That is odd Yolos, the lowest temp here (so far) was 8F back in Dec with no ill effects. The plants do wilt at temps below 20F but they revive quickly without problems. I planted these 3 rows (all Bloomsdale variety) on approximately Oct 20th, Nov 5th, and Nov 20th. I spaced them out to see which timing would work best for an extra early Spring harvest. So far all 3 rows look like winners to pick by early March but time will tell. I think that the fall planting time is critical to see which row "bolts" first in late Spring. I'll be planting more seed in the Spring too (early March) to compare bolting times of each of these plantings.

No spinach news here. For some reason it doesn't do well for me.

Tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night look to be the coldest days so far this winter. Low tomorrow night could be 13 degrees. Will be very happy to see those temps moderate.

Another 13 + ounce tomato-seeds from Baker Creek. Cindy and John put your seeds in the mail today.

Lettuce outside. We get every

Richard - Thank you.

Looking at the weather forecast makes me think that Punxsutawney Phil nailed it today. Although he's going to look foolish next week. My Landis Winter lettuce is buried under snow.

Here it is February and I STILL haven't ordered any seeds. One month from now I need to plant peas. I'd better get on it!

I sure wish I would have gotten some spinach going last fall. Although considering we had temps as low as -6F back in December, I'm not sure it would have survived.

Still puzzled here about the dying spinach when mine is doing well and I'm certain it will be ok even with the temp dipping to 14F tonite. The only factor that comes to mind may be total sun exposure time? At this time of year my 3 rows are in full sun all day from 8am to 4pm, not sure if that has anything to do with it (warmer ground?) but if y'alls spinach is in too shady of an area (where shade & shadow can sneak up on a plot in the fall) then maybe that's why? Best guess, unless your variety isn't as hardy as Bloomsdale?

I got some Bloomsdale that's trying to overwinter along with some "Space" hybrid. Didn't have a chance to get a low tunnel over it. It's in full sun pretty much. Might make it if the henbit don't choke it out.

AP

I got all my seed ordered and coming in . Right now I'm preparing to put out onions and potatoes. That's where it all starts for me. As soon as the winter weather lets off.

Hope I'm not off topic , if I am guess I'm just ashamed.

AP

Voles will eat spinach roots over the winter. In my old garden, I had to stop growing it.

vgkg - I think you are correct about the sun problem with my dead spinach. I planted the 4' x 10' bed filled with spinach. This bed does get very shady in the winter. Every plant in that bed died. I had some extra plants that I planted in pots in a sunny location. I was walking around my garden today and noticed about 50-75% of those plants in the pots lived. I expected all of the potted spinach to have died because they were in pots and I am sure the soil froze solid. So you may be correct about the lack of sun being a problem.

I just ordered some Albion day neutral strawberry plants from Indiana Berry Co. I grow June bearers, but decided to add some summer/fall bearers.

Richard - Received the Chocolate Stripes seeds ++ today. Thank you.

Looks like I've lost all of my Swiss Chard and parsley with that last frigid cold snap.

I have had both survive the winter before but not this year.

You’re welcome John. I hope they grow well for you.

My 3 rows of young spinach did ok on Sat morning when the temp dipped down to 16F. Here they are below basking in this mornings sunshine, a warm week ahead (near 70F) so it won't be long before I thin, weed, fert, and mulch the rows for an early March picking. I'll fill in any gaps with fresh seed.

HU: I don't think there IS an Off Topic! Nice looking potatoes!

Yesterday it was wonderfully pleasant. Well, a little windy, but we're used to that in southern Kansas. I took advantage of nice temps and got out the rototiller to take it for a spin around the garden. It will be all nice and fluffy now when I need to plant peas in a month. While I was out there, I detected a few garlic tips poking up through the mulch. I planted them a little later than usual, but at least some of the varieties seem to be growing just fine.

Richard - Received the seeds from you today. Thank you so much for all of them!

itsmce ( and anybody else) , just got me some "Red LaSota" seed potatoes. They're about the same as Red Pontiac. Maybe some minor difference in skin texture. I usually do a mix of Red Pontiac and Kennebec , depending on what's available. I've done other varieties like "Irish Cobbler" and "Yukon Gold". Seems that my local feed store has had problems with the supply chain , freezes and such.

Also started collecting onion bundles for putting out later when the winter lets off some.

