You Have Black Soil?

Black soil is a type of soil that is rich in organic matter, clay, and iron. It is also known as black earth, black loam, or chernozem. Black soil is good for growing crops such as wheat, cotton, sugarcane, and vegetables. However, black soil can also be heavy, sticky, and prone to waterlogging. Therefore, it may need some amendments to improve its drainage, aeration, and fertility1 One way to amend black soil is to add a garden mix that contains ingredients such as sphagnum peat moss, perlite, coir, gypsum, limestone, wetting agent, and mycorrhizae. These ingredients can help loosen the soil, increase its water retention and porosity, adjust its pH, and enhance its microbial activity. A garden mix that contains these ingredients is the PRO-MIX Organic Garden Mix, which you can find more information about on its website2

Lemon Tree Blooms

 

Since the weather temps have turned cold, I brought my lemon and lime trees in to protect them.  As you can see the Lemon tree has sprouted blooms.

 

This one opened first and I can't wait to see if it will set fruit and support it.  It had many fruit set back in the summer, but a bad hail storm came along and knocked them all off.  So, since this time they are protected inside, maybe I'll get a few lemons before long.

Freeze

It's looking to have a freeze tonight in our local areas......so, I brought many of my plants inside, to protect them.........the others are covered, or under the front porch.  I hope that's good enough to keep them from freezing! :)

Rain

It's been horrible for 2 weeks and today, it's been raining all day long.  They say that it will turn to sleet or snow by this evening and through tomorrow.  The ground is saturated and water standing in the low places.  It's a mess, but the lakes need it, so I guess I'll stop complaining.  The wet cold goes right through my old bones and keeps me cold all the time.  Sure am ready for "Spring"!

Sleet

  

I saw a robin yesterday evening, so I know it won't be long until spring arrives.  Until then, we will just have to maintain and survive until the fun times begin.  Right now all most people can do is "hunker down" and ride out the bad weather.

Spring Blooms

 

Well, what do you think?  These spring flowers are blooming and the temps are real nice, they are always the first one's to bloom.  The ground hog predicted that we would have an six more weeks of winter.........so, now it's a wait and see.

Winter/Spring?

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.........and the temps are creeping up into the 60's, so that means we are in for some nice weather.  The problem is that we will have some more freezing weather and the trees and spring plants will be confused and get frost bitten.  I guess there will be a problem finding good fruit again this year at the stores.

Trees Blooming

 This is the old elm tree in the front yard and as you can see it's putting out it blooms.  The other trees are doing the same with the warm weather we've been having.  The blooms are plentiful,  which will turn into seeds that it will drop and cause many new seedlings to pop up in my yard.  These are a problem, because I have to keep cutting them back when they get too big.  The flower beds are full of them and it's a constant battle each year.

Peaches

 

This was one of my peach trees, last year.  Our weather has been volatile this year, with warm and then cold spells, back and forth.  The trees have already started to bud for the coming spring and now we have another freezing cold front happening.  I'm afraid what will become of this year's crops with all this weather fluctuation.  The spring plants are subject to this problem, as well!

Temps

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.........and the temps are creeping up into the 60's, so that means we are in for some nice weather.  The problem is that we will have some more freezing weather and the trees and spring plants will be confused and get frost bitten.  I guess there will be a problem finding good fruit again this year at the stores.

Spring?

Ok, enough of this cold crap!  The ground hog hasn't even seen his shadow yet, and we're still freezing our butts off!  I get tired of the cold weather, cause most of the time it's a wet cold and that cuts right through my bones.  It would be nice to have spring, year round!

Winter

The weathermen, are predicting some freezing rain, and possible snow this week.  I have large trees which are old and tend to break easily.  This is a scary situation for me, since there is a large tree hanging over the front of my house and the power lines.  This happened last year and the people next door were without power for a week until they could get the big tree cut off the house and reconnect the power lines.  I sure hope the weather doesn't become too bad and cause all this damage again this year.

Fall Plants

You know the one's you want to plant by the time, the end of summer arrives.  The advocate planting next year's garlic, during this time and really if you have a good area to put it, then you can enjoy fresh garlic every year to cook with.  I even like to take a few leaves and put them on the grill when cooking outside.  Helps to season the meat you have on the grill.
I've grown lettuce, radishes and some greens during the fall.  The problem I had was making sure to buy enough seeds during the spring, to have to plant later.  It's not a seasonal thing to have lettuce, radish and mustard green seeds in your local stores.  So, you need to buy ahead for the fall planting.  Reaping the rewards later is always a good thing.

My Yard

Freeze

Evidence of the latest freeze here in our local area.  It took it's toll on the new growth, that has been popping out since the warm weather days.

Still Here

Two days after it snowed, the cold temps kept the snow on the ground.  As of yesterday the temps warmed a bit and melted some of the snow.  Today, they predict that we will be in the 50's, and this will be welcomed.

Snow

This picture was taken around 12:30pm today, and it was still snowing.  I found that when I got on the street to go to the post office, that there were some slick spots already.

Limbs

 

Recently I posted this picture and several others of how the ice storm treated our trees.  Well, as you can see the people next door and all up and down the street, made sure to get their down tree limbs out to the curb.  Yesterday, the crews who remove the limbs that are on the curb removed them.  Needless, to say, my limbs were not our there because a certain person has been too tired to do the job.  Mine still lay in the yard after all this time and I'm not in the mood to hound him about it.

Get It Ready

Most gardeners, know that the soil has a certain time to be worked.  It takes getting the soil turned over and start on a fresh new planting season for the coming spring.  When turning over your garden soil, you will want to use a good tiller.  This will give the ground a good loosening and get other items worked into it.  You will want to start feeding your garden early, so by the time you are ready to plant, the fertilizers won't be too strong and burn the tender plants.  It's almost planting season, so if you haven't gotten your soil ready, now is the time to start.

It's Raining

Yesterday, it was nice and balmy here in our local area.  We went around in shirt sleeves and enjoyed the nice weather.  Today, it's turned colder and raining.  Naturally, that makes it uncomfortable to people who are "cold natured" like I am.  When the cold is a wet cold, it seems to cut right through my bones.  I would much rather have warm sunny days, than this stuff.  I realize that we need to rain for our lakes to fill up and help with the drought in our State.  So, I put up with this weather, but I'm not liking it.