There are about a hundred potted perennials out on my front lawn right now as the latest wintry mix hits our area, and someone dropped off a huge box of cell trays and small pots to us yesterday. Some of them will go to our local library for their gardeners workshops and to prep for their annual plant sale fundraiser, some will go to the Master Gardeners program for their spring fundraiser, and I will attempt to find space for what we end up keeping.
What’s growing on with you all?
I’m excited that my saffron bulbs overwintered. I’m growing in containers in NYC (7b). We’ll see if they survive the summer!
Fingers crossed for you, that’s awesome! A buddy near me went hard ordering saffron this past autumn but we have some time to go before they’ll pop
My kale sprouts are coming in very nicely! Trying from seed again this year and I’m feeling good about it. The heatwave just wrecked them last year and I wasn’t on my game with watering enough, but not this time! I also have some other seeds starting to sprout as well: camomile, catnip, sunflowers and microgreens, as well as a few pumpkin sprouts that are starting to make themselves known.
My pepper plants are starting to bounce back from being over-wintered, and they always produce a big yield so I’m excited. I’ve added a few new species to the mix so we’ll see how that goes. I’m looking forward to making hot sauce again, but this time I’ll have ghost peppers to add to the mix >:)
My apartment balcony looks like a jungle, and it is my happy place, lol.
Harvested some asparagus and solomon’s seal shoots the other day, they were delicious. Dogwoods are leafing out and some early iris blooms are opening. Most daffodils have lost their petals. My fava beans don’t look so great, I think I planted them in too much woodchip mulch. They have flowers, though. I was debating fertilizing them with urine - any thoughts? I generally avoid fertilizing legumes, but the thick woodchip mulch might be an exception?
Diluted urine would likely be okay, lots of nitrogen and a decent source of trace elements to boot. It’s definitely been a boon in some of our heavily wood chipped gardens
Nice, any thoughts about fertilizing fava beans in particular? I have heard that nitrogen fertilizers cause poor yields for legumes. Maybe it’s poor yields either way at this point, so I might as well try 😅
Phosphorus is what you really want for better fruit set, and the normal range present in urine is 68-874mg/g in males and 56-846mg/g in females, so you’ll be supporting that aspect of their development as well.
My wife grew a person this winter, so I haven’t been able to even clean out last years leftovers from my greenhouse yet, but two of my spice plants (not sure if it’s the right term) has sprouted again on their own (Oregano and Chives) 🥳 And I started housing a grape last year that I hope has survived winter, just have to remember watering it and repot it if I can find the time for it. My mother will probably bring me some tomato and chili sprouts if I ask her, she always ends up with way too many of both 😅
Finished one 8x4 raised bed with my salvaged lumber, and the second should go much faster now that I have a powered saw. I’ll be getting 2.5 yd³ of topsoil/compost blend from a local municipal composting company next week.
It’s windy and snowy even here in more southern New England, so I’m glad that the spinach, lettuce, and arugula I sowed last weekend in some railing planters hasn’t germinated yet. My grow light shelves are almost completely full trays of seeds I planted a couple days ago, all the tomatos, cucumbers, and squash. Despite the weather today it’s an exciting beginning!