Been working on my old tiller. I wore the wheels off, , have to hold it up while tilling. Might as well hold up a mule a going. I about got it fixed now.

I'll be planting green peas too probably in about a month , I've been planting " Miragreen Green " from Gurneys, mainly because they're treated , keeps the moles out of them. Have also tried " Maestro " and " Wando". Anybody have any suggestions for green shelling peas.Seems to me that green peas need warmer soil temps to germinate but then need cooler temps as they're growing. Just back asswards to the flow of the early spring season.

HU

I have tried a few varieties of shelling peas. Most of them were satisfactory But Green Arrow and PLS595 have been the best all around main season peas. II also grow smooth seeded peas over winter for an extra early crop.. Prefer Willet Wonder. Early Alaska performs well, just has more vine to contend with. IN case you are wondering, these are the wrinkled seed types I have grown in my lifetime. Alderman, Bistro, Blue Bantam, Bolero, Burppeanna, Caseload, Dakota, Dark Green Perfection, Early Bird, Early Perfection, Easy Peezy, Freezonian, Frosty, Garden Sweet, Green Arrow, Karina, Knight, Laxton's Progress#9, Little Marvel, Maestro, Mr. Big, Penelope, Perfected Freezer, PLS534, PLS 566, PLS595, Premium, Sabre, Strike, Thomas Laxton, Wando.

"Frosty" peas have been good to me for several years now. We're still eating last year's frozen crop. They do well planted on both sides of a trellis. Will be planting my pea seeds around early/mid March depending upon the long range forecast. Here's a pic from last year's crop...

Early Spring...

Mid Spring......from another angle...

Late Spring...

Today it was so nice outside that I just had to do some digging so I prepped the first rows for later planting of cabbages, broccoli, carrots, beets, and lettuces. I'll be working on that pea plot above soon too.

Shelling peas remind me of indentured servitude as a child! So I became a snap pea convert. Cascadia snap pea from High mowing seeds have been growing well for me. I will start some indoors in a piece of plastic gutter, then when they go out I'll direct seed another row. Most of the time the second crop is only a week or two behind the first ones.

Meanwhile my peppers are mostly up and looking good. Better get some water on these though.

Shelling peas for me…Maestro is my favorite. A couple years ago I grew one row of Green Arrow. They were good too but were slower to harvest time and grew taller. It’s always a race here in southern Kansas to get peas to sprout, grow (but not too tall), and produce a good crop before we start seeing too much heat. With our winds, I just can’t handle plants that get much taller than 26-30 inches.

Today is a wet one here where 1" of rain is expected. Yesterday I wrapped up prepping the early veggie plots for later planting and I went ahead and cleaned up (weeded, thinned, cultivated, and fertilized) the fall planted spinach rows. If these milder temps continue I could be picking spinach in another week. It's still too early to plant carrots, beets, lettuces, and peas but it's getting tempting to do so.

Gardens look like it's a warm streak in Feb. Got the little potted hostas I overwintered in the porch out to their little greenhouse outside, set up a tray of wintersow seeds for out there too. One of the little greenhouses capping bins had a winter collapse, but still harvesting parsley and a couple other little greens out there. The beds are soggy, the garlic and such are a couple inches high- hoping we don't get too much of a cold blast. But since we will, I need to go set up hoops for blanket over the next couple days while it's warm.

Got some earliest seed started. Peppers, lavender, foxglove. And a variety of early greens to go out in the little greenhouses in a few weeks.

Go Chiefs!

Spent some time spreading wood chips in paths between rows. Both yesterday and today. A lot warmer today than yesterday.

Noticed today that I have one, and only one, primrose flowering. Very surprised to see it.

Cindy these are doing great (straight from Costco)

Today I have two yellow primrose flowers blooming. They are much smaller than yours, Len.

Latest spinach pic (the only game in town), it looks a lot better since I cleaned it up and side dressed. For those of you who planted it in the fall and it now looks to be dead I wouldn't count it out yet. One year deer chewed mine down to nubs and it looked like a lost cause, but it bounced back quickly as the day time temps warmed up. Tomorrow I will plant some fresh seed to fill in the gaps...

The plum trees are showing signs of bud swell now, so far the plums are the only fruit trees waking up. Tomorrow it will hit the low 70's here so it won't be long before dormant oil spraying is on the list.

It's amazing what things like spinach can do to make a comeback.

