It is still January, but those of us who live in warmer areas may soon start to see signs of spring’s welcome arrival ; so I am starting a new gardening thread for everyone for this year. I just went outside to see if there was any sign of the mint starting to sprout, but it is still totally trashed from the Christmas freeze we had. However……. On further inspection, I noticed that the hyacinth is starting to come up, and then I discovered that we have several daffodils with buds almost ready to open up in the next couple of days. If it does not pour down rain, I will get a picture to post as soon as one starts blossoming.
Good idea Yvonne, and I love daffodils. Probably my favorite flower because they remind me of my childhood. They last a lifetime too or did in Stone Mountain, those had to be over 50 years old.
I had a wake up call this morning There was a pop up ad warning about a food that would kill my memory with a picture. It was an item I knew but could not remember the name! It was a relative of a tomato and the harder I tried to remember what it was the farther away the name seemed to get! Then I looked up Dr Berg's info on alzheimers. He is my go-to guy. But just relaxing, the name came to me. It was a ground cherry. After being sure I had alzheimers, I wondered if the momentary word loss is really just something that happens to old people or.... I wasn't stressed when I first saw the picture. But I sure was after. I think I have brought this up before. I forget the names of common objects sometimes. But I have never lost the name of a common plant! Yikes. As far as gardening goes, we are still going below zero. The weather fluctuates weirdly. Next week we are supposed to be in the 30's and this was the warmest January I can ever remember. (?) But February is a time to start seedlings and I was thinking of trying garlic again. Wonder if they would like a window sill. I have some larkspur seeds and they take too long to bloom for me, starting them outside. So a small planter of those will be in the works.
We are still on the road, but will be home in a few days. I will be starting onions and celery soon after I get home and inspect everything. I have ordered additional lights as I am trying to eliminate as many fluorescents as I can. We are in the January thaw in Alaska now and it is actually warmer there than here in Kansas City. The thaw helps reduce flooding when the weather really warms in the spring. Most of my seeds have already arrived, but I can always find a few more things I want to try.
I hope its not Alzheimer's, because I forget words all the time, it gets on Jakes nerves. I ask him to hand me a pot but can't remember the word, " just tell me what it is you want". By then, he doesn't want to know what I want. 
Good morning to all- Well, it appears that tomorrow will be the day I set out our main crop of brocolli plants that I started a month or so back. the little plants look quite strong. The tomatoes I started last week are up under the grow light and the under planter warming pad. Maters won't go out for another month or more. I'm going to try to grow maters in big planters with totally fresh soil to see if I can raise some that way. We're getting green onions in abundance now, and our salad lettuce is just right for cutting for our use. Spring is coming. you all be safe and keep well- Ed
It's early here to start gardening but I see the buds on my maple tree in front of my kitchen window swelling. The sap is dripping from the holes the woodpeckers drilled. Spring is coming. @Ed Marsh , you can grow a lot of maters in containers. I've done it for many years. I have the containers at the edge of the carport so I can just step outside and pick one when I want it.
This is about bees but we couldn't have gardens without bees, could we? I went out to fill my bird feeders today. The honeybees were on my maple tree eating the sweet sap that runs out of the holes the woodpeckers made.
Very cool, @Shirley Martin. We are still frozen, and no sap is running. We don't have maples here--at least not any that are not coddled into surviving. We have birches that we can tap, but the syrup tastes a bit like molasses so it isn't interchangeable with maple. Our birches will start running next month.
I'm so chuffed about starting the garden beds this year. I have ordered another 2'x4'x1' galvanized raised bed from Amazon so I'll have three of them. My pickling cucumber seedlings are just about ready to transplant; I moved them outside for a few hours today. I'm thinking that I'll start two of the beds around the first of March and then the third around mid-March. I'm mainly planting a couple of varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, some Malabar spinach on a trellis and a couple of bell pepper plants. I may end up putting a few more peppers in pots on the patio. I need to set up a little compost can in my kitchen to toss coffee grounds and vegetable scraps; I have been meaning to do that for a while. All my lettuces and herbs in the Aerogardens are doing well, too. It's nice to have chives, parsley, basil right there for the cutting. We also have to replace every single shrub that we planted last year due to the hard freeze earlier this winter. That is such a bummer because it was just beginning to look nice after the freeze of 2021. Tomorrow we're pulling up all the dead stuff and getting those beds ready for new stuff.
We are going to have to replace every one of our Nandina shrubs that we have had for years. They have always looked so beautiful in the winter months; adding a splash color to the landscape. They did not do well with the harsh cold temps we have had this past winter.
Good afternoon to all- I cut down two orange trees that were winter killed by the Christmas freeze. the other orange trees are doing well and blooming heavily right now. AS far as garden goes, lettuce is great, spinach is better, broccolli is starting to make heads. I planted potatoes yesterday and planted four rows of green beans today. It's spring. I sure hope so. you all be safe and keep well- Ed
I'm was not expecting too much out of the garden this year because of the fire our beds were trampled, shrubs were cut, it's a mess. About two weeks ago a bright spot appeared where I didn't expect it, see below. Crocus appeared
I have spent the past couple of days dragging the galvanized raised beds around the backyard and trying to get them placed where they look OK and get enough sun. We really don't have a lot of open area in the yard, what with the pool and a lot of pavement. Everywhere that seems sunny enough just looks really dumb, and once I get the soil in them they are more or less permanent fixtures. I'm whiney.