Spring Planting!

Parent Cafe
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My apologies to those who fear that spring will never come, but I have been trying to plan what veggies I am going to grow & where. Fruit is basically berries, as I don’t think my quince has ever been pollinated.

Berries grow pretty well in the northwest, and I have lots of raspberries, and ground cover strawberries, as well as strawberries which get bigger. I’m hoping I can pick them more frequently this summer to freeze or dry, besides sharing with the birds. I also have deciduous and evergreen huckleberries, and this year looks like they are finally big enough to have a good crop. ( All my starts have been in the 4" size, but they get a better root system that way, imo)

I have an informal blueberry hedge in the front, but as they are so easy to grow ( once you prepare the soil), and are so attractive especially in the fall, I have more plants that I have been growing in pots for when I decide where to put them.
( at the end of fall last year, I took cuttings or bought half dead plants at the nursery, knowing that by spring they would be healthy.)

Tomorrow is traditional potato planting time, so those are ready to go. I haven’t grown carrots, but I do grow greens. Arugula and mustard greens, as well as lettuces, and radicchio. But they need a raised bed, so not so easy for the slugs and snails to eat them. I hate snails, I really should see if the neighbors will loan me their ducks or chickens.
( just yesterday, I saw two girls with a chicken cage in a wagon, giving them a ride around the block!)

I have planted herbs ( oregano & thyme) as ground covers, but I also usually have some in pots closer to the kitchen.
I have had a lavender hedge in the back yard, although I ripped it out last fall because my dog doesn’t leave the bees alone, and I got tired of giving him Benadryl. I have new plants, but I need to put them somewhere not so accessible to him. ( he also has *pruned * them, when they were " in his way", while running around the yard- when we first rescued him, we thought it was funny, but I didn’t put all this work into my yard, to make it into a dog run)
And speaking of dogs, why do they aim at the plants? Are they fertilizing them or do they just want a target?

What are you planning on growing, and is that a repeat of successes you’ve had in the past, or something new?
I want to hear about ornamentals too. What combinations do you like?
I have so many plants with small ovate leaves, that I need larger leaves for contrast. Also always looking for grasses that don’t run amuck. I finally got rid of my japanese variegated forest grass, which was attractive, if it just stayed put.

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What variety of quince do you have, EK?

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How do you prepare the soil for blueberries? I have two blueberry plants. They are not doing all that great.

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It’s a contorted flowering quince. I actually have two, but one is in a pot.
I love it because plants that defend themselves are my favorites, ( & it actually doesn’t have that many thorns) and it gets flowers in shades of vanilla to peachy pink at the same time.
Grows slowly though.

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St. Patrick’s day is traditional pea-planting time for me (zone 6) but I still have some snow over my raised beds. Still, I do have some peas in damp paper towels in baggies being tested for their sprouting capabilities (leftover from last year). I love picking peas fresh from the vine!

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Will sow chili pepper seeds in pots in a few days; Hungarian, Thai and Jalapeno. Will also try my hand at two bell peppers, Quadrato and Golden Wonder.

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Thanks, ek. My flowering quinces did not do well with producing fruit either. I also have a huge quince tree which we picked up at Raintree. It is called Aromatnaya (Fragrant), and it has consistently provided me with buckets of fruit every fall.

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@JEM, I didn’t realize St. Patrick’s Day was the traditional planting day for peas in our zone. It is way too wet at my house to be able to work the ground to plant. I don’t know how that compares to other years.

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In Florida I have harvested all my lettuce and spinach because they were threatening to bolt. There must have been too much nitrogen in my soil because the radishes were stinkin’ puny. The jalapeño plants are bursting, and I could almost put a kid through college by selling the parsley and basil that is growing berserk. I have ordered 6 Apple espaliers for my NH garden. Other than blueberries I have not grown anything which could be harvested in NH for 4 or 5 years, I am looking forward to the challenge.

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Hoping to get some early spring crops in the ground like radishes, lettuce and such early in April. We’ll see. :slight_smile:

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I need to get my little seedlings transplanted. The sun gold tomatoes are 5" high.

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In my area we just got a memo from the Lord Almighty; “it aint Spring yet. Expect up to 5 inches of snow today!” [-X

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@Iglooo The sandier the soil, the more the blueberries like it.

@emeraldkity4 Did you plant and cultivate those huckleberries, are they pre-existing or volunteers?

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@JustOne Dad, Thank you. That explains it. We have heavy clay soil all over.

Has anyone have success with planting flanders poppies from seeds?

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Weed wars are in the plans for this weekend.

And Mr. needs to prune the quince tree!

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I just got my Wall O Water plant protectors… tomatoes going in this weekend! A big experiment for me since it’s a good six weeks ahead of schedule.

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I don’t think I will plant anything this year. The gophers and summer fog are a huge challenge and now we add in the drought. I don’t think it’s worth the time, money and use of the precious resource. We are also watering everything else on a very limited basis. I pulled out all the plants near my pool and now have just a planter of dirt.

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My various relatives in California also got rid of their gardens for similar reasons; sister-in-law somewhat inland only does tomatoes in large pots. I’m in Colorado and will be getting rid of the lawn in my backyard because I feel guilty watering the darn thing while living in a semi-desert…

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A good friend planted a variety of succulents in her front yard, landscaped with pretty rock and bark. She used some small plants plus cuttings a couple of years ago from friends and now her yard looks amazing. Some of the plants have little flowers, and they are different heights, colors and textures. Really beautiful. I told her she could go in the business when she retires as a consultant. I was inspired, since we are reducing our water usage to conserve.

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@moonchild, that sounds lovely. There are lots of drought-tolerant plants out there–google xeriscape. A good source is High Country Gardens. My problem isn’t drought but deer.

I can’t plant anything outside just now, with snow on the ground and more coming, but I do need to start my indoor stuff, leeks and shallots and some flowers. I experimented last fall with starting perennial seeds in flats I left out in the weather–some people have more success that way, they say. We’ll see. It was a very dry fall, and then a wet and cold winter, so the conditions weren’t optimal.