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Before the Last Frost (1 Week!)
I’ve looked at the 10 day forecast and don’t see any freezing weather ahead. Here in Raleigh (Zone 7b), we are finally down to one week until our average last frost date. Today is actually Good Friday, which sometimes falls after this date. It looks like we still may have a an evening or two in the 30s, so I will wait to plant the peppers since exposure to cooler temps can impact fruiting later in the season. I moved out herbs, pumpkins and watermelons. The herbs are all hardy, and pumpkins and watermelons are so easy to seed outside, I’ll just drop in more seed if these starts don’t…
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Before the Last Frost (2 Weeks)
We have only two more weeks before the statistical last frost date! In previous years I had put out tomato plants by this time and was desperately attempting to protect them from frost by either covering them or digging them back up. I didn’t make that mistake this year, thankfully as we are in a spell of night temps below freezing. There was ice in the bird fountain this morning. Instead of putting out spring and summer veggies, I’ve tried to fill open spots in the seed trays where veggies didn’t germinate as well as re-potting the tomatillos and watermelon sprouts. Garden Edits I’ve also been busy moving trees and…
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Before the Last Frost (3 weeks)
We finally got our spring weather back after a cold week, and I went overboard digging in the yard. I’ve found that in our fenced vegetable garden, there just isn’t enough room to grow melons. I’ve noticed that the neighbors who successfully have grown them have long vines that trail out. For several summers, my vines have not grown long and the leaves have been dwarfed. I’m hoping this new sunny patch will do well. I went ahead and planted a row of purple and red potatoes from Trader Joe’s that were growing soft and starting to grow leaves on my counter top, and I will come back with pumpkin…
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Before the Last Frost (4 weeks)
There are 4 weeks left before our statistical last frost here in Raleigh, NC, which is zone 7b. I have trays of tomato and pepper sprouts that could use some liquid fertilizer. In another week they may need larger pots. Looking ahead at the weather forecast, there are still plenty of chilly nights so I’m not risking transplanting sprouts outside yet. It feels like winter has returned in Raleigh, so I was lucky to have that warm week to get some dormant perennials in the ground when I did. After last week’s perennial planting, my arms are covered in poison ivy. Originally I thought I had been scratched up by…
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Before the Last Frost (7 Weeks)
This week we are talking about cold frames. A cold frame is similar to a greenhouse, except that it is only used in the cold season to help tender seedlings grow before optimum climate conditions by trapping in heat overnight. A cold frame is not climate controlled. My previous “greenhouse” was really just a large cold frame. Here is a great article explaining the two: The Differences Between a Greenhouse and a Cold Frame Our old cold frame Do you have a cold frame? I don’t currently have one, but I just ran buy Habitat Restore and picked up 6 windows for $4 each so I could put something together this…
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Before the Last Frost (8 Weeks)
Here in Raleigh, we are about 8 weeks ahead of the last killing frost of the season. Last weekend was so cold and frozen that I did no soil prep until yesterday when I picked up some bags of soil on clearance at Walmart. I don’t often have to add new soil to the garden because we compost a good amount of the old plants, but anytime there are tomato vines suspected of disease, the go down to the curb for yard waste pickup. As soon as the pile of composted chicken bedding starts to break down, there will be some great “free” stuff for us. This weekend is forecast…
