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 a few little “tails” poking out of the seeds — the beginnings of a root. Also, I took some cuttings from the petunias growing in my basement and started trying to root them last night. I had some of them sitting in a cup of…
-
-
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 back. It’s not really big (about 4′ x 8′), but it was darn heavy, and I had to get six guys to lift it over the rose hedge and carry it about 30 feet to its place. Glad it made it intact! Now, I need…
-
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 my little jug farm. I put them under the swing so they could get shelter from the midday sun but still have morning and evening light. But then again, I may want to move them, because they won’t get any rain in them this way.
-
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 up again that very afternoon. Oh yeah, here are the first flowers of spring, our crocuses:
-
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 well! I’d also like to see a live plant exchange in early May.
-
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 in the landscape series of Meidiland roses. I’ve grown Scarlet, Alba and Fuchsia Meidiland for the graceful cascading effect with hardly any pruning, except dead canes. Arching canes build upon arching canes resulting in fountain shape when they mature. Oldest canes (usually closer to the…
-
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 out in the cold so they can freeze, thaw, warm in the sun, freeze again, etc. This freezing and thawing breaks down tough seed coatings and allows the seeds to germinate when they’re naturally read to start growing. The seedlings are hardier and stockier than…
-
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 flower early in the season should NOT be pruned until after they flower. Otherwise, all the flowering wood gets cut off. Shrubs that need hard pruning Butterfly bushes (buddleia) need to be pruned down hard to short stubs to make them grow back and flower…