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.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@begreen , How is your back doing these days? Have you been able to get your potatoes planted?

@djlew , I remember your mentioning the meadow project before, but can you tell us more about it?

I've been working on mulching flower beds after new neighbors gave us a large supply of cardboard and moving paper. The flower beds started out as all grass, and I've been gradually reducing it. This large supply of cardboard has helped me make progress. I've got one of the three beds covered in cardboard and woodchips now. That one was sloped steeply, so it was the first priority to stop mowing.

After three freezing nights in the twenties this week, we've warmed up a bit. I pulled out the garden hose to water in my cardboard and mulch as well as to give the garden plants a good drink since it has been very dry here. I do have a soaker system I can set up, but I won't do it completely till more of the garden is planted.

Here are the cover cropped rows I mentioned the other week. The first is the Austrian Winter Peas with the potato bed put in at the back end. I'm letting the peas continue to grow for now, but they'll give way to tomatoes later in the season. One thing that I love about the peas is the fact that the young shoots are edible and delicious. We snack on them, eat them raw with sandwiches for lunch, and sauté them with garlic as a side dish for dinners. It takes some time to harvest just the most tender parts, but it's a wonderful vegetable.

The other side of the arched trellis is my winter rye bed that we mowed two weeks ago. It's coming back as we had hoped but isn't nearly as lush yet. I have hopes of getting a another mowing where I can sprinkle the greens on a different garden row where bermuda grass is poking through. I want to put down more paper there to help suppress the bermuda and then cover it with compost. It won't be ready to plant for some time, though, as I have plans for sweet potatoes there, and they like a really warm soil. I may see if I can start a quick crop of buckwheat just to have something growing. I'm not sure if I still have seeds in my cover crop drawer in the fridge.



This row is where we sprinkled the winter rye residue two weeks ago and then covered with compost. Michihili Chinese Cabbage and Chijimisai germinated well, and now we're getting beets and carrots coming up. Lettuce isn't really doing so well. Rye can have an allelopathic effect for some time on small seed germination, I've read, but I think it may have more to do with surface conditions or the age of the seed. My main lettuce crop is started in cells in the house, and I have some good plants in a planter from winter.


These next two pictures are parts of my garlic bed with new varieties. My mom is still growing the varieties I sent from Texas a couple of years ago, but she had a little spill with the cloves in her garden, so things are a little mixed up. I planted some smaller cloves in my beds, but those aren't pictured here. What's here is Music garlic, Elephant Garlic, which is actually a type of leek, and German Red Garlic. They're side by side, and the Music and Elephant are thriving, but the winter was apparently not kind to the German Red. I have only a few measly sprouts from a whole host of large cloves planted. It's a prety striking difference as they are all in a row in the same bed.



It's still a bit too cool here for planting tomatoes, but the dogwood trees have hit their peak bloom, which is the traditional sign that the soil is warm enough. We just had those three hard freezes which cooled it back down a bit and caused me to keep my plants inside for several days. I'm bringing them back outside now to reharden them if that's a thing. I hope to get them in the ground next weekend depending on the forecast lows at that time.

 

[begreen]

My back is on the mend, thank you. I am able to drive again, at least locally, but have to be careful of sitting for long periods of time. The potatoes got planted yesterday, finally. I have a lot of starts in the greenhouse that are growing well. The Athena melons are getting too big. I was hoping for a warmish end of April so I could plant them but the jet stream just delivered a cooling spell here. I may put them in to the ground in a couple weeks, inside a portable greenhouse to keep the soil temperature up. Dogwooods here are just starting to wake up.

I hadn't heard about eating pea sprouts. That's intriguing. Do you just pinch off the tops?

 

[begreen]

I erred, one of our dogwoods is now in full bloom. However, the soil temp is still only around 50º and it looks like we're going into a cool and wet spell. The slugs love it.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I hadn't heard about eating pea sprouts. That's intriguing. Do you just pinch off the tops?

We love them. Yes, I just pinch or cut off the young shoots at the end. Older ones can get a bit tough or fibrous. I love having an abundance of the tips available for fresh eating.

Yesterday, we had some unexpectedly overcast weather, and I made the decision to go ahead and transplant the tomatoes ahead of our expected heatwave since they were getting too big for their pots, and I had to pot up or plant and prepare to protect. I mowed down the front of the Austrian Winter Pea row to make space for my caged varieties but before I did it I made sure to warn my youngest and let him know that there would still be peas for nibbling along the trellis side. He's going to miss them when they're gone.

I should have mentioned that our soil temperature is already above sixty in the mornings. We are expecting a cooler spell at the beginning of next week, so I'll keep an eye on things and pull out frost cloth if it looks too cold at night. I was glad to have had the tomatoes in the garden soil today, though, when it was ninety degrees. It's supposed to be hotter tomorrow.

 

[djlew]

This weather has been insane. High of 90F today. Peaked at 86F yesterday. I got some strawberries and basil going to scratch the itch since it is still too early for tomatoes and peppers here as well. I'm glad you got yours out DG.

Started filling the raised beds with cardboard, logs, brush and leaves. One is full with soil as well. It's been a lot of work! We have 4 total, 1 filled, 2 with everything but soil, and one with nothing yet. Want to get this done by Mother's Day.

As far as the meadow, I have to do another pass with the tiller and should be good to start seeding. My wife got a mix of perennial seeds, supposedly and hopefully full of native plants, that we will spread throughout our entire front yard. We don't really have a "lawn" (don't really want one anyway), since we have sandy and mossy soil. I'll have to get a pic of before and after. That's the basic gist of the project, but of course I moved my soil and logs to the front yard to fill the raised beds, so will end up needing to complete that before starting the meadow! At this rate, I'm not sure if I want to wait until Fall to start because I can't imagine seeding in really hot weather would be good. I'm not sure, never done anything like this before. We got shade tolerant plants too, so might not matter if I keep everything moist.

I'm really bad with pictures... I need to remember to grab some. My Patriot blueberry is starting to form clusters and my raspberries are really leafing out and spreading. I'm pretty sure my almond grafts failed, but there is still hope for my cherries.