Right now I'm enjoying 65 degrees and sunny weather in Arizona and not thinking about the garden yet. I did take seed inventory before I left and only need a few things. I didn't do much last season because I unknowingly was suffering from Lyme disease, had a lot of pain and didn't have much energy. So after two months of antibiotics I think I can resume gardening. I have a lot to catch up with out there. I'm very much into tick prevention now.

My catalogs are waiting but I think I have enough seeds and really enjoy seed shopping at Adams. I look forward to their spring flower shows in March and the first 4-pak of johnny jump-ups.

Sorry to hear about the Lyme disease!! Good thing you figured out what the problem was and are taking the proper meds now. Last year was a bad year for ticks.

I organized my seed inventory and recorded it in excel. I concluded that I need to stop buying seeds - haha! I counted over 200 packets! Unless I plan on farming anytime soon, I need to take it easy. It is going to take a lot for me to restrain myself at Adam's this year. Their seed selection is incredible, plus I have a $100 gift card to there.

I have officially begun seed-starting for Spring with King Richard leeks. I will also do some bunching onions.

I started a contest on The Easy Garden forum. About growing the best New Yorker Tomato. The New Yorker seeds all came from Hudson Valley Seed Library check out both web sites.

I wasn't even aware of an easy garden forum. Where is it? Gardening is not easy. I'll check it out.

I decided to take a big envelope of pea seeds from 6 years ago and plant them in a tray of potting mix under lights. Every seed germinated. I've been snapping off and eating the sprouts which taste exactly like peas. What a treat in this frozen grounded winter.

I'm not big on tomatoes because they aggravate arthritis. I just plant a few. Have fun with the contest!

https://www.theeasygarden.com/

Eyeing the snow outside. Eager to get out and prune my fruit trees, get new garden beds going, etc. Hoping my onion / shallot seedlings get big enough in time for early April transplant.

I hear that, gekkodojo, we are expecting more snow on Wednesday, in the lower HV. Where are you located in the HV?

What kind of onions are you growing? What type of fruit trees do you have?

I have some bunching onions and leeks that will be ready to go out in a couple weeks, if the ground is visible! My onion seedlings are coming from Dixondale early next month.

Hello Chris - I'm in northern Dutchess. I have about 35 trees, mostly apple with a handful of plums and cherries. Fourth year into the orchard. First year in the new vegetable garden. so it's going to be a fun and busy year!

I started three varieties of allium seeds in late February - Cabernet onion, Patterson onion and conservor shallot. First year doing onion seedlings and kind of an experiment. Had great germination but they are really slow growing. I can understand now why they say start them 8-10 weeks prior to transplant

I have so much snow on the ground still. The early spring jobs are piling up! First week of April seems to be a good time of year though to work in the soil. Hopefully the snow melts by then and the rain cooperates!

Oh wow! I'm very jealous. I always wanted a small orchard. Yeah it sounds like you will be quite busy! Are all of the apple trees dwarf-types?

Yes, I started my leeks and bunching onions in early February. Do you trim the tops as they get taller? They definitely get off to a very slow start. I started chives weeks later, because I forgot about them, and they are taking forever.

Most of our snow has melted down here in southern Putnam, but these recent cold days are gonna keep me from putting peas in the ground anytime soon.

That sounds terrific! I hope to be able to do things like that one day when I retire. How many varieties do you have?

Those dates are pretty spot on actually! Are you zone 5b? Potatoes I'm hoping to do around the 3rd week of April. Memorial day weekend should be a good time for tomatoes, maybe even peppers and eggplant, depending on weather forecast. Do you direct sow your cucurbits or give them a little head start indoors?

I had to switch from apple to pear trees. I have a Christmas tree farm across the street apple ceder rust was a nonstop battle.

I've got probably about 20 varieties of apples. A lot of heirloom American varieties both eating and cider, a handful of european bittersweet varieties and a couple modern varieties (gold rush, kids orange red, Rubinette). Im watching CAR closely. We'll see how bad it gets, but there are cedars everywhere. So far golden russet seems to be the only variety that is getting crushed by it, which was surprising to me bc I've read it isn't supposed to be affected by it. But it's early days so time will tell.

im planning to direct seed my cucs and winter squash. Starting tomatoes inside. I have transplanted curcs before but experimenting this year. I'm new to HRV gardening and the garden is about only a quarter or less of what I hope to be the ultimate size, so I'm focusing on a handful of staples and trying to do them "by the book" although is there such a thing??? Lol

happy to have found this board and looking forward to getting to know everyone better!

Wow - that is a lot of apple varieties! I hope they do well for you. I have 2 very old, overgrown apple trees on my property from the previous owners. They are both diseased and the apples are small and deformed. I think they'll need to come down soon. I've never heard of Cedar Apple Rust, but I just looked it up and it looks like something alien! lol Very interesting disease that requires 2 different hosts in 2 different families to complete its life cycle!

