What does your garden look like ... Today?

[JBtheExplorer]

Any tricks needed to get it started from seed?

I put the seeds in wet paper towel in a plastic (unsealed) bag in the fridge for two months during the winter, then pull them out and wait for them to sprout and plant them in trays to grow them indoors under a light.

I've never had them self-seed. Next year, I may stick some in my stratification box and see if that works, because I hate growing things indoors.

 

[Meadowlark]

I probably should wait and plant the seeds this fall...sounds like maybe the best bet. Thanks.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I probably should wait and plant the seeds this fall...sounds like maybe the best bet. Thanks.

If you're putting them directly on the soil, early winter is typically the best time for the majority of native plants.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I burned my gardens two weeks ago and am already seeing a lot of my native plants popping up!

 

[Meadowlark]

I'm just about planted out for spring. Only pinkeye peas, watermelon, and okra yet to be planted.

In the photo below on the far right see cover crop growing where winter garden was, coming over to the left a row of potatoes fully broken through with tops, and over another row my spring onion crop showing many bulbs now 2-3 inches dia with a couple of months more growing to go, then about 15 tomato plants and another 6 pepper plants along the trellis, with cukes and squash on its own trellis on the end, next row over left various beans, then five rows of corn to the left of that, with some open space for okra and peas and all bordered by zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers.

Not shown are HK containers with various leafy greens, carrots, bok choy, Uzan onions, and horseradish.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

A female mallard has been spending full days by my garden pond. No sign of a nest yet but I'm hoping soon! Either way it's fun having a duck hang out while I sit by my pond.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Prairie smoke

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Marsh marigold and rue anemone are both starting to bloom today.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

First wild ginger bloom of the year.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Marsh marigold

Rue anemone

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Downy yellow violet has started blooming. It's my favorite of the three species I have. This grows in my woodland garden strip along my driveway.

Looking down the edge of my driveway. In 2020 this was all weeds and invasive species, now it's essentially all native plants! It's about 100 feet long and five or six feet wide. Each year I've added more and more natives and I've been able to do the entire thing for free just by transplanting extras that pop up in places I dont want them.