steelnut

I think there was one or two left from the plant sale. I'm not sure where they are. Maybe I even have them. I'll check.

Thank you, thank you! Are you having another sale? I haven't been on, I wish I had known about the sale, darn it.

Does anyone know where I can find some locally? Thanks so much.

I don't have a clue, but I like it!  

 

Totally Tomatoes http://www.totallytomato.com/dp.asp?pID=00723  I usually have a few extra if you're willing to pot them up yourself. You get 30 seeds in a pack and I usually go with about 18 of this type. Of course it sort of depends on germination rates.  I swear I'm cutting back on tomatoes. I've got enough canned tomatoes to wash a skunked elephant.

LOL! If you want to get rid of some next year, count me in, I'd love to try them!

Thanks!

Super Marzano is currently my favorite. It is a fairly large sauce tomato at 4 or 5 inches in a good year. It's a hybrid. You can also get a non-hybrid Marzano which isn't bad. It's San Marzano. I've also grown Roma which is sort of small. Kind of a pain to get the skins off all those little tomatoes. The Heinz tomato is OK.  I don't experiment much with canning tomatoes. If the crop fails, I cry.

I've never tried that ox-heart but I've tried growing a few others. I never have much luck with them. It's sort of chilly out here at night and I think that messes with some of the veggies that need a longer, warmer growing season.

Even though no garden this year  :'( , I'd love to know where to get the Super Marzano for next year. I've been going with San Marzano for the last few years.

What beautiful pictures these are.  Can't wait until we see things bloom outside!

Me too, especially after today! My grandson asked, "When are we going to see the grass again?"

Soon, I hope. That rodent in Punxy better be right, lol!  

You don't want my advice. I've killed two of them already. I figure the one in my yard died from poor drainage and the one on the embankment near Penn State was done in by the groundhogs. It hung on for a couple of years but eventually gave it up. I love them but I don't think I'll be trying another.

Stuff in general is best moved in the early spring just as it starts to come out of the ground. Dig it with lots of dirt and put it in a well drained position with lots of sun. There I gave you advice anyway. Just don't let me near it and it should be ok.

Lol, I appreciate any of your advice!

When I got it, it was only about 8" high, it's grown so big and every year is just so beautiful.

I really hate the thought of trying to move it, but the darned bees are terrible.  

This?   http://www.naturehills.com/product/mardi_gras_helens_flower.aspx

Yes, that's it. I've always called it Helena's Mardi Gras, because the lady that I got it from called it that.

Ahhh, so pretty, makes me dream of spring, thanks!

when I get time, I'll shrink a picture of my orchid that is blooming now. It has 4 flowers and 2 more buds. I was so excited when it got buds and then again when it bloomed!  My first orchid!!!!!!

I'll look forward to it Gilb, thanks!  

These pictures make me think SPRING!!!!

Steeler, here is my christmas cactus per your request!

 

Thanks Gilb, it's just beautiful! I love people to post pictures of their plants, flowers, gardens or anything for that matter!

Blue Lake bush bean is the one I've been planting for years. It is recommended for the area and we like the taste. The worst that happens if they get too old is they get kind of mealy.

I plant the Blue Lake too and always have a great crop. I try to keep them picked every day because I like them tender. But, on a few occasions that I couldn't get to them right away, I've used the larger ones too. (not humongous ones) I just blanch them, then into ice water and then I french them and freeze them.

Mine has grown so big and it flowers beautifully.

My problem is that it's so filled with bees every year in late summer, we can't go near that part of the deck.

Hubby wants to move it, but I'm so afraid that moving it will kill it.

Has anyone ever moved one before and if so, any suggestions on how to do it and when? TIA

 

If the cactus made it through the winter, I'll pot you up some. I don't know what happened to it under all this snow.

Oh thank you so much Lavender!!!

Without my veggie garden this year, my flower beds are going to be spoiled rotten, they'll have all of my time this year.

I'm trying my best to talk hubby into one more flower bed, wish me luck!  

Here's how I do it for starting plants indoors. Remember that we don't get a lot of sunshine at that time of year so maybe you want to start them a bit earlier than the charts suggest.

 

Leeks......last week of Feb.

Very early March.....peppers and eggplant. They take some time to germinate and develop even though they go out at the end of May.

Early March.......... cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower. These are cold hardy and go out early ( mid to late-May) so you have to start them early.

mid to late March.......tomatoes

Mid April......squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and watermelon. All except watermelon can be directly seeded into the garden when the soil is warm. Last week of May or early June depending on the weather.

 

 

Putting them into the ground. (Remember to harden off transplants by keeping them outdoors on a porch or in the shade for a week or so prior to planting them)

Plant onions, beets, carrots, lettuce, peas and spinach directly in ground as soon as the ground can be worked. This can be anywhere from mid -April to mid-May. Plant your cabbage, etc out a week or two, depending on the weather, prior to May 30. End of May tomatoes, followed by eggplant and peppers. You can direct seed beans and corn the last week of May as well.

All dates for putting stuff out depends on the weather. Some years we can get things planted very early and some years it takes longer for the soil to warm up.

I've been using this schedule for years and have found it works well for where I live. If you are close to town you may be able to get things started a week or two earlier because you can get them out sooner. The problem with planting charts is they are not area specific. If you have questions the best thing to do is find a neighbor who has been gardening for years and ask him. There are no hard and fast rules. You get a feel for it after awhile.