I typically do direct sow them, but 2 years ago I noticed that the cukes I started indoors, 3 weeks prior to plant out, ended up growing much better than direct sow. I'll try that again, maybe in succession, to extend the season a little. What kind of winter squash are you going to do?

Welcome to the Hudson Valley!! I think it's good to start out by the book, but gardeners always deviate after that lol. Much more fun that way. You should check out the Vegetable Gardening forum too. There is always some great threads going on over there. This thread in particular https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5165007/veggie-tales-march-2018 is great. A bunch of us are always talking about what's going on in the garden and discussing what varieties are good. We start a new thread every month.

Just got back from a week in Florida. They're lucky down there, at least this time of the year. Left me aching for spring! Although maybe I'm feeling a hint of it in the air?

Chris - I'm planting two winter squashes bred by carol Deppe. (Many might know her but if not she is a geneticist / plant breeder / author and I highly recommend her books). Anyway one is a Delicata and the other is sweet meat - Oregon homestead. They are open pollinated so if they work out I'll try to save some seeds for those who may be interested.

Speaking of that, is anyone in our area selecting and saving seeds from anything that is doing particularly well? When (if!) I get a well established garden up here over the next several years, I'd love to connect with folks who are improving and saving seed from locally adapted varieties.

Nyboy - would be great to keep in touch on the orchards, sounds like you've got a similar project going on. Would be great over the years to share what's working and what isn't.

Welcome back from Florida! It may feel nice now, but that's the last place I'd want to be in the summer. Waaay hot down there. It is starting to warm up a little bit, but I think it may drop again :-/

I don't think I have heard of her, but the Oregon Homestead is a beautiful squash! I just looked it up. I will have to look into some of her books. Normally I'm not a reader, but when it comes to gardening it's a whole different story.

I'm not aware of any groups or people doing seed exchanges in our area, but I'm sure there has to be. I really haven't done much seed-saving in the past, unless you count garlic and potatoes. This year I am hoping to start saving more seeds. The only problem for us home gardeners is unless we grow 1 variety of certain veggies, cross-pollination is a real problem. I've even read that it's possible for some species to cross, resulting in partially fertile or sterile seeds. I recently read a book on seed-saving that said seed genetic diversity is also very important and that we should save seed from multiple plants, not just 1. Also choosing for traits like drought-tolerance, disease resistance and fruit production. It can really get involved, which makes it very intriguing to me! Some day I would really like to take it to the next level.

I am spending spring in Europe for work this year so I'm going to be getting a late start. My husband is keeping an eye on my garlic and bulbs, but my herbs garden will have to eww wait until I get home and I'll probably have to purchase starter plants rather than growing from seed this year. Same with chiles. I'm hoping to try some melons this summer and certainly some vegetables that do better later in the season.

Welcome back, biondanonima! Wow, Europe for the spring! Do you travel a lot for work?

Ya do what ya gotta do. No harm in purchasing plants. It's actually less stressful that way haha. I'm not sure where you're located, but I'm assuming Westchester County, based on your zone. The Putnam County Cornell Cooperative Extension has a Master Gardener plant sale on May 19th, from 8:30am-12pm. It's located on 1 Geneva Rd in Brewster, NY. They have a ton of great veggies, herbs and flowers. It get VERY busy every year because people love their stuff. Not to mention the proceeds help fund the Cooperative Extension as well. I tried to see if there was one in Westchester County, but for some reason I don't see a plant sale listed on their site.

gekkodojo - Dutchess County has a Master Gardener plant sale as well, if you're interested in checking out their stuff. Their sale is Friday, May 18 (10 AM-4 PM) & Saturday, May 19 (9 AM-2 PM) and located at the Dutchess County Farm & Home Center in Millbrook.

Yes, we are in lower Westchester, but Brewster isn't too far to drive for a great plant sale! If I'm back in town I'll have to check it out!

Beautiful weekend! I tried to get my beds prepped for the season this weekend but the area was still pretty wet and close to freezing. I'm finding the soil to be extremely stony at the garden site. Much more so than the orchard. It's characterized as a "gravelly loam" - but the "gravel" ranges in size from an Oreo cookie to a grapefruit. And there's a lot of it. Digging is extremely challenging. I'm thinking I'm going to abandon any further attempt at working the soil and build it higher in raised beds instead.

Onion seedlings are still creeping along, and I'm thinking I need to push plant out date to later in April. For those who have grown onions from seeds before - have you found that the initial "leaf" dries up and dies from the top down? From where the seed is?

That's happening to mine, although second leaves are growing out to take its place. Many of them are turning purple as well. I'm not sure I'm doing things right...

I did manage to prune my orchard and cut up several trees that fell in the forest during March storms, and stack a couple cords of wood. So some progress on the spring chores!

Hey gekkodojo! That's a lot of onions! NY soil can have lots of rocks in it. I grow in raised beds myself, but mainly because of tree roots in the native soil.

