Spring 2013

May flowers and garden planting

Spring is here and the early bloomers are making a beautiful landscape. The crab apple tree this years smells so goooood! We've started planting already - 3 weeks earlier than last year. Peas, beans, corn, onions and a new type of rasberry - Heritage.

Garden planting

Well, so far, I've planted a new row of Heritage rasberries (12 plants), some peas, and some bare root onions. We're on our way for a great year.

Spring was almost here... but winter's BACK!

Thank goodness I have a warm place I can enjoy, 'cause days like this, spring one day and winter the next, helps me know why I do what I do.



Some people have pets, like a dog. You know, the kind you have to go out and feed, water and clean up after. Then there's the daily, take the talk for a walk... I don't have a pet, a dog at least, but I do have a greenhouse. If you ever think about getting a greenhouse, just be aware that it's a lot like a pet. You have to go check on the flowers in the morning, water them, take off the vent cover, unlike the auto-opening window, kill a few snails eating your precious Petunias which cost 16 cents a seed and whatever duties may be in store. As the day goes on, a gentle phone call to your sweet wife to remind her to check on the flowers during her short lunch, making sure they aren't over-heating on a sunny day. When you arrive home you must re-check the greenhouse, making sure the windows are shut and vent is covered, especially when nights still get really cold. Occassionally, you find equipment failures, like a $50 inline thermostat switch, which must be replaced so the temperature remains satisfactory for the little ones. After supper, a return trip to transplant some seedlings whose secondary leaves have developed sufficiently to enable moving to a bigger home, a 6-pack. This 'watering the dog' process repeats itself over and over again, while others are doing their hobbies. As vacations and trips come up, once again it's the 'pet' that makes it hard to do things. Someone must be there to water, transplant, close vents, open vents and just manage the operation. Why I have a pet is a big question, but it keeps me busy and out of trouble.

Peach tree pruning

Well, every March, hopefully after some snow has melted on the west side of the house, I head out to trim the peach trees. The trick is to get 3-4 main branches and create an open-bowl effect, where the sun can reach all limbs. Next, prune back the long tall branches, which are out of reach anyway. Finally, cut out the old dead wood, thin the branches a little, and finally head back each branch one-third. Remember, the fruit develops on last years growth, so too much heading back and you won't have fruit.

Spring is coming, I can feel it

Well, the geranium cuttings are maturing and I transplanted one this past week. It had roots an inch long. Another week and we'll start transplanting a bunch. I need to do some impatiens today as you can see. Finally, the petunia seedlings are doing great. Also, I replanted some Crystal Palace Lobelia because they may have dried out. Wax paper and morning/night bottom watering is really important.

The 2009 growing season begins

Well, the beginning of the 2009 growing season began today, sort of. I've been preparing since December by removing the flowers from last year's Geraniums so they would focus on the growth of rooting stems. I fertilized them also, with a slow release mixture so they would grow, despite 12 inches of snow outside. I prepare by making cuttings, by breaking them off about 3-4 inches long. I let them dry for a day, in the shade of the green house. Drying out the cut helps prevent mold from forming at the cut. Prior to going in the rooting medium, which is a coarse sand I purchase from Home Depot, I dip them in water an inch to give the rooting medium something to stick to, then dip them in rooting hormone, then shake off the excess. I use a pencil to make a planting hole, rather than push them in the sand where the powder would come off. I label the cuttings, give them a watering and cover them with a tent to keep the moisture level up. Finally, I put them on my growing bench, which has a heating cable in a vermiculite bed, as well as two florescent lights. This gives them bottom heat to encourage forming new roots as well as sun nourishment on cloudy winter days. I'll keep them moist everyday and occasionally pick off blooms that the cutting seem to create even though they've been cut off at the knees. It will be 6 weeks before they develop good roots, after which I'll plant them in individual pots. Hopefully, by June 1st, I'll have blooming Geraniums to put in the ground.