Happy New year! Tell us all about what goes on in your garden!

My garden will, hopefully, be filled with dahlias this year.....I'm not too ambitious about starting seeds in the house, so my annuals will be the kind you sprinkle on the soil, like cosmos which is getting to be a weed in my garden....it reseeds everywhere!

luvsgrtdanes said: Happy New year! Tell us all about what goes on in your garden!

Oh how pretty!!

My garden is dead for the Winter. Well, all except these one type of weeds. I can't believe they survived the deep freeze and keep on growing.

I'm doing the Christmas Bird Count today.....not too many species....I left the dead salvia around the wellhouse to give the birds some cover while they eat....

Well, I may be finally winning the fungus gnat war! After almost 3 weeks of using Mosquito Bits and a week of using a 4 to 1 hydrogen peroxide solution, I have noticed a great reduction in fungus gnats in just the past 2 days.

Now, if the adults live for only about 7-8 days, I would have to say it has been the hydrogen peroxide that has had the most affect. It kills eggs and larvae on contact. So, if I am not seeing any increase (but a great decrease) in adults and it's been 7 days, that would lead me to believe the hydrogen peroxide is much more effective than the Mosquito Bits. I had been using the Mosquito Bits for the first 2 or more weeks, which seem to do nothing as the adult population was still flourishing.

I'll keep you updated.

With all this warm weather, my fruit trees are already budding, and this is not good.

This is not good because trees need the winter dormant season for rest. Early budding cuts the dormant period short, which can delay fruit growth in the spring and affect the quality of the crop. Fruit buds are extremely vulnerable to freezing temperatures. When buds are hit with a cold snap after blooming has begun, the new growth may be shocked and suffer damage. The trees may not be able to bloom again later in the year.

With the cooler weather, the FF pond has cleared, and I can see all the way to the bottom. I had been cleaning leaves out all Fall, but now I see how many sank and are sitting on the bottom. A LOT! So, I've been spending some time the past few days scooping them out. I can only scoop so many before the turbulence makes them hard to see. It will take a few more days to get them all out. If left in, they are perfect "fertilizer" for algae as they break down.

I just ordered pond netting that I will stretch over the pond next Fall to keep leaves out of the water. That will eliminate a lot of extra work.



I'll create some sort of supporting structure with the net on top and held down around the perimeter by rocks. This will keep the leaves from pushing the netting into the pond. The leaves won't weigh as much if not wet, and they should blow off for the most part saving me a lot of work. Something like this or even a raised frame so the wind catches it better with hardly any leaves collecting on the net.

Good old peroxide comes to the rescue...good for when your pooch hits a skunk, too! Good idea about the leaf filter.....they really do end up everywhere.....Today, I'm finally throwing away my old amaryllis bulbs.....only 2 show promise of bloom.....

Today the weather was nice to work in the garden. I moved around tomato cages again. I also just sat out with my dog and enjoyed the mild air. Back inside now.

Got up to 60 here. Cloudy now. Just waiting on the rain.

No gardening or yard work. We did the Can Can at Shoprite! They were having a 4 day kick off with the best prices of the entire Can Can.

Got 80 cans of Bumble Bee Solid White Tuna for $71.92 ($0.90 a can) and 36 - 28 ounce Cans of Tuttorosso tomatoes for making our homemade tomato sauce for the next year for $30 ($0.83 a can). Both deals were a steal.

Got our end of the year inventory of all the jars in the warehouse done for our business taxes.

That is a great deal on the tuna Jim. I absolutely can't stand our ShopRite near me... I just don't like shopping there, it's small, always crowded and always rude people. There are only two other ones and they are pretty far. At those prices, though it may be worth a delivery fee to stock up

We have two Shoprites. I like to go to the one that is further away, about 10 miles or so. It is the largest Shoprite in the world. We always try to buy a year's worth of cans during the CanCan sale each January. Besides the tuna and tomatoes, they also have the 16oz cans (I think it is Wholesome Pantry, a Shoprite brand) of vegetables for $0.50 a can! We'll get them on another trip this mont

There are no Shop Rites near me....there was one in Waterbury, it was about 20 min. away, but it closed in Dec. I don't use much canned food, there's only me to feed! I do use canned tuna, though, & that's a great price.

No ShopRites here either.

Will be going through the garden catalogs today on this nasty cold rainy gray day!

I'm online looking at greenhouses. This is going to be our 9th year with our present greenhouse. The double-wall poly is becoming cloudier, but plants still grow well. They guarantee the poly for 10 years, so I am not planning much past that.

I would love to get a 4-season greenhouse, but for the size I want so we could enjoy it for growing and hanging out, we're talking a minimum of about $20,000 to $25,000 for the greenhouse, shipping, and installation. One of these 4 season ones would be too big of a project for us to install ourselves. (Actual gh is half this price; the rest is shipping, prep, and installation.)

I am leaning towards a Planta greenhouse, most likely the Sunglow. (Really 3 season; to make it 4 season would be a lot of retrofitting and modification.)

It's just a matter of size. If I put it in the yard, I would get a 10x19.5. ($3500) Water is nearby, and I already have electricity run to the old greenhouse.



If I put it down in the field, I would probably get a 10 x 32 ($4900), but then I would have to run electricity and water, an added expense.



At least we would be able to save on shipping (free) and we could install the Planta ourselves.

Jim, how would you heat it? I imagine that would be an expense...one of the reasons I don't have one. I have the perfect spot and could run gas or electricity right from the house but I don't think I could afford to heat it.

RobinD said: Will be going through the garden catalogs today on this nasty cold rainy gray day!

I was looking at seeds at Totally Tomatoes this morning. It was raining out. But really I don't need more seeds!!

luvsgrtdanes said: Jim, how would you heat it? I imagine that would be an expense...one of the reasons I don't have one. I have the perfect spot and could run gas or electricity right from the house but I don't think I could afford to heat it.

I probably would not heat it. I tried to heat our other one before I had that solar water heating system, and it was expensive. I wouldn't grow during the coldest months (January and February). I would probably be able to grow cold weather crops the other winter months. However, it sure would be nice to have a sitting area for those sunny days when it is 20 outside and 75 in the greenhouse!

Newyorkrita said: I was looking at seeds at Totally Tomatoes this morning. It was raining out. But really I don't need more seeds!!

I just got a bunch of seeds in the mail from SeedsNow yesterday. Kale, Swiss Chard and some new varieties of beets, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, peas, etc.

I love my seed catalogs, just to drool over what I could grow if I had more energy! The greenhouses are lovely....Many years ago, I took a summer course at U of New Hampshire, & the instructor showed ways to keep heat in the greenhouse by using brick walks, insulated shades & huge black containers filled with water.....I'm sure all that helps but I'm thinking one night of 10 below, & there go your crops....