bring the heat

On Sunday, the 5th of February, I did an experimental re-plant - new batch of seeds, same plants.  This time I used a heat mat under them.  Lo and behold, five days later I have two Gerber Daisies and one prairie coneflower seedlings peeking through the soil.  I'm hoping the other seeds germinate soon.  

In the Virgin's Bower pot, one seedling has emerged among the tiny mushrooms.

And the lettuce, OG coneflowers, and Gerber Daisy continue to do well.

 

One more month and I should be able to start my annuals from seed, I'm so excited! 

Addendum to my last post - I discovered that during the cold snap I had inadvertently shut off one of the mini-split duct heads in the main part of the house, which explains why it was so cold inside and why the unit was struggling to keep up.  Live and learn!

brrrrrrrrr!

 

Cold enough for ya?

Mount Washington broke a New England record overnight with a windchill reading of -105*F.  

My mini-split is struggling to keep up.  I set the temperature to 66*F and it's 57*F right now, 6:12 am.  Supposedly by this time tomorrow, we'll finally have a "real feel" of above zero.  I'm waiting for daylight to go check the mules, who must be in agony.  I did my best to prepare; Flea has a blanket and boots on, I have two heat lamps running in the interior stalls, I nailed a quilt across the run out opening, and I banked hay like crazy along the walls.  My frost-free hydrant was frozen solid at 6 pm last night, so who knows when that will thaw.  Thankfully I have the big slop sink downstairs where I can fill 6 gallon jugs and haul them out to the barn.  This is definitely the coldest, most dangerous weather I've ever experienced.  

As for my seeds, still nothing from the original plantings other than the prairie coneflower and Gerber daisy, despite adding a heat mat to the mix.  All four continue to do well.  The Virgin's Bower seeds haven't sprouted, but I have a lovely crop of tiny mushrooms growing in the soil.  Time to give up on these seeds, I suppose.  I picked up some Ziva paperwhites that were on clearance and have been forcing them on the windowsill.  They're very pretty but HOLY STANK.  They smell like cat poo.  I had also grabbed a mixed bag of tulips, daffodils, and allium that I planted into pots and stuck in a corner of the basement.  While rifling through the bargain bulbs I came across one lonely, dried out iris tuber; "Ghost Train".  I'm a sucker for an iris and it's near-black, so of course I took a chance.  Amazingly, after being potted and put under a grow light it's beginning to send up green shoots.  I think I lost my near-black iris "Raven's Girl", so this is a nice replacement.

I also started some cutting lettuce in clamshell containers, as I usually do in late winter.  They're coming along nicely.  Most of my herbs are failing spectacularly.  I don't know why I try every year to winter them over, it's a wasted effort.  I guess when it comes to gardening, hope springs eternal.

...that's not what I had in mind.

 In light of my previous post, Mother Nature responded with a resounding FREEZE HER OUT! battlecry.  We've had bitterly cold temperatures, and our last storm was 8 inches of heavy snow followed by freezing rain.  To add insult to injury, after the blizzard raged all morning, temperatures rose to nearly 40 degrees F by afternoon, then plummeted once again to below zero the next day. 

Although that storm was hell on my snowblower, I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised at how well my mini-split heating system is doing so far.  It seemed like any time I told someone that was going to be my heat source, I was told it wasn't a good choice for the area, and I should really have an alternate heating method to aid in keeping my house warm.  Instead, I soldiered on with my plan and I don't regret it yet.  

One difference with the mini-split vs. a typical forced hot air furnace is that I've learned you don't fool with the settings, unless you plan to be gone for any length of time.  I have 3 of the 4 heads set to 67 degrees, and it's keeping the house comfortable.  The 4th head is in my bedroom, and I have that one turned off.  During the day when the sun heats the upstairs, the units will run maybe every half hour to keep the temperature steady.  At night, they seem to kick on every ten minutes or so, but they're so quiet you don't really notice it.  I do hear the compressor unit turning on and off outside my bedroom wall, but it's not an irritatingly loud noise.  I did find that in the basement the floors are very cold, and working down there all day wasn't comfortable.  I moved my work from home setup to the upstairs, but I still go into the basement den to watch tv at night.  Having a propane heater in the adjoining garage is definitely helping to keep the downstairs warmer, I believe.  I have that set at 48 degrees, which is probably a little warmer than it needs to be.  My propane consumption hasn't been nearly as much as I had anticipated, either.

My electric bill is only a little higher than it was in my big drafty farmhouse during the coldest part of winter.  There, I was heating with a forced hot air furnace (oil), a wood stove (firewood and compressed wood blocks), and electric heaters to take the chill off in certain rooms.  Even though I don't have exact numbers, I'm definitely spending less to heat this house.  Of course, it helps that it's smaller and much better insulated, but it is wide open, too, with a vaulted ceiling in the main living area.  

Would I recommend a mini-split as a main heating source?  Yes, IF your house is well insulated.  For new construction, absolutely.  As an additional source of heat?  Yes, absolutely.  They are built to be energy efficient, and I can't lie; the added benefit of having air conditioning during the summer is a huge plus.  I'm very, very happy with my choice.