What's happening in your garden?

[Manalto]

Daffodils and crocuses are up and blooming in Southern New England and the star magnolia is about to pop. What's happening horticulturally in your part of the the world?

I did some searching to find varieties of tomatoes that will thrive in Alabama's hot, humid climate, which is conducive to fungal diseases. From among the preferred varieties, I chose 'Chocolate Stripe' because it's an heirloom (with open-pollinated, as opposed to hybrid, varieties you can save seeds and grow it again next year) and it has unusual purplish streaks in the flesh which, to my eye, gives it a rich, "beefsteak" appearance on the plate.

I'll only plant a few tomatoes and give the rest away. Here's a view of the tomato seedlings as of this morning. My grandfather started his tomatoes on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) but I usually wait until April because I don't have a coldframe or greenhouse, just a windowsill.

[mjt]

Nothing is happening in my garden today because we've received 8 inches of snow in the past 24 hours. More is on the way.

[Manalto]

Yikes!

[nhguy]

We still have solid snow cover up here in northern NH. My seed potatoes are in though, the onions plants are due to ship on 4/22. Last year I planted them around 5/1, so that seems unlikely as of now. It's been a six month long winter, but on the other hand I started skiing again in mid January and have almost 50 days on the slopes since then. I'll be back at it tomorrow and Sunday for sure. I'll be starting those Grampa Otto seeds soon to plant in early June. I spoke to people in Jay VT and they have 48 inches on the ground so it could be worse......

[Manalto]

I hope the morning glories perform for you - and naturalize by self-sowing, as they do here.

It slipped my mind that a good portion of the members here are north of me and spring is still waking up.

[Gothichome]

Things have started to come to life here in SW Ontario about two weeks ago. No flowers yet but those with crocus and daffodils are in flower. Going to get the canna lilies in this weekend. Might get a row of radishes started as well.

[heartwood]

we had snow last Saturday and tomorrow is calling for temps in the 70's...
I see I have one, count 'em, one crocus, but my daffodils and 100 or more tulips
are coming up!!

yea, friends in Utah and Minnesota are experiencing blizzard conditions as we speak...

may your garden blossom and bloom!
....jade

[mjt]

The Minnesota blizzard that I referred to above is more-or-less done now. We had almost 9 inches at the airport, but they got closer to 20 inches 150 miles west of here. We had a big mid-April blizzard last year too. Not common, but not unheard of either and our average last frost date in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area is mid-May. Spring comes eventually...

[phil]

May 1 now. my tulips are finishing. Lilac bushes are in bloom.
I have some tubular flowers with little purple flowers and they seem to be getting a bit too ambitious. I keep digging out the bulbs and they propagate more. kind of taking over my flower beds coming up in the lawn. they really spread.. Ill try to get a picture. I thatched my lawns and replanted clover. I planted a little early and it seems slow going but I do see little bits so it'll take. some of the old clover grew through my new layer of soil so it's helping things.
Since its completely legal to grow up to 4 plants of cannabis, This year I planted a couple on January 1st and it's quite impressive now. I'm learning how to look at the trichomes under a magnifier and monitoring their development while finding out terpenes and THC and CBD and all sorts of stuff I knew little about..so that's been fun. The aroma is quite a bit like that of the lilacs.
I bought 20 LED lights , they are stop lights from intersections , big ones about a foot in diameter. At first I thought I could use them to grow plants but they are only about 10 watts each. the spectrum is about right for lots of things like growing flowers, but they really did not have that much intensity.. so forget that. now I'm trying to figure out what to do with 20 stop lights. they were only 2 bucks apiece and they are weather sealed and 110 volts.. maybe they are ok for lighting outbuildings or something. maybe a christmas display. each has sort of a plastic pot that seals the back , I thought they might be ok for wall clocks with some sort of backlit display from the red LED's... or maybe I could make a mask with my house numbers showing through, or something fun like that. the guy I bought the from had crates he bought as a lot from a government auction. I can start my very own red light district lol..
sometimes I just find cheap things that make good toys to tinker with.. I did learn through a bit of research that the sun is actually more blue in the spring and this time of year and more red late summer. I guess plants recognize not only the hours of light but the color change as well.

I wonderd if I could fashion them into some consumer item like clocks , they are the right shape and size for that but although they have electrical approval and appear perfectly safe, they are intended for use in street lamps so I dont; think they can be re-manufactured into something else and sold. Its probably fine to use them in some fun home art like project because they don't have any exposed wires but electrical appliances need UL or CSA approval for what they do to be sold commercially.

I wondered about sticking a few here and there in my attic space because they are low wattage and sealed. all I need in there is enough light to retrieve boxes and stuff like that. its non living space so I don't think you are real supposed to wire all sorts of stuff in spaces like that but I have 4 doors to access the space and I keep stuff like old kitchen chairs and christmas decorations, radio tubes and stuff in there. as it is I just keep a lamp near each opening and plug it in if I need to go in there to get something. red light is too weird for normal rooms but ok just to see around obstacles and such.

[awomanwithahammer]

Weeds.