What does your garden look like ... Today?

[Meadowlark]

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That is a great picture. Lots of leaves under that snow, huh.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

That is a great picture. Lots of leaves under that snow, huh.

Yep, lots of leaves. Still trying to lock down a company to help.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Finished burning about 45% of my garden spaces today. Will be fun to see them fill back up with greenery in a month or two.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Finished burning about 45% of my garden spaces today. Will be fun to see them fill back up with greenery in a month or two.

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My torch hose aged out, and I got a nifty stainless weave replacement but have not yet set up the propane adapter. Still, I appreciate what you did from the perspective of what I too will soon do.

 

[Logan]

Nothing today it's been raining.

 

[dirty hands]

Mine is just covered in snow still.

 

[Meadowlark]

Finished burning about 45% of my garden spaces today. Will be fun to see them fill back up with greenery in a month or two.

I've been working on establishing a perineal pollinator attracting garden area the last couple of years. Instead of burning the entire area, I'm thinking of just raking and burning the piles.

I can already see signs of some of these perineals coming back this year and fear that burning the entire surface area would kill the ones already showing.

What's your take on that approach?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I've been working on establishing a perineal pollinator attracting garden area the last couple of years. Instead of burning the entire area, I'm thinking of just raking and burning the piles.

I can already see signs of some of these perineals coming back this year and fear that burning the entire surface area would kill the ones already showing.

What's your take on that approach?

Burning wont kill native perennials that have already started to show some growth, it'll just force them to regrow from the base, which happens fast this time of year. However, the problem with burning once the plants are already growing is that it likely means wildlife is awakening and coming out of hibernation too (I have no clue how much wildlife hibernates in East Texas so I'm only going off of Wisconsin logic), so you risk burning any animals that could be tucked in your gardens like frogs, toads, voles, etc. I like to get the burns done before wildlife starts becoming active in the spring.

If you can't burn or don't want to burn, then clearing the debris manually every few years is the next best option. I never do the entire garden all at once though. It's good to leave some leaves and stems for the pollinators, so I usually only burn around half of my garden each year and rotate every two years.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Prairie smoke is starting to produce buds. It wastes no time and nearly starts producing buds before the snow is gone.

 

[Logan]

 

[Logan]

 

[gary350]

After planting 180 seed potatoes in 3 rows I sold a lot of seed potatoes on market place. 2 days ago before the big storm I decided I should plant another row of 60 seed potatoes before garden becomes mud. 20 gallons of seed potatoes are too many seed potatoes to allow them to rot. It rained hard for 16 hours I sold several more seed potatoes Sunday $1 lb. and I still have 107 seed potatoes that need a new home. 4 types of onions are looking good. Garlic looks smashed down. 3 more months and we learn what 240 seeds potato harvest looks like, my guess is 240 x 2 = about 500 lbs. of new potatoes. We need 3 days of warm sun with 15 mph wind for this mud to be gone. We had heavy fog this morning.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

There was a spider in the garden yesterday hoping to catch a meal.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Some of the natives I'm trying to grow this year for the first time.