Hello my fellow GardenWebbers!
It sure has been a long time since I've been around, but I am still alive and kicking and do think of you all quite often :)
This past winter had been pretty good to us!! From January 10th on the daytime temps never dropped below 36F and the highest we got was 55F; the average high according to NWS was 38.7F with an average low of 29F. In February, we only hit the freezing mark (32F) one day with an avg. high of 43.6; most days were 45F+. The avg. daytime temp for March was 50.7F...we had days reaching 55-60F. Now it's only 2 days into April and as expected it has gotten colder! Actually this weather change started about 3 days ago and this morning-early afternoon it was snowing at 40F. The wind is steady at about 20 and gusting to 30mph making it feel much much colder...brrr!! It's just kinda funny seeing it snow though because we haven't had anything but rain since December!! No, I take that back. We did get about 1 in. one early January morning, but by noon it was all melted :)
BTW the averages I gave were really for Spokane...we are 33 miles south and get between 5-6 degrees warmer during the day and it's about comparable to just about 5 degrees lower than Spokane for our lows.
ANYHOO now that you got my weather report LOL!
I have just been spending far too much time; hours on end even, hanging out on hair forums and blogs concerning hair care for those of African descent. In January, I made the decision to return my hair to natural and these forums have been a great deal of support for me and others making this transition. Just gotta say my hair has never been in such good condition :) However, since this topic is best discussed on the Conversations board, I just wanted to let you all know why I've been missing in action! Well those of you on Facebook are already knowing :)
On topic now. The garden has been kicking in gear for the past 2 months; so much green out so early! I mean we've had some warm winters before, but this is ridiculous! The chives had already had a good 6" of new growth by Valentines Day and new growth started coming in between then and March on the Dianthus sp., Alyssum 'Gold Dust', Bleeding Heart, Catmint, Lupine, Snapdragon, Coreopsis lanceolata, Valerian, Lunaria, Lychnis sp., Thymus serpyllum, Dusty Miller, Rhubarb, Raspberry, Bearded Iris, Daylily, Aster laevis, Hyssopus and Shasta Daisy. The Rhubarb was wintersown and planted last spring so I should be able to harvest from them this year...YEAH!! A Rhubarb/Strawberry Custard Pie sounds pretty good..Mmmmm!
The Daffodil were coming in much too early and I was afraid for them, but they started blooming on March 25th just about when the Crocus were about finished! They were blooming by March 1st. I've never had Daffodil blooming before mid April!! Of course there are a ton of Poppy, Nigella, Larkspur, Viola, Chamomile and Lunaria seedlings everywhere...not counting the ones that were already up last fall. Although the Viola (Johnny Jump-Up) at this point are still very small they have started blooming. Last year I also dug up some Early Blue Violet AKA Hookedspur Violet (Viola adunca) and transplanted them to a spot and they were just about as early as the Chives coming in. Yeah, I know most people are trying to get rid of them, but I personally think they look good as a nice native perennial ground cover if you plant them were you don't need to worry about their creeping habit and I'm a sucker for purple! They bloom from early spring through June and when not in flower the foliage is still attractive. They usually are blooming again in mid fall too. I'm also going to see about using them as ground cover under my tomatoes :)
As for winter-sowing, I didn't sow no where as near as many containers this year....not even a fraction! So far, I only have 12!! By now I usually have somewhere between 70-100 containers LOL! Really, I just couldn't get with the program this year. I got the last 8 out there on 3/20. The first 4 were shrubs/trees that were put out in November. As of March 31st the following have started germinating:
1. Blue Elderberry (Sambucus nigra caerulea...formerly S. mexicana)....sown Nov
2. Inula helenium 'Goliath'...sown 2/19
3. Echinops 'Platinum Blue'....sown 3/20
4. Dianthus knappii....sown 3/30
The rest I'm waiting on sown on 2/19 and 3/20 are:
5. Agastache rupestris 'Apache Sunset'
6. Pentemon pinifolius 'Compactum'
7. Aruncus dioicus
8. Platycodon grandiflorus
9. Baptisia australis
Shrubs/trees (sown in Nov.)
1. Pacific Slope Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus)
2. Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)
3. Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa)
shoregrowin
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ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
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