What's blooming in your yard?

[Ciel]

With the flurries and wind today in Southern Ontario, I was admiring the frozen plants along the front walk while shovelling the snow. Winter has come>there was frozen ice to remove from a downspout.

@marstec-bananas on a tree! That's a fun sighting. Imagine if us folks in colder climates could manage a tropical greenhouse and keep bananas and other fruits growing...

[GoJays]

love your pictures marstec!
i have several orchids with buds on them, i can hardly wait til they bloom so i can finally post them! i have one in bloom right now but i'm going to post it along with all of the others.. it smells really nice too, which is unusual as orchids generally don't have any scent

[tobiwobi]

Wow Marstec! I would totally be smuggling all kinds of plant clippings back...

[danapalomo]

I wanted out of her peony garden. It's nice to find someone who understands about the amazing red colour.

[Shwa Girl]

Inspired by marstec's great pictures, I have a question:
When can I start my flower and veggie seeds indoors? February? March?
Thx.

[Kelly5]

nothing is growing right now. I'm hoping in the spring to get some vegetable plants to have on my balcony. I love having plants that do something, like grow food.

[marstec]

Inspired by marstec's great pictures, I have a question:
When can I start my flower and veggie seeds indoors? February? March?
Thx.

The starting times differ with each plant, Shwa Girl. It will be on the back of the seed pack. If you don't have the proper light set-up, the plants can get really leggy if you start too early. It also depends on when you can set the plants out in the Spring. Now is the time to look through those seed catalogues! I've only bought tomato seeds online, but I may expand my selection this year.

[Shwa Girl]

The starting times differ with each plant, Shwa Girl. It will be on the back of the seed pack. If you don't have the proper light set-up, the plants can get really leggy if you start too early. It also depends on when you can set the plants out in the Spring. Now is the time to look through those seed catalogues! I've only bought tomato seeds online, but I may expand my selection this year.

Thank you. I am experimenting with seeds this year. I will follow the packet directions.

[TrueNorthTreasures]

The beautiful pictures posted in this thread are good for the soul!

I always start my seeds indoors too early, even though I know better. By the time March rolls around, I am desperate to plant some seeds and see some growth! I end up planting a second batch of some of the things, like tomatoes, in early May. The only thing I plant early (March or April) that does really well are leeks.

I will try my best to hold off on starting seeds this year until late April. *L*

In the meantime, there are seed catalogs to pour over and new ones will be arriving soon! I have requested catalogs from OSC, Annapolis Seeds, Heritage Harvest Seeds, The Cottage Gardener, and I think one from Vesey's will arrive, too.

[endi2000]

Here on the west coast - things stay green even if they are not supposed to. We have heather that just finished blooming and all my eucalyptus are still standing (far cry from a year ago when they were bent over from our snow supply)

One thing I haven't managed to keep green is the Camelia - the leaves on my one plant are almost white. Anyone with suggestions on how to get it to 'green up'?

[djweb]

Here's my clematis, it's a bit pinker than it appears in the pic and it's REALLY big.

Attachment 120534

And here is my mystery plant, what is this?

Attachment 120535

Nice sharing dude .. I love your posting .////

[Ciel]

@ShwaGirl-given the rain and meltoff of snow in the past three days, I'd say last month's decision to feed the lawn was a good move. Hard to believe there was snow two and a half weeks ago!

[Shwa Girl]

This is not my yard. This is a garden from low income gardeners.
Rona donated the raised garden beds, the wood for garden plots, the soil, the seeds and the plant food. The municipality donated the water and the land to use. The people who grew the food took pride in their garden, ate better and felt so proud to be able to help others in their communities, with donations to local food banks.

Greenwood Coalition. Port Hope Ontario. You can view all 96 pictures on their Facebook page - link in the article.
http://www.greenwoodcoalition.com/?p=127

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...98808189_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...34668010_n.jpg

[marstec]

Ahhh, love seeing that green, Shwa Girl!

My former neighbour talked fondly of living in Port Hope; she has since moved back to Ontario.

[itsmewhoelse]

Thank you. I am experimenting with seeds this year. I will follow the packet directions.

I have had great sucess using this easy tool http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews...enplanner.html
You can use it for free for 30 days! Then its about 25 or so per year for a subscription. VERY well worth that price.
It even has a tool to let you plan a square foot garden if you want instead of the usual rows. (you get more food from square foot gardening.)
It also lets you plan for landscaping type stuff too. They have sample plans you can check out for ideas and then other members plans are also shared too!
It does so much for so little in price!

CRop rotation, when to plant, when to harvest.... I could go on and on but I will let all you gardeners discover all its great things on your own.

And then also from watching this video about square foot gardening.

SFG Teaching Video - YouTube
The planner helped me decide what types of plants to plant and the video showed me how super easy it was! I mean way easy than the regular row planting!
Happy planning! I know that is what I am starting to do now.