What to do while it's melting

Things are beginning to melt!  The snow pack right now in the pasture measures 12 inches, down from 17 inches last week.  I can just make out the shapes of my raised beds in the hill garden, and my water feature is marked by a divot in the snow.  Under the mulberry tree, daffodils are beginning to poke through the soil.

 

 

The second sowing of impatiens is going well with about 95% germination.  The chili plants are hanging in there, but one variety still has very puckered leaves.  I've been battling fungus gnats and white flies for a few months now, and it's making me crazy.  No more over-wintering herbs from the garden.

I've mentioned that I am fascinated by the practice of planting bulbs in pots and overwintering them.  I have two sets of pots planted - one stored in the shed that I cannot get to right now thanks to the snow, and one set stored in the basement.  The ones in the basement were tucked in a dark corner on the cement floor.  My basement is heated and I keep it at 48F through the winter, which may have worked against me.  The allium in the pots started sprouting about a month ago, which was much too soon to put the pots outside.  I had to bring them upstairs into the house and on warm days I do set them out.  I have a feeling the allium won't bloom because it's really thin and leggy and just doesn't seem robust enough, but time will tell.  The daffodils and tulips planted with them are just starting to poke through the soil.  I'm going to consider this set a mostly failed experiment as I think the basement is just too warm for overwintering bulbs.  I'm eager to see what's going on in the bigger pots out in my shed, which I should be able to get to soon.

Another plant I overwintered in the basement was my lemongrass.  I took it upstairs about a week ago when I noticed a thick white fungus growing near the base of it.  I think I may have over-watered the last time, which may have caused this.  I scraped the fungus/mold off the plant, set it in the sun for a few hours, then chopped the leaves back even more and brought it inside.  In the entire clump, there are about 3 leaves that have some green showing.  This may also be a failed experiment, but we'll see.

 The south-facing front of the house is well thawed, and the bulbs I planted last fall are already growing like crazy.  

My little Witch Hazel spent most of the winter plowed under a snow bank, but it's poked through now and is trying its level best to show off some spring blooms.

And my ginger plants are coming along. 

The little fox has been back quite a few times and did manage to catch a grey squirrel.

The lone Tom turkey has been joined by four comely hens.

And a single raven has been trying to steal the crow food.  There have been a few airborne battles, which are spectacular to watch, but I feel sorry for the big raven.  He does manage to get a few bits of kibble now and again.  He's heavier than the crows and keeps sinking into the snow, so he'll propel himself upward with a few flaps of his wings and settle back down.

 

Soon that ocean of white will be a sea of green...I'm looking forward to it.

Spring!

The vernal equinox is upon us, get out your shorts!

Or not...last I checked we still had 23 inches of snowpack, but the March sun is definitely melting it every day.  So...welcome, mud season.  

Somehow my plow guy managed to miss half of my driveway, so I've had to drive on what is essentially lawn, and it hasn't been fun.  My driveway is to the right, under that solid berm of snow.

I've had to close the driveway and only drive on it when it's frozen, first thing in the morning.  Yesterday I managed to attack it with my snowblower and opened up another two feet.  I only blew two shear pins, which was amazing.  Thankfully I learned quickly that with gravel driveways, you'd better have a big ol' bag of shear pins on hand.  

The red winged blackbirds are back, and it's so nice to hear their music.  I've actually seen two turkey vultures in the past few weeks, which is super early for them.  I wonder if they know something we don't.  Judging from the last storm we had, spring doesn't feel like it's nigh.

Five days later and that pile against the barn has melted enough that the hay room window is almost completely visible, and at the front of the house my little garden is nearly melted.  There are hyacinth and tulips poking up through the soil, despite the cold.

We've also been visited by a fox, which has been very exciting.  It's hunting the squirrels that congregate in the pasture, where I feed the crows.  Since part of the crow food is soaked cat kibble, the fox has helped itself to that, too.  

And as for the crows, they seem to have recruited a third member to their murder.

There's plenty to go around, so it's all good.

March-ing

 One more big storm, though not as big or as fierce as expected.  Officially, 10" of new snow fell.  Heavy, wet, sticky snowment.  Even the snowblower didn't like it, and I've been coating it with a special non-stick spray prior to each storm.  It's going to be a while yet before I get into my gardens.

