Garden thread.

[Sassy]

Redoverfarm, no problem    We just like to look at all the money we are saving when we see the prices in the  stores.  What a nice surprise, having a bushel of potatoes dropped at your doorstep!   

Homegrown, we don't cover any of the winter veggies like spinach, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, beets, etc - sometimes the leaves will look all droopy & frozen, but as soon as they thaw out, they look great - even when they have been covered with up to 9 inches of snow - they bounce right back.  We're trying to see if we can keep the summer veggies going as long as possible. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I usually covered even the cool season crops back home because the way the temperature suddenly changes (often 40 degrees one way or the other over a very short period) does tend to be hard on even the toughest crops.  There was one night the local peeping tom took one of the concrete blocks off the edge of the plastic to try to look in our bathroom window, and the cover blew partially off.  I don't remember what the actual temperature was, but the wind chill that night was something like -10 and some of our inside pipes even froze (with the heaters sitting there right by them!)  I went out the next morning and the spinach looked destroyed and I felt kind of sad... well, later in the day it got above freezing and if those darn things didn't perk right back up!  I have better luck with the curly-leafed spinach varieties than the flat leaf, FWIW... they seem to be more impervious to cold.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Ug... I hate winter. I know it is months before I can plant anything outdoors, yet I am already itching to do it.  We've got snow that is over the tops of my snowboots, and here I am daydreaming of spring already.  It's going to be a long winter at this rate.  Ready for the seed catalogs to come out... we don't even know where we're going to be in the spring... if we'll still be here or elsewhere....   

[glenn kangiser]

That really sounds terrible, Homegrown.   I mean...really.  I just couldn't handle that.

[glenn kangiser]

We like Seedsavers for heirloom seeds.

http://www.seedsavers.org/winter08.htm

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I like their catalog, but admit that I've never ordered from them... I like Johnny's a lot, too.  They have great customer service.  It's always funny to me to call them with my order and end up talking over seed varieties with whoever answers the phone because they're actually people who garden themselves.  Last year, I must have been on the phone with the order gal for 20 minutes to half an hour, about 2/3 of that time was talking about how to adjust to the short growing season here and what varieties she'd had luck with in Maine (they could tell by listening to me that I wasn't a native of Wisconsin...)

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

By the way, it is getting to me... think I'm gonna snap.  My husband is talking about waiting until mid-January or February and taking a vacation to go job hunting in the south.  It got above freezing (33) today and really isn't too bad, but as much as anything it is just knowing how long it will last.  The kids are so short that they can't walk across the yard in the snow without it coming over and down into the tops of their boots, or going up their pants legs... little one especially hates that.  Maybe after I get her all bundled up I should wrap her in saran wrap to the waist??     Seriously, I'm sick of it already... the sun is at such a low angle all winter that it seems like sundown all day long to me.  Husband had to go out and shovel for a couple of hours last night so that he could get the car out today because he had to drive; he doesn't want me doing it because he figures I'm achy enough just from being pregnant. 

Oh well, at least it is warm inside... we're about 2/3 of the way done with the cookie baking caper. 

[glenn kangiser]

One of the guys on a job I'm on mentioned that many businesses are slow right now.  Hope you're not stuck there.

Our garden is still alive -- The plastic has saved the tomatoes and peppers so far - if they don't get some kind of mold disease.  No signs of any yet but not here enough to give them breathers and air out often lately.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I'm wondering what's going on because my husband was supposed to have a phone interview with a company in OKC yesterday and they never called... he came home early and waited for over an hour for them and nothing!  He was pretty steamed.  Maybe they decided that they couldn't afford to hire someone else yet???  They could've at least called and let him know. 

I've read that moving ranks up with losing a loved one in the realm of stress, but I want to move so badly I can't stand it...staying through the winter ranks higher in stress to me, I guess!   We want to be closer to home because my grandma is getting on up there in years and I'd like to be close enough to go down and help her once a week or so... however, at this point I'd settle for a warmer climate and land, even if it wasn't significantly closer to home.   

