What's happening today - 2018 edition

[PomGranny]

Drew, If cuttings take . . . how long before you can safely put them in the ground, and how long before they will be old enough to bear?
I am just trying propagating for the first time. I usually order (good size) plants - because I am impatient (!) and because I figure they have a better chance of survival. I have lost so many young pomegranates. Money down the tubes. So - I’m trying to propagate from plants whose fruit I like.
I’m editing, to add: I think that I didn’t prepare the planting holes properly ‘back then’, when I kept losing pomegranates. Now I add pebbles for drainage. And use ‘lighter’ soil. I wish I could find some coarse sand to add. Our soil used to be a melon field in the 50s and 60s. But, I think the poms need better drainage.
I am envious of the Florida Extension Peeps’ advice - about putting their cuttings straight in the ground! Not around here, you can’t!

[Matt_in_Maryland]

Karen,

I keep my poms in pots in the basement all winter. I cover them with a thin fabric to keep them in the dark. You want them to sleep as long as possible. Water them at least once every several weeks so the roots don’t dry out.

Spring frosts are the enemy of poms here. After leafing out in spring, immature plants can be outright killed by late frosts here. I am JUST north of the area where some people have had better luck with them in-ground.

Northern Virginia, Baltimore, and even Montgomery County (Md) can succeed with in-ground. But in Frederick County (Md), they are heartbreakers.

I’ve resigned myself to keeping them in pots… at least for the first several years… if not indefinitely. I might try to put a mature Salavatski in ground again if I can build up the courage again someday.

I have Red Silk and Vkusnyi-- two naturally dwarfed varieties. Hopefully those two will live up to their promise of success for pot culture… and won’t break my back every spring and fall when I do the “pom shuffle.”

[PomGranny]

I hear ya . . . the Pom Shuffle.
I’ve moved mine in - and out. In - and out. A couple of times already this winter.
OK - so I won’t bother with the grow lights. Thanks. How cold while they ‘sleep’?

[Matt_in_Maryland]

My instinct is a dark basement is better than an unheated shed or light-exposed garage.

You want dark. I imagine slight ambient underground humidity can only help mitigate desiccation.

There is a small window letting a tiny amount of ambient light into my bulkhead basement. I have found even this is enough to encourage my poms and figs to break dormancy too early… risking them getting “leggy” when they put out long ghost-white growths straining to reach the light. That’s why - in subsequent years - I’ve put fabric over them to keep them in the dark. Temps down there probably fluxuate from the 30s to the 50s. I dunno. There is a water heater and oil furnace down there, which moderates the temp, but with the bulkhead and thin 1840s-constructed window, any cold snap (like last week’s zero-degrees event) can penetrate that space rendering a colder ambient air.

[Matt_in_Maryland]

You should ask @Drew51 what he does to overwinter his pomegranates. He is in Great Lakes country near Detriot.

It can get really cold up there, though sometimes the lakes can moderate this.

I swear Drew has the greenest thumb. I am always astounded at what he can accomplish so far inland north. I think he has magic pixie dust or something.

If something can go wrong with my gardening escapades, then it will.

If something can go right with Drew’s plantings, then it will.

[Drew51]

Thank You Matt! It’s a lot of good luck and 40 years experience growing plants. True I only recently maybe 7 years started growing mostly edibles, but plants are plants.

I overwinter the poms with the figs in an attached garage. It stays about 35F in there.Poms can take to 25F safely, probably a lot lower. If it starts getting lower in there a space heater kicks on set up with a thermostat. Watering properly all winter is super important. Moist, not wet, and never bone dry.
I use snow when I can. If above 25F I will open the door and shovel the snow in them. It is right now.
My garage door is dark brown too and becomes very warm You only need to water every 4-6 weeks, but some plants like zone 7 blackberries, suck the water, and I have to water them more. I’m convinced with blackberries dissication is the enemy not cold, they can take the cold just fine…
So Wilt Stop helps with them With figs it’s the cold and wilt stop will not do anything.
So I have Tayberries, and boysenberries growing in ground here sprayed with wilt stop, they have fruited the last two years, little cane loss. In zone 5b. Leaves or buried in mulch works as well or better too.

Edit,

I wanted to add in the fall I leave figs, and poms out till all leaves are gone as long as it stays above 25F. Once temps reach that level, in the garage they go… All took two nights outside at 21F this year as it got cold fast, and I was closing my cottage and out of town. I don’t see any damage.
Luckily they were somewhat hardened off, else it could really hurt them. You want them to harden off, so don’t put them in too early.

[PomGranny]

Thanks, both of you!

