Hardiness Zones - Last Frost dates

June 10, 2008... Iris blooms and snow

Gardeners are a hardy bunch and have to be by their very nature, to endure the trails, tribulations and the great rewards of planting and tending a garden. I have planted as early as March and as late as July. The rain was so abundant one year that I gave up and let the garden go wild. In May of 2010, our apple tree was in full bloom and had a covering of snow, in June 2008 another late snow dusted the flowers and trees.

May 5, 2010... Apple Blossoms and Snow

To learn more about your growing seasons, you can use local and regional data to get an idea of what your sowing, growing and harvest dates are on average which can be found online, at your local Extension Service, Agricultural Center, or you local library. The last frost date (on average) for our area is May 17, the "Safe" date is June 11. The USDA Hardiness Zone map puts our area in zone 5, which gives our average low temperatures of -10 degrees to -20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Reflections on 2012 gardening

At last! Looks like we are in for a great weekend for gardening! Reviewing my garden pictures from last year I noticed that we were preparing the raised beds on May 13th so we are a week ahead or more if you take into consideration that we have plants in the greenhouse that are ready to set out. The cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and spinach won't need to be covered as they have been outside to harden off and they don't mind getting frosted should we have more frost, which is very likely! The planter, in the picture, worked out nicely for the peppers last year and this year the patio tomatoes will be planted in it. The only drawback was that the cover for the soil was destroyed by the squirrels to make their nests! It had the planting instructions on it too! Oh well, I bet we can figure something out.

May 13, 2012 - Beds are ready to plant! 

I tried out a "Topsy Turvy" planter for a couple of tomato plants last year and was not really happy with the results. It took lots of looking after to make sure it had enough water and I'm not that dedicated... so the results weren't great. I may try again this year, we shall see. A friend tried this type of planter as well and wasn't happy with it either.

August 22, 2012 - Pepper are ready to pick!

The hanging, green bag is the Topsy Turvy

Cat's Breeches, Native Wildflower

Ballhead Waterleaf, Cat's Breeches, Dwarf Waterleaf - Hydrophyllum capitatum

Many years ago, we brought home a few local wild flowers and planted them in our garden. All but one eventually died out and that one “Cat’s Breeches” has not only thrived but has continued to reproduce. It migrated from the flower bed after a few years and now grows in a partly shady spot next to the house. The blueish clusters of flowers are delicate and are soft to the touch. The deeply lobed, dark green leaves make a lovely backdrop for the flowers but do partially hide the flowers at times. I look forward to enjoying these little flower treasures every spring. If you want to learn more about native wildflowers just follow this link: http://uswildflowers.com/

Flowers for the Table

I love to have cut flowers in the house whenever it's possible. They add so much pleasure with both their beauty and fragrances. In order to use daffodils in mixed bouquets you need to let them soak overnight in their own vase of warm water and do not re-cut the stems after the soaking. Daffodils exude a thick substance (Calcium Oxalate crystals) from their stems that will clog up the stems of any other flowers you put with them prior to a good soaking. (These crystals prevent other flowers in the same vase from absorbing water, causing them to wilt.) To help your flowers last longer add a tablespoon of bleach to the water in your vase. In a small vase a few drops will do. Add fresh water daily. If you have flowers that are not quite open and you want to make them open faster use warm water to quicken them; cold water will slow them down. Little vases around the house brighten up your day too, so don't forget the smaller flowers like Grape Hyacinth, vinca and such.

Spinach

As usual the weather is questionable this time of year. I planted spinach in a windowsill planter back in February and graduated it to the unheated greenhouse for a month then to the outdoors. It was beautiful and ready to pick but then the slugs had a feast on the nice fresh leaves! Now they will need some clean up before the plants go into the garden. I am very pleased with the results of planting the seed indoors in a planter and will start it in the house again next spring. 

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a very old plant. Its medicinal uses and horticulture have been recorded in history since ancient China.  Rhubarb likes to have fertile, well drained soil, so a couple of weeks ago I top dressed it some compost and steer manure to help it along. When you harvest the stalks, be sure to toss the leaves of the rhubarb plant into your compost, as they contain oxalic acid (in other words... don't eat the leaves!). It won't hurt the compost a bit.  Harvest by grasping each leafstalk near the base and pulling it slightly to one side. Stalks can also be cut with a knife. To help keep the plants moist and their roots cool, in the heat of the summer, I like to put an inch or two of straw around the plants.  As the leaves/stalks die back pick them off and compost them.  Mine is starting to come up now and I can hardly wait for enough to cook with! Personally, I like it in Rhubarb Cake.

Using Sugar for weed control ~ by Charlotte B.

     I LOVE those little wild violets, but they are a weed, I guess, because they like poor soil.
     When I started using sugar to nourish the beneficial microbes, my wild violets were one of the first weeds to go.
     I had some growing between the stones in a path, so I didn't put sugar there EVER. This year, my violets in the walk didn't come up. They were skimpier last year, but this year there were none. Guess the microbes made it up the path. LOL
     The only “weeds” that still grow in my yard are the trees the birds and wind seed in. Trees love rich soil, so of course they come up and grow faster, but all the broad leaf weeds and grassy weeds, just don’t come up anymore.
     Even the poison ivy doesn't come up in the alley since I put sugar out there for a couple of years.
Just apply sugar (plain table sugar) at the rate of 1 pound per 250 sq.ft, and water it in well, and DON’T use any chemicals on your lawn. The chemicals kill all the beneficial microbes and insects. ALL chemicals, fertilizers, insecticides, weed killers, fungicides, ALL of them.
    They kill off the food supply of toads, lizards and grass snakes that will keep your lawn freer of harmful insects than all the insecticides on the market will, and they work CHEAP!!!

If you would like more information on organic gardening, write me any time.
Charlotte (Organic Gardener for 10 years)

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Lawns-725/eradicating-wild-violets.htm

For more information go to this forums page.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/yarddoctor/