I know it's not spring everywhere...

[wtg]

I took advantage of last week's warm weather to remove four fairly large boxwoods. They have been declining for years and were also growing into an adjoining pine that's gotten really big. Out they came.

Funny story...landscaping guy in his pickup truck stopped across the street and came over to give us a business card and to see if he could drum up some business. Guess we looked like a couple of geezers who might need help. I was in the process of digging out the stump for the first of the four bushes, and he offered to dig it out for me. "I won't charge you." I declined politely and thanked him, pointing to the other three bushes and explaining that I was taking all of them out. He told me that I needed to water the other ones (they were quite brown from a boxwood disease that they had). I thanked him again. He went on his merry way, and I finished up my work.

[Steve Miller]

Ha! My chives and Thyme survived! Rosemary, not so much.

All of the mosses look good. Let’s see which ones spread the most.

[Mary Anna]

The crocus and daffodils are coming out here, and it was so warm that I really enjoyed running several errands on foot yesterday.

We are in the last few months of our first year in this house, so we're getting the last garden surprises. I didn't know we had crocus until a patch of purple showed up in our back yard. (Unfortunately, we also have deer or rabbits or something, because something ate them.)

I'm not familiar with pieris, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it blooming in our front yard. And the rhododendron has great big buds, so I'm excited to see it come into bloom.

I'm going to be too busy with the new book to do any vegetable gardening this year, but I've got four tabletop aeroponics systems in my office that are doing great. I've been getting red cherry tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and lettuce for a while, and I picked my first cucumbers this week. The yellow cherry tomato is covered with blossoms, and the Fairy Tale eggplants have buds. The LED grow lamps on those things keep an upstairs window lit up for part of the night, so I think our neighbors think I'm growing pot up there.

[wtg]

@Mary-Anna said in I know it's not spring everywhere...:

I've got four tabletop aeroponics systems

Ooh, tell us more!

I didn't know we had crocus until a patch of purple showed up in our back yard. (Unfortunately, we also have deer or rabbits or something, because something ate them.)

Rabbits love crocus leaves and flowers.

[Steve Miller]

The weeping cherry lives!

Sunny and 70 here today - time to assess the carnage.

Looks like ‘most everything survived the winter but the yellow roses look pretty ratty. The big pot with the pink rose in it shattered all to hell and being as the rose never really looked right in the space I chucked the whole mess in to the trash.

Most interesting are the mosses, which I planted in the fall. Each plug has been frost heaved right out of the ground. Some survived, some didn’t. Prolly ought to plant them earlier this year.

[Bernard]

March did not go out like a lamb here. We've had 3 bouts of mixed precipitation, each with 1 to 3 inches of accumulated snow/ice. Each was followed by one or two days of 30s -40s F. Yesterday, I swear, slush was falling from the sky! Temps have been on the rise for the past 8 hours and we're now at around 50F and aren't supposed to go below 45F tonight. So I didn't light the stove. It's cool in here, but not too bad. A little space heater gets the chill out from around the desk.

[pique]

MA, I'd love to learn more about your hydroponics system--including some photos.

[wtg]

We continue to have whipsaw weather. Really warm temps and then they plummet. We may get some snow on Monday. I've been catching up on garden organization projects that aren't weather-dependent. Always seems like I chuck a bunch of pots back in the corner of the yard at the end of the previous season, leaving an unsightly mess. I went through those, got rid of some, and stacked the rest neatly. I also emptied out the elevated beds and am mixing some fresh soil and compost in so that I'm ready when it's time to plant. I have one early daffodil that bloomed last week.

My neighbor is taking out three very tall arborvitaes that shade an area adjacent to my veggie garden. More sun!

So what are y'all going to be growing this year in the way of veggies?

[Bernard]

@wtg Tomatoes, one Zucchini plant, Cucumbers. These will all be started soon in trays.

I'm going to try planting lettuce, radish, and peas very early this year. In fact if the ground is workable now I might even give it go this early. Reason is that if I wait to plant until our last frost is past, they will bolt.

I will also grow Swiss Chard and maybe Carrots. Maybe a few potatoes plants too.

[Steve Miller]

Rosemary, French thyme, lemon thyme, chives (back from last year), Tarragon (back from last year), sage, basil, cilantro, bay leaves (survived winter in the house). Maybe hot peppers of some kind.

