What's Growing in the Garden

Going to get a couple inches of white stuff tonight too, luckily, no temps below 30°.

Since we are talking frost and trees.....

I'm on a FB group for apple growers and one guy in northern IL who operates a 120 acre tree orchard has been using a seaweed extract for a little additional frost protection (2-3° protection). Here is a link to the article. https://www.royaloak.farm/the-use-of-seaweed-kelp-for-frost-protection

This isn't just this guy claiming it works, there are several studies referenced in the article.

I've picked up a bottle of it off Amazon to give it a try this year. I have no way to accurately test this, but for $20 I figured it was worth a try.

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trc65 said:
Going to get a couple inches of white stuff tonight too, luckily, no temps below 30°.

Since we are talking frost and trees.....

I'm on a FB group for apple growers and one guy in northern IL who operates a 120 acre tree orchard has been using a seaweed extract for a little additional frost protection (2-3° protection). Here is a link to the article. https://www.royaloak.farm/the-use-of-seaweed-kelp-for-frost-protection

This isn't just this guy claiming it works, there are several studies referenced in the article.

I've picked up a bottle of it off Amazon to give it a try this year. I have no way to accurately test this, but for $20 I figured it was worth a try.

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Best of luck! Please let us know how it goes. Chuck
 
These pictures were taken about 8-10 years ago. Since then, the Queen of The Night, Cereus greggii, hasn't produced any future seed/fruit pods, which are delicious. It's flower starts opening near sundown, about 7:30 here in the summer, and is starting to shrivel up at about 1-2 hours after sunrise here.

Picture taken about 9pm
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Picture taken after sunrise, 6:30am next morning..
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............... Nubs
 
Mike Hill said:
Ohhhhh. That's one of my bucket list to see one of those flowers in person.
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Well, if you come out to Tucson between late May and early June, after sunset, you could be able to see one. Sometimes they can be spotted in the desert if you're driving through it at night because the flowers really show up when headlights reflects off the flowers.
They are pretty rare around Tucson except on my property. I have about 9 plants that do try to produce pods, but the pods don't mature because of the weather. They are smarter than us because they don't produce if they can't afford it. Maybe this year I'll get a bunch of seeds and then plant them to reinvigorate their population. ............ Nubs
 
Sorry Rob, no, it is not. The only thing that looks familiar is the grey twig to the right of the flower in the first picture. Looks like Mesquite with all those nubs along the length of it.

SO, you were here and not any mention until you got back home?? Thanks, buddy.......... Nubs
 
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Nothing in the garden yet, except the garlic that was planted last fall and is already a foot tall.

Lots of flats ready to be moved to the cold frame though. Onions, perennial and annual flowers are ready to go out. Need the space inside, have lots more annuals need to be stepped up to cell packs.

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If we don't get too much rain later this week, will try to get peas and potatoes planted over the weekend. Excited to get peas in, picked up some of the telephone pole peas that sprucegum has mentioned that he grows. They will be on a cattle panel trellis like I used last year for the green and Lima beans.
 
trc65 said:
Nothing in the garden yet, except the garlic that was planted last fall and is already a foot tall.

Lots of flats ready to be moved to the cold frame though. Onions, perennial and annual flowers are ready to go out. Need the space inside, have lots more annuals need to be stepped up to cell packs.

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If we don't get too much rain later this week, will try to get peas and potatoes planted over the weekend. Excited to get peas in, picked up some of the telephone pole peas that sprucegum has mentioned that he grows. They will be on a cattle panel trellis like I used last year for the green and Lima beans.
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Hey Man, that's cool, but I don't see any new Saguaros. You need more seeds? :sofa:
How are the ones you started last year doing?........... Nubs
 
I'll shoot a pic or two of the saguaros when I get the others out of the way. They are doing great, need to step more of them up to larger pots. Haven't started any new ones, still have 8 of them.
 
@Nubsnstubs

Jerry, here are the saguaros hiding behind some Christmas cactus. The largest two are about 4" tall. They will go outside in a few weeks when the weather settles down a little.

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trc65 said:
@Nubsnstubs

Jerry, here are the saguaros hiding behind some Christmas cactus. The largest two are about 4" tall. They will go outside in a few weeks when the weather settles down a little.

