Thanks hulk! Dreaming of spring is lovely. At least the extra cold has given me time to prune the apple trees and watch all my favorite winter birds when I’m not caring for my QH/Yak crosses:lol:
TheJenners: Check your butterfly/wild flower mix for milkweed seeds. Milkweed is toxic for horses. I’m planting mine behind the house in an enclosed area where no horse will get to it. I did raise that question here on COTH a number of months ago when I was planning this garden. Some chimed in that it has to be in large amounts. I don’t know the ins and outs of this. So, keep it in mind when you choose your planting spot.
I’m really enjoying the major clearing projects some of you have been doing. When we bought here almost 20 years ago, we basically bought a nice, ranch house that had only been used on weekends. We also bought a dead orchard, some dead perimeter pine trees and a lot of rocks. The entire property is on a slope. We preserved the native trees which are mostly pinyon pine and Joshuas. I had a lot of trees in pots that I’d grown from seedlings. Some are over 20’ now the pines are over 30’. Garden beds are terraces running across the slope to the barn and around the house. To say we have rocks is the understatement of the year. Those rocks form the terraces. I’m going to try some Rock Roses this year. They’re drought tolerant and handle freeze/snow/heat.
Hulk: With your green thumb… I do not get your problem with roses? Course, I can’t grow tulips to save my life.
SmartAlex: “…beat it with a broom and get back to us.” ! Still laughing.
It is on the other side of the property from the barn, and I just had milkweed in some hay. They dropped it and spread it everywhere and didn’t eat it. It does contain “butterfly milkweed” but I’m not too concerned. Thank you though 
Zone 3??? WOW. My best suggestion is to check with Canadian growers. Try calling Palatine Roses and see what they advise. https://palatineroses.com/
I remember seeing something years ago about winterizing roses to survive such cold winters but ???
I found this article: [URL=“https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/gardening-by-zone/zone-3/zone-3-roses.htm”]https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/gar...ne-3-roses.htm
https://www.midwestgardentips.com/selecting-rose-bushes/
http://www.jeffriesnurseries.com/p38-42.pdf
http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/edcomm/pdf/bul/bul0874.pdf
https://savvygardening.com/hardy-roses-for-the-modern-garden/
@Hulk Sorry to be late, but glad your cat is doing better
@SmartAlex I am going to try tubbing carrots this year - a veg I historically suck at.
LOL at the Veggies for Dummies site.
I had a similar experience when I spotted a Pretty Vining Flower on my berm… Right in front of my small pasture… When I looked it up it turned out to be Jimsonweed
I’m in the pacific northwest. Peas will go in in the next couple of weeks, then other cold hardy crops like beets, spinach, chard, ect early April. Everything else in the first couple weeks of May.
Oh awsome, thanks for the links Obsidian Fire. Yep, zone 3. Currently -40C . Mind numbing. I might just have to aquire some hardy rose rootstock and graft myself a variety or two lol. Some of the colors available, oh my:yes:
I was perusing Lehman’s website this morning and came across this: https://www.lehmans.com/product/burlap-bags/
— has anyone done any burlap-sack gardening? They would only last one season, and I can get them at my local feed store… hmmmmm… Was thinking maybe for potatoes. Sure would be convenient if I could grow them, dump the dirt out and store them, right in the same bag… if it didn’t rot too badly. I think onions might work too.
I did end up ordering these: https://www.lehmans.com/product/galvanized-striped-bucket-planters/ — They will just be too darn cute next spring with bulbs placed in them!!!
I have peas that I might get in this weekend, if the rain holds off. I also have all my other seeds to start indoors and I’m just waiting for a little more time to go by… no point in starting them too soon.
Has anyone started their seeds using those Jiffy Peat “pellets” - those round things you add water to, they expand and you put your seed in them? How did they hold up?
Weird, everything I see says spinach etc goes in now?
Because spinach and other greens don’t like the heat. It causes them to ‘bolt’ (go to seed) way too fast. The slower they grow the better they taste.
Yes I speaking to the poster who said she lived in my area but wouldn’t be planting any of those cold weather items until frost had passed.
Yes, the “shuffle hoe” is as similar as it gets to the one I mentioned pages ago. Mine are not straight on the back side though, they angle up in the center a bit. But the action is the same. They are a super tool!
Our “easy” winter has now ended, as in, it’s -27C outside this morning right now. Only about an inch of snow, so the dry winter continues for us, but it was blowing around pretty good a few days ago. The land sleeps until spring here. It’s a good thing, makes us appreciate the seasons. But we will have forest fires next summer here.
I haven’t bought seeds yet, but I have a list of what I need. So that I don’t get distracted at the seed counter, and buy the wrong stuff or forget something.
I seed outdoors, haven’t had much success with starting stuff inside early. But we do try to grow in winter indoors, and have some grow lights and an indoor planter (from Costco). The lights are LED, so cost nothing to run. They are blue and red lights. They also came from Costco.
@Raincityrider - I am in the Willamette Valley too!! @NancyM - I did end up purchasing that hoe from Lehman’s that I posted about. I also bought some small “tin bucket planters” that I’m going to put bulbs in for next year!! 
For grow lights…ahem… I just used plain ol’ white bulb it came with whatever I bought that said “grow light”. I have a friend who also just uses regular fluorescent shop lights and her stuff grows fine too.
This year I am going to start my seeds on a table in front of a south facing window. They won’t get enough sun to be damaged but I’ll have more space for them and they’ll get better quality light than I could provide with the grow light.
Fingers crossed this works out…
I just wanted to update: I put two different spinaches, two different lettuces, and four different slicing tomatoes in my greenhouse, which is inside my garage with lights, seven days ago. So far two spinach seeds germinated, a lettuce, and THREE of the tomatoes. So I’m pretty excited
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I ordered the last of my seeds yesterday. Next weekend I will start germinating broccoli, cauliflower and eggplants. I’m not sure that non-gardeners understand the longing we have for warm soil and baby green leaves
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:yes::yes::yes: Soooooooo agree. I am done and over with winter.
I bought some onion sets at the feed store yesterday! I won’t be ready to plant them for a while, but they can sit in my fridge until I’m ready. Sometimes they run out, so when I saw them there, I snagged some.
I started my broccoli and cauliflower seeds last night. Tonight I might set up my peppers and eggplants. I am also shopping for a multi-tiered grow light system. Right now I can only do two flats at a time. I’m thinking that at this stage it would be fun to do a lot more. Branch out into annual flowers and such
Being the lazybones gardener I am (no seed starting here… all starts :uhoh:) the closest I have come is to finally get my wheelbarrow functional again. Thanks to my neighbor kid who got me a new tire & put it on the rim.
Since Spring does not appear to be happening here anytime soon, the best I can do is start carting stall cleanings to my vegetable plot to compost until we finally get some weather that will let me even think of planting.
Usually my Start date is Mother’s Day, This year I’m thinking Father’s Day 
Maybe I should cheer myself up by starting some peat pots of tomatoes?
