wis75

nope- Wisconsin, actually the inch or so of snow may come tomorrow. The UP of Michigan near Lake Superior was predicted to get one foot of snow... Ours may end up being rain...

One year some neighbors went to South Dakota/Montana for spring break and had +/- 90 temps and a blizzard on the way home- the plains get wilder weather. We had record temps a week or so ago, now normal to a bit below normal. This is why gardening is still a dream- usually still have some remnants of snow piles in the shaded areas.

AFPrep850

Ameteur farmer from Pittsburgh, PA here. Well, my field consists of one fairly large raised bed and a few pots, but you get the idea.

My specialty is green beans. I also grow peppers, tomatoes, cukes, and radishes. None of these plants seem to like it under 50 degrees so I usually don't plant until the third week of May or so.

Some of the stuff I've seen on this thread:

1. Where to get plants: I usually strike early at Home Depot, where the prices are pretty good. I'll move these plants in and out for a few weeks and once they're in they get fertilized at least once a week. My food of choice is Scotts Vegetable Food.

2. Pest control: Marigolds repel deer. I usually buy about a dozen and a half of these and put them around the edge of the bed. These suckers can grow pretty big so they can be spaced out. Marigolds also require no maintence whatsoever and come in a bunch of colors (I get an orange and red one every year). Traps are available for smaller critters. I patch the fence at the bottom if I need to and let the grass grow up around it a bit to make it harder to sneak underneath it (plus grass and a fence is tough to cut). With slugs, the best solution is to fill a small recepticle (like an old cream cheese container) with beer. Believe it or not, beer will get them every time. We had the problem a few years back so my mom bought the beer as a friend told her to and sure enough, the slugs were attracted to it and drowned in it.

3. Manic Climates: Is it crazy right now or what? A drop of almost 50 degrees in 24 hours? On Tuesday it was near 80 and sunny. When I drove home from choir practice at church tonight, the thermometer on my car read 32, plus there were flurries. Hopefully things get better for Monday when I go to the Pirates home opener (the last opener I went to was like 32 degrees). Anyway, this is why I get my gardens in so late every year.

weenie

I would also recommend - If you have a Public Market (or farmer's market) they often have plants in the spring. They will be CHEAP and locally grown - both good things! Check it out.

Due to NAFTA most of the plants in the big box stores are coming from Canada. The Canadian government subsidizes their greenhouse growers, so they have a competitive edge over ours. That's fine, but I hate to see our local growers put under.

Does anybody else go to their market? We have a great one and it is the highlight of our summer weekends. (I've also given up growing most of my own food now - just a few tomatoes and basil. It's so cheap to buy stuff at the market!)

over30

Weenie, I do shop at our local farmer's market, and I've found a local grower whose plants are at least as cheap as Home Depot, Lowe's, etc., and they thrive. Also, our botanical garden and nature center have plant sales every spring with plants they've grown, divided, etc. The nature center sells only native plants.

My only problem is a small yard - I'm out of room.

dmd77

"Marigolds repel deer."

Really? The deer we had in Massachusetts thought marigolds were appetizers.

mezzomom

Hayden, I'm with you on the slug-hatred, or as I prefer to think of them, "God's Only Mistake."

Milky spore is wonderful stuff but tends to be less effective north of zone 6. When I lived in Rhode Island, I swore by the stuff, but since living on Michigan, I've quit using it.

weenie

^I'm with you on the slug-hatred, or as I prefer to think of them, "God's Only Mistake."

Hey! The toads don't think so!

mezzomom

Weenie, my daughter used to collect the slugs in our yard and place them on the edge of the birdbath "so the birds could have dessert after their bath." I worked in the nursery/green industry for years, and I still have a deep-seated revulsion when it comes to slugs...I'm not much better with worms! I think I was probably scarred for life in elementary school. Bobby, the boy across the street, would collect worms afer a rain and throw them at me on the way to the bus stop. I ended up with worms stuck to my braids more times than I can count !

weenie

mezzomom: I have fears of snowballs and dodgeball thanks to mean boys.

worrywart

I'm most afraid of Japanese beetles. Most effective pesticide for them?

mathmom

I like growing heirloom tomatoes. I try not to grow too many things that are easy to find in the grocery store. No zucchini for me! Unfortunately while we have only one small cherry tree on our property we are surrounded by neighbors with mature trees, so finding sunny places for vegetables is a problem. I think I should build my addition with a green roof!

weenie

worrywart: Japanese beetle adults come from "grubs" in lawns. The grub is their larval phase, the flying critter is their adult/reproductive phase. Controlling Japanese beetles is tough.

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/h...e/jbeetle.html

Some people treat their lawn for grubs. You need to know that most grubs are completely immune to common pesticides, so it is not a sure cure at all. (Contrary to what the lawn places tell you. They just want to sell you pesticides.) Plus, I don't know where you live - so you need to check out your state's information for WHEN the right time to treat is. They are only susceptible to pesticides at certain stages of their life cycle.

Spraying the adults is pretty pointless. Nothing kills them well, and you simply can not stop more (from all over the neighborhood) from arriving.

Same with traps. Unless you own acres and acres, and you can put the traps REALLY far away from your house or garden, all the traps will do for you is attract every beetle in town to your yard. (But your neighbors will thank you.)

If they are eating flowers or vegetables that you like you can try picking them off and drowning them in soapy water. But if you are terrified of them that might not work. Maybe you can pay a kid to do it.

Good luck!

worrywart

Ewwww. Too much information.

SuNa

Anyone know how to best take care of Oenothera Younggi (sp)? It looks like I lost two of three plants over the winter. I keep replacing them . . .
Oh, and I'm in Minnesota, which isn't as cold as it used to be.

ReneeV

Here's my gardening question: I've attended conferences in DC the last several years in June and noticed lots of planters with sweet potato vine trailing over the sides--at least I think that's what it was--beautiful, lush, flourescent green leaves, a perfect foil for brightly colored coleus and annuals, and I thought to myself, "I want some of that!" So I have haunted the amazing garden stores here in Germany, but it seems to be something that just isn't available in my part of the world. Can anyone tell me, is this a special kind of plant, or is it really just plain old sweet potatoes? I had a sweet potato that was starting to sprout about three weeks ago, so I cut that end off and buried it in a pot, but nothing has happened. Am I going about this all wrong? Is there a way to get those beautiful plants from regular sweet potatoes from the grocery store?