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Wow, they are liking your neck of the woods. Here it would take about 3-4 years to grow that fast. The Christmas Cactus you said are hiding the Saguaros are nothing like what grows out here. Ours look more like a Cholla. The arms on CC are much thinner and are round, whereas yours pictured look like they are flat.
Next time I go into the desert, probably about 4 hours from now, I'll look for seed pods and get you some seeds if you want them. It might not be until December before I see some. ........... Nubs
 
Nubsnstubs said:
Wow, they are liking your neck of the woods. Here it would take about 3-4 years to grow that fast. The Christmas Cactus you said are hiding the Saguaros are nothing like what grows out here. Ours look more like a Cholla. The arms on CC are much thinner and are round, whereas yours pictured look like they are flat.
Next time I go into the desert, probably about 4 hours from now, I'll look for seed pods and get you some seeds if you want them. It might not be until December before I see some. ........... Nubs
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Think Tim has most ideal growing conditions for just about anything! Chuck
 
These Christmas cactus are Schlumbergera spp. and originate in Brazil. They like shade and high humidity. They also don't bloom at Christmas, ours blooms heavily at Thanksgiving and then a little lighter bloom at Easter.

Most are forced to bloom at Christmas by manipulating day length, but once you have them in your house, they will bloom according to your local light conditions and how much artificial light they may receive.

Would love to have some desert Christmas cactus seed, love trying new things, inside and out.
 
Not growing in my garden, but has made my list of "wanna go see"! Discovered just 10 years ago in 2013 and occurs in only 2 counties in Tennessee. Never heard about it until this morning, and apparently missed the flowering period this year. Trillium Tennesseense - Tennessee Trillium. Guess I shouldnt go out to find one to transplant!! Tennessee also has it's own Coneflower (echinacea tennesseensis) that only grows in cedar glades in a county or two near Nashville. When I first moved here, it was very rare, but I was able to wrangle a few seeds from a licensed caretaker of one of the stands - and I've been growing ever since. They've gotten popular and are now no longer rare.

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I've had some of your coneflower that I planted 10 or so years ago. Don't know that I have any of it left though as it is less vigorous and doesn't do well in my overcrowded, winner takes all, native wildflower/weed patch.

That is an interesting looking trillium. The only one I have is a little patch of T. recurvatum which is widespread across the state. Transplanted some of it from the timber years ago.
 
I used to have like 6 different species. But I guess the moles and voles have taken a like'n to them or something. Or perhaps we are a little too hot and dry for them. A few I still see at some parks in Nashville, but they certainly seem to be quite a number less than 40 years ago. I'm down to just a couple of the Red (Sweet Betsys is what they called around here) and one of the yellow (luteum). All had been given to me by a much older couple who have since passed away. He taught me how to solo canoe in whitewater (He also designed and built the second ABS plastic canoe - cool story about that - he was instrumental in starting the Blue Hole Canoe Company) while she loved growing eastern woodland wildflowers - and she was good at it. She had big patches of numerous types of trillium. She had one she was real proud of that she called Trillium Vesuviam or something like that - but have not seen a reference to it. Have not been successful with recurvatum. Much like Trout Lily - I've tried numerous times - but maybe one year and no more.

I have to occasionally buy new seeds and replant my TN Coneflower to stay pure. They apparently hybridize freely with my standard prairie ones. I have lots of seedlings that exhibit traits of each and they are more vigorous than the TN Coneflower and crowd them out if I don't get around to pulling them up. Where I have them is the only place I can claim to be free draining. Right next to the street and mailbox. Apparently they had a lot of gravel spill over when they did the base for the street, and one bed there has a lot of gravel - and they like it. In fact, they reseed freely in what could be considered the road shoulder, but is actually a small area that doesn't have topping between the bed and the asphalt topping. They occur naturally in cedar glades, with lots of shallow and surface limestone and very thin soil.
 
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May be on the dry side for T. recurvatum, I think their natural range goes all the way down to Texas, and through Mississippi and Alabama, so think they can handle the heat. They are everywhere around here, especially any lots that sit near undisturbed woodlands.

Trout lily are funny, I can get them to grow like crazy, but never bloom. Same thing back in the timber, see them growing all over, but only one or two spots bloom every year. Mostly on the east side of slopes toward the bottom, heavy shade and damp year round.

Bluebells are finally blooming, make a nice contrast with the last of the daffodils.

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