Gardening

[soon]

32 minutes ago, cineater said:

The flowers were a little sad.  It was pretty cool yesterday.  I've been watching them and they are slow to come out.  Any day we will be covered in daffodils. 

Shutting down San Francisco is scary.  Family of 4 goes through 17 rolls of toilet paper in two weeks.  We're learning all kinds of fun facts.

I'm waiting to see when I can get in the greenhouse today.  I need to do some transplanting.  The snapdragons need bigger pots.  

Thanks! I love daffodils. I never do see many get super healthy looking though. Healthy is the wrong word, but sad like you say. These are still pretty even when sad.

San Francisco is shit down!?!? I hadn’t heard that yet! Wow. So scary.

im glad you got your home repairs done in time. 

I hope you can get to do your transplanting. Snapdragons sound cool.

 

[cineater]

No my bathroom is still tore up.  Craig got strep throat and was out of work for a week.  Good thing I have another bathroom and 99 rolls of toilet paper. 

I'm having a hard time convincing my daughter to cancel her shower.  My 85 year old mother won't even stay home.  WTF?  I'm starting to see why they have to close everything to protect people from themselves.  I'm shutting my greenhouse crew down.  They are all over 60 as am I.  I may be living at the greenhouse all by my little self.  

I'll send you more pictures from the greenhouse if you're interested.

[soon]

35 minutes ago, cineater said:

No my bathroom is still tore up.  Craig got strep throat and was out of work for a week.  Good thing I have another bathroom and 99 rolls of toilet paper. 

I'm having a hard time convincing my daughter to cancel her shower.  My 85 year old mother won't even stay home.  WTF?  I'm starting to see why they have to close everything to protect people from themselves.  I'm shutting my greenhouse crew down.  They are all over 60 as am I.  I may be living at the greenhouse all by my little self.  

I'll send you more pictures from the greenhouse if you're interested.

Still tore up? Yep, good thing for that other bathroom and 99 rolls! 

That would be a shitty descieion for her to have to make. But its looking that way I guess? Now living alone in a greenhouse sounds like bliss to me  But that would be an awful lot of work I imagine?

I would love more greenhouse pictures!!

Its dark and grey here with snow falling. Its cold. Me and the boss both really wanna at least get on the back porch. But that wont be today. Zentangles it is!

[soon]

Also, if the greenhouse is getting scaled back it makes me think about our garden. I kinda don't see the city turning the water on. Most people grow annuals anyways. Hard to predict the future right now. But Im thinking that if its safe to go out I will just take my own jugs of water. 

[cineater]

It's just so hard to predict what is going to happen.  I'm going with the direction it appears to be heading and hope we can turn back at some point.

I'm off to the greenhouse, pictures coming at you.

[cineater]

What's happening?  You have people in denial and then people going to the other extreme.  They canceled my daughter's shower room.  She's going to be upset.  I rebooked for May 17th but I bet they cancel that too.  I need a creative way to do the shower without people, lol.

I was at the greenhouse for 4 hours.  Several things needed to be retransplanted into the right containers.  They are going to do the plant sale by appointment.  I was going to send you crocus pics but they are gone already.

Happy St Pats Day.

Yeah, she didn't take that well.

Edited March 17, 2020 by cineater

[soon]

1 hour ago, cineater said:

What's happening?  You have people in denial and then people going to the other extreme.  They canceled my daughter's shower room.  She's going to be upset.  I rebooked for May 17th but I bet they cancel that too.  I need a creative way to do the shower without people, lol.

I was at the greenhouse for 4 hours.  Several things needed to be retransplanted into the right containers.  They are going to do the plant sale by appointment.  I was going to send you crocus pics but they are gone already.

Happy St Pats Day.

Yeah, she didn't take that well.

Maybe a teleconference shower? Yeah we all need to find that sweet spot of reasonable precautions. Im really sorry to hear it got cancelled on her. I cant imagine.  

Im jealous! lol. Thats a good idea for the plant sale. Hope people turn out! 

The crocus' blooming period is already over? Or they/ve already left the greenhouse?

I forgot all about it - Happy St Patricks Day!! Wishing you the luck of the Irish.