[tanya]

I ordered a bunch of seed catalogs a couple of weeks ago and they still are not here even though the web site said it would take about ten days.  I want those seed catalogs so I hope they arrive soon.  I started parsley the other day and picked all the peppers and pulled the plants they don't seem to be doing much anymore.  the cherry tomatoes are still prolific and most are getting red but I am not noticing as many green ones or blooms coming on so they are next. I found my cilantro seed so tomorrow I will start that too and alyssum and forget me nots.  I still have to order seed for the lavendar and rosemary so I hope those catalogs arrive soon.  I am sick of the Christmas decorations already I want my garden and I don't care if I have to do it indoors under lights.  getting soil in this town in the middle of winter is a challenge too and all the regualr dirt is frozen solid under a lot of snow.  I have no patience today. 

[Redoverfarm]

Tanya have you ever considered hydroponic(sp?) as an alternative to winter time growing.  That is if you have the space.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Misery must love company because it makes me feel a little better knowing that I am not the only one who gets in a rush for spring.

If I were in zone 7 or warmer, I know how to garden all through the winter, but up here I don't have the resources and the sunny space to do so.  The sun is so low all winter that very little of our yard receives adequate sunlight to attept year-round gardening.  Same problem inside as we don't have but two small south facing windows in the whole house.  The builders of this house chose view over efficiency... all the windows are on the north, east and west.   Last year I tried grow lights in the basement, which kept my houseplants alive through the winter, but it was too cold for much to sprout... the ones that did sprout were stunted.  The basement is pretty darn chilly all day long in winter, with the cold storage room often freezing.  The previous owner was a butcher, and when we moved in, I noticed that he had a bunch of meat hooks attached to the rafters in the laundry room and in the cold storage room, so I figure that probably doubled as a walk-in fridge/freezer during the cold months.

[tanya]

I have considered hydroponics but right now theexpense isn't something I want to get into.  I have a huge wall of south facing windows and plenty of room to get going with some bedding plants in that part of the house, sort of a garden room off of the living room but not seperated by a wall jsut a little divider.  I think I might supplement the sunlight with some grow lights for the next month or so.  I just have to be careful to only start the slow growing stuff this early because those faster growing plants grow right out of thier pots and even fill up the space to the point where they end up all scrawny and stretched out.  So as much as I would like to start some cukeumbers it isn't time yet unless of course I could get those seed catalogs and find some of the patio shrub type.  In the meantime I am looking at ideas and plans for garden decor like maybe building some of those hypertufa troughs I was thinking about earlier inthe fall.  Maybe some concrete birdbaths and garden nomes too.  Today though is the day to shift gears and get ready for the holiday since I cursed the decorations with my complining I now have to take down the string of lights tht burnt out half way throught he strand and that means taking down everything that is part of that display. And we have company coming so I have to fix the guest room, make more cookies, etc. etc. etc.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Woo-hoo!!!  Got Johnny's 2008 catalog in the mail today, so I've spent the last hour and a half poring over it with my daughters.  Can't express how much it brightened my day.  DD was not satisfied that they had the variety of gray pumpkins she wanted, so she picked out a gray winter squash that resembled what she wanted, but then announced that she'd wait and see what the other catalogs have to offer in the way of the perfect gray pumpkin.  It is insane that I am even looking, because we don't even know if we'll be here come spring, or if we'll be in any sort of permanent place, and seeing as I'll be having a baby right in the beginning of the serious gardening season... but it didn't stop me from having a ball looking.     I get a little goofy in the middle of the winter!  DH is doing everything in his power to find a job closer to home... the weather is getting to him far more than it did in the past... he hasn't seen the sun in weeks, other than when it was out during Christmas, and then he was in the garage changing the oil in the car.  The kids desperately want to move back home, too, so we're looking, but figure come spring we'll probably be somewhere temporary rather than in a permanent location with the land we so want.  Still, you never know.  If DH finds something in the next month or two, we could move soon, rent for a few months and maybe sell and buy all before planting season.  It wouldn't be the first time that I've ever planted pregnant or with a baby in a sling... besides, I have two excited and dedicated little helpers who plant enough for us and all the critters.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

It is snowing to beat the band out there... and I'm dreaming of warm dirt and sprouting seeds.     I seriously dreamed about spring last night.  Could be influenced by the hormones, too, I guess... I remember having some pretty wild dreams about gardening when I was pregnant with my oldest... I remember one where I had to get an extension ladder to climb up this tall trellis on which I was growing watermelons, of all things... I carried down a watermelon that was too big to fit in the wheel barrow. 