AP

Just planted some pepper seeds and some eggplant seeds (indoors). Will try to keep track of germination rates as the seeds were just purchased last month.

Well it looks like Spring is officially here, our first fruit tree (Yellow Egg Plum) is now blooming. Recent warms temps here woke it up a bit too early so it's more than likely I can right off getting any plums from it this year. More nights in the 20's are surely coming up soon even though this coming week will be in the 60's and it's predicted to hit 81F on Thursday. I'm tempted to plant peas, lettuce, carrots, and beet seeds now but need to resist that urge for at least a few more weeks.

vgkg - You have blooms; but have you seen any bees??? I haven't seen one here, yet. I'm expecting a second year in a row without any fruit.

John D,

Did you not see any bees last year, or just not this early? Wild bees, such as Mason bees and bumble bees are more likely than honey bees to be out in early, cold weather. You can Google information on how to attract wild bees to your yard for future years. All bee populations are in severe decline.

Martha

Martha - I was only raising the question that while vgkg has blossoms on his plum tree that there may not be any bees, or other bugs known to pollinate. It was 72 here the other day. I saw a couple of bugs and I'm serious. I saw 2 or 3 bugs. No bees. So while you may have blossoms and they don't freeze; you get no plums because there was no pollination.

Ah. Too true. I saw a recent vlog showing Chinese fruit producers out in their orchards with paint brushes hand pollinating their cherry trees. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Martha

John so far no sign of Honey bees or Mason bees here even with temps near 70F lately. I have a Mason bee "nest" mounted in one of the trees and it's tubes have been used and are full but no hatches as of yet. There are a few bee keepers nearby but it may be too early for them to venture far away from their hives? This coming Thursday the high temp is predicted to be 80F so that may bring them out?

Normally by mid March the fruit tree blooms are loaded with a cloud of various pollinator bees but my plum trees will surely be past their bloom phase by then. Below is a pic of what a Mason bee "nest" looks like, they can easily be homemade using a drill bit and a block of wood. I'll post when I actually see some pollinators out there...

We’re in the DC area and did have some bees earlier this week, I was really surprised to see them out so early!

Well I checked my Mason Bee nest today and doggone it all the cells have been opened. It looked intact last week so they did hatch out since then. No sign of them today but it was coolish and windy too. Maybe the aroma of the plum blooms woke them up? I think plums are the most pungently fragrant of all our fruit trees, it's almost a sickening sweet smell. Will keep an eye out for any Masons, etc in the coming days.

Yesterday was a picture perfect day in this neck of the woods...er...city. My late afternoon walk revealed that it was remarkably calm. So I jumped into action, broke out my sprayer and dormant oil, and sprayed my peach trees. Today's going to be nearly as 'warm' but the winds return. I just love it when all the stars align, I have the time to spray, AND the weather cooperates.

I checked on my garlic and nearly all the varieties are showing sprouts of an inch or so above the mulch.

A warmish 70F today and the Honeybees have returned! Here's a pic of the blooming plum tree (Yellow Egg) right next to it's mate (Shiro) which hasn't bloomed yet, but it is at bud swell. The Honeybees and some Mason bees were all over the tree today even though it was quiet windy. When it hits the low 80's here on Thursday that will wake up the Shiro and both trees should have overlapping blooms for at least a couple of days.

And now my Lenten Roses have begun to bloom!

Crazy weather! It was 60* this morning when we woke up. Temps are tumbling! Tonight it’s expected to drop to 16*. This is quite a storm traversing the country.

Hope you got your onions covered if you got them in the ground.

AP

And today the crocus are blooming!

Had some raspberry plants delivered today so they went into the ground just now. It's a new to me variety, "Double Gold." It's supposed to produce twice a year, though the first time will probably be this fall.

My grandson loves raspberries, especially the gold ones.

The petals are already dropping from 1 plum tree as the other plum tree just starts to open up a little...

Our 3 pear trees abruptly woke up when the temp hit 84F on Thursday, their buds are swelling quickly...

Sure hope the 20's are behind us but seriously doubt it :-(

Today it is cold outside (again) and showering on and off (again) so staying indoors and potted up some tomato sprouts from the last batch of seeds. My inside nursery is filling up fast, peppers and tomatoes look happy.

Bye-Bye Feburary, time Marches on.... https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6352899/veggie-tales-march-2023#n=3