Thanks for pics. Y'all do impressive work over there!! My grow room is looking very lush if I may say so myself. Cant take pictures though. Feels especially good to be harvesting and eating my kale the last few days!

[cineater]

Because of you I'm buying lettuce and doing a salad bowl container.  Somebody has to buy all that stuff, lol.  I'll get some.  Not sure how I'm going to get it light but I'll figure out something.

Those were my crocus at home.  We don't sell bulb plants.

WTF, I have leads trying to organize work sessions.  They don't get it when our guy said it's all cancelled.  You walk in the office and you swear they want to hold up a cross.  We might as well be at shelter in place, everybody is closing.

I forgot, we can have a fall plant sale!  Geez, I tease Marsha with that all the time.  I must be losing my sense of humor.

Edited March 18, 2020 by cineater

[soon]

13 hours ago, cineater said:

Because of you I'm buying lettuce and doing a salad bowl container.  Somebody has to buy all that stuff, lol.  I'll get some.  Not sure how I'm going to get it light but I'll figure out something.

Those were my crocus at home.  We don't sell bulb plants.

WTF, I have leads trying to organize work sessions.  They don't get it when our guy said it's all cancelled.  You walk in the office and you swear they want to hold up a cross.  We might as well be at shelter in place, everybody is closing.

I forgot, we can have a fall plant sale!  Geez, I tease Marsha with that all the time.  I must be losing my sense of humor.

Right on! Because of me - too cool! I hope it fills you with all the same good vibes. Plus knowing that you didnt risk them going to waste!! lol And all that lettuce looked so good.  What do I know, but I cant imagine that mature lettuce wants to be directly under nor too close to grow lights? I think avoiding bolting is the main trick?

Maybe some sort of stress response for some, to just carry on and 'not hear' that things are cancelled? Yeah, its expected that The US and Canadian gov will announce today or tomorrow that the border will be closed to all non essential travel. 

Like the full-on plant sale?! You mentioned about doing it by appointment? Great news either way!

I wonder if Ill get more plant pics today?  

[cineater]

Those poor daffodils want to reach up and face the sun but it's cloudy and they bend over to face the ground.  Maybe reflective light?

Cool season plant sale is cancelled for the moment.  It's cold and wet so people won't be running to the big box store to buy.  Hopefully enough of our membership buys what we have so we don't lose our ass.  We aren't seeding tomatoes or peppers for the moment in case the big sale doesn't happen.  We can donate our plants but we need the containers back so we don't have to buy those next year.  Basically, we will give you plants if we can plant them and take out containers back, lol.  It's up in the air right now what we are doing.

Yeah there is a lot of denial going on.  Hopefully all these precautions are effective and people can just bitch that it was all a waste of time.  If we win this thing, it looks like we lose.  It's been a long time since polio, smallpox, TB and those other diseases that ran rampantly through society. 

I'm heading back up to the greenhouse for more transplanting.  All my seedlings are staying home.  I'll transplant them next week when it's a little warmer and sunnier, hopefully.  I'm getting my salad plants today.  I may just use my big tomato container.  Drag it out in the sun during the day and back in at night until it warms up a bit.

[soon]

1 hour ago, cineater said:

Those poor daffodils want to reach up and face the sun but it's cloudy and they bend over to face the ground.  Maybe reflective light?

Cool season plant sale is cancelled for the moment.  It's cold and wet so people won't be running to the big box store to buy.  Hopefully enough of our membership buys what we have so we don't lose our ass.  We aren't seeding tomatoes or peppers for the moment in case the big sale doesn't happen.  We can donate our plants but we need the containers back so we don't have to buy those next year.  Basically, we will give you plants if we can plant them and take out containers back, lol.  It's up in the air right now what we are doing.

Yeah there is a lot of denial going on.  Hopefully all these precautions are effective and people can just bitch that it was all a waste of time.  If we win this thing, it looks like we lose.  It's been a long time since polio, smallpox, TB and those other diseases that ran rampantly through society. 

I'm heading back up to the greenhouse for more transplanting.  All my seedlings are staying home.  I'll transplant them next week when it's a little warmer and sunnier, hopefully.  I'm getting my salad plants today.  I may just use my big tomato container.  Drag it out in the sun during the day and back in at night until it warms up a bit.

