Time for a little Wednesday night stream of consciousness ramble. My little broccoli seedlings that I planted on Monday is already up. And it's warm enough in the back room that I didn't even use the heat mat. I will probably start my tomatoes and peppers soon. I still don't trust this lovely weather. Even though the forecast for the next 10 days is still calling for warm weather I have a hard time believing we won't get cold weather still. After all, it is still March. My seed potatoes are scheduled to arrive the first week of April. Usually I would be worried that the ground would be frozen. Now, it will be quite warm for planting them. Go figure.
Not much else is happening here. Work has been busy, the weather has been warm and the boxelder bugs have been incredibly annoying. I must say I really, really dislike finding floaters in my coffee in the morning. And those darn bugs appear to be feeding on my little seedlings and my experimental celery start. I've never had a problem with them before but I wonder if it's because they have come out so much earlier than usual.
A fruit update: My bush cherries are blooming and the big apple tree is ready to explode into bloom. I haven't checked the little trees yet but I'm looking forward to getting a little bit of fruit off them this year. They have now been planted for 2 years and I'm hoping for a little reward. At least off the pear that is now probably close to 12 foot tall. It really grew like mad last year. The blueberries are leafing out slowly but the currants look pretty good- at least 2 of them. The third bush looks like quite a few branches died. It wasn't looking too good last fall already- it lost a lot of leaves early. I'll have to see how much I need to prune out after it gets its leaves.
And speaking of plants that don't seem to be coming back- of all things, I think my sage died! I has survived every winter since we've been here- even with blizzards and sub-zero temps- so I can't imagine that it would have winter killed- but it isn't leafing out at all. I'll give it some time yet before I decide that it is a goner for sure. I'm hoping that with this early spring I'll have plenty of time to get the herb spiral constructed this spring. Then I'll get a new sage bush. But, the lavender is growing like mad. Of course, everything seems to be growing like mad- except for my cabbage seedlings. sigh....
Our trees are ready to burst into blossom too...our apricots are already. It's making me nervous because of the weather, but we hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteEverything is coming to life here as well. I agree, give your sage a chance. Mine hadn't woken up yet either....
The sage will definitely have a chance... especially considering how 'on the ball' (or NOT) I am with getting things done like weeding, pruning, etc...
DeleteCabbage seeds usually sprout about as fast as broccoli . . . so I'm wondering if your cabbage seeds were duds and you should try planting some more. Although if they were just planted on Monday along with the broccoli seeds, I'd give them more time. Planting seeds is my unfavoritest thing about gardening. Whether it's starting them inside or directly out in the garden, I'm always SURE none of them are going to sprout!
ReplyDeleteOh, my cabbage seeds are up. I actually planted them before I did the broccoli. It's just that all that last batch of seedlings look pretty pathetic. They just don't seem to be growing very well. I transplanted them over the weekend so hopefully that will help. I'm not that far from wanting to set them out and they still only have 2 true leaves.
DeleteStrange...I have a dead sage plant too. My other two never died back and seem to be coming back, but one that is planted well away (front yard) seems to be not. Hmmm, may have to investigate this a bit further. I am so hoping our weather at least stays above 50 as my fruit trees are also all about to burst out and I am hoping for fruit this year too.
ReplyDeleteWho knows. I sometimes wonder of plants die just to confuse us...
DeleteMAKE SURE TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THAT APPLE TREE IN FULL BLOOM,IT REMINDS ME OF MY CHILDHOOD SOMEHOW-I GUESS THERE WERE A LOT OF APPLE TREE ABOUT ,I CAN JUST ABOUT SMELL THEM
ReplyDeleteNo fear. I'll take photos. The crab apple where I catch the bus in the morning is in full bloom already and it's quite a sight!
DeleteAw, sorry to hear about your sage, definitely give it a little longer just to see. My mom said the winter was so mild up there she didn't have the deluge of Box Elders and the Japanese ladybug things to vacuum up this year, so weird!
ReplyDeleteThe asian ladybugs weren't bad and the boxelders weren't much of a bother in the fall but this last week... Ugh! I wonder if it's just that it warmed up so suddenly and so much that they all came out of hibernation at once. I NEVER remember them this bad. And those that are getting stuck inside (in addition to being annoying, getting in the coffee and dying all over the place) are sucking the life out of my little seedlings. Grrrrr... you can ruin my coffee- OK, I can take it- but mess with my seedlings- LOOK OUT!
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