Virginia Gardeners

[shelleybean]

That sounds about perfect to me, roper. And it's a good feeling to actually start growing things instead of just planning to grow them.

[linzelu100]

Planted according to the moon today- onion seed, leeks, TX bluebonnets, Snapdragons.

[linzelu100]

Next week planting peppers, celery, long growing herbs, longer growing annual flowers.

[shelleybean]

Linz, is this pretty close to when you'd normally plant these things or very different? I'm interested to hear how things compare.

[linzelu100]

Well...the months are the same for sure, but I usually plant whenever I have time or am in the mood. Basically this time it was more complicated. There was one really good day for bulbs/roots and one day for flowers/herbs/veggies. So my window of oppurtunity is smaller. But I will see how it goes.

[shelleybean]

Stuck at home because of snow and ice today. I started my tomatoes and basil seed this morning. I hope everything is up before I leave town. I would have waited a week or two but needed to get things going. When I get back from my trip, I'll take my cabbage and cool weather stuff outside to start hardening off and that'll give me room under my lights to start some flowers indoors.

I have SO much okra in the freezer from last summer. I'll begin to make a dent in my stash when I make a big batch of gumbo for Fat Tuesday tonight.

[shelleybean]

We're off to a good start. All the basil is up and even the tomatoes are starting to come up, and it's only been 2 days. Then I look outside at all this snow and ice and it makes me feel kind of silly, but more than that, the little seedlings cheer me up.

[shelleybean]

Wow, it's 9 degrees outside right now, which is a record for us, I believe. The laundry room where I keep the seedlings has dropped to 51 degrees! I'm ready for things to go back to normal now, please!

[JJJessee]

That's cold for the beach! It was -8 here but no wind, so it seemed warmer than the night before's -2 with wind. I think that was the last hard night until 2016.
Fingers crossed.

[linzelu100]

Well...started my pepper seeds, and celery too.

[shelleybean]

I'm praying you're right about the last hard night, Jessee!

What kind of peppers Linz?

[linzelu100]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

I'm praying you're right about the last hard night, Jessee!

What kind of peppers Linz?

ummm hehe I am kinda an addict for growing veg so about 20 kinds.

Doe Hill Golden
Orange Bell
Lipstick
Criolla de cocina
Jimmy Nardello
Yellow Cheese
Red Cheese
Sweet Banana
Boldog
Giant Szedgi
Rezha
Feher Ozon
Red Cayenne
Senise
Jalapeno
Red Peter
and....our favorite....Red Belgian

I grow my own peppers for spices (cayenne spice, chili powder, pepper flakes, paprika powder and then whole dried chilis for spicy dishes), some for pickling, some for roasting and preserving in oil, a lot for fresh eating, and salsa. This year I am trying the cheese peppers for the first time, for the little peppers that get stuffed and pickled. We'll see how that goes.

I also planted my parsley which seems to take forever. lol

[shelleybean]

I've grown the cheese peppers before. I think you'll find Yellow Cheese to be very similar to Doe Hill. Great for stuffing or pickling.

I grow some on your list. This year, I have:

Doe Hill-mostly to use fresh because I don't grow any big bells, I like this for pimento cheese too
Jimmy Nardello-mostly for cooking but I also want to dry some of these for sweet flakes
Rooster Spur-to use dried and also for hot pepper vinegar
Satan's Kiss-a hot cherry for stuffing with fresh mozzarella and also for pickling

And I had to stop there because I used most of that space for tomatoes. And I have only 2 eggplant this year.

[crazyoldgooseman]

I'm in Southern Md and I will start broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, spinach and swiss chard tomorrow. Just about a dozen plants each because some don't seem to do well because I think I normally start too late and they get too hot. This is kind of a experiment because I'm going nuts and need to feel like spring is going to come. I will start my tomatoes around the first of March and give them the cold treatment later so I can plant out around late April early May.

[shelleybean]

I bet the Swiss chard will be less bothered by heat that the other things. Go for it. Seed is cheap. And I completely understand being sick and tired of winter and wanting to get your garden underway, in some way. Here we've had very cool springs the last couple of years. Might as well try it.