I got to walk to my garden and back!!!! And while I was there I could see some of it. Chives still a bit green! Winter savoury still smells amazing! And the best part was being reminded that I grow a significant amount of medicinal herbs, haha. I was comforted by that, like Ive always being making preparations.

That sound like a really neat idea to put something reflective underneath. I know that 'tomato gardeners' do that.

Oh I see, thats too bad about cold season sale. Thats tricky about the pots return. Hope everyone takes that seriously. Thats the best any one can do these days, just try and sort things out. 

I like that phrasing - If we win, it looks like we loose - thats exactly it. If we all take precautions it will look like there was never a threat. Well, eventually.

Have fun at the greenhouse. I cant even calm myself after being to the garden! Yay salad plants!!! I like tht idea about taking them out for the day. Never tried that with a green.

Microgreen seeds are taking forever to get here. Ugh!

[marlingrl03]

It's so odd all you guys talking about gardening (looking outside right now at all this white snow)...our earliest day that is safe for plants/flowers to be outside at night when it is cold is like late May lol.

We have the shortest gardening season EVER! 

[soon]

56 minutes ago, marlingrl03 said:

It's so odd all you guys talking about gardening (looking outside right now at all this white snow)...our earliest day that is safe for plants/flowers to be outside at night when it is cold is like late May lol.

We have the shortest gardening season EVER! 

Haha, yeah whats the growing season there? A solid three weeks? 

We're late May/early June here too. Its actually a thing where I live where, we are fairly northern but just shy of being able to properly claim that - but some people here like to identify as 'a northerner' lol.

I tell @cineater how jealous I am of her about once a week lately  But I enjoy my indoor gardening of kale and herbs, under some grow lights.

The garden I visited today was mostly covered in a slab of ice about 6 inches high! And its a raised bed but it was only slightly higher than 'ground level' because there was frozen solid snow banks filling the paths. So I was so surprised that me perennial herbs that were poking through still seemed to have some life in em!

Anyways, what do ya grow in yours? 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by soon

[cineater]

Both of you have a shorter growing season then we do here.  I would not like that.

Got all my cool season crops for a salad.  Oak leaf, red romaine, tom thumb for the lettuce.  Onion chives, mustard greens, dragon tongue arugula (cool plant), bok choy, a kale and a couple of swiss chards.  My kale didn't have a tag so I'll have to look tomorrow.  I'm making my daughter and I containers with these in them.  They can go outside next week.

We have a phone conference tomorrow on the plant sale.  We will probably do the cool season plant sale online and to us only.  Might included the public later if we don't sell enough to us. The main sale will be delayed until May 16th.  We'll wait it out before making decisions on how we do that.

[soon]

13 minutes ago, cineater said:

Both of you have a shorter growing season then we do here.  I would not like that.

Got all my cool season crops for a salad.  Oak leaf, red romaine, tom thumb for the lettuce.  Onion chives, mustard greens, dragon tongue arugula (cool plant), bok choy, a kale and a couple of swiss chards.  My kale didn't have a tag so I'll have to look tomorrow.  I'm making my daughter and I containers with these in them.  They can go outside next week.

We have a phone conference tomorrow on the plant sale.  We will probably do the cool season plant sale online and to us only.  Might included the public later if we don't sell enough to us. The main sale will be delayed until May 16th.  We'll wait it out before making decisions on how we do that.

The worst part imho of being in a short season is when I google info on something like "Cold Hardy Herbs" Ill start reading one of the results. Like "This herb is a must for gardeners in colder climates... blah blah blah, in the north... short growing season..." And then I come to learn they mean like US hardiness zone 5 or something! 

Im so pumped about this salad container. Great that your daughter gets one too! The picture looked so delicious and pretty. Saw some of that purple bok choy They can go out next week?!?!! Im jealous  I cant wait for my chives to geminate. And this time Ill even get some since I grew Beaker his own pot! I had some kale in my mexican flavoured pork wrap today. So nice to have it fresh.

Well, thats a strong and do-able plan. Sounds like a success to me. How are you feeling about all that business? 

Those Angelonia are like watercolours. And I love watercolour.

