1, are in pots and spending quality time outside during the day. (Kale, 6 types of cabbage. Never have had good luck with broccoli, the heads don't form well or hold very long). Same for the alliums - leeks, shallots, some mystery onions I pulled from one that went to seed this past summer). Peppers also started Feb 1 in soil blocks, now in pots and in the heated garage. Planting tomatoes tomorrow!

It is forecast to be over 60° this weekend! A couple of days ago:

HA! I'll repeat! NOT READY!!!

THIS is what I woke up to in my backyard this morning!!!

It's called a Rocky Mountain Spring Snow Storm!

NOT ready--and I don't even want to see your seedling pics right now, Digit! Sorry 'bout that!

Skybird

TH 03.14.24 @ 1415 MDT

skybird oh no! we have some branches down bit nothing like that! looks like it missed the house? how stressful. these spring storms are a pain. hope you are well.

Ack!

Well, the most recent snow and then the hail, all melted in my yard, yesterday. It was 23° at my house this AM but tomorrow is forecast to be the warmest day of 2024 at 57° then, up and a little more and, maybe, UP a little more than that.

I have not yet set up the temporary hoop house in the backyard. Twice snow caused it to collapse. I was really tempting bad luck one year by setting it up the first week of March. Howsomeever ... this is the usual time for it to cover the two beds in the backyard garden. Bok Choy has been started but it isn't ready for transplanting. Seed could go in and there are some things that should be just fine under that plastic.

Steve

Oh gosh Skybird - that's a big tree! So far in our 2 winters here in Kansas we have not had those kind of late winter storms. We did, though, have a good sized rain storm last night. Lots of lightning and thunder along with a good amount of rain. Which is ok as we really needed it (the rain, that is. Could have done with out the noise and light show! lol).

Somewhere I was under the impression our last frost date here was end of March, but now I've discovered it's end of April! Wish I had waited a bit to start some of my seeds as they'll be in pots (and repotted as need be) for another 6 weeks now. But now I have some time to start some new broccoli and cauliflower as this first batch came up fine but now aren't looking to good. Spinach is look really nice so may be able to get them in the ground sooner.

Skybird sorry to see your tree. Looks like you need someone with a chainsaw.

on the good side it did not hit the house.

Temporary but it has been re-appearing every March for about 20 years. At 9' by 20', it covers 2 beds in the backyard garden and be up for 3 months, plus or minus.

Steve

Well here we go...the craziness that passes for Spring here in the Rockies! Warm enough yesterday that I was out gardening in a tank top and now it's 18 degrees with snow on the ground! There are two types of gardeners in these parts, those who plant early and while the sun shines and then try to protect everything (digit, a la your hoop house) from the inevitable Spring freezes, and those who just wait till it is safe. I'm with the former. Those lettuce, beet, chard and mustard seeds are going to sleep under the blanket of snow and sprout right up as soon as it warms.

I did plant out several cabbages that were started in February. Covered them with upturned pots last night. We'll see. And my peach has already broken some buds - that has a tarp over it, and some Christmas lights twinkling. Again, we'll see!

The tomato seedlings were moved into 4-packs. The pepper seedlings were moved. Some of the eggplants could have been moved but they have room and there are a few that had slow starts and would benefit from more time.

Bok choy was moved some time ago and have taken up 24-hour residence in the unheated greenhouse with the onions, which have never had a moment indoors. Celeriac was moved recently and is out there.

Once again, I'm making it through March without turning on the heat. That wouldn't have been possible during the time that I was selling plants at the farmers' market – there was just too many for the South Window or even to be out there in the greenhouse during daily warmth and back indoors during the nights. Actually, there often isn't much daily March warmth since this is the Pacific NW ... we learn that during the Spring months ... now if the location would just give us a little more 2024 precipitation, like the wetside of the Cascades, if'n they have any to spare this year.

We are back to quite a lot of sunshine after a few days and a little bit of rain. That's good for the seedlings to make some growth, in whichever location. Soon, they will go into individual pots and that overnight, greenhouse heat will have to come on.

Steve