Zone 3-5 Gardeners Early 2010 - Page 2

[lorelei]

I'm in zone 5 also, in Pa. I just ordered one of the small Northern Garden seed kits from Baker Creek. And 13 varieties of heirloom tomatoes from TomatoFest. I'm trying to figure out where my kids put my catalog for mushrooms, I want to get those now.

I'm waiting several weeks until I'm sure we're not getting any more feet of snow dumped on us, but I'd also like to order some berry canes, grapevines and strawberry plants from Peaceful Valley.

I cannot wait for spring! I'm hoping that we can grow a lot of our own veggies this year. We're from Florida, and fall-spring was the worst growing time for me, we were always so busy w back to school, etc the garden always got neglected. I'm really looking forward to having the whole summer to play and pick in our garden!

I bought an hydroponic kit that I'm planning to use to start the seeds with, so I hope that works well, and gives me a leg up since I'm not used to cold weather issues! lol

I wish all this winter would go away! I wanna get gardening!

[Miasmamma]

I am in zone 5b and am planning my garden for this year. Last year was a bust really due to a new baby and not enough time to weed!!! I am going to try and grow my beets and carrots at home this year rather than my parent's. (I also just took a time out to look at tillers. Didn't find one I don't think. I need one though.) My dad and I made a raised bed years ago and it's perfect for beets, carrots and lettuce. All I need to do here is add sand and then plant. I too am looking at blueberries, but I think I'll call the orchard here that has them and ask what kind of plants they have. For the most part we do the usual; cukes, tomatoes (heirloom), green beans, various types of squash, beets, carrots, lettuce, potatoes and I think I might try onions and corn this year. I've never had much luck with onion sets, but my grandpa told me to get plants this year. He's always done plants and has tons of onions. I didn't do well with potatoes last year, but I'm not real sure what I'm doing really. I would love to grow some golds and sweet potatoes this year though. Does anyone who's grown them well in the past have any advice?

[Salihah]

Hi everyone! Glad to see this thread!

I'm zone 3/4. I'd like to plant tomatoes from seeds this year. For tomatoes I've always bought seedlings in the past. When would be ok to start the seeds if I keep them in the garage (unheated) with a grow light? My friend starts seeds in her kitchen and has full natural light in there, but I don't have the space in the house. If I wait until it's safe to start them outside, I think it will be a little later than I'd like for seeds.

[lmonter]

I'm currently a chilly zone 5. Don't throw tomatoes at me if I end up eventually moving to zone 8/9 though, it's not exactly by choice.

I've had basically zero winter this year. We had a few snow skiffs in Nov/Dec, but nothing spectacular like last year. Florida and Dallas are apparently getting our weather, and it seems like we live in Portland right now. Very trippy.
So if it doesn't rain too much this week, this weekend I'm having hubby put up my makeshift greenhouse (cattle panels, rebar, cinder blocks and 6mil plastic). Then if I haven't had this baby, may try to garden it out by getting some winter-sown stuff in pots and out there in said greenhouse.

I'm also scaling back some of the stuff I have attempted over the years... In part, in case we have to pack up and move this summer, in part because I'll have a new baby (heh, I need to stop doing that - always throws a monkey wrench into the garden/canning), and in part because here I've got my local hookups for certain things that they can just grow better than I can (melons, corn, lot of fruits, etc.).

I am crazy and have started my to-preserve list for this coming year though... Wow, do I have high hopes.

Originally Posted by Teenytoona

Also, now that our gardening area has been through one garden season, I notice that much of it is shaded. Meh. Probably should pick a different spot, but it is what it is. I've read that certain cooler temp crops (lettuce, spinach and other greens) might do ok in that sort of area. Any feeedback on that.

Peas do well in partial shade, at least for me. I grew some under my [pole] green beans last year - peas were in tomato cages, beans on arched cattle panels.

Originally Posted by Teenytoona

OnZ I'm not too good at hardening plants either. I did manage to find some shorter season tomatoes in the Bountiful Gardens magazine, I think I will direct sow those. Otherwise my tomatoes and peppers will be farmers market bought. All the tomato starts I bought last year blighted, so I'm trying to keep it to seed only. Plus I want to avoid the Monsanto.

Take a look at the Irish Eyes and Territorial catalogs. They have tomatoes that have been bred/developed in Canada/Alaska. I have yet to be disappointed by either of these companies.

Originally Posted by Rhiannon Feimorgan

I put in a honeyberry bush last year too. I have a friend who put some in a few years ago and she does get a nice early crop. Even earlier than strawberries. The other nice thing about them is that the berries stay nice on the bush for a long time. It takes them a while to get over ripe so if you're not able to pick them right away they're not lost. I have a saskatoon bush that does well but there is a much smaller window of ripeness.

ETA, this will be the first season to harvest asparagus from the patch I planted when we moved in 3 years ago. I can't wait!

It was from somewhere on here I heard of honeyberries, and I'm so wanting to get a few to try out, even if I have to put them in giant pots. And same with asparagus - I should be able to harvest whole hog this year, I'm quite excited about that prospect.

Originally Posted by spring978

I ve been looking for old russian varieties but if anyone has recomandations I would love to hear them

I've done Purple Russian tomatoes for a few years, but they don't ripen early. The earlier tomatoes I *have* had are Washington Cherry, Kootenai, Alaska Fancy (hubby's fav), Gold Nugget. A few others are shortly behind those, but still.

Originally Posted by Salihah

I'm zone 3/4. I'd like to plant tomatoes from seeds this year. For tomatoes I've always bought seedlings in the past. When would be ok to start the seeds if I keep them in the garage (unheated) with a grow light? My friend starts seeds in her kitchen and has full natural light in there, but I don't have the space in the house. If I wait until it's safe to start them outside, I think it will be a little later than I'd like for seeds.

