2026 Garden Thread

[djlew]

Won't spam the thread but some fun updates... scionwood is coming tomorrow. It's a bit early for prunus grafting I think, so I am going to try and keep the scions moist in the fridge until the stars align and it's consistently warm with not too much growth happening. Apparently prunus likes a really small window for grafts.

I started more seeds - peppers, cukes, marigolds and lettuce. I am getting growth but nothing substantial yet. These were more of an experiment from harvested seeds. The marigolds have been really reliable!

Lastly, I also learned that a lot of cuttings enjoy fluval stratum for propagation. I use fluval stratum in all of my fish tanks, so that works out quite nicely for me. People swear by it, so I might even try to root some cuttings on the cherry, almond, and peach and see what happens. The nursey I ordered from said the scionwood should be good for at least 2 grafts. My wife cares for a lot of indoor plants as well that may like it.

Burst of warm weather coming the rest of the week into next. I'm here for it. Anybody else have anything going on yet in the garden?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

We're having some warm weather coming up as well, but there's still cold in the forecast. I may put my onion starts out on the back table for a while tomorrow, though. I ended up restarting those as I lost a bunch of the first batch. I'm having a hard time figuring out the watering for the coco coir medium and think that I let them get to dry for a time. I had to look up what fluval stratum was, @djlew . That was new to me.

I haven't started any of my summer crops yet, but it's getting to be time. I did spend a chunk of time on Saturday sifting my compost and topdressing cabbage, garlic, and leeks in the garden. I also spread compost along one whole row of my trellis where I want to plant sugar snap peas soon. My hope is that by spreading it early so that it gets a little moisture and warmth that any seeds that are still viable in it will sprout but then be killed by freezes in the future. We'll see if that works.



Most plants still look dormant around here, though there are some tinges of green in places if one looks closely. We have a pretty shady alcove behind our front walk where I planted Hellebores/Lenten Roses that I was given last fall. I didn't know what colors they would be, but the first few are beginning to pop up and bloom.
They're such a treat.

 

[djlew]

Sounds like a great plan DG! I've heard coco coir is a great seed starting medium. I've never tried it. Yes, I thought the fluval stratum idea was interesting. It was all over propagation communities and seems to be a very common way over in those communities to root cuttings. I'm going to have to try it. It's expensive in terms of fish tank substrate but not astronomical, especially compared to gardening ingredients!

 

[begreen]

We're having some warm weather coming up as well, but there's still cold in the forecast. I may put my onion starts out on the back table for a while tomorrow, though. I ended up restarting those as I lost a bunch of the first batch. I'm having a hard time figuring out the watering for the coco coir medium and think that I let them get to dry for a time. I had to look up what fluval stratum was, @djlew . That was new to me.

I haven't started any of my summer crops yet, but it's getting to be time. I did spend a chunk of time on Saturday sifting my compost and topdressing cabbage, garlic, and leeks in the garden. I also spread compost along one whole row of my trellis where I want to plant sugar snap peas soon. My hope is that by spreading it early so that it gets a little moisture and warmth that any seeds that are still viable in it will sprout but then be killed by freezes in the future. We'll see if that works.

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Most plants still look dormant around here, though there are some tinges of green in places if one looks closely. We have a pretty shady alcove behind our front walk where I planted Hellebores/Lenten Roses that I was given last fall. I didn't know what colors they would be, but the first few are beginning to pop up and bloom.
They're such a treat.
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That's an illustration of how cold the east coast has been. Our hellebores have been in full bloom for a couple weeks now. Normally VA would be a couple weeks ahead of us.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

That's an illustration of how cold the east coast has been. Our hellebores have been in full bloom for a couple weeks now. Normally VA would be a couple weeks ahead of us.

Yes, it has been a remarkably cold winter for us in Virginia. Our snow cover lasted an exceptionally long time, though I'm thankful for that as it kept my plants insulated through some of the lowest temperatures. I'm particularly glad that the cabbages made it through.

Now we just have to hope that it doesn't warm up too fast for cool weather crops. It was in the mid seventies today, so I'm hoping to plant sugar snap peas tomorrow or the next day.