Meanwhile, I’m pulling weeds. They are always the first things to appear.

[wtg]

Potatoes - Kennebec, Pink Gypsy, Russet and Red Pontiac.
Tomatoes - Little Sicily and Sweet 100s.
Cukes - several different pickling varieties
Green beans - Kentucky Wonder
Mesclun mix (a modest planting, as Mr wtg isn't a fan)_
Bok choy
Peppers - Mostly poblano, maybe a jalapeno or two.
Sorrel - I have seeds that are old but I'll plant them anyway. Sorrel soup is excellent.
Onions and shallots
Spinach

@Bernard I like the idea of Swiss Chard. Have never grown it. Is it hard to grow?

I did peas last year and I love them but yields weren't great.

@Steve-Miller I have chive plants my Dad dug up from his garden that he gave to me back in the 1980s!

I'm currently looking for DYI critter protection ideas on You Tube. The squirrels always want to get into the beds and I want to be ready for them this year. I also need to build some kind of frame so I can put a row cover over the black currants and hopefully avoid the aphids I've been getting on them every year since I planted them.

[Bernard]

@wtg said in I know it's not spring everywhere...:

@Bernard I like the idea of Swiss Chard. Have never grown it. Is it hard to grow?

Swiss Chard is easy to grow here, except for that year when it was attacked by leaf miners. So I didn't grow any the year after that and when I started again, did so in a different area. It did very well last year. I love using Swiss Chard in quiche w/ leeks.

[Steve Miller]

I had good luck staking down laundry baskets and milk crates over my lettuce to keep rabbits out.

Might work.

[Bernard]

The freezing rain and snow continues but I just placed an order with Gurney's, thought I'd try them this year.

Perseus Hybrid Slicing Cucumber seeds
Gurney Girl's Best Hybrid Tomato seeds
Kennebec seed Potatoes
Honeoye Junebearing Strawberry plants

I may not get any strawberries this year seeing they're June bearing, but you never know.

I'll get annual flower seeds and other veg seeds at the hardware store.

[Daniel.]

It is now!

Housemate bit off more than he could chew with his garden. I've already moved all of his potted plants on the left side to under the apple tree that's on the lot past the porch.

This made the entire side of the porch nothing but grass. I don't have to weed between the pots.

Maintenance weed wacks the line of grass leading to the concrete porch clean.

This also gives my neighbor's more room. This happens to be the narrow bit of ground. The width between my carport and the mobile home on the the other side is surprisingly long.

The park was laid out in 1973 but at some point the land area was doubled. The line between the old and new sections is a field with transmission lines.

I live in the newer section and the lots are larger. The original section seems claustrophobic to me.

There are still plants in pots running down the grass off the carport. They are seasonal and I don't know anything about them.

My aloe vera plant is an exception. It's in a blue ceramic pot on a stand. The only other plant that's technically mine is a cactus in small yellow pot.

I've taken all of this over because housemate decided he didn't want to do the work.

My problem is the rock beds in the front. The plastic was disintegrated when the place was bought. I have been pulling weeds every year.

It's repetitive, inefficient, and dumb.

I have a quote from the park maintenance man with a handyman business on the side that seems a little high to me.

I have other projects I want to do first but I don't want another rainy season of being on a weed pulling treadmill.

There's a second handyman in the park I could hire who is doing the same kind of work next door. I might talk to him to see if I can beat the first quote.

I could do it myself as a last ditch effort but I'm not good at this kind of work.

[CHAS]

High of 101 predicted for Friday in Tucson. Eye surgeries may keep me here through the worst of the Tucson summer.

[AndyD]

@wtg

Whipsaw weather, new term to us thank you and that is exactly what's happening here as white blackthorn hedgerows flower with yellow daffodils underneath.
A sunny 22 degrees today, yet minus 1 overnight with frost on the garage roof.

[Daniel.]

Over 90 F for 3 days then 88 today, then 86 tomorrow, and finally a 1 day break of 71 the day after. Humidity not high. Unfortunately wind low.

[AndyD]

@Daniel. said in I know it's not spring everywhere...:

Unfortunately wind low.

Brussels sprouts and onions could be a localised solution