As we near the end of the holiday rush, it is still weird to have it so warm outside. But, that only makes me think more of spring and my next garden. Meanwhile my indoor plants are just maintaining, growing a few leaves but not flowering. I think they do not get enough sunlight from our southern exposure windows. I put several in the sun for a while yesterday, that is when the clouds broke up. I really do need to re-pot those African violets. As warm as it is, I should do that before it gets colder later in the week. Yes, that is my begonia outside, still blooming all the way through until now.
I received one of my seed catalogs last week in the mail, and DH gave me a Farmer’s Almanac for 2016 in my stocking. My gardening calendar came last week too, so I am in garden planning mode! One thing I learned last year, my idea of using bakery plastic clamshell containers for starting seeds was a bust. The seeds grew great, but the transplant shock killed them.
This year I will look for some tiny peat pots to put inside the little plastic greenhouses so the baby plants can be moved without damaging them. All this basil, and only two plants survived in the garden after transplanting.
The most exciting thing is my amaryllis looks to be sprouting a new leaf again this year! If it blooms again, it will be the third year it has bloomed. I will watch it closely, and keep you all informed! I need to add just a bit of soil to it. Click on Amaryllis Rebloom to see the second year blooms from last winter.
Santa brought a new camera, so hopefully my pictures will improve. I love the sharp focus on the subject with the background blurred, and now I can do it! This little goldfinch was happy to model for me. It has a huge zoom capability, so maybe I can get the foxes this spring. Look for more pictures of the garden this year too.
I got a couple of gardening magazines at the magazine exchange recently, now is the time to look them over. Our local library has a table where you can drop off magazines you have read, and pick up someone else’s. I also scored a couple of garden books at the library sale on box day. So many pretty things to grow, what to choose this year? I know I’ll have torenias as the hummingbirds do love those. Here’s one of those from last summer. I put them in hanging baskets on our veranda.
Last summer I divided my irises which were just getting too crowded. I had enough to create a new bed, and I can’t wait to see if they survived the move. Here they are just after moving them.
I hope my hydrangea will bloom this year. I have fertilized it and it gets enough water, but it just refuses to bloom. It is dormant now, and just has some brown sticks to show where it is. I would love to have a wisteria, but I really don’t have a good place to put one. The spot that has room and a fence to grow on wouldn’t get enough sunlight.
It doesn’t help that the Cooks Illustrated magazine has lovely art on their back covers. There were a few of those in the magazine haul too. Makes me want to plant all kinds of tomatoes, peppers, squash, onions and herbs.
The Almanac says our best planting days in February are the 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th for above ground crops. I might wait until mid-March as our final frost date here is April 12. Then the little seedlings would have six weeks to the best transplanting dates of May 1-2.
Are you in planning mode for your garden yet?