[cineater]

I'm going to try to hold off planting it for a few days.  Or might just do it tomorrow.   I should make it her Easter gift but that's a ways off.  I'm thinking two big pots for the corner of her patio.  For me I may put some in hanging baskets to keep the bunnies away.

Marsha says the stunted growth may be the lights.  She recommends some diluted fertilizer. 

Marsha is pissy about the plant sale.  She's in charge of it and they haven't been including her on the decisions.  I opened it up to feeling ignored because I'm a woman.  I wasn't going to put that out there but she feels the same thing is going on.  We talked through it today and came up with the action plan and how to say things and what not to say.  If we leave the details to us, it gives us more room to move.  The Extension is thinking they will be working from home any day now.  That leaves us up there unsupervised.  Being very cautious with the current limitations on public contact, we can make it work. 

I was in there for 4 hours transplanting again today.  I love that.  It's all flowers.  Ron stopped by, he's new and pretty cool.  He has a sixty acre farm.  He plants for wildlife because he's a hunter.  And he does a lot of things in containers plus grows trees.  This is a guy I met at the library classes, late 70's.  People at the end of their lives are so interesting.  They can do so much more shit.

 

[cineater]

I have a great idea!  Whatever leafy plants we have left over, we can make salad bowls and give them to people who are self isolating for their health.  We get some PR and they get fresh leafy greens.  We have enough containers around that we were sending to recycling and we can make our own potting soil.

I have marigolds!  I just seeded them on Sunday.

Edited March 19, 2020 by cineater

[marlingrl03]

3 hours ago, soon said:

Haha, yeah whats the growing season there? A solid three weeks? 

Anyways, what do ya grow in yours? 

Ha! Well our farmers markets do go through October...lots of potatoes, broccoli, carrots, lettuce etc. Fruits not so much. Although some people have greenhouses so they can grow strawberries which are small, but sooooo sweet and fresh. Love home grown Alaskan strawberries. Raspberries also grow very well up here. 

As far as me...I live in a condo and only have a small patio, so have decorated it with some flowers but since I'm probably stuck up here this summer I may branch our and try to plant some pots of herbs or what not!

[cineater]

It's Spring!  It's warm and rainy here but I have stuff coming up all over the place.

[soon]

17 hours ago, cineater said:

I'm going to try to hold off planting it for a few days.  Or might just do it tomorrow.   I should make it her Easter gift but that's a ways off.  I'm thinking two big pots for the corner of her patio.  For me I may put some in hanging baskets to keep the bunnies away.

Marsha says the stunted growth may be the lights.  She recommends some diluted fertilizer. 

Marsha is pissy about the plant sale.  She's in charge of it and they haven't been including her on the decisions.  I opened it up to feeling ignored because I'm a woman.  I wasn't going to put that out there but she feels the same thing is going on.  We talked through it today and came up with the action plan and how to say things and what not to say.  If we leave the details to us, it gives us more room to move.  The Extension is thinking they will be working from home any day now.  That leaves us up there unsupervised.  Being very cautious with the current limitations on public contact, we can make it work. 

I was in there for 4 hours transplanting again today.  I love that.  It's all flowers.  Ron stopped by, he's new and pretty cool.  He has a sixty acre farm.  He plants for wildlife because he's a hunter.  And he does a lot of things in containers plus grows trees.  This is a guy I met at the library classes, late 70's.  People at the end of their lives are so interesting.  They can do so much more shit.

 

And you did so it today! haha. Looks so nice! Good call about the bunnies.

Thanks for running that by Marsha. I will be very cautious about the dilution. Scary!

They didnt run anything passed her?! Thats ridiculous!   Its women like you and Marsha who are gonna put and end to this shit once and for all. You go in there together and fix them good before they even know wtf just happened! While the Extension cats away the MG mice will play, lol.

Im so happy for you that you get to spend 4 hrs at that oasis! Ron sounds neat. Those library classes are paying off in spades!

17 hours ago, cineater said:

I have a great idea!  Whatever leafy plants we have left over, we can make salad bowls and give them to people who are self isolating for their health.  We get some PR and they get fresh leafy greens.  We have enough containers around that we were sending to recycling and we can make our own potting soil.

I have marigolds!  I just seeded them on Sunday.

