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Post by garrett on Jan 28, 2012 11:46:11 GMT -5
its getting closer. put em outside dauber.smiles yes finally some rain lace. niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice woo.
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Post by dirtdobber on Jan 30, 2012 9:54:50 GMT -5
March 6th for the maters but that floats a few days weather dependent. Then i usually have to cover plants with newspaper and large flower pots a few times before mid April to save from freezing.
I am not sure in your neck of the woods of Texas but here wind just blows everyday and night about 25 mph for 2 months straight in the spring. The lil plants take a beating.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jan 30, 2012 11:03:57 GMT -5
Dobber, put an electric fan on them a few hours a day when they are small to help strengthen their stems and acclimatize them before they go outdoors to the windtunnel
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Post by marielouise on Jan 30, 2012 17:29:56 GMT -5
Dobber the wind here is worse than the cold as spring rolls thru. The plants do take a beating . I have cut the bottoms out of those gallon nursery plant pots then pushed them bottom down over the plants to shield small plants from the wind, along with milk jugs with botttoms cut out and pulled the little tops off during the sunny warm days with tooo much wind. If nights get too cool just snap or screw the small tops back on .
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Post by dirtdobber on Jan 30, 2012 23:43:37 GMT -5
I have a plan this year to help protect mine. The wire cages I made I am going to wrap in clear plastic around the outside to help block the wind.
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Post by garrett on Jan 31, 2012 0:30:15 GMT -5
windbreaks? lorna and i discussed this once.wish i had specifics. maybe a thread topic?
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Post by dirtdobber on Jan 31, 2012 1:29:47 GMT -5
Well in the past I did not know that wind affected plants production but all the smart people on these sites educated me. So now I will try to protect as you Texaners know we have enough going against us with heat and humidity to try and get a mater to set.
Wind breaks yes sir
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Post by garrett on Feb 12, 2012 9:06:31 GMT -5
rock and roll.smiles
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Post by dirtdobber on Feb 15, 2012 11:23:37 GMT -5
I saw my lillies popping through the soil in their planter this morning. This warm winter has everything fooled. I am guessing the peach trees will bloom then get killed by a freeze.
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Post by marielouise on Feb 15, 2012 14:44:18 GMT -5
dafs are blooming here--- its raining again--no complaints, we need rain!
got all sorts of stuff waking up and poking thru the ground .
its still nasty outside so I did a quick walk about and looked here and there.
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Post by catgrass on Feb 16, 2012 11:57:15 GMT -5
Well, I started some seeds, everything came up-then a couple of them died -then it turned cold, and I had my seedlings on the floor near a window-AND THE DANG CAT played with them, ate some and beat up the others . All the tomato seeds I had! I have 1 pepper plant left, 3 cucumbers and 2 little dill seedlings. It will soon be time to plant outside here, so I have to start all over!
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Post by annclaire on Feb 21, 2012 17:50:38 GMT -5
Daffs and tulips are sprouting and the grape hiacynths are coming on. Native elm trees are budding, but not breaking the casings yet.
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Post by marielouise on Feb 22, 2012 1:12:13 GMT -5
cherchez le fleurs!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by dirtdobber on Feb 22, 2012 12:28:45 GMT -5
So sorry to hear that Catgrass
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Post by annclaire on Feb 24, 2012 2:51:16 GMT -5
Ooooh, crocus' were up and open this morning, but when the cold front moved in, they closed right back up ;D
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Post by garrett on Feb 26, 2012 9:49:59 GMT -5
shy crocus?lol
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Post by dirtdobber on Feb 29, 2012 1:20:24 GMT -5
Put two large pepper plants outside for good today in two gallon pots. I can bring them in if I have to. Jimmy Nardello and Marconi Red peppers came up and under grow lights. I have to get the big 12 inch mater plants out but still too soon. Have a few other pepper plants I am moving to outside pots this weekend hopefully. Must make room on the table so I have more room under the lights.
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Post by catgrass on Mar 1, 2012 8:39:33 GMT -5
I started preparing to plant! I pulled out the huge dollar weed growing around the edges of my garden, and the cat & dog helped. I figure I'm gonna have to cover everything with wire to keep the cat from digging-she loves to dig where I've dug! And she likes to eat baby plants, even though she has her own large pot of wheat grass. Lots of good, big earthworms were turned over-yay!