It looks like you haven't give your onions a trim yet. Once they get to about 5" you can trim them back a few inches. This encourages them to grow thicker. Then you can trim periodically as they get taller again. I do this with my leeks and bunching onions. Have you been giving them supplemental feedings at all? I feed my leeks and onion seedlings with fish emulsion, diluted to about 1/4 strength of recommended use.

Yeah I think I have about 120 cells. Figured if they all survived I'd give some to one of my friends. I've been feeding mine fish / seaweed liquid fert at about half strength every two week or so. Hoping they'll be ready in two weeks to plant out. If not I guess they won't survive...

How's everything growing?? I was able to finally get my broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes planted. Still a bit cool at night, but hard freezes seem to be a thing of the past.

I planted lettuces, spinach, all kinds of peas, and some flower seeds that need chilling.

I picked daffodils, chionodoxa, grape hyacinths and scented violets (my favorite) for indoor vases.

I have a f@#$%^&g groundhog living in the hillside that comes out and digs up plants around the house. I keep chasing it off. It won't enter the havahart trap no matter what I bait it with. It's too fast for my shotgun. Any tips on getting rid of this monster rodent? I have no heart for it.

I have a hawk nest up in the tree by my driveway. I hope it doesn't get my insect-eating, flycatcher phoebe birds nesting on my house.

Feels good to be gardening again.

Spray yourself and check for ticks.

Wow, that's great! My Muscari has not bloomed yet. Looking up Chionodoxa, I just realized that is what is growing in areas of my yard! I thought it was Scilla lol.

Sorry to hear about the groundhog. I have never tried to trap one, but I think I remember people saying that they love peaches, if you haven't already tried that as bait.

That's pretty cool, I've never seen a hawk nest. I know they are around because I've seen a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned hawk on several occasions. Hope your birds are able to elude them.

I've already been hearing that the ticks are bad this year. I'll have to be vigilant about checking myself.

I just got my onions transplants and potatoes planted on Saturday. Temp dropped to 26 overnight that night but they seem to have survived. Planted tomato seeds indoors. Have a few more garden beds to build this weekend in anticipation of warm weather crops. Given up on other early spring crops for this year as cold weather got me behind this spring on garden prep.

Sounds good! This spring has been a real drag. I'm growing peas in a pot this year and they are going nowhere fast. Everything is very slow.

I've got loads of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant growing indoors. I also started some tomatillos for a friend and growing ground cherries for the first time.

Onions creeping along. Potatoes haven't yet emerged (planted 2 weeks ago?). Orchard went from low idle to wide open throttle seemingly overnight - while I was busy building vegetable garden weeds have taken off. Need to get orchard under control (weed, fertilize, mulch, fix cages, etc) in the next two weekends. Maters hopefully going in Memorial Day, although seedlings are growing slower than normal. Beginning to think my new potting mix recipe (coir and vermiculite) is stunting growth. How's everyone else doing???

What a beautiful time of year! everything is lush and green, fruit still on the trees, nothing's been ravished yet by pests or drought or disease..

Potatoes growing like crazy. They must've grown 12" in the last week! Onions seen to be doing well...

got my tomato transplant in this weekend, nearly lost them due to a problem with my watering system. think I saved them at the last minute.

planted cucumber seeds. Hoping I'm not too early. Winter squash going in next week

How is everyone else doing?

Carrots, onions, collards and peppers doing well so far. That's all I'm growing this year. So far so good.

Hello HV gardeners! I'm in zone 5 between Kingston and Saugerties, a recent transplant from most recently Rockland County. So tell me please, are there any radio gardening shows? I have been listening online to shows from Iowa, Atlanta, and Cape Cod but it would be nice to hear so ething more local. Ah, and Margaret Roach's lovely podcasts...

I used to listen to Ralph Snodsmith every Sunday. Alas he passed away a while back. He used to appear at Adams in Poughkeepsie from time to time. Really nice guy. I believe there are several programs but you'd have to check online. IIRC there used to be a guy on WKIP but that station went to hell with the syndicated talk shows like a lot of other stations.

Anyone getting excited for the gardening year ahead? any lessons from last year?

I started keeping a picture diary of my garden five years ago. I can remind you all that we had the biggest storms of the year right around now in most of them!

Yup. There was snow on the ground when I pruned my fruit trees on March 30 last year.

additionally, February was unseasonably warm in 2017 and 18. This year felt more normal.

Itching to get outside after being cooped up all winter and with health problems. I've got some collard greens started inside which I'm waiting to see sprout. Going to start some Dino kale and Cosmos and portulaca as well soon.

I stopped into the Yonkers Home Depot today and picked up a few pots of aubrieta - I started some from seed this year but it has been very slow going thus far. Bulbs are poking up all over my yard. Looking forward to the nice weather tomorrow for some spring clean up.

Beautiful time of year to be outside! Planted potatoes, onions, beets, mustard greens, peas this past weekend. Going all out with the potatoes - 160’ row planted