Planting Forecasts. Come Talk Gardening!

[texaskaz]

unome...thank you so much! I write a reader garden blog on the chron.com . May I use your name as helping me with this? If so could you tell me what I should use? I am going to write an article about light times and plants. Thanks!

[texaskaz]

http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.ht ... ersonaDest


Here was a recent blog where I also talked about khou!

[unome]

Thanks for asking, just say it was another female weather nerd from Cypress

While looking for a better chart, I happened upon this site: http://www.sunrisesunset.com and was surprised to find there are 3 different versions of "twilight" - civil, nautical and astronomical ? Each is a different "degree" below the horizon. You can also print a monthly calendar there, showing sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset and am/pm twilight times in each day.

Of course Farmer's Almanac also gives you info http://www.almanac.com/astronomy/rise/T ... /2010-07-3 . I didn't find it there in chart form, but I love their site.

Happy Gardening !

[unome]

Thought I would share another gardening link, this site is awesome & has many users/posters from our areas http://davesgarden.com/

As an axample, I searched the "feeze/frost dates" for my zip & it came up with the following from the closest station they have available, which is Conroe:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-fr ... &submit=Go

"Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from November 24 through February 27.
Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from December 17 through February 6.

You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from March 20 through November 1.

Your frost-free growing season is around 270 days."

[texaskaz]

unome...thanks so much! I spend hours just watching how the light falls in my yard.

[kayci]

Off topic. Mosquitoes are terrible right now, my neighbor told me of a fix. Cutter Backyard spray hooks right up to your garden hose, spray it on your lawn, shrubs, etc. THIS STUFF WORKS MIRACLES! I swear by it! It has no smell, and as soon as it dries you can walk in your grass. Was able to sit on my front porch yesterday after dinner to read my book till it got too dark, not one mosquito or bite. The spray lasts approx 3 weeks AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T RAIN. I was told that Lowe's is having a hard time keeping the stuff on the shelves, I couldn't find it at Wal-mart.

[wxman57]

Off topic. Mosquitoes are terrible right now, my neighbor told me of a fix. Cutter Backyard spray hooks right up to your garden hose, spray it on your lawn, shrubs, etc. THIS STUFF WORKS MIRACLES! I swear by it! It has no smell, and as soon as it dries you can walk in your grass. Was able to sit on my front porch yesterday after dinner to read my book till it got too dark, not one mosquito or bite. The spray lasts approx 3 weeks AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T RAIN. I was told that Lowe's is having a hard time keeping the stuff on the shelves, I couldn't find it at Wal-mart.

I keep hearing that but I haven't really seen any mosquitoes this year. They just don't seem to like me. My wife will be slapping away and I don't notice them. Used to go out fishing in the swamps of south Louisiana and we'd be in clouds of mosquitoes so thick you'd breath and they'd fly into your mouth. But they didn't bite me that I'd notice. I wonder why some people seem to be so attractive to them and some, like me, never notice any mosquitoes? I know they've bitten me before, but the bites never raise a welt and they don't itch.

[Mrs.Frosty]

Off topic. Mosquitoes are terrible right now, my neighbor told me of a fix. Cutter Backyard spray hooks right up to your garden hose, spray it on your lawn, shrubs, etc. THIS STUFF WORKS MIRACLES! I swear by it! It has no smell, and as soon as it dries you can walk in your grass. Was able to sit on my front porch yesterday after dinner to read my book till it got too dark, not one mosquito or bite. The spray lasts approx 3 weeks AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T RAIN. I was told that Lowe's is having a hard time keeping the stuff on the shelves, I couldn't find it at Wal-mart.

I keep hearing that but I haven't really seen any mosquitoes this year. They just don't seem to like me. My wife will be slapping away and I don't notice them. Used to go out fishing in the swamps of south Louisiana and we'd be in clouds of mosquitoes so thick you'd breath and they'd fly into your mouth. But they didn't bite me that I'd notice. I wonder why some people seem to be so attractive to them and some, like me, never notice any mosquitoes? I know they've bitten me before, but the bites never raise a welt and they don't itch.

