Winter Gardening
 

My wife has started planting seeds in the greenhouse, inspired by all the seed catalogues we've been getting recently. She likes to work out there when it's bitter winter outside. The people at Lowe's probably thought we were crazy buying potting soil in this weather.

We're having a horrible cold spell here in Maryland. Low of 10 tonight, 6 Friday night and 5 Saturday night. Single digits are very unusual here. Then it gets back to normal January Maryland temperatures for a week or so; overnight lows in the 20's, daytime highs in the 30's and low 40's.

Not much snow, just an inch or so this morning from the winter storm that disabled much of the Atlantic coast. I was afraid of a major dump of snow as the backhoe doesn't feel like starting in the cold.

It's been too cold for the sheep's' water heater to keep up so I have to go out in the morning with a hatchet to break the ice and bring a pail of hot water to top it off.


Paul

Winter Gardening
 

Pavel314 wrote:
....
It's been too cold for the sheep's' water heater to keep up so I have to go out in the morning with a hatchet to break the ice and bring a pail of hot water to top it off.

don't they have heated buckets for that?

i've been sorting beans again and making selections for
planting in the spring.

just finished up the bulk beans and now switching to the
more fun sorting where i get to look at all the cross-breeds
and off varieties. now that the seeds have had some time
to mature/darken a little.

nice to have the sun out, but it is plenty cold here too.
most nights near or below 0F. don't even talk about wind
chills, i don't go outside at night anyways.

deer ran into side of car so having to deal with that.
expensive body check and it got up and ran away.


songbird

Winter Gardening
 

On Friday, January 5, 2018 at 8:12:54 PM UTC-5, songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:
...
It's been too cold for the sheep's' water heater to keep up so I have to go out in the morning with a hatchet to break the ice and bring a pail of hot water to top it off.

don't they have heated buckets for that?

i've been sorting beans again and making selections for
planting in the spring.

just finished up the bulk beans and now switching to the
more fun sorting where i get to look at all the cross-breeds
and off varieties. now that the seeds have had some time
to mature/darken a little.

nice to have the sun out, but it is plenty cold here too.
most nights near or below 0F. don't even talk about wind
chills, i don't go outside at night anyways.

deer ran into side of car so having to deal with that.
expensive body check and it got up and ran away.


songbird

I have a 15-gallon plastic bucket which has heating coils in the bottom. It's been plugged in but when the temperature gets below about 15F, it has trouble keeping up. When the temps are in the single digits, like the last few nights, it freezes over. Tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be single-digit, then back to normal.

My wife is planting turkey gizzard beans this year. We've had them before, nice big shelly beans which are better eating than the name would imply.

Paul

Winter Gardening
 

On 01/05/2018 06:43 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
On Friday, January 5, 2018 at 8:12:54 PM UTC-5, songbird wrote:

It is too cold here to over winter anything that grown above ground.
My garlic and shallots (old for the tops) seem to be enjoying the cold.

If it does not rain in two weeks, I will give everyone a quick
spritz.

Goji's have gone dormant. Chock berries, who knows, it
was the second round of bare roots I put in the ground.
Bill Berries seeds, I will have to wait and see.
Supposedly, they "require" the cold to germinate.

Oh, and I GOT WEEDS! I have a beautiful green carpet of grass
shoots and wild carrot tops. When I get enough sunlight, I
will vinegar them. I was hoping the cold would kill them, but
it only made them germinate.

Death to Weeds!
Death to Earwigs!

:-)

-T

Winter Gardening
 

T wrote:
....

yes, the carrots/queen-annes-lace like cool
and moist to get going.

good sign though, weeds tell you that there
is something worthwhile in the soil and enough
moisture to do something. nature will find a
way. :)

did you see my post a while ago about
a possible more bug resistant kind of
squash that is enough like a zuke?


songbird

Winter Gardening
 

On 1/5/2018 1:29 PM, songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:
...
It's been too cold for the sheep's' water heater to keep up so I have to go out in the morning with a hatchet to break the ice and bring a pail of hot water to top it off.
don't they have heated buckets for that?

i've been sorting beans again and making selections for
planting in the spring.

just finished up the bulk beans and now switching to the
more fun sorting where i get to look at all the cross-breeds
and off varieties. now that the seeds have had some time
to mature/darken a little.

nice to have the sun out, but it is plenty cold here too.
most nights near or below 0F. don't even talk about wind
chills, i don't go outside at night anyways.

deer ran into side of car so having to deal with that.
expensive body check and it got up and ran away.


songbird

Â* I better get off my ass and get those seeds I promised off to you !

--
Snag
Ain't no dollar sign on
peace of mind - Zac Brown

Winter Gardening
 

On 01/06/2018 06:50 AM, songbird wrote:
did you see my post a while ago about
a possible more bug resistant kind of
squash that is enough like a zuke?

"borer resistant squish"? I will go back and look at it!

Winter Gardening
 

Terry Coombs wrote:
....
Â* I better get off my ass and get those seeds I promised off to you !

no rush! i don't plant until mid to late May for many
things.


songbird

Winter Gardening
 

On 1/7/2018 8:10 AM, songbird wrote:
Terry Coombs wrote:
...
Â* I better get off my ass and get those seeds I promised off to you !
no rush! i don't plant until mid to late May for many
things.


songbird

Â* I should have done it some time ago , "things" just happen and my
memory ... what were we talking about ?

--
Snag
Ain't no dollar sign on
peace of mind - Zac Brown