I love that idea!!!! If someone gave me that I would be pumped!! While, I guess I did give that me... and Im pumped! . I think that would be very healing for people. As long as you wipe down the pots with clorox disinfectant wipes to be safe. What an amazing gift this will be!

Yay marigolds! Theyre fast too!

**********

I had another idea for y'all. You basically already talked about online sales. And  lot of the local farms are ceiling me about online ordering and free delivery. They are getting dedicated websites to make fancy web stores. But if you Master Gardeners would prefer, you could sell on Etsy. Its all set up. Pretty much as easy as starting an email account, plus entering the info to get your money. Any ways, you beat the farmers to that online sales idea - those emails just started arriving today.

****

Went to garden again. My lavender still smells and isnt mush rot!! It might have lived for the first time ever!!! What a nice time for a miracle like that - especially since its an antiviral herb! And the expert on the call in show says it will never survive here. Hope it did!

[soon]

17 hours ago, marlingrl03 said:

Ha! Well our farmers markets do go through October...lots of potatoes, broccoli, carrots, lettuce etc. Fruits not so much. Although some people have greenhouses so they can grow strawberries which are small, but sooooo sweet and fresh. Love home grown Alaskan strawberries. Raspberries also grow very well up here. 

As far as me...I live in a condo and only have a small patio, so have decorated it with some flowers but since I'm probably stuck up here this summer I may branch our and try to plant some pots of herbs or what not!

We get just a bit longer into mid Novemeber with fresh outdoor produce at the farmers market. And we get peppers and tomatoes almost until the end. But its more similar between our regions that I might have thought! They must be very skilled to compact the season like that  - its impressive! You make a great sales rep for those straw berries, lol. Now I want some sweet fresh Alaskan mini strawberries! Love raspberries especially.

Nice. Im starting to get into flowers myself. @cineater is opening my eyes to them. Some herbs would be great - nice to have some freshness in our meals coming up! I wanna start some cilantro - that love it or heat it herb, lol.

[marlingrl03]

So where are you at exactly @soon? In the US? or Europe? If I have already asked you that before, I apologize! 

Yeah raspberries are my fave too...in the house I grew up in up here, we had a HUGE raspberry bush. It is amazing how overgrown they can become if you don't trim them up. We had more raspberries than we could eat and unlike the tiny strawberries, Alaskan raspberries are big!

[soon]

11 minutes ago, marlingrl03 said:

So where are you at exactly @soon? In the US? or Europe? If I have already asked you that before, I apologize! 

Yeah raspberries are my fave too...in the house I grew up in up here, we had a HUGE raspberry bush. It is amazing how overgrown they can become if you don't trim them up. We had more raspberries than we could eat and unlike the tiny strawberries, Alaskan raspberries are big!

Ottawa, Canada. I dont recall telling you, no worries

That sounds like bliss growing up with those huge raspberry bushes! They really do get out of hand. Its the type of plant that when you plant some, the neighbouring gardener will look at you like 'you better keep an eye on that so it doesnt cross this line.' haha

Somehow it makes perfect sense that theyd be giant there. Dunno why, just does, lol. Its so nice to have abundance.

[marlingrl03]

4 minutes ago, soon said:

Ottawa, Canada. I dont recall telling you, no worries

Now I get why you say we have similar regions...cause indeed we do my Canadian border neighbor!

Although I have to admit, I just had to look where Ottawa was and you are way over there near the East coast side. Canada is so very large lol! I need to learn more about your country.

Edited March 19, 2020 by marlingrl03

[soon]

4 minutes ago, marlingrl03 said:

Now I get why you say we have similar regions...cause indeed we do my Canadian border neighbor!

Although I have to admit, I just had to look where Ottawa was and you are way over there near the East coast side. Canada is so very large lol! I need to learn more about your country.

Alaskans are more my neighbour than NY who I am 100k from. Because we both understand winter!  But like I was saying earlier, our winter isnt like yours - we aren't that far north as some here would like to claim, lol.

Id have to look at a map to see... is Alaska next to North West Territories? I wish I was even closer to the East Coast. Its my favourite place, ever. Its a place where neighbours have impromptu folk music singalongs. All sorts of tradition and neighbourliness. Fisherman bring in the best seafood. Which, you must get the best seafood too?