It's because of how you smell and your breath !
Simply by exhaling, humans can attract a mosquito . That's because carbon dioxide happens to be one of those molecules that are so attractive to the mosquito. Mosquitoes use odor to sort attractive people from the unattractive people to find those that are most tasty. A plume of carbon dioxide and odors mix to act like a dinner bell to the mosquito, which lets them know a warm-blooded meal is in the vicinity.
Also , the longer and more you sweat , the more attracted the mosquito's are to you ! If you just took a shower and go outside and sweat then the chances of you getting bit are low but give that sweat some time to develop some bacteria and those skeeters will find you and have you for lunch , or dinner ! I know , i'm one of those that must have something in their breath and sweat that makes them "LOVE" me soooo much !

[unome]

so, who's doing what in their gardens right now - getting ready for Spring?

[texaskaz]

Unome, I spent today cleaning up and getting rid of spent plants,set up a new raised bed and I am also rooting some rose cuttings.

My latest blog on Tomato plants ( what else!?)http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.ht ... ersonaDest

I will be planting some tomato transplants in two weeks I hope!

[texaskaz]

I just wanted to thank everyone here for the days of notice we got with the last cold wave. I was able to plan ahead and get all my sheets and clothes pins ready.. I saved what I hoped to save, and lost what I expected to lose.

[txflagwaver]

Well it was worth all the blankets and boxes and tarps and xmas lights..Didn't lose more than a few leaves off a couple of Creeping Charley and Purple Passion plants...

[txflagwaver]

Found this a year or so ago...great forums...and they have a newsletter you can subscribe to...

http://davesgarden.com/

[jasons2k]

I think I was able to save everything I tried to save - my majesty palms and pygmy date palms.

I do have one Majesty Palm that is smaller than the other three and seemed to be sickly already - that one plant may be history.

[unome]

Jumped into yard work today, I pretty much hacked everything to near the ground, but have done this before & they have come back very nice - most of what I have planted are native flowering shrubs or grasses, I have no palms tho... Does anyone know when/how to divide cannas? I was wondering if I should do that now or wait until next fall? They have multiplied so much & really need to be thinned. Lowered the blade on the mower & got about 6 bags of dead grass off our small yard, now I need to water... wish there was rain in the forecast

[Mrs.Frosty]

Hey everyone,

i have a question:
Is it safe to start planting my veggie plants and seeds outside now or should i wait a bit longer?

[wxman57]

Hey everyone,

i have a question:
Is it safe to start planting my veggie plants and seeds outside now or should i wait a bit longer?

Probably. Even though the latest GFS long-range outlook indicates a possible light freeze across Houston around March 10th-11th, it's the only model indicating such potential. We haven't seen a freeze in March for the past 5 years, and I don't think it's likely we'll see any more freezing temps this coming March.

[Mrs.Frosty]

Thanks wxman57.

Hmmmm...i think i rather wait a few more days and see if this will really pan out or not. With my luck, i plant everything and then it gets too cold for them and everything dies before it even has a chance.

[jasons2k]

I spent all day Saturday and again on Sunday clearing out all the dead and getting things ready for Spring.

I did lose one Majesty Palm. It was sickly anyway. I pulled the crown right off and the center was full of maggots. The other three are OK. Pygmy Dates are OK. All the other palms are Zone 8 and did fine. I cut the Hawaiian Tis back to the ground as they will come back. My bird of paradise looks fine too.

My Hibiscus plants froze to the roots so I pulled them all out of the ground. They take months to regrow and re-flower and they range from $5-$10 at HGC; I don't mind dropping the $100 to put fresh ones out.

Side note - I picked-up Randy Lemmon's book and I started his lawn program. I took care of the Jan-Feb checklist this past weekend. I'm anticipating a beautiful lawn in a couple of months

[wxman57]

Thanks wxman57.

Hmmmm...i think i rather wait a few more days and see if this will really pan out or not. With my luck, i plant everything and then it gets too cold for them and everything dies before it even has a chance.

Depends on what you're planting. Tomatoes, for example, require temperatures of between 59-68 degrees for optimum fruit setting. Wait too long to plant them and the plants won't mature until after average our morning low temperatures get above 70 degrees in May. That would significantly reduce fruit output.

I think we're done with freezes here this winter.