Depends on how cold your garage is/will be. If it stays above 50*F you should be okay. Even better if it's 60-70*F.

[Salihah]

Originally Posted by lmonter

Depends on how cold your garage is/will be. If it stays above 50*F you should be okay. Even better if it's 60-70*F.

Thanks so much! Well, right now my garage is only about 20* warmer than outside. Today we are about 30* outside, steamy warm! But it is usually colder. I'll wait then until the garage gets to a steady above 50*. Thank you!

[Salihah]

Originally Posted by kdaisy

Hi from zone 3/4! In the depth of sub-zero weather, I am thinking about my garden and flowers.

Has anyone ever had success (or heard of success) with pear trees?

My grandfather has pear trees! We're in zone 3/4. If you have any questions about them, I'll ask him. I'm not sure on the variety, it is likely a European variety he brought in when they moved here.

spring978: Do you get the Baker Creek Seed catalog? Visit www.rareseeds.com and request their free catalog by mail. It is full-color, gorgeous, and all beautiful, healthful, heirloom seeds. They have many Russian varieties of veggies, I'm not sure how many Russian tomatoes but I am almost certain there were more than a few.

[limette]

I'm in Canadian zone 3b and I know several people with pears (it's my list).

We planted two Nanking cherries last year and I ordered two University of Saskatchewan cherries to plant in the spring. Once we get the remaining two maples off our property I'll start planting apples, pears and plums.

We did grapes last year but they barely grew and I have no idea if they are going to make it through the winter.

Also planted a dozen blueberry bushes. We already have a raspberry patch and two currents (black and red).

Our house is on 1/5th acre. We have a small front yard that dh converted entirely to flower beds for me the backyard is going to be dedicated to food production.

I can't wait until spring. I'm hoping it comes early this year. Last year we had crappy weather right up to July.

[Jenn_M]

I'm zone 5a/b (depending on what map you look at).

I need to be getting my seed starting setup going but I am SO unmotivated. Could be the record breaking snow piled up outside.. lol.

Not even sure I know where my big bag of seeds is!

[zensven42]

OK, I am in zone 3/4 here in Grand Forks, ND. I planted asparagus last year, covered it with straw and leaves after the frost. It is starting to thaw outside. When should I uncover the asparagus?

[mattemma04]

I planted asparagus last year too.I am waiting till the temps are steady at 40 to uncover most plants.Some I have already worked on,and we will see if they do ok.I can't stand the mess in the yard!

[Ceinwen]

I'm starting seedlings this week. Very excited!

[limette]

Originally Posted by Ceinwen

I'm starting seedlings this week. Very excited!

Me too!

[HeatherAtHome]

I got my seeds in the mail today.

When I got the box I was thinking
-wow, I can't believe this is what $89 worth of seeds (including tax and shipping) looks like.
-I can't believe I bought 40 varieties.
-wow, think of how much food this will become
-I hope they grow well.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

Originally Posted by limette

I'm in Canadian zone 3b and I know several people with pears (it's my list).

My local greenhouse gets in a few hardy pears She has several specimens growing on her land and they do well. The fruit is a little smaller and harder than I'm used to but still tasty. I plan on putting in a pair of pears this spring.

We're 3a

[anstar]

Originally Posted by limette

I'm in Canadian zone 3b and I know several people with pears (it's my list).

We're 4a, and we have plums. My grandma has pears, apples, cherries, the works. It's important to remember that the variety you choose is only as hardy as the rootstock it's grafted to. Usually, the best ones are grafted to local wild variety rootstock.

Also, be sure to plant more than one variety so they can cross-pollenate.

Best of luck!

[limette]

The local nursery's only carry stuff that is 2 zones higher than ours. When I get around to fruit trees I'm going to have to do mail order to get hardy enough trees.

[christinar]

What a strange spring here in Maine. It was bitter cold last night (~15F), but it's been warm overall. The maple syrup season is wretched b/c of the warmer temps... but I have swiss chard coming up from last year's roots; greens doing well in the coldframes; and my rhubarb is coming up nicely. Chives and mint are up, and tons of perennials. It's unbelievable. I decided to try this winter sowing: http://wintersown.org/wseo1/How_to_Winter_Sow.html for spinach and lettuce - I used saved plastic spinach containers, and did pretty much as it said. I did take them in for last night, but other than that they've been out. I have four kinds of lettuce and two kinds of spinach coming up, and they're not taking up precious grow-light room... I'm curious how they will do.

[MsVyky]

Hope to join you this year!

I'm in Zone 3a, and I'm a total N00b in the garden. Last year I did successfully grow salad greens, and a planter with some herbs, and potatoes in a bag of dirt.

This year we are tearing up a large portion of our back lawn to do a real vegetable garden- beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, herbs, peas, anything that can survive our very short growing season. I am fortunate to have a nice, sunny, south facing back yard.

In the front, I'm planting some marigolds up the walkway, and we have native day lilies that grow on both sides, as well as a beautiful peony and lilac bush and a big rose bush that grows at light speed (My husband hacked it down twice last summer!)

I'm not sure when to start my seeds, though- I still have snow in both yards and a lot of icky snow mold. Ew.

[MsVyky]

oops, forgot to sub

[redveg]

Originally Posted by Ceinwen

I'm starting seedlings this week. Very excited!

Me too.

Hello all. I am a zone 4. This is my 3rd year gardening, love it. I got all my seeds in the mail a few weeks ago. This year my garden is going to be huge. I am trying to grow all we eat. Last year I had horrible luck, we had so much rain my garden did not do well. This year I am turning that around. It will also be my 2nd year canning so I am excited about that too.