[Susuz]

I am so ready to start gardening, so what are you doing to get ready for the Spring planting season?

I made arrangements to pick up a load of composted horse manure for my asparagus beds, just waiting for a non-windy, non- rainy day around here!

I am thinking of starting my herb seeds, and would love to make a round top plastic (over PVC pipe) starter bed...Has anyone done this?

[msvidkiller13]

Hi We haven't had much of a winter this here in FL and my bleeding rose has got sprouts coming out everywhere and my flower beds have little seedlings in them. I've gotten my 4 o clocks planted and morning glory's. I am picking up some plants when I go shopping this weekend. I love it

[Susuz]

We also lived in Florida for a while, twice! Once in Gainesville, once in Sarasota, both were fun but I missed the seasons. I am a little jealous though!

[msvidkiller13]

You can have the bugs and heat in summer I'll trade

[rentel]

I can*t wait either, Gonna plant knockout roses and pompass grass. Hope we have a nice spring. I am in missouri.

[tratra]

I can't wait!

Please let us know how it goes if you do the herbs that way.

I've been looking into and learning about hydroponics lately. I mentioned aquaponics to my DH and now he is reading about it and wants to do it. It's pretty involved though. It's one thing to put plants at the mercy of my black thumb. It's another to put fish there! I'm working on a price list now, just to see if it's doable. In the meantime, I'm getting together the materials, secondhand as much as I can, to try the hydroponics.


Adding in
The daffodils in the yard are blooming today. That's unheard of for January. I have a feeling we're going to have some crazy cold weather here in the next couple months to make up for it.

[babymk]

I'm in liberty,mo.

We moved into a cute, older duplex last year. I floored the landlord with my four o'clocks and purple hyacinth vine. We even had a praying mantis lay eggs in our vine! Dh loves mantids.

Anyone want to trade seeds? Both I mentioned reach maturity in 3 months

[Susuz]

I would LOVE To trade seeds...will have to see what I have. I don't have either of the ones you asked about tho babymk's. I know I have basil, broom corn and sunflowers seed...as well as a tropical milkweed, funny shaped seed pods, but the butterflies love it!

[polydoly13]

I'm in way way northern SD so it prob won't be safe for me to plant anything till June 1 but I'll prob start my veggie seeds in March sometime so I have good size plants to transplant. My mom has sent me a bunch of flower seeds so need to find places for them. I'm not very good at maintaining the flower beds so not expecting much there.

The horses have been eating and pooping in the same spot as last year so it won't be too hard to wheel barrow their manure to the garden.

I already placed an order through gurneys and will prob do one to henry fields in the next day or so, the typical tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, onions, snow peas, green beans.......

[msvidkiller13]

I am going to plant my herbs in pallet I am stealing from the love of my life If you tell me what your looking for I can see what I can pick up next week when I go seed shopping. Anyone

[rodneywt1180b]

Going thru a false spring right now. Sun is out for the next few days and temps are expected to be in the low 50s. As much as I'd like to do something w/ the garden, it's still way too early. This year, it'll probably be peas, a few zucchini and some flowers. Maybe a good winter squash as well. Nothing too ambitious, I've got some dietary issues that make it pointless to grow some of the foods I'd like to and my wife and daughter would like the flowers.
Rodney

[Susuz]

So I went to the Co-op Friday, picked up some lettuce seeds and have been talking to some people about the pvc greenhouse thing. It is sunshining today, but DD and DH are home sick so no chance to go to Lowes today to get supplies for me!

I dug up a bunch of Madonna lilies (also called Naked Ladies, 7 sisters lillies) and some dafodils to take to a friend last week. I know it is not the best time to transplant but I can't ever remember to do so after they die down in the spring...besides you can't hardly kill those lillies and I am overrun with them. Now my daffodils are beginning to bloom, and in Arkansas you know what that means, it will be snowing by the weekend!

Right now they are blooming right around my dryer vent by the house, but I see a couple more getting ready to bloom that are in the direct sun.

The squirrels have been digging up my tulips, and eating all the seeds out of my birdfeeders. A friend of mine has a neat birdfeeder station, has about 8 birdfeeders on a central pole, I am going to try to make me one too. She has different kinds of seeds in the feeders and gets all kinds of birds. It has a central pole, then shepherd hooks around the pole like spokes or umbrella arms with a feeder on each. Anyone ever done this before?