@begreen , do you have or would you be able to get some photos of those Hellebores, please? I'd love to see them.

 

[begreen]

Yes, it has been a remarkably cold winter for us in Virginia. Our snow cover lasted an exceptionally long time, though I'm thankful for that as it kept my plants insulated through some of the lowest temperatures. I'm particularly glad that the cabbages made it through.

Now we just have to hope that it doesn't warm up too fast for cool weather crops. It was in the mid seventies today, so I'm hoping to plant sugar snap peas tomorrow or the next day.

@begreen , do you have or would you be able to get some photos of those Hellebores, please? I'd love to see them.

Sorry, I have had a busy day and am just catching up. If it is not raining tomorrow, I will take some shots. We have several different varieties in varied shades of purple. The oldest are 30+ yrs. old.

 

[begreen]

@begreen , do you have or would you be able to get some photos of those Hellebores, please? I'd love to see them.

Here you go:

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Thank you, @begreen . Those are just beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like the second picture. They're all very beautiful.

 

[djlew]

Warm couple days here. I was able to get some raised bed work done and moved to the front yard. I am going to get some pics as stuff gets done, including of my indoor plants. My lemon opened one of its flowers! Very exciting.

Low expectations on the seed starting. I think used up strawberry containers ended up being the winner for seeds - I have some marigolds and cukes coming up. Everything else I think is just weeds.

I'll get a pic of this too, but my south facing windowsill is absolutely stacked with plants. Lemon, pomegranate, apricot seedling, one of my peaches that I am going to bench graft, and some cuttings I am trying to root. The scionwood came for the cherry and almond. The nursery I ordered from give you a ton of wood for the price. Low expectations here as well, but all for the fun, is trying to root some of the scionwood in a nice airy fluval stratum/perlite mix. I also have a raspberry cutting and trying the same thing. We shall wait and see. The rest of the scionwood will be grafted in one shape or form. Perhaps multiple - a combination of bud grafting and whip/tongue grafting. I expect the almonds to do better on peach than cherry due to compatibility issues down the road without an interstem, but all for the fun and learning. I have three of these peaches so I can spare an experiment. Who knows, maybe it will grow enough to try an air layer down the road and I can get even more clones.

Temps are dropping again. Never full send the first warm spell of the season... things are still sleeping!

 

[begreen]

Thank you, @begreen . Those are just beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like the second picture. They're all very beautiful.

A freak snowstorm hit and we had snow all day today. They are now flattened under a wet heavy snow along with the daffodils and other spring flowers. I had to go out and shake off the snow from the fruit trees and flowering plums.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

A freak snowstorm hit and we had snow all day today. They are now flattened under a wet heavy snow along with the daffodils and other spring flowers. I had to go out and shake off the snow from the fruit trees and flowering plums.

We had one of those on Thursday here. It rained in the morning, but the temperature dropped just before noon, and it snowed enough to make the trees and ground white and to bend down my mom's daffodils. There wasn't enough to bury them, though. Later than afternoon the sun came out, and almost all the snow melted off that same day.

Today my mom helped me to sift the remainder of the not-quite-finished compost tumbler. I spread the compost where I intend to plant potatoes in a couple of weeks. Our second compost bin is full now and can be left to "cook," and we'll switch to filling the almost empty one.

I saw the hint of one tiny sugar snap pea coming up today, but it was only the edge of one sprout. I'm content if they stay underground for a couple more days because we're supposed to have a couple of pretty cold nights at the beginning of next week.

 

[begreen]

 

[DuaeGuttae]

How is everything doing now, @begreen ?

 

[begreen]

Snow melted after 2 days and was washed away by rain. Most plants survived. I planted peas yesterday.

 

[djlew]

Potted peach is blooming! First bloom for this guy. Flowers look a little pale for red haven? Not sure. Gorgeous nonetheless. This will be the peach I benchgraft other stuff to. Lows in the high 20sF the last couple days... everything else is still sleeping.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Today was a big work day in the vegetable garden here. It rained yesterday afternoon, a little more than half an inch, so the soil was nice and moist.

