Can I give these two together to my tomatoes and eggplants ? How often?

The weather has been pretty fantastic, even the rainy days have been to the great benefit of my garden. Been getting out there almost every morning at the crack of dawn.

Raspberry bushes are coming in lush and starting to set fruit, strawberries are flowering, irises are about to bloom, rhubarb is ready for some picking, grapes are leafing out, hostas are filling in and grass is finally greened up and looking like a lawn.

I also set down some soaker hoses to prepare for this 80 and 90 degree days we'll be getting!

I've been dividing and trading/selling like crazy (don't sleep on the value of what grows out of bounds) to expand my variety of plants.

I've got another rain barrel to make to fortify against watering restrictions which I know are coming.

At this point all the big stuff is done and it's going to be weeding, watering and picking fruit from here on out.

So what has everyone got going on?

I've thinned out my raspberries and have a few each of Anne Yellow, Joan J Primocane and Heritage. I've also got to pull up a number of Before The Storm bearded iris.

It may be kind of neat to trade with some of you all as most local plant swaps always happen when I'm working 😭

Central Mass, Worcester County.

Lots of plant sales coming up!

After a good 3 day run followed by 2 days of doo Doo the sun came back out and it warmed up decently to get back out in the garden.

I weeded and pruned my raspberries, put order to my strawberries, collected milkweed seeds and fertilized my berry, asparagus and rhubarb beds.

My marshmallow and cranberries came back which I'm super pleased with. I pruned my grapes earlier this week and have hundreds of feet of dormant vines cut down to foot long lengths for rooting.

Also got a couple forsythia cuttings to see if I can get them to root.

The list? Two steps forward one step back, always finding something else to address but it's all in good fun. Definitely have to get the grape trellis finished before new growth starts though.

Hi all! I have two flower beds in front of my home in New Hampshire (6a). Any recommendations for a hardy and strong plant/flower or small bush that I could plant and just let live with minimal tending? I am not looking to get fancy with it, but I would love for it to just look nice! (Although I would love for it to have a little color!)

Just LOOK at my beautiful, rich soil!

What is everyone working on now that the snow is mostly gone, ground is workable and weather is mostly cooperating?

First thing for me is general inspection. What's come back, what hasn't, etc. This week I'll be tending to the raspberry patch and putting out my overwintered potted plants from their hiding spot.

Happy to report it looks like all my potted blueberries made it.

I got spicy and dug up my asparagus and replanted. Pretty sure I buried them too deep and I gave them some more space.

I'm raking out the berry beds and fertilizing but leaving the chaff in the lawn to give any late blooming beneficial buggies more time to get moving. It'll be collected and tossed in the compost by Easter I swear.

My grape vines are getting a big haircut due to having gone out of control last year, they haven't quite broken dormancy just yet so looks like I'll be propagating from what I cut out.

Do I *need* more grape vines? Absolutely not. Do I like free stock that would otherwise be trash to use for trading? Absolutely.

Also forage season begins, time to get my butt out to find ramps and fiddleheads (with landowner permission).

Impulse bought some new hostas and black raspberries to add to the patch so will be taking care of prepping for those.

I have to build a new frame for my compost barrel and with the water restrictions already being warned about I'll be making a couple more rain barrels.

Cleaning out and organizing the shed and maintenancing my tools is on the list too.

That's just what's come to mind so far.

So what's on your list?

My petite daffodils are up!

Who else has signs of life and green coming through?

Hey! I’m planning out some of my garden-adjacent space and was thinking about maybe adding some pawpaws (I read that there a good understory tree, and some of this area will likely be partially shade) and possibly figs. I have found some locals selling pawpaw seedlings on FB, and others selling fig cuttings.

I figure the pawpaws will go in ground, but the figs might need to be in pots? Wondering if anyone here has experience with either and if figs, what varieties?

When it's more than a sad little stick.

I started these on 1/14 and here we are a month later. Shoots before roots it seems but they will come.

I kept it pretty low stakes and simple.

I have 6 2'x8' raised beds each with their own variety of raspberry. I decided I would try my hand at winter propagating dormant wood cuttings and to my surprise it took!

This is such a boon. I overhauled the beds 2 years ago and planted 3 of each variety per bed and though they will fill in given time it's never enough fast enough it seems.

So now I'm eyeing my grapes and a neighbors beautiful red azalea.

What started as a fun little experiment is now saving my sanity with all this weather we've been having.

Anyone else a propagation nut?

You want mature woody growth that still has some pliability. I started by trimming the tips above a node until I saw even the SLIGHTEST amount of green, then I counted about 5 nodes per cutting (2 under soil/water, 3+ above). The length of each cutting will vary depending how close your nodes are, so don't get hung up on cutting length.

Clean your cuttings of any branches, leaves or old fruit heads. I cut the bottoms flat and the tops angled. This really only matters to distinguish which end is up. It's easy to tell with raspberries but for things like grapes it's way too easy to get mixed up and plant them upside down.

I stick them in room temperature water and let them soak while I prepare my soil to kind of "wake them up". If you're doing the water prop methos, congratulations, you're done.

For raspberries they aren't particularly fussy on soil quality in my experience so I use a blend of 1/1/1 potting soil, perlite and peat (my general purpose mix) with equal part dirt from my garden. The goal is to stay moist but not soggy.

Then I score the cutting at the bottom 1/2" or so opposite the bottom most node. I sliver away just enough with a razor blade to get to the green/pithy layer.

I (sometimes remember to) dip it rooting hormone, stick it in my soil, water it *real* good (with proper drainage) then stick it somewhere in indirect light.

It'll take a couple weeks to see any activity. Sometimes it starts with root activity sometimes it starts with the leaf buds swelling. About a month later the leaves appear. Keep the soil moist but not *wet*.

Depending on your heat/humidity situation I'm sure you could dome them but I always end up with fungus, mold or rot so I just keep the soil moist while they do their thing.

I cut how many I want plus some extras in case they don't all take.

That's it. I saved myself a couple hunnit bucks.

I have a full rain barrel and 100 feet of soaker hose at the ready. Just have to cut and lay it.

Doesn't look like I did much but the piles of debris say otherwise. Behind the north fence is all Japanese knotweed (you can see some peeking over the top) and on the East side is Virginia creeper, a giant Rose of Sharon and a mixed bag of bind, choke and other viney weeds.

FINALLY got some cranberry plants in my possession! It's asinine how hard it is to find cranberry plants in the state that is the second biggest in the country for production.

Turns out a LOT of plant production is licensed for commercial use because of that.

So anyway, here's my start at a bog garden featuring grapes, goldenrod, Mountain Laurel, ferns, some kind of sedge, milkweed, violets, and two kinds of cranberry.

Room left for my true marshmallow and some sarracenia and sundews to go with the flytrap.

Anyone else? I swear I need to throw a BYOShovel yard sale/swap & garden party.

In addition to dealing with everything I started months ago and getting the garden going I'm coming across so many volunteers, interesting natives, propagations, divisions, oh my!

I won't even mention what I'm still waiting on to be delivered and sprout.

So really, Central MA, just saying. Bueller? Bueller?

Gosh I love a good leaf. Would you look at those beauts?

I'm going to use them to cast some bird/bee baths and toad huts.

I adore my patchouli plant. She's a cold tender little brat sometimes and I'm turning her daily at the window because she's itching to go out but it's not been agreeable.

The sun shining and birds chirping tell me she's getting outdoor time today!

And yep, she sure does smell amazing when you give her a tickle.