At least it was a beautiful start to the morning, and the next week or so look like we'll have above average temperatures; high thirties to mid forties.  The snow will settle and the plowed areas will thaw again, and it'll be Mud City USA for a while. That's fine, because in the house things are beginning to happen.  The impatien, eryngium, and pepper seeds I sowed last weekend are sprouting.  Spring is coming, albeit slowly. 😊

It's winter again!

 So cold, so snowy.  Well, it is February and this is what we should expect.  We'd been lulled into a spring mindset with a week of above average temperatures and now we're back to reality.

I've sown my peppers; NuMex Lemon Spice jalapeño, habanero, and Hungarian Hot Wax.  In another tray I've sown impatiens and eryngium (sea holly).  From my second sowing of my own collected seeds, the only ones that germinated were a couple more Gerber daisies, and a few more prairie coneflowers.  BUT...I'm up to five Virgin's Bower seedlings, which is amazing.

 I'm also dealing with an infestation of white flies, which is incredibly frustrating.  I'm hitting them daily with soapy water, but it's not working to full effect.  I think next year I won't bring any herbs back into the house for the winter.  It's either fungus gnats or white flies or improper conditions, so time to give up on those.

I did take advantage of the snow cover to clean up some pine boughs from the mule track and burn them.  I hate burning brush more than anything, but I'll admit it feels good to know that chore is done and I won't need to do a major cleanup when spring gets here.

I finished my needle felted rabbit, too.  My specialty needles and whisker material finally arrived from the UK, just in time. 

For my first project, I'm very happy with how everything turned out.  I'm now working on an Easter garland. 

The birds are really coming into the feeders en masse lately.  The cardinals are getting really bold, showing during daylight hours as well as dusk and dawn. 

And one of the male goldfinch has decided he's had enough of his drab winter garb and put his spring finery on for the ladies to admire.

I know them feels, little guy.  I wish spring would hurry up and get here, too.

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.

Random Updates

20 days in and only four prairie coneflower seeds germinated, but they are doing well.  3 of the 4 now have their first set of true leaves, and one is about a week behind the rest. Only one of the Gerber Daisy seeds has germinated, and none of the Rudbeckia or Blue Mist Spirea.  

 

 

 

I suspect if I had a heat mat it might make a difference; for now I've lifted the seed tray using books to get it as close to the grow lamps as possible.  I'm going to dig out another seed tray and repeat the plantings on Feb. 1st, investing in a heat mat for this round, and see if I get better germination.  I'm happy enough with three healthy prairie coneflowers; I paid $15 for the three plants I collected the seeds from that I planted in my new garden last fall, so I've doubled my investment in less than a year...if I can get these seedlings to survive until June, when they can be planted out.

 

In early autumn I had spied a Virgin's Bower vine in seed near a telephone pole, and I stopped to grab some of those seeds a few weeks ago.  I'll try germinating them, and if they take they'll be planted in my woodland garden.  There's another giant project on my plate - I really need to get in there and start cleaning up that area.

 

I've been working on my needle felting project a little at a time.  It no longer looks like some kind of Island of Dr. Moreau cast-off and is more bunny-ish.  

 I was at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed at this point.  My intention was to make a realistic looking rabbit, but it became more and more toy rabbit looking.  I decided to go with the more whimsical toy look and gave him exaggerated back feet.  Then I couldn't figure out what to do with his front feet.  I had planned to do a standing rabbit, and in that case they hold their front paws to their chest, hanging down in front.  No matter how I positioned him, he just didn't look right.  In the end I needle felted a carrot for him to clutch.

I'm waiting for some new specialty needles to arrive from the UK.  I'm hoping to make him look a bit more finished before I declare him officially completed.  He'll be part of the Easter display I'm making for my mother, along with the felted eggs I've done.  I have to say, it's an addictive hobby and I'm really enjoying it.

Meet the new year, same as the old year.

 Three days in and that's how it feels.  How is it that on December 31st one is so filled with optimism and hope, and just days later the realization hits that nothing has changed and all hope is lost.  OK, maybe not lost.  Derailed?  At least we were treated to a stunning sunrise to end the year.

To lift the grey veil of winter depression, I wandered out to my little hillside garden (that's what I'm going to call the newly fenced vegetable/perennial holding bed area) to see what was happening.  To my surprise, I found my hellebore proudly showing off a few swollen flower buds.

