Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[21hens-incharge]

Oh yes. Dreaming, scheming, and sneaking a few seeds into some indoor pots.
This year marks year 1 of the big garden (25X25 ft) being ready to go. 8 ft fencing all around.

the hugulkultur beds need mulched back up, the raspberry canes need pruned and trained, and I need to start prepping the herb garden. bleh. it's grey and dreary outside.

I'm challenging myself to wait until mid to late February to start the slow growers like tomatoes and peppers. Last year I started too early and then everything died off in a cold spell that hit us mid April.
patience is hard. lol. I'm off to ogle the beauties at tomatofest.com

What gardening zone are you in?
What seeds are you sneaking into pots?


We are dreary this morning but expect nice warm temps today and tomorrow. Then back to lows below zero.

 

[LaidWithLove]

I am in 6- technically 6a. Mid Ohio here! we have had a suspiciously mild winter. I am hoping my fruit plants are okay.. very few chill hours.
Seeds wise I just had basil sprout on my windowsill in the kitchen. I have vervain seeds stratifying in the fridge for a couple weeks.. then they will pop into large containers. maybe the ground. it's my first time with them and I want to see how hardy they are. cursed clay soil..
tomorrow I will do some chamomile, ashwagandha, and maybe a couple others. my brain is fuzzy at the moment on what all needs going. The astragalus seeds will go in the fridge since they need 3 weeks to stratify then they should germinate pretty good. I may throw in a couple apple seeds to try again. they did well the first time I tried, until a certain hen tromped up to the patio and attacked them the minute I had them out for sunshine. grrr.
this is my first round of starting the finicky seeds. that way I have time to redo them if they don't go. chamomile and I are sworn enemies.
at least the overwintered plants have done ok. for the first time in like 4 years I have kept rosemary alive. the thyme miiiight be hanging in there.. barely. need to sun it tomorrow when it's nice and mild.
supposed to be 50 here?!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

These may not be what you are looking for, but they seem pretty hardy and cold tolerant. Very small berries. Seems to have established pretty well. We were picking berries up to frost.

Started as seed. Some popped up in about 14 days, some took about 30 days to germinate. We did place the seed packet in the fridge for about 1 month before starting them bc others on the Burpee site indicated they had better germination success that way. We had 60% or better germination.
View attachment 2016020


Here they are this winter (the ones with many green leaves). They are in our unheated garage, and getting some indirect sunlight from the window in the door. The strawberries with few leaves are a more typical type that produce a June crop.
View attachment 2016021


Here they are outside, in a pot on the deck. They have stayed outside all winter so far.
View attachment 2016024

A berry and flower
View attachment 2016025

Last summer in a mixed pot of plants on the deck.
View attachment 2016026

They look like a wild strawberry?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Oh yes. Dreaming, scheming, and sneaking a few seeds into some indoor pots.
This year marks year 1 of the big garden (25X25 ft) being ready to go. 8 ft fencing all around.

the hugulkultur beds need mulched back up, the raspberry canes need pruned and trained, and I need to start prepping the herb garden. bleh. it's grey and dreary outside.

I'm challenging myself to wait until mid to late February to start the slow growers like tomatoes and peppers. Last year I started too early and then everything died off in a cold spell that hit us mid April.
patience is hard. lol. I'm off to ogle the beauties at tomatofest.com

I can't start my tomatoes until mid to late April. Do you have any favorite varieties? I have become a huge fan of Aunt Ruby's German green. I really do start drooling thinking about it.

 

[twendt]

I live in a burb outside of Milwaukee, I cannot name it because I'm not supposed to have chickens... this is where my girls live.

 

[twendt]

I have a 15yr old Wisteria vine on my garden fence, blooms like crazy every June, I just prune it back to keep it from over running my garden. On the left is Red Prince Weigela they get 6-10 ft high. Supposed to get to 45'F tomorrow!! and Sunny!! YAY, so sick of the clouds.....

 

[Acre4Me]

They look like a wild strawberry?

seed packet says French variety and it is runnerless. Can grow as annual or perennial (per seed packet).

 

[Acre4Me]

those look very similar to one of the varieties I put in!
I bought a 75 pk from Stark Bros during their sale. I mean, 75 plants for like 20 dollars? SCORE!
That said, I may have underestimated the power of those runners. Up till July I kept everything snipped away.. then the tomatoes went wild and I couldn't get to them. so now I have an absolute strawberry jungle out there.

These are pretty tiny, but packet of seeds says they are runner-less. I had to start these from seeds.

$20 for 75 plants is great!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I live in a burb outside of Milwaukee, I cannot name it because I'm not supposed to have chickens... this is where my girls live.View attachment 2016097

That's gorgeous, and good hiding of your birds.

 

[LaidWithLove]

Mignonette is a French variety but falls under the Alpine category which is close to wild strawberry! I'm proud I saw it was an Alpine before I had to google the variety name. They sound like an amazing groundcover!