Crazy Weather On The Homestead

 Around The Homestead, Gardening  9 Responses »
Apr 172012
 

Well it sure is a yo-yo of a spring here!  For the most part our weather has been a week of cold weather near 0C, then a few days of low 20C, then back to cold!  Two days ago we were having a pretty good snow shower, then today it was super hot!  This sure is taking a toll on the plants outside.

In the greenhouse the seedlings are doing pretty good.  I have noticed the germination rate is very slow this year, both with seed that I’ve saved and with newly purchased seed.   Some tomatoes sprout in the normal 7 to 10 days, while others in the same flat have taken 3 to 4 weeks.  I was just about to give up on some of them, then I found today they are starting to come up.

In the garden the peas are starting to come up and the rhubarb is just starting to leaf out.  So far no sign of the asparagus, but it is still early here for that.   With our weather going down near 0C again, it’s better that it waits anyway!

How are your seedlings doing?  Has anyone else noticed the germination rate being slow this year?

 

 

Finally Getting The Gardens Started!

 Gardening  3 Responses »
Apr 282011
 

It’s been a cold wet spring so far.  We’ve been lucky to get a few nice warm days, but they are followed with a week or more of cold temperatures and rain/snow.  Thankfully it’s been about a week or so since we’ve seen any snow!

This past weekend we were able to get some work in the gardens done.  The raised beds have been turned over.  I’ve planted garlic and onions in half of one.  Also started some spinach in another.  It’s far to cold to start anything else in the garden yet.  Although we are hoping to get our new pea trellis up soon!  Then they can be planted.   We found the trellis we used last year was far to short for this variety.  Most pea plants I’ve grown only went 2 to 3 feet tall.  But this Laxtons Progress peas we’ve been growing the last few years, wow do they grow!  Last year they went up a 4 foot trellis, over the top and down to the ground again.  The problem was the vines would rub on the top of the chicken wire and break.  I’m hoping that a taller trellis will fix that.

In the greenhouse I’ve started some of our seeds.  So far cabbage, broccoli, celery, basil, parsley, catnip, sage, thyme and some green peppers.  Also a flat of Hinze paste tomatoes, and another flat of tomatoes that are a mixture of types.  I can’t remember all the names right now, but they are mentioned in the video below.

I’m hoping the weather clears up so I can get back out to the greenhouse and finish starting my seeds!

Garden Update April 10th 2010

 Gardening  2 Responses »
Apr 112010
 

Despite the strong cold winds and snow on April 8th and 9th the gardens are doing just fine.  The greenhouse stayed nice and warm with the help of a heater.  The garlic actually looks better after all that rain.  In the herb garden my motherwort, comfrey, chives are up.  Also some mint and lemon balm just starting to come up.

Asparagus beginning to pop up

Comfrey

Motherwort

Chives

Broccoli Seedlings

Either a cucumber or teddy bear sunflower

Rhubarb

Strawberry

Starting To Plant Our Garden Lots Of Garlic

 Gardening  1 Response »
Mar 292010
 

Spring has come early to the homestead.  This past winter seemed longer then normal…It was actually quite mild.  But after the cold summer and cold wet fall we had last year, we are very ready for spring!

Saturday we spent some time getting the yard cleaned up.  There is a raised bed in the front yard that had a yew tree planted by the last owners.  I’ve never liked it much.  I also don’t like having toxic plants around kids or pets.   The tree had also sprolled out and taken over the garden bed.  So it was time to get it out.  Dh fired up his chain saw and got it out of there.  Now I need to decide what to replace it with.  I’m thinking about a mock orange shrub I love the smell of them.

I also dug up all the garlic from the garden.  Last year it rained so much in the fall the garlic bulbs were very soft and mucky.  The would have rotted if we harvested them.  So we decided to let them over winter in the gardens.  They did very nicely to.  With the nice weather, they had grown up 3 to 4 inches.  I dug them up and carefully pulled each clove apart, each had a nice set of roots growing already.   The day was getting on so tucked them into buckets and into the greenhouse.

Making rows for the garlic.

Sunday we had a lot of rain so we had to wait until mid Monday to till the garden.  Luckily the ground had been very dry so the rain didn’t turn the soil to muck.  By the time we were finished planting we had done 17 rows, 35 feet long each.  There is still a few handfuls of cloves left over.  I’ll tuck them into the garden here and there.  Maybe in the flower gardens as well.

In the next day or two I hope to get the onion sets in.  Then start the seedlings in the greenhouse.

Greenhouse Update Getting Ready To Start Our Seedlings

 Gardening  No Responses »
Mar 282010
 

Spring has come early to our area!  It is rare this time of year not to have snow out side still.  The Friday day dh cleaned out the garden tools we had stored in the greenhouse over winter.  We are adding two more rows of shelves and using it to start our seedlings.  This will be a much better option then trying to keep the cats away from them in the house!

Last year we did get a late start with our seedlings, as we were building the greenhouse.  But they did very well.  You can see part 1 and part 2 of building the green house.

We have found the greenhouse is quite efficient.  The day we filmed this it was -2C outside, in the greenhouse 25C nice and warm!

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