All Blog Posts (155)

Rainfall?  The KC Star says JoCo had 1/3 inch of rain over the weekend.  I had 2 1/2 inches.  Shelly had more.  Why are the Star rain gauges kept inside during storms?

My mom, Barbara, six years ago had Mums that were given to her. They returned twice. The city dug them up to do some work, so she bought more. The folling year they did not return, so she bought some more. Well, they did not return either. I suggested that the purchased plants were genetically altered not to return, but I do not know, so we are asking for some thoughts on our issue. Thank you very much for any help.

P.S. I love your web site...

My broccoli seedlings are doing great. I have a bunch of them, about 22 peat pots with 3-4 seedlings in each one. I know that I need to cut some of them soon to allow the best ones to grow well.

New problem just showed up though: mold on the pots and the soil. The seedlings look ok so far. Do I need to treat the mold with something or just allow the pots to dry out and hopefully the mold will go away?

Thanks for ideas.

Though it's a bit chilly (down right cold by CA standards) here in southern IL,  I'm off shortly to make my own potting soil.  Thus the truck is loaded with peat, vermiculite, builders sand and huge 15 gal plastic containers.  This will be unloaded at the Community Garden where I'll harvest our wonderful year old compost to mix with the rest of the ingredients.  Hopefully in short order I'll have enough delicious soil to fill 15 or so huge plastic and Smart Pots in which we'll plant tomatoes…

i have recently forced some hycinth bulbs white ones and they have emerged and a few flowers look like there blooming before the cone has fully emerged and i also started an amaryilis indoors its leaves have come out but some black streaks down them its not wilting or anything but it was kinda coming out when i got it and the leaves were white but turned green once i potted ot and put it in the sun lite i only have one window for these flowers its a few hours of light but i have no grow…

Used my clothes line today to dry jeans... Wow!  can you believe it Jan. 11/12 and they dried out on the line.  We live in Southern Ontario and the temps have been 45 for about a week... but we are bracing as the weather is changing tomorrow and Friday.  Winter has to come to help the soil, right! 

I am looking at changing my seed supplier. Been useing Gurneys for the last few yrs, but not happy with quality. My Big Boys look like Early Girls, my peppers never came on till very late this year and were small. I have been useing both seed and plants. Any ideas on seed suppliers that you have been having success with that ship to Iowa?

I built a PVC hoop house over my 4x10 summer garden beds. I made 4 PVC pipes, into arched hoops, and put them across the 10 foot length of the beds. Then I used 4 more PVC arched hoops and made them a little smaller in height, just under the taller ones. This alouded me to pull the plastic thru-between the hoops all the way across the 10 foot length of the bed. I tucked the plastic in the sides and held the plastic ends down with a rock. Now I can push up the plastic easily to get to my…

What a lovely surprise to step outside this morning.  After Tuesday and Wedneday where the heat index climbed once again into the 100's I was ready for a cooler day.  If the meteorologist are correct we shouldn't see those nasty heat indices again for awhile. 

I am busy scheduling contractors today for estimates on reparing things damaged by last week's storms.   I called my friend Mark Bartlow with Ryan Lawn and Tree on Monday, he was out on Tuesday to give me a bid and the next…

Ok, so you know how I was groaning about the weather a couple of weeks ago and complaining about living in Kansas?  Well, I take it all back.  I just returned from playing tennis outside in February.  It was soooo nice.  No complaints here about days like yesterday and today.  Even my 12 year old son said to me this morning, "Isn't it nice to see the grass again?"  "I forgot what it looked like, I'm so use to looking at the snow".  I thought for sure that the snow would be around until…

See what a little sunshine will do to a person?   I've had this song stuck in my head for the last couple of days so I thought sharing it seemed like the thing to do.

Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye,
My oh my what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine coming my way,
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye.

Well it looks as if the big thaw is here.  For the next seven days we will see temperatures in the mid to upper 40's, 50's and maybe 60's.  Wow, if that doesn't put a smile on your face I'm not sure what would.  Here's how I'm hoping it will play out.  Warmer temperatures will melt all the snow.  And then maybe a rain shower next Thursday or Friday to wash away all of the outside ick.  The next few days will be a nice reprieve from what we've been experiencing and…