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debbie_n_ontario

Need A Garden Buddy in Northern Ontario... April

Debbie_N_Ontario
17 years ago

Hi Everyone *waving*

Our snow is melting. We had 4 days around 10C so that was nice. Today today it rained for a few hours and we lost more. We still have some out there, but I can see more brown grass than snow now, so that is good! *S*

My amaryllis are doing well, I'm on my 5th blooming flower stems, with 13 more pots waiting in the basement to come up to the light.

I have planted my petunias a few days ago and have planted some geranium and impatiens cutting too. So I'm slowly getting ready for the gardening season! *S*

We are a bit worried about hubs guide dog, she hasn't been eating much for the past few days. And for a dog that loves to eat, this is very worrisome. So we are keeping a close eye on her and hopefully will be able to get her in to see the vet tomorrow. (She eats Purina dry food so thankfully that is not one of the foods that has been recalled.)

Hubs heard the gulls yesterday in the bay so that means spring is on the way. Still no geese yet.

Take care

Debbie :-)

Comments (11)

  • melissa_mumof4
    17 years ago

    Hi Everyone,
    My hubby has bought me two plastic pouches containing peonies with several shoots already coming up. I'm about to pot up the plants, but wanted to know if the dark "carrot" shaped tubers on the bottom(and theres alot,each plant has at least 10 with roots on them) can be snipped and put into damp soil to root and propagate....
    Can anyone offer some suggestions??? I'd like to do this soon.........
    Thanks Much....

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Melissa, I have never heard of anyone doing that before. But U might carefully cut off a small one and see what happens. I wouldn't be brave enough to do it myself though.

  • janet_grower
    17 years ago

    Each tuber can be propagated separately if it has a visible eye on it, at least one eye per tuber and don't bury it deep, kind of just on the soil surface half covered with soil and pressed into the soil for good contact. Even if one tuber had two eyes you could cut it in half as long as the piece of tuber has a visible eye (like a potato). Janet

  • dannie
    17 years ago

    Hi Debbie and all,

    Debbie, how is your dog doing? I hope it is feeling a lot better. Nothing sadder than seeing one of your family pets not feeling well.

    I don't know about the rest of you but I was looking forward to nice warm weather and a jump on planting. The snow storm we had recently changed all of that. Today it was cold enough with the wind chill that we kept our students inside. Not much fun when your school holds 750 students from Kindergarten to Grade 8.

    On the positive side, I have my shopping list for my planters for this year. I was thinking of going mostly with what I had planted last year, but after perusing the proven winners site, I am going to try all new combinations. Now I really can't wait for the snow to go.

    Danni (temporarily stepping out of lurkdom)

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi
    Janet, I'm glad u answered Melissa's question about the peony, I was just guessing. *S*

    Hi Danni, nice to see u again! *S* Tegan is ok now, she is eating again and is back to her old self, the vet did say that she had to go on a bit of a diet. I kept telling hubs she looked like she was fatter, but he said the harness still fit the same.....LOL We have gotten so much snow the past few days that hubs has been going around town with a friend of his and just taking Tegan for a walk so she can play in the snowdrifts....which she loves!

    What kind of plants are u going to grow this year?
    I planted some more petunias yesterday as not many of them had germinated. Tonight I also potted up some more geranium and impatien cuttings too. So things are getting busier now. I'm not going to grow any tomatoes or veggies this year or not as many flowers either. But still will have pots full of flowers, just not as many as in previous years.
    The hostas and perennials in the front yard had filled in so much last year I knew I would no longer be able to able to have pots in amongst the perennials this year. But that's ok, less watering for me. *S*
    Take care
    Debbie :-)

  • dannie
    17 years ago

    Hi all,

    Debbie, I am happy that your dog is feeling better. I know what you mean about getting weight off the dog. My old girl gained a huge amount when she didn't have anyone to play with so she turned into a couch potato. I was quite concerned when she was having trouble getting up so I put her on a diet. I cut her food in half and replaced the other half with veggies such as frozen green beans. It worked and she is moving so much more easily these days. I have cut back on the other two dogs' food as well as they were starting to get plump and I certainly don't want the health issues that come with the extra weight. Now if I could apply to myself what I am doing to the dogs, it would be perfect. *Grin*

    As to plants... well... I am not as organized as you are for winter sowing so I will be shopping again as usual but I think that where I can, I will buy one plant and do some cuttings. I plan to do a lot more greenery this year as opposed to a lot of flowers. I am staying away from geraniums and am going to try a few of the millionbells, supertunias, sun coleus, ageratum, and asters for colour. For the greenery, various grasses, vines, sage, licorice plant, persian shield, and potato vines. That list isn't all inclusive but the idea is to have lots of foliage colours and textures with a punch of colour mostly in purples and yellows. I am also going to plant some nasturtiums as they grew so well for me last year, from seed of course.

