Greenhouse at night, broccoli planted out, asparagus appears, indoor tomato shoots, fence repair needed

All my broccoli seedlings are planted out tonight! Warm weather and overcast temps should make them comfortable in the transition.






Tomato seedlings in the basement on the heating mat are up. Planted 7 days ago on April 23.
The same tray left in the greenhouse is not sprouting yet.



Chicken wire is cheap but we should have used hardware cloth mesh. Now I need to add the mesh and fit it in between the posts if I want the fence to look nice from the outside. Ugh.

Macro pruning for the adventurous, last go at strawberries

Last July's micro burst took out more than ten of our oak and hickory trees. This hickory snapped in half and landed on another tree. Not really my favorite sylvan look, and the potentially lethal risk makes the gardening a bit too exciting. Rich and I started more frequently discussing the means of removing it. I was not looking forward to a cherry picker trampling down our soil and the associated price tag, but I could not imagine that this would be easy. Yet, Rich pondered it over the winter and suddenly announced he would remove it today... otherwise known as spontaneous macro pruning for the adventurous!

He donned his climbing harness and trimmed  as many entangled lower branches as possible (above). Then he threw lines over the branches to have a means of tugging it in the right direction. My "favorite" part of the adventure was standing on top of the skid steer holding the ladder while he tried to lasso the tree branch from on top of the ladder- no photo- sorry.

Tree down! Acts of necessary Shiva followed by cleanup- otherwise known around here as "extensive Vishnu."

In between monitoring the progress of huge, heavy things falling exactly where we desire, I planted my last attempt at strawberries. Yes, I am giving up if these get the same botrytis blight (below) that has plagued the ones we so painstakingly protected from the chipmunks.



Rich built the strawberry screen (below in upper left corner) a few years ago, and it keeps out the chipmunks, but not the mold, which is present in the soil. Certain strawberry varieties are less resistant to the mold. Commercial growers keep the plants dry to resist the mold by lining the rows with plastic and using underground irrigation. I put in soaker hoses, but no plastic here. I'll use straw, as is the reason strawberries are called STRAWberries.

I planted new bare root strawberries that are supposed to be resistant to blight. Unlike the former ever-bearing, these are June-bearing. I will then move the screen and rip out the old ones to feed the compost. If the new ones get the blight also, then I'm done with strawberries. I only have 17 raised beds- I will plant and keep what requires no fungicides, herbicides, pesticides.

More on growing strawberries in Wisconsin.

Girdled roots on leaning golden sumac, clematis replant

Last summer's storm dislodged my golden sumac, and the cleanup did not include replanting it in the fall. I was prepared to rip it out this spring and surprised to find it still alive. Not so surprised, however, when I started digging.

The root ball was completely girdled, with the major root semi-circling the stump (above). The roots extend 5-6 feet out. Normally, one would cut off the girdling root, but here that could completely kill the shrub. Since the top of the shrub still looks healthy, I decided to see whether it will last another season. I can always rip it out later, right? I dug under the root ball and extending roots to sink it down a bit, covered with good soil and shredded leaves and watered well.

I also managed to yank up this clematis that I thought was gone and dead, as I had not seen it in the fall (looks like my plants are tougher than my faith in them). The roots of the clematis are an impressive woody orange mass. I had not planted the correct way last year, and the root ball was still in the square shape of the container I purchased the plant in.

I untangled the roots and trimmed the end.

Then I dug the hole and made mound, spreading the roots on either side. I back-filled with the same garden soil, topped with shredded leaves, and watered well.

Rhubarb coming up!

Evening seed sowing last night in the greenhouse!

The greenhouse was in full service last night as I potted up flats for more seed starting.

Daffodils in full bloom in the morning sun

Tomato test, broom hook

I potted up two flats identically planted, this one going into the house, to see how tomato seedlings grow under lights vs in the greenhouse.

As shown here, I planted purple cherry, Pink Brandywine, Chef's Orange, Sungold Cherry, Mortgage Lifter, Martino's Roma, San Marzano 2016, San Marzano 2018, and Wisconsin 55.

Subversive broom hook (above). Wish I could fly around under a full moon instead of just sweep the floor.

Greenhouse ready for seedlings!

The snow has mostly melted, the insects are buzzing, and the greenhouse is ready for plants! Over the weekend, we hung windows and more shelves, sealed up the sink, put up rodent screens, and painted. Temperatures are rising, and the completion of most of the construction allows it to hold heat better. Eventually, this building will be the south side of a larger structure- a combined shed/chicken coop/greenhouse.

Shelves in Greenhouse

Rich built shelves along the south windows tonight.

More April snow

Spring is cold and slow this year with multiple snowfalls keeping the shoots from emerging. Daffodils on the south side of the house, however, are about to bloom, so I ran out to quickly cover them today at noon. I don’t recall an April quite like this before!

Still hoping for blooms this week

Snowy cold frame planting

I couldn’t wait any longer to plant the first cold frame.

Kale and spinach along the back; radishes, dwarf kale and tennis ball lettuce along the front.

Also, Rich continues to work on the interior of our greenhouse.

Orb sculpture for greenhouse- April add photos

Crocus show

April 7 Greenhouse progress

Greenhouse sink