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Mar 1, 2012 9:00:42 GMT -5
Worms are your friend, Catgrass, that's awesome news. Yes, a neighbours cat likes to dig in my front flowerbed. I brought Saffron crocus with us from the last house and one patch is doing well, but the other is not thanks to that kitty. Hisssssss...
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Post by garrett on Mar 1, 2012 11:03:19 GMT -5
gooooooooooooo redneck worms! lol
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Post by dirtdobber on Mar 1, 2012 12:22:25 GMT -5
well got a Train design raised bed built the other day out of old fencing. Got enough for one more. I am sure I am going to wish I did 4 foot wide but went with 3 the length of wood I had to work with. Had screws and tools so no cost. Now gotta find the stuff to fill em up here in town I can haul in my Ford. I made em 12 foot long by 3 wide just shy of 12 inches deep. I am thinking matrs I measured I can get 5 of my cages each and then have all that border space for strawberries and maybe green bean bush. I know maters cast a lot of shade but one side will get several hours morning sun the other several hours evening sun. A litlle shade not a bad thing here in my neck of the woods err concrete jungle as it is known.
Potted up into 2 gallon tainers some more peppers they have blooms so what the heck. I see nothing scary in the 10 day forcast a few mid forties but they can handle that.
The redneck maters you sent me big g are at attention staring at the lights look like movie stars lol. They are waiting their turn to go outside. Cant wait to try that Kellogs Breakfast see what all the fuss is about.
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Post by marielouise on Mar 2, 2012 0:32:18 GMT -5
little bit of afternoon shade prolly won't hurt those strawberrys they will appreciate it more than the green beans I would think.
My raised beds that we made 4 ft wide --- I ended up taking off one side and making them a bit narrower, but then my reach was not quite long enuff to reach the centers comfortablely . Its all in how far one can reach easily . In our experiance being able to reach slightly more than half way works out better than simply reaching center.
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Post by garrett on Mar 2, 2012 10:24:06 GMT -5
de train beds iz awesome.smiles
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Post by dirtdobber on Mar 2, 2012 10:29:04 GMT -5
Well I am right at 6 foot with a 36 inch arm length so 4 foot is not a problem. Just cut what I had in half 6 foot board now 3 feet. lol. I usually grow my beans in close proximity of my maters one year had corn on one side maters on the other and they did fine. Personally I like Bush Blue Lake beans I have never had a string yet even if I miss some and they get big.
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Post by garrett on Mar 2, 2012 10:42:29 GMT -5
get er done.smiles
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Post by dirtdobber on Mar 3, 2012 4:48:02 GMT -5
looked on craigs list to find someone to come till this year. Want to see what they charge last year about killed me using my front tine tiller lol. want to do a big part of the back yard hope to kill some of the weeds off. Also found a place that sells soil and compost will have to check em out curious what you think of their prices. soilbuildingsystems.com/BeddingMixesData.php seems okay to me close to the house. This will be used to fill up the two raised beds I am building will need about 2.5 cubic yards.
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Post by marielouise on Mar 3, 2012 9:37:01 GMT -5
I have never had to buy soil --thank goodness--- so those prices seem high but then again I have no idea what the going price is. The only thing I bought is a bag of potting soil
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Post by dirtdobber on Mar 3, 2012 11:38:18 GMT -5
well to give you an idea of cost a 2.5 bag of potting soil is 13 to 15 dollars so a cubic yard at 60 dollars is cheap. It would take 27 cubic feet to equal on cubic yard so almost 11 bags or about 140 dollars.
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Post by annclaire on Mar 4, 2012 11:36:17 GMT -5
Dirt ... from what I have seen, those prices are comparable on the low side to what a friend is paying in NC ... IIRC, he paid $90/cu.yd. delivered last year.
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Post by dirtdobber on Mar 4, 2012 16:13:00 GMT -5
Thanks Ann,
That is what I thought pretty good price.
Thinking of getting some compost for the garden and some ready to plant for the raised beds.
Had a guy till yesterday not as deep as I would like and way bigger than I needed it will kill me to try and keep up with weeding. I plan to try and do hilled rows this year since I have room.
Was at Wally World this morning got some peas which I should have planted several weeks ago but to wet. Got my Bush Blue Lake beans. I will plant the beans in a few weeks still have low forties in the 10 day forecast.
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