Month: March 2008

Winter sowing update, petunia cuttings, & greenhouse temps

My little milk jugs have some more seeds sprouting in them now. I mentioned a few days ago that the Alyssum were sprouting. Now I also have the California poppies sprouting, and just the beginning of some action with the Lychnis. I think the Callirhoe are starting to sprout, too, because I believe I’m seeing […]

I got a greenhouse!

This is pretty cool. My wife made a deal with a neighbor who was wanting to get rid of a greenhouse he made some time ago when he was in the glass business. It’s made with strong aluminum framing, all welded together, and real glass — frosted on the sides and clear in front and […]

Winter sowing update

Last week, I sowed some additional seeds in my little milk-jug winter-sowing containers. I sowed: Penstemon smallii (from a generous trade with a local GardenWeb-er) Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium montanum, also from a GW trade) Iceland poppies (seeds from a neighbor) Today, I checked the containers, and the Alyssum have begun sprouting. Here’s a photo of […]

Winter’s last hurrah (I hope)

This was my backyard last Sunday (March 16) in the morning and then the same shot late that afternoon. Here’s to hoping that the snow is gone for the season! On Tuesday, we were supposed to have a pretty cold storm, and it was for a few hours, but then it blew away and warmed […]

Seed exchange in Salt Lake this Saturday

Kendal from the Utah Gardening Forum at GardenWeb.com organized a seed exchange this Saturday. He created a very nice flyer to advertise the event but had no place to upload it, so here are two versions: Poster version Version with tear-off reminders It’s too bad I can’t make it, but I hope the event goes […]

Pruning Ruby Meidiland roses

I posted a message in the GardenWeb roses forum about how to prune my Ruby Meidiland roses. I’ve been cutting the canes back to 18″ or so at the end of each winter, but I thought I’d read somewhere that they do well with little or no pruning. Here’s the best answer: Ruby Meidiland belongs […]

First try at winter sowing

I’m trying winter sowing this year, although I’m a little late getting to it. I’ve been busy working on my basement, trying to get it framed and then hoping to finish the whole thing this spring. Winter sowing is basically planting seeds inside a plastic container (I’m using gallon milk jugs) and letting them sit […]

Late winter/early spring pruning advice

A friend asked a question on a forum about what I’m pruning these days, and I thought I’d share the answer here. This is based on what I have in my yard: It’s good to prune any shrubs now EXCEPT those that are spring flowering shrubs. Things like forsythia, flowering cherry, or others that will […]