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Midwest Gardening Mid-March 2021
Our first blossoms of the new season, Crocus planted last Fall.
Winter was so long here in Chicagoland. We dragged our feet on starting plants this year because of all the late record-breaking February and early March snows.
Finally, the beginning of March using old plastic seed trays lots of seed starter and potting soil we planted peppers, tomatoes, dill,
and lots and lots of flowers and set them up on trays in the kitchen.
First things up were enthusiastic Bachelor buttons and Cosmos. I planted seeds that supposedly had a long gestation time, but in the warmth and sun they popped up right away.
I also save some seeds to plant right into the ground in early May. I'm hoping for some early color and less money spent at the nurserys.
We planted less of everything, just enough for ourselves, friends and family. In the living room, I have a lot going on. On top of the table are a Sweet Potato Vine, two Mandevilla, two tall Dracena and a Rex Begonia, I'm trying to winter over. So far, so good.
Under the table are 3-5" round pots are full of Caladiums, Blue Hosta, and other bulbs. These are on the living room floor. I'll also did a large tote for my elephant ears.
The Blue Hosta, popped up right away, the Caladiums take more time!
This is the first year I have tried to hold big bulbs over. We will see how they look while they are hibernating. (They were very dry.) They have been hiding down next to an exterior wall of the basement, in dry peat moss. We had so much rain in Fall 2020, I was hoping they wouldn't mold.
I planted them in a mixture of potting soil and peat moss...and they are just sitting on the floor in the living room. They will take forever, I'm just hoping for a hint of growth and then I will transfer them to pots. I just don't have room for eight huge pots in the house.
2020 photo of the greenhouse
We plan on starting Pumpkins, Squash, Peas, Beans, Sunflowers, Swiss Chard, and Zinnias, Marigolds, and Sunflowers in the greenhouse as soon as temps average out beginning of April.
2020 photo of the greenhouse
Last year in the greenhouse...we had heaters going so much, we are holding off right now. AND hubby is fine tuning the insulation in the greenhouse. Making it more snug so less electricity will be used for the heater.
2020 photo of our temperature sytem. Yikes sunshine makes it 102???
You can't leave the greenhouse alone without monitoring the temps. We have a Fan and five windows and a door we can open to keep the temperature even!
Hopefully we can move the indoor plants out there, also the peppers and tomatoes after transplanting to larger pots.
So far we are on schedule...nice thing about blogging, I have dates of when I did what, as sometimes I forget to write everything in the log book!
Outside it is very slow to awaken. First we need some rain, promised tomorrow!
And our first budding Daffodil. The Periwinkle groundcover is growing thick everywhere. I split lots of clumps up and planted them all over the mound last year. With the increased sunshine from cutting up the lower branches of our Spruce trees, it is flourishing.
Our little conical bushes did well, we planted last summer, and here are more Daffodils waiting for rain...it is so dry!
This clump of old tulips look a little rough.
And these have been completely eaten. We will be spraying critter deterrent after the rain expected tomorrow. I hope they didn't eat the stems???
The trimmed back Tree Rose of Sharon definitely made seed pods, so we didn't completely kill it in the drastic trim.
last year I bought a mat of succulents, split it up and here they made it through the winter and are sprouting next to the pond! YAY!
More bulbs, I planted about 200 different bulbs, can't wait to see what makes it. These look like IRIS, my favorites.
These are our older Iris, which are quite happy under the dryer overhang of the roof, and getting warmth off the bricks.
Now it's time for me to pick up all the fallen branches, not the leaves and debris, which is homes to bugs, critters and most important bees and other polinators. Leave your winter debris covering as long as you possibly can.
GIVE our planet's Ecosystem a chance to do it's job!
It's a GREEN Thing to DO!!!
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Thank you for your cooperation,
Sandi
