Well now. February blew in with some snow. How much? So far this month, it's this much.
That's my old bathtub under all that mess!
The nice thing has been that each storm was fairly manageable; between 3 - 6 inches of snow, and most of the time very light, fluffy stuff. That's because it's been freaking FREEZING this winter. The last storm could have been worse; they were calling for 6-8 inches of snow followed by sleet and freezing rain. Luckily, we avoided the freezing rain and ended up with about 2 inches of granular sleet on top of about 8 inches of snow, packing it down to about 6 inches of dense mess. Unluckily, the storm left us with 40-60 MPH wind gusts, which made cleanup...interesting.
While my brush cutting project has been waylaid, I have been hauling manure to the mound surrounding the wildflower meadow. Now I'm committed to that project because I don't want a stinky layer of manure outside my back door all summer. Planting the corn out back frees up the cinder block bed for something different, and I'm thinking of planting my onions and carrots there this year, as these are companion plants. Companion planting the right plants together can help deter pests and boost growth; in some cases the plants each rely on a different nutrient that the other produces or doesn't leech from the soil. Mixing in certain herbs or flowers with vegetables can work as well as mixing different crops together.
Inside, I've started some leeks from seeds I harvested from the plants that went over last year. I had about a 50% germination rate, so I'm happy! We don't use a lot of leeks, so growing just a dozen or more plants will give us the small harvest we want, and will free up one or two beds.
The mescluns and arugula continue to grow, but not by leaps and bounds as it would outside.
The lower container of spicy mesclun mix was already harvested once, so that's regrowth.
I also pulled the 60 day stratified seeds out of the fridge to sow. To my dismay, most of my packages had begun to develop mold. A quick trip down an internet rabbit hole has convinced me to not use the paper towel plastic bag method next year. Apparently mold is all too common. Some people have noted they've planted the moldy seeds and had decent germination, and others recommended a quick bath in watered down bleach (10:1), which is what I did for the worst affected. I sowed most of the seeds in the flimsy black plastic seed starting trays I normally use...you know, the ones that break apart when you try to remove the seedlings.
I was too impatient to wait for the newer models I'd ordered.
I'm excited to try these - they're hard plastic top and bottom, with a flexible silicone center. In theory you should be able to push on the hard bottom and pop the seedlings out without damaging the tray. These are also dishwasher safe, so no excuses for not sterilizing them! I bought them on Amazon, of course, and they come in a package of six trays that fit perfectly into a standard bottom tray. These are the smallest version, and I'm thinking if they work as well as advertised, I may invest in some larger squared ones for potting up when seedlings are ready.
And what method do I think I'll try next year instead of the paper towel/bag? Outdoor winter sowing. I just need to find someone who drinks milk to give me the plastic jugs!
No comments:
Post a Comment