Thursday, May 2, 2013

Getting ready to finish starting seeds and using the greenhouse.

I have put my seedlings into the greenhouse to acclimate to outdoor conditions...mainly the cool nights.   It sure heats up in there and i have an old sleeping blanket covering the top to shade the seedlings from the strongest sunlight.  In a few days i'll be able to take the blanket off and only use it to try and keep heat in if  we get a really cold night.  So far for the long term forecast the night temps are expected to stay in the high 30's and lower 40's.  So its time to go for sink or swim.  Of course if frost is expect, the plants will spend the night in the house.

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So far the plants are all leafing out and the lilacs are showing flower buds.  They usually bloom about Memorial Weekend,  which is in about 3 weeks.

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Everything is really leafing out nicely,  looks so far like everything made it through winter,  two of the blueberry plants took it hard though.  They got some sort of frost bite and the tips of their branches are dead,  but they are resilient and should recover even if they bloom a little later than their buddies.

The beach plum that got broken from heavy snow seems to have survived the break and is getting leaf buds,  though it was also later than the other beach plum.I can't wait until things are fully leafed out.  I' was hoping the Stanley plum would flower this year- its third year here,  but it does not look like it has flower buds on it so far.

Still no strawberries in the mail....  i wonder if they are coming at all at this point.  No big deal either way,  there is always next year.

I need to get the seeds started for the cukes and Minnesota melons.  I also need to replant some of the pots where nothing came up with nasturtiums.

I was thinking about something when our mail carrier went by.  I'm hoping planting flowers near the mail box won't cause a problem.  I have heard of mail carriers getting stung by bees while delivering because the homeowner planted something like morning glories to grow up the mail box post.  My flower box is about 4 feet away,  so i hope it won't be a problem.  I usually have a smaller  pot out there where i would plant petunias,  but the pot was small and didn't attract much.  The bigger pot should have way more flowers,  so its something to keep in mind.

There. Got the nasturtium seeds put in.  It was easy since i didn't have to fill pots with soil.

I just got done talking to the Nice Neighbors and she's going to give me two pots like my large terracotta looking one.  Yay!  Looks like i'll have a place to put more things soon...  i just need the soil for it.