I pretty much follow the same guidelines, but it's all about the type of spring that we have. I am going to be missing it so much this year.  :'(

I just found this on a gardening forum and it goes along with the automatic sprinkler I mentioned before.  Deer are curious but do not like surprises.

 

I found that putting a motion light in my garden keeps deer away.I use a 2 outlet motion light with spotlight in 1 and a radio in the other Set the radio to a non-station so it just makes noise. NO DEER FOR 3 YEARS. Light comes on and radio crackles. Best $20.00 I ever spent on my garden.

Petee, where did you get this?

We're going to let the garden go dormant this year, woe is me already.

I know that there is no way that I can go a year without growing some veggies. So I've been looking into having some type of patio garden.  

The problem here is all of the critters! We have to have an electric fence, there just is no way that we could have a garden without it. The deer

munch everything down to the ground. And of course, the groundhogs, squirrel, chippies, voles, etc. But hey, that's country living and I wouldn't

change it for anything.

I'd like to try the motion light, it's worth a shot. TYIA

 

you are sooo right about February!!!

 

can't help you with the flower garden, unless you want more cactus or sedum ...lol.

I would love to have more of your cactus. I couldn't believe that the deer ripped it out of the ground? Wouldn't you think that it would be painful for them? I kept replanting it every time they ripped it out, but unfortunately it never took. But I do have a spot near the house that they may leave alone. I planted the first batch up by the barn on a bank and sprayed it with the stinky stuff, but it was a no go.

Now sedum, I probably could give some away this year too, lol!

I just can't wait to see all of the plants in bloom, I know it's terrible to wish your life away, but I want spring NOW!!!

I just sent my order in to the Clearfield County Conservation District. Order forms must be in by Feb. 18th. We were extremely pleased with the trees that we got last year, except for the sour cherry tree that had a bad graft and died a month later.    Their trees are tall and very healthy. (The seedlings are much smaller and less expensive)  Anyone interested in bareroot seedlings and Fruit trees should look into their sale.

We bought blueberry bushes from them two years ago, our problem is the deer and birds. I'm thinking of trying putting some kind of netting over them this year.

we called your chewy little dumplings, rivels. Always put rivels in chicken noodle soup.

 

When making potato soup if you wnat to thicken it a bit, use instant mashed potato flakes.

 

Vegetable soup

 

We chunk up a steak or small roast and brown it with worchestershire sauce and add a pkg of mixed vegetables, can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce (or tomato juice) potatoes, celery, onion,

carrots, beef broth and anything left over in the fridge to use up. I like cabbage in mine!

Put in the crock pot for a few hours and add soem pepper or season with whatever you like.

Good today, better tomorrow!

Homemade soup always tastes better the next day! I try to make soup the day before we'll have it because of that.

I am sooo dreaming of spring, I know once the SuperBowl is over, I'm done. I hate the month of February, it's the shortest month for a reason, it lasts forever!!!  

I've been getting the seed catalogs too, I just sit and drool and think of how I can talk hubby into another flower bed this year....wish me luck!

I hope and pray they don't come any farther north. I can't stand the Asian lady bugs, crunchy little so and so's.

They're bad enough to put up with, I don't want the stink bugs, too.

did you get the cactus from me last year? The kind we have is the only kind that will survive around here as far as I know.

Yes, that was me! It was doing so great, I kept spraying it with the stinky stuff to keep the deer away. Hubby said that I was crazy, because deer wouldn't touch it. Yeah right! I stopped spraying it around the end of September thinking that it was safe. Wrong! It's amazing that they would actually try to eat it!

Well, it looks like I need to dig up all of my newbies, ugh!

Thanks to all!

Has anyone else done this? Like, do I dig them up and keep them in the root cellar or do they need warmer temps? I hate to think of losing them, they're so beautiful.

I need help yet again.

I love cactus and I was so very fortunate to have a fellow poster give me some last year. Unfortunately the deer, for some reason pulled them out of the ground mid-winter. We managed to save a small piece, though. Last month at Lowe's on the reduced rack, I bought a bunch more of all different types and planted them. So far, so good, since I spray them twice a week with the stinky stuff.

Question is, do I have to do something over the winter for them?  A few people that I've talked to say that they'll never survive! Does anyone know it this is true? We made such a beautiful little cactus and rock garden and I don't want them to die.

As always, any help is appreciated, thanks!  

We have some blossom end rot too this year, but so far, so good with the blight.

I didn't plant a lot of tomatoes this year because I was so afraid of getting the blight again. Now I wish I had planted more!

I need to make spaghetti sauce this year.

Em,  I love mine, they don't seem to be spreading all over the place, unlike some of the other perennials that I've planted, lol!

I'm still learning about all of this and it's so great. I think I missed my calling, I wish I had discovered all of this when I was much younger.

I always liked playing in the dirt as a child, and I still do. I just never knew anything about perennials, only veggies. We started two flower beds four years ago, and now we're up to seven, and I'd love a couple more. I keep learning new things about all of these beautiful plants, in large part to all of the great advice that I've received here on this forum.

A great big THANK YOU to all who have helped me with so many questions over the last few years!