[Sassy]

   I guess it's all those hormones...

It snowed here this am & we're supposed to get another storm... I need to get down the mountain to the valley -I work all through New Years. 

[glenn kangiser]

Carrying watermelons -- hmm what made you think of that?

Sassy is off to the valley for work and I'm just plain off.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Yeah, but we already knew that, Glenn.

[Daddymem]

Got a load of seaweed to cover three of our lasagna garden beds.  Then I emptied the compost bin of the black gold contents and covered the seaweed.  Should cook up nice by spring.

Yeah that is snow in the right side of the frame.  It looked like we were going to have a white Christmas then a Nor'easter hit us with rain and washed just about all of it away.  Tshirt chopping wood and doing the garden today.  That's New England for you.

[glenn kangiser]

I think you need some old timey headstones, Daddymem.

[Redoverfarm]

 

[glenn kangiser]

Sorry John -- Looking at his composted garden plots reminded me of our little town of Hornitos.

The ground was so hard they had to bury the dead in little mounds on top the ground -- they called the town Hornitos because the graves reminded them of little ovens of earth built above the ground like they do in Mexico.

Makes great tasting bread though.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I was thinking it looked like pygmy graves... they're too short to be otherwise.

[tanya]

Well I am still waiting on the garden catalogs but in the mean time I have found a great resource for trays and cell packs cheap so I have faith that this is a good opportunity for getting my greenhouse business going.  I am thinking of starting a bunch of lettuce, broccolli and other early things and then reusing the trays with new cell packs for the later stuff, cukes, cantalopes etc.   It should all work out well.  I also found some fluorescent lights for cheap to supplement the lighting until they can all go outside in the greenhouse and I found the soil mix locally after all, so that is a huge surprise.  Spring is here with all the right preparations I suppose,  as long asn you don't go outside.  And it really isn't to bad outside today but there is a lot of snow and more on the way so it will be awhile yet before I can actually garden we have to get through mud season after winter still.  My friend who is a hortorculturist is coming this week to help me out and I am very excited.  I am practical and she is fanciful so it should be pretty interesting by the time all is said and done.  She cooks and cleans too so I can't wait to have her here.  We are also planning my daughters baby shower so we will be busy as bees.  My first grandbaby is due in feb. or march so I am also going crazy with excitement for that. I have been buying such adorable clothes and the nursery furniture and car seat so we are prepared.  It is all about the waiting now.  My daughter and her husband are going to be so happy too.  They never expected she could get pregnant due to a birth defect and they did't think the pregnancy would survice but it has and is very healthy according to the Dr.  Now they just better stick to their agreement, I get the baby on weekends, summers, vacations etc.  If they don't bring her over for my visits I can always go stay at their house.  I think for hte baby shower i will make fruit punch, tea, strawberry shortcake and cukeumber sandwhiches.  And either we are having a "no kids" request or renting the hall, at the wedding there were over 150 kids under age 10 and I knew they said there would be lots of kids but that is beyond any person's comprehension.  My son in law comes from a huge family with lots of siblings and they all have lots of kids too.  The cake will be huge!!! 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Tanya, congrats to you and DD and her husband on the miracle baby... that's great.  Baby showers are a lot of fun... I have a friend who has a HUGE family and because they own a little restaurant, a lot of friends and acquaintances who were anxious to welcome the baby.  She got so much stuff for the baby that they couldn't even store it in their house!  She ended up storing the bigger items in the upstairs of the restaurant because they didn't know what else to do with it.  With our first DD, we ended up having something like 3 showers... my family and friends back home had a huge one, and then my co-workers had a surprise one, and then a week after she was born, our church threw yet another amid our protests that enough was enough.  I don't think we bought a single thing for either of the girls until they were more than 2 or 3 years old. 

As to planting stuff indoors, I've given up here... there just isn't enough space, warmth, light, etc. in our house.