FINALLY! After several weeks of miserable, slushy, damp, cold weather we finally have broken in to "real" spring. Clear blue sky and temps. topping 67⁰F (20⁰C) Beet Bear says "it's a GO" for getting the Ailsa Craig onion plants in to the ground at last! We spent the morning planting out about 200 plants before Dad ran out of spoons and went in for a nap.
#BeetBear
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

Today felt like a wonderful spring day with bright sunshine, blue skies, calm winds, and temperatures in the mid-50's.

Spent the afternoon spreading compost on three new beds in the yard.

It was time to thin out the trays containing the Verbena bonariensis seedlings. I save seed every year and sew them in these little trays. I always underestimate how much seed I use, so there is always much thinning to do. Got them thinned out to about 50 per tray at this point.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

Had a hard freeze last night. It got down to 28⁰F/-2⁰C with windy conditions. Even now, at mid-day it's only 37⁰F/3⁰C in full sun. The heater in the greenhouse was working overtime, but kept the tomato plants looking ok. Here we have 36 Jet Star, 36 Better Boy, and 12 SuperSweet 100s. Still about a month to go before they go out!
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

For folks who grow swamp mallow from seed indoors, have you had any issues transplanting it?

Magnolia trees are blooming in our neighborhood. Forsythia started blooming a little over a week ago.

This morning I saw my first-of-year hyacinths in bloom in a neighbor's backyard.

Some of my daffodils have flower buds. Crocus (started blooming in late February) and snowdrops (started blooming the last week of December) finally stopped blooming last week.

Beet Bear is awake now, and eager to start the season. He was out showing off his new wheelbarrow and gardening tools. He then came in to the greenhouse to help me get started on transplanting tomatoes.Seeds started on March 11th and now ready to pot up in to 4 inch/100mm pots. Got 12 done today with many more to do tomorrow. No sun and chilly temps mean I have to run the heater in there for now, but needs must...
#BeetBear
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
#tomatoes
@gardening

So far, so good. Dug up and pulled out Japanese spirea and burning bush last summer.

Haven't seen any sprouting so far this year.

Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Finally! Things have come together well enough for me to begin moving some of the hardier seedlings in to the greenhouse. It took a while to clean up the space to make room for things, because the greenhouse ends up being catch-all storage all winter. We have beets, cabbage, parsley, lettuce, viola Cleome and Verbena moved so far. I'll watch the weather and move more when I can. Then the great potting-on can begin. 2 wks late, but OK
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

Got a clean bill of health from the surgeon on Monday, so I'm slowly getting back into garden work after having the gall bladder removed. Things are starting to sprout, even though it's been quite cold and wet. I think the tide is turning and the garden season is about to start. I always enjoy seeing the ancient rhubarb bed come to life as a harbinger of things to come!
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b
@gardening

Thank you to @CharJTF for recommending Green Magic broccoli to me.

My first seedlings sprouted in my indoor pots!

Yay! My first St. John's Fire Salvia seedlings sprouted. Hummingbirds loved gathering nectar from them last year.

It must be March in New England. We had a high temp yesterday of 79⁰F/26⁰C and today we're at 38⁰F/4⁰C. Par for the course. I noticed that the green bell pepper & tomato seedlings were starting to show some purple mottling on their leaves, which might be a phosphorus deficiency or maybe they're a little chilly, but I gave them a shot of liquid fertilizer this morning, just in case. It won't be too long before they get potted on (weather permitting).
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#Zone6b

My garden starts all seem to have survived my absence, thanks to my daughter stepping in. Will be time to move things out to the greenhouse in a few days and start potting-up. Spent a while this morning pricking out 8 dozen snapdragon seedlings to pot on. Not my favorite job, but my wife's got to have her snap dragon display. Quite warm today, but more frost coming in a day or two.
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#zone6b
@gardening

My daffodils have about 2 inches of leaves showing above the ground, leaves that only sprouted in the past few days.

My neighbor has flowering daffodils. Their daffodils are always first to bloom in our neighborhood.

I suspect because they're early blooming daffodils, have direct afternoon sun, and are next to a brick wall in full sun.

Snowdrops first started blooming 3 months ago, on December 27, 2024.

Despite numerous snowfalls since then, and getting covered completely with 8+ inches of snow, they continue to bloom today.

I've never made newspaper pots for up-potting my seedlings, have you?

https://lifehacker.com/home/how-to-up-pot-seedlings

Had a minor setback on my gardening spring this year. My Gall bladder burst on 22 March and I've been in hospital until yesterday. My daughter (the Botanist) stepped in and came home for a few days to keep things ticking over in the propagation room. My somewhat limited mobility and lifting restrictions are going to make things interesting for a while... All the best, everyone!
#gardening
#Allotment
#NewEngland
#zone6b
@gardening

Whee, first three seedlings sprouted today from the Dazzler Red Cosmos seeds I planted March 15!

Germination is 7-10 days, so they're within expected time.

Older (as in 2+ years) spinach and pea seeds planted on the same day, but neither have seedlings.

All planted in milk jugs.