[msvidkiller13]

HI I started mine too in my Paradise place out back. The love of my life made me a spot under a palm tree and put tree logs all around it. So I racked and hoed around it and planted 4 o clocks and shaded flower seeds all around it. I to have the same problem with those rats with long tails digging and eating up my plants. I am looking for a concert bird washer I call them ie bird bath and I want to make a bird house out out of some of his scrap wood too. I have to re-download my pictures of my paradise place to post If you have any pics of those Madonna Lilies I would love to see them. I am going to look them up now. I haven't yet been out to go plant shopping either. Today isn't a good day for me so maybe this week sometime.

[marnimae]

Does anyone here container garden? I kind of don't have a choice, we are in a apartment this year, last year I had luck w/ tomatoes and basil and that's about it, the peppers were a epic fail. I am thinking about blueberries, we have two gorgeous sunny porches. I miss my sunflowers and hastas.

[Susuz]

You can grow Sunflowers in containers, and you are in perfect area to find out about the blueberries. I know they like very very peaty soil...and I haven't ever tried them in a container. I have better luck with banana peppers in containers, but they like more alkaline soil than tomatoes or basil usually.

For my containers I grow alot of herbs, and my Daddy always grows one of those tomatoes in an upside down container. I usually grow basil, thyme, parsley, and in it's own planter mint (because I don't want the mint to take over my garden!). And I even plant my green onions in my planters and pull them up to add to my cooking, then replace. Always have fresh green onions.

I saw Martha plant lettuce in pots, and I have done this a couple of times. You can move it inside when there is a danger of frost, turnips too and spinach.

[msvidkiller13]

Sus's right you can grow almost anything in a pot just so you have the right size pot and soil drainage and sunshine and water I grow everything the soil here in FL is very sandy and bad it has a lot if lime and nothing but poison grows here for what I have seen. The year before I found a rose bush at wally world and I put it in a pot and transplanted it last year and it took off, Oh I found out that it's a bleeding rose. I went to water it and the pedles were bleeding.

[marnimae]

Thanks for the ideas, the lettuce I am going to look up, sounds interesting, I don't think it should be hard to find w/ Martha, everything she does is on the internet. I am going to have to grow somethings, we won't have a choice b/c gas is going to be $4 a gal by summer. Scarrryy, I am definately going to try the banana peppers. Do you guys get your seeds via catalog or Walmart?? Maybe I can try some dwarf sunflowers, some are pretty cute.
I saw on AFV a couple of weeks ago and it was hilarious, this guy videotaped his new birdfeeder, I guess he was having a problem with squirrels too, it spun them in circles and the more they tried to get to the food it spun faster!! It was so funny, when it finally jumped off it couldn't go anywhere b/c it was sooo dizzy. I bet that kind of birdfeeder costs a pretty penny though. It was really funny though.

[polydoly13]

Got myself a HUGE bag of miracle gro to start my seeds in soon. I think I'll order a few more seeds from Henry Fields along with some pepper fertilizer and when that comes I'll start my peppers but I'll wait till sometime in March to start my tomatoes. Don't know when I'll start my vine plants. I REALLY wish I knew when I'd be able to put everything in the garden that would determine ALOT.

[artmayer1]

I am super excited to see this thread! My very favorite flowers are double impatients! For the last several years I have been focusing on putting in flower beds (around 10 in total). I put down 10 tons of dirt...4 loads of mulch...and countless perrennials. This year I can't wait to focus on a vegtable garden!

[nowpoints]

Ah, you had me at Asparagus beds.
No gardening living in a Condo with no lanai, but I'll enjoy all of your ideas & plans vicariously.

[ncmonster78]

I want to try my hand at gardening not to much though but I really want to have some flowers and few veggies. I think I am going to have to do contianer gardening to start.

[OKcouponKING]

planting season don't tsart till 04/15, but I have bunch of musclen, arugula, oinion, asparagus, garlic growing now. so counting down to april 15

[birdlady6262]

Our season starts mid-April for peas, onions, lettuce, radishes, etc.

Tomatoes., g. beans, peppers, etc. late May.

With the strange winter we are having, maybe it will be earlier.

I started plants from seed last year, and they did not produce well. This year we are trying raised beds with sme plants that we buy and others we start from seed. We're working on making sure the soil is good and drainage. Also have two barrels we are going to convert to rain barrels.

[Susuz]

My Daddy always starts his seeds 6-8 weeks before you want to plant in the garden, so that is coming up....Around the 3rd week of February for here...

[eduardomachadostudio]

any one into Hydroponics? I have a little knowledge and can help a bit...