There were traces of green in many of the beds; English daisy, veronica, yarrow, foxglove...all had decided to respond to the abundant daylight and warm temperatures.  Things look to be headed back to more seasonable temperatures, so I hope these plants aren't too bothered by that.  I can thank my mother for drilling into my head that hardy perennials are your best bet, and be sure they're appropriate for your USDA plant hardiness zone.  Despite being upgraded to Zone 5 (thanks, climate change) she'll still insist we're Zone 4 and any plant you have that isn't hardy for that zone, well, you're taking a chance.

After packing away the Christmas decorations and folding up the fake tree, I decided to bring up the seed starting shelves.  I couldn't bear to have them sit there empty, so I sowed a small tray of Gerber Daisies, Blue Mist Spirea, Rudbeckia, and Prairie Coneflower.  All of these were seeds I had collected, so I just want to know if they'll germinate.  I won't start anything else.  I need to keep repeating that to myself, otherwise I'll have six foot tall tomato plants on my dining room table come April.  😏

I've also started a new hobby, needle felting.  So far I've stabbed every one of my fingers and have some questionable looking Easter eggs to show for my efforts.  We won't talk about the Easter bunny that looks like a heavily pregnant monkey-chicken hybrid. I'll get better at it, once my fingers heal.

 Our good start came crashing down around us yesterday.  Winter Storm Elliot came bustling through our area, and while most of the country was left buried in snow in its wake, we warmed up to 50*F and had the strangest winter storm I can remember.  Hurricane force wind gusts, inches of rain, severe thunderstorm alerts, and temperatures plunging into the teens to single digits overnight.  We've lost most of our snow pack and everything froze.  

 

Friday morning, December 23rd

Saturday morning, December 24th

Once again, thousands are without power.  The winds from this storm came from the southwest, when typically they come from the northeast.  Trees toppled, limbs fell, and low areas flooded.  What a mess.  Thankfully for us the bitter cold is nowhere near as bad as it is in the Midwest right now.  And the long range forecast?  Well, there's another oddity.

I can only hope that things will settle into a more normal pattern in the latter part of winter. 

Now that's what I call a good start.

 

 Our first good storm of the 2022-23 winter, and it was a doozie.  It snowed from around 7 a.m. on Friday morning until about noon on Saturday.  At 6 a.m. Saturday morning I measured 14 1/2 inches of heavy, wet snow.  We probably had another two inches fall after that.  Thousands lost power and cleanup was insane.  The ground wasn't quite frozen, so many dirt and gravel driveways are a complete mess after being plowed.  Thankfully we had power back after six hours, but in the meantime I re-learned how to start my generator and actually used it to power the mini-split and a few other items.  The day before the storm I remembered that I had started to replace the chute deflector cable on my snowblower back in the spring but never completed the job, so there's another skill I quickly mastered.  Happy to say the old snowblower is still working perfectly!  

Most of the snow arrived overnight, so here's what I woke up to. 

So festive!

...oh my.

Well then.

My poor little birch trees!

 Once it stopped snowing the sun came out and temperatures rose.  Snow came off the trees and roofs in earnest, and everything melted a little.   This morning it's all froze up and would have made for a great base if the next storm brings the initial 6 to 10 inches of snow they were predicting, unfortunately now it looks like our pre-Christmas storm will be mostly rain, thanks to temperatures rising to 50F.  

While that might not be the best outlook for skiing or other winter activities, it will make heeling in my new baby trees easier.  

I sent in a $20 donation to The Arbor Day Foundation and in return received these little gems.  5 Norway Spruce, a White Flowering Dogwood, an Eastern Redbud, 3 crab apples, and two hydrangea.  Hard to believe there are twelve trees in that bag.  Even harder to believe frozen ground and over a foot of snow are "optimal planting conditions" for my zone.😒  If the weather does get that warm, I'm thinking I might heel them in against the foundation of the house, as that would be the only diggable soil.  We'll see.

I'll end this post with some wild and not-so-wild critters out in the weather.  Like the porcupine who has been living in the old horse barn.  He appeared at dusk near the bird feeders and waddled his way through the snow to mom's big barn.

And the goldfinch who decided to wear a snowflake as a hat.

The mules were out and about - the snow would have been almost up to Flea's belly, but I did snowblow parts of their paddock.

I've recently begun feeding a pair of resident crows.  I throw soaked cat kibbles, shelled peanuts, and mealworms out for them.  They didn't show up yesterday, but I was happy to see some bluebirds were taking advantage of the feast; I think they were after the mealworms.

And all was well on the farm. 😊