    This is one of the combination that I am going to try.

    {{!gwi}}

    I love the proven winners site as it tells you the exposure needed, the size of the pot, the plants and also gives you the planting diagram. I "stole" all my ideas from there this year.

    Danni

  • Crafty Gardener
    17 years ago

    Hi Debbie - you were asking about birds in my garden over the winter in the posting for March. We have lots of birds .. so entertaining to watch. Now spring is here the birds are busy in the bird houses. We've seen several large flocks of Canada Geese go over, probably heading up your way.
    It has been a chilly weekend with a lot of snow flurries the past couple of days. Is the snow in your area going now?
    I've done some inside planting of canna root and other plant roots in pots to give them a headstart on the growing season.
    I'm looking forward to some warm spring weather heading our way .. not sure when, but I'm optimistic.
    Take care,

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Danni, those plants u are going to pot up sound great and I love the picture of the one u posted! That is very kewl looking,,,, I love it! I hope u post more pics when u get them potted up. Last year I grew a lot of coleus but this year I'm not growing any.
    Crafty, U have birds nesting already? No birds nesting up here. And our snow was almost all gone, but it has been snowing here for the past 4 or 5 days and we have more snow now than we had all winter. We had over 2 ft of snow fall in those days and in the backyard there are drifts of 4ft! It has been unreal the amount of snow that has fallen and is still coming. And here I thought we were going to have an early spring.......LOL

    Debbie :-)

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    17 years ago

    Hi Debbie and everyone. Haven't been over here in quite awhile and thought i'd check in to see how things were going. Glad your dog is feeling better, Debbie. Ours had a couple of days where he seemed to be a little off, but he bounced back quickly (literally too! LOL).

    I've been doing a lot of winter sowing and some inside as well. This evening, i transplanted a bunch of petunias into 4" pots. We finally had a bit of a break in the weather and it was mild enough this afternoon that i went out and cut back some dried up sticks in a few beds. There are lots of tulips poking through as well as one daffodil and one lily. It has been way too cold for anything else, but i think the melting will start this week. It had better!

    Debbie, i was thinking about you and all that s***. It missed us, thank goodness, but we've had the cold winds for over a week. Like i said, today wasn't bad, and it's supposed to be decent for the next few days.

    Hey, Danni! Good to see you! Are you ready for a nursery run on the 28th? I'll be in Thunder Bay for my dad's concert that weekend. I haven't heard from Gale all winter, but Kelly posted once or twice at the Far North forum, and so has Margaret. It would be great to get together again!

    Yesterday we were in town because dh had a doctor's appointment. We were killing some time and i convinced him that he had to go to the hardware store that has a nursery attached. While he was looking at hardware i disappeared into the nursery and, oh man, they had things blooming in there! This place makes up great baskets and they had them all out on their nursery benches. The plants weren't that big but thre were a good many blooming. It was wonderful!! One of the girls who works there is a real gardener herself and she was quite excited about some of their new plants. Amazing how something like that can give you such a lift!

    Yesterday i also bought one of those Walmart bodybag roses, a Hybrid Tea called "Oregold". It was only 3.97, so if it doesn't last, what the heck. I've planted it in a container and i have another matching container, so i probably need another rose, eh? LOL

    That's about it for now. Talk to you all again soon!

    Marcia

  • dannie
    17 years ago

    Hi all

    Marcia, the 28th sounds good. It is our wedding anniversary but I am sure we won't be going out till later. I think this year is our 28th... Humm is there such a thing as a champagne anniversary? Anyhow, let me know where and the time. It would be great to get together with you again.

    Danni

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    17 years ago

    Will do, Danni. I'll email the others pretty soon and see what we can come up with, and then i'll let you know.

    Doing some math here - seems like it will be our 29th this year. I never thought about a champagne anniversary - ours would have been three years ago, 26 on the 26th of August. Oh well! :)

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