Back to the cold

We spent a week in Florida (again) this past week.  It was unseasonably cool according to the desk clerk, but we weren't complaining. 60's beat our weather by a long shot this past week.  I was just checking the stats while we were gone to see what kind of snow fall we experienced during our absence.  There is still lots of it on the ground even though very little fell in our absence.  Last year  people were mowing the grass as we rolled into town.

Last year's unseasonably warm spring has made us feel somehow entitled to more of it this year.  We paid for the early spring last year with a "seasonable frost" that took out the early buds on the apple trees.  This cost us any abundance of apples for cider and other products that come from the excess crop not sold for straight fresh eating.  I had a good crop of most everything since I was able to irrigate what the drought deprived us of naturally.  Most of this was due to an early start of things in the ground.

I look out on my beds today with large, gentle flakes landing on mostly snow-covered, frozen ground of my raised beds.  I don't think the onions will be getting in this week like I hoped.  I will have to get very creative with my pea planting if they will be seeing soil on Good Friday.  Of this, I am not optimistic.  The only seeding I will be accomplishing this week will be under artificial light.  I want to get the baby cabbages started for early set.  There is lettuce to get set as seedlings before hitting the beds.  Even the south side of the house has some amount of snow cover.  It might be a good time to construct some cold frames with my double walled Lexan and warm the soil up with some solar heating.

I will think on this as I sip the last of the margaritas by the space heater and come up with "Plan B".

Early Spring??

Well the groundhog did not see his shadow in Milwaukee and with the very mild winter we have had, it sure feels like an early spring is in our future.  I will not lay money on this as I have seen snow as late as May 10th in our fair city and it wasn't pretty.  

A walk around the back yard over the weekend held a few surprises.  My garlic started to show some green and the grass has yet to brown out from a good cold snap.  The little bit of snow we have gotten in January melted with the 50's and sunshine we've had since.  It sure feels like spring is on the way with the amount of birds singing like they are setting up nesting territories.  

I really wouldn't mind a cold snap to knock down some of the overwintering insects that may otherwise overwhelm the garden in spring.  We are also far behind the normal precipitation amounts that we usually have.  I am glad that I put evergreen boughs over the evergreen ground covers.  I got the hose out to wash the car and while I was at it, I watered the dwarf Alberta spruce to help it through any chance of winter burn.

I finally motivated myself to get my indoor gardening done tonight.  I had coleus ready for cutting and some potting up of rooted cuttings.  I also did some upgrading of small stuff and divided some plants for spring.  I am going to take some of my stock plants to the sunny windows now as the days are getting longer.  I have a lantana and streptocarpella that will go to work with me so I can enjoy the flowers on the windowsill from my desk.  

It is also time to start fertilizing plants to get the growth moving again.  I tend to starve my plants most of winter to just keep them in a state of suspended animation rather than push new growth.  I use fish emulsion which has a bit of odor to it but I prefer to use less synthetic fertilizers.  I am also going to pick up some kelp fertilizer for another option.

My seed order went out last week after I finalized my list of  items I need verses what I all want.  I plan on doing more annual flowers at home.  I have limited space so some of the seed I selected will be direct sown into the garden to keep plant numbers at a manageable number.  It is time to get a new crop of basil going for my windowsill crop.  I did some dumping tonight and the basil plants went with the aphids that have started reproducing on them.  

Sanitation is important in any growing conditions.  I clean out the dead leaves, cut back where necessary, and rinse out trays as I move plants around and clean pots as I go.  I sweep up around the tables and get rid of the yellow leaves that will end up in the pots soon.  Now you know why I had to motivate myself for the job.  

Once I get going, I lose track of time and soon enough three hours have passed.  There are worse ways to spend my time.  Now that I have cleared my head it is time to put this to rest.  Will we have an early spring?  I won't lay money on it but I will be ready...just in case.