[BambooMan]

I’m so excited, my dad, my nephew and I cleared a large area of my parent’s main yard. We cut and chipped 7 giant (70ish feet) water oaks. There is plenty of space for fruit trees now. Sorry for the night photo, but we need all the daylight we can get.

Lots of wood chips, gardeners gold.

[k8tpayaso]

WOW. Nice!!!

[BambooMan]

What a weekend, we only had the chipper for a day and a half so there was a mad rush to get as much chipped as possible. Tons of wood chips!

We are getting a stump grinder next weekend for these.

I’m glad it’s over with, I feel beat.

[ltilton]

I hope it’s a BIG stump grinder!

[subdood_ky_z6b]

We had to go to town today, as I had an eye exam. After feeling nauseated a bit after getting my pupils dilated, I wasn’t in the mood for much. We stopped by McD for a snack, and I was feeling a bit better.

But, we stopped by Rural King to just browse a bit, and get some of their free popcorn. I was planning on leaving pretty soon after getting there, and so was the Mrs. She went out to the car while I made the “mistake” of drifting into the hardware dept. Oh no.

Before I knew it I had corralled a cart and was loading up stuff to make my trellis setup for our incoming raspberry and blackberry plants. I wanted to prepare a proper home for them, so that they won’t get too unwieldy when they’re 10ft high/ long.

After much deliberation, I ended getting four 50ft lines of plastic covered wire clothesline, 8 wire tensioners/turnbuckles, 16 plain eye bolts w/nuts and assorted washers. I’m going to use this hardware to mount 2x4 crossbeams to my T-posts I already have and make a two level trellis.

After about an hour, I managed to find my way to the front and pay for the stuff. While checking out, the Doodette showed up and said, “Oh there you are. I was out in the car for an hour wondering what had happened to you. I heard an ambulance go by and wondered if it was for you.” I think she was kidding.

[BobC]

The popcorn draws you in and the smell of the popcorn puts you in a shopping coma. Great place to shop!

[subdood_ky_z6b]

Yeah, hard to pass up free food. They also have coffee, but I passed on that. I had originally gone in there to see if they had any more flannel lined jeans. I had bought a pair from them a couple years ago and love them. I was actually wearing my pair yesterday, very warm and comfortable. A week or so after I got them I was trying to straddle a barb wire fence and got them caught, and tore them in two places. Typical. She sewed them back up and they look alright, but I just wanted another pair. But this RK didn’t have any.

I kinda mosied over to the outdoor section, then checked out some new guns in the display, and eventually ended up in the hardware section. Once I entered, it was a like a time warp, and I didn’t realize I was back there for an hour.

We drove on home and when got to our county town, we paid some bills, and then I had her stop at another hardware store. I needed some U-bolts to attach the 2x4’s to the T-posts. I was only in there 10 minutes, tho. After all is said and done, I spent more on all this hardware than the berry plants!

She had to drive me home, about a 50mi trip. They dilated my pupils, and I had the big black eyes for most of the day. It makes it kind hard to see when they’re like that. I was talking to a dude in the store, and he probably took a look at my eyes and thought I was on dope or something.

[VSOP]

Eh, I’m sure after taking a look at you, he didn’t have to ask what all the growing supplies were for.

[BobC]

Just today about 15 miles from me.

This makes 3 of them within 15 miles of me… YEEEEE HA!!!

[subdood_ky_z6b]

Interesting, the one we were at yesterday (Maysville, KY) was also a store formerly known as K-Mart.

It looked pretty new, very clean and organized. Of course I was kinda in just one part of the store for the most part…

[subdood_ky_z6b]

OK, what are you saying?

I am an amateur free-lance “gardener”, not a free-lance “pharmaceutical salesman”…

When I was checking out he was behind me in line. “Lots of clothesline there”, he said. I replied, “Yeah, I’m making a trellis for some berry plants I’m getting in a few months.” He gave me a knowing nod, and didn’t comment.

[PomGranny]

But, we stopped by Rural King to just browse a bit, and get some of their free popcorn.

Rural King? We still have crummy K-marts in our crummy K-marts.
That sounds great, though. Here we have Southern States and Tractor Supply. Also ‘Taylors Do-It’ Centers. Your Rural King must be a local or regional ‘happening’. Taylors has the popcorn thing, too. Homey. It makes you forget that their stuff is a little more expensive . . . They are privately owned, local franchises, I think . . . so I like to support them.

[growjimgrow]

It starts!!
Onions have germinated. These are the first set of indoor seedlings I will start. I am growing New York Early, Valencia, Alissa Craig, and a bunching onion. I think I may start some amaranth to use as a micro green. Exciting stuff.