The morning project was planting potatoes. I chopped and dropped Austrian Winter Peas in half of one of my rows where I then put out seed potatoes that I've been chitting the past couple of weeks. I didn't dig them in since my soil is so compact. Instead I nestled them in compost I had spread a couple of weeks ago, then covered them thoroughly with more compost. Then my husband ran the lawnmower over a leaf pile that my youngest had raked up under my mom's sugar maple last fall, and that made loads of lovely mulch. I put that over the compost and watered it in. Then I covered it with more compost in an effort to keep the wind from blowing the leaves away. I'll probably need to add more material later, but this was a good mound for starting.

The afternoon project was mowing down the one row of winter rye and hand chopping the edges, spreading the greens on a different garden row that didn't get a cover crop last fall but got leaf mulch instead, covering that with compost, and planting a few different crops. I picked out some cool weather crops and planted several patches of things: beets, carrots, Asian greens, and lettuce. Some of these seeds were quite old, so I'm not sure how germination will be. I have more lettuce to plant out later, but I am wanting to get this area covered in part to have lettuce for salads but in part to use as an early cover crop to try to outcompete Bermuda grass in this particular bed. I have no idea if it will work, but I figured it was a good use for my oldest seeds.

Yesterday I mowed grass in the fenced beds where I have camellias and hydrangeas planted around the house. The lawns/ former pastures aren't in any need of mowing, but these beds had growth thick enough to stall my mower a couple of times. I was mowing very short because it's my goal to get all the grass covered with mulch one of these days, but the grass apparently loves all the work I did preparing the planting holes for the shrubs last spring. I spread what paper I had and covered it with all the clippings and then let it get rained on all afternoon. Our long term goal is wood chip mulch, which we've done in part of one of the beds, but it will take us a while to produce enough for both our garden paths and these large beds.

 

[begreen]

You've been a busy bee. I really need to get potatoes in soon. I should be busy too but ended up with a herniated disc that started screaming at me last Sunday. Fortunately, it was caught at an early enough stage that the chiropractor could get things to the point where the pain subsided after a couple visits. I could put my socks on by yesterday. Using the riding mower is out for at least a couple weeks, but the walk behind mower is ok. It's electric so no pull cord. I mowed around the house and greenhouse in 1/2 hr. sessions over 2 days. The garden is calling me, but it will have to wait for a week or two before I can get back to it.

The strawberries and peas are in the ground. I have some tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, melon, cukes, and marigolds started in the greenhouse. Will be transfering them to 4" pots in a week or so.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I'm sorry to hear about the disc troubles, @begreen, but glad that you've been able to experience some relief and improvement. I hope that continues for you.

Some of my tomato and pepper plants spent the afternoon outside yesterday after getting just an hour out on Monday. I ended up moving them to the shade after a bit as the sun was so bright, but the had some hours with natural breezes, which was good. I still have other seeds that are barely sprouted or haven't even germinated yet, so I'm all over the place in the process.

 

[Ahoragi]

Nothing started yet here, not even seeding. We decided not to fire up the Farm XL this year as we are so busy with work and the issues with the house and property. I am thinking we may just erect row covers and direct sow instead of indoor sowing. We will see.

 

[djlew]

Hope you are continuing to feel better, BG.

I haven't had much luck starting my seeds inside this year. I have some marigolds coming up but that's about it. Lots of stuff waking up outside for me since it's been pretty warm. Blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apples and herbs are all showing signs of life. Weeping cherry (assuming) also started blooming and bees were going to town on it.

My peaches are really young so not a big deal, but pretty sure a warm spell swelled the buds and then a frost killed them off, on at least one of my trees. Always a bummer. Maybe I will look into a way to future proof protecting them from late frosts in the future. My potted peach still bloomed so that's good.

I gave everything their first feeding and then will probably feed again in 3 months as per the Dr. Earth packaging. Get growth started then give them a boost for the fruit later in the summer. Works well for me on annual veggies. Blueberries and cranberries got Espoma Soil Acidifier, herb garden got Garden Tone. I think I'm dialing in the process and my notes are helping. I recommend journaling!

Next I have to fill up my 4 raised beds. Aiming to get veggies in the beds by end of April or very early May. Then time for the meadow project. It's been busy, but very rewarding so far.