Friday, February 19, 2010

A Mixed Bag

As I write this today, I am torn. Yes, the weather is looking good (finally) for the next few days. I see upper 30's to mid 40's for lows at least the next five nights. Our highs will be in the 60's almost 70 by Sunday. SO, with all that good news, I decided to pull a good many of the Citrus out of the greenhouse to get some sunshine and fresh air. I am pretty sure I heard a couple sigh and at least one yell YIPEE!
They have been cooped up in my tiny little greenhouse for months suffering.
Now, the torn part. I can finally get INTO my greenhouse and the news is not good on the western front. I have sustained some pretty heavy losses this Winter. There are things that have made it in the past, but now are looking pretty deceased. I am not real sure about my Papayas. They have always done well. My two Cashew trees have no green on the trunk, I fear they are gone. There are a few other misc. things. I will wait until it warms up completely before I discard anything. Plants can be pretty resilient, they may surprise me. My wife and I stuck a whole bunch of Mexican Petunia last fall to sell this Spring. I think I have lost half of it. We stuck something like 400 cuttings, I think we will be okay.
The things that look good though, LOOK GOOD! The Citrus that were in there are a little worn and bug infested, But beautifully green! I will fix some of the bug issues this weekend. I have a Strawberry Guava that has some flowers on it. The regular Guava looks as good as the day it went in. I have some weeding to do in there, but they look good, okay that's not a good thing.
The Macadamia tree looks a little tired, I think he is probably just a little hungry. Overall, I think I lost maybe about 25% of the plants I had in the greenhouse this Winter. As cold as this Winter was, that may be a really good average. Some of you are saying, My gosh 25% is a lot! When you figure I had something like 600 plants in there or more, it's not as bad. I hope Winter is pretty much over, I fear it's not, but we will see.
As Spring approaches and I am keeping an eye on all my seedlings emerging. My Camellias and Quince hopefully taking root and my Camellia graft (first attempt) take hold. I keep thinking that it will be okay. It will warm up, the yard will dry out (eventually) and the sun will continue to shine. I soon will be harvesting Cucumbers by the truck load, watching the bees buzz around the Citrus blossoms and wondering if I should mow this weekend or not.
Spring is a renewal and all will become green again. Except my Cashew trees, I am pretty sure they are toast.
If you are having nice weather this weekend, go out and enjoy it.....we deserve it!
Happy Growing!
Darren

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