Hello February

Is it possible that February has me turning a corner?  Is this the day that I start to move forward with renewed vigor? I certainly hope so.  2018 was a challenging year and there was a lot of disappointment.  The garden was a disappointment.  The market was disappointing.  Oh, it was fun but the last minute chaos twice a week was so exhausting.  The weather refused to cooperate.  The unfinished projects glared at me as I walked past them all summer long with little progress.  Sweet little Libby was a challenge. Each year I plan to accomplish so much during the winter when I have more time.  I will plan to sew for the market and try new recipes and organize my supplies for my labels.  Figure out my pricing strategy.  Plan my summer garden.

January came and went.  After finishing my Christmas gift sewing my sewing machine has been idle.  I have watched a bunch of sewing videos on you tube but actual sewing, not so much.  I started watching Netflix.  I am new to Netflix but I binge watched a couple of seasons of a gardening show.  And I played some solitaire on the computer.  I think I needed to recharge.  I am starting to feel a little motivated.  Yesterday I got some good things done.  Today promises some more.  After I get groceries and check in on my folks.  I have not been off of my yard for a week and now that my driveway is cleared, not by me but by my neighbor, and my car starts, it is time.

 Just Getting Done

The polar vortex is done.  I know that most of the country seemed to have a few days of colder than normal weather.  In Minnesota where I live it was no different.  I don't think that I heard that we set any new records.  Our coldest night got to -30 as the air temperature and much colder wind chills.  During the worst of it the wind was from the north so my yard was protected and it was sunny during the day.  We didn't get above zero for several days in a row.  The coldest two nights I was setting my alarm and getting up every couple of hours to run water.  I did a couple loads of laundry in the middle of the night.  Wash, rinse and extra rinse kept the water moving.  Luckily the well kept working and the pipes didn't freeze.  I did carry water in pails from the house to the barn for my little herd.  All of the animals survived.  The last day the air temperature was higher, above zero but not above freezing.  Single digits maybe.  It was cloudy and the wind was now blowing from the south so it felt worse than when it was much colder the day before.  Saturday and Sunday it was +30 for highs.  Yay!  I did finally venture out to the greenhouse.  This year I am not growing much for greens.  Did I mention that 2018 was full of disappointments?  Self inflicted seed failure was one of them.  I am overwintering some herbs and strawberries in addition to a couple of tubs of greens.  During the cold days I watched from the house as the temperature in the greenhouse dropped to 10 degrees during the night.  I was running my two milk house heaters and usually it will keep it close to 30-32 degrees overnight even when below zero outside.  Saturday I trudged through the thigh high drifts to check on the greenhouse for the first time.  I expected to find everything dead but so far it looks like everything made it.   I know that the fact that it was sunny and the temps would climb during the day must have helped.  I am not sure if the wild temperature swings over a few hours will stress the plants.  I suppose we will see.  I withheld watering a bit before the cold hit so that the dry soil in the pots would be less likely to freeze.

Just Getting Started

Eucalyptus

 I took my Christmas trees down this weekend.  I live in a small house and my trees are all smallish and up on tables.  It has been several years since I had a full sized tree.  When my crew is all home for Christmas we have six, sometimes seven, mostly big dogs in the house.  Any tree on the ground would be in danger of being tipped over.  I needed the space for my seed germination mat.  I have shelving with lights in the basement where I usually have my seed trays but this time I decided to do the germination on the main floor.   So far I have only started a couple of trays of eucalyptus.  I have not ever grown eucalyptus before.  We have purchased seeds of two varieties.  My daughter wants to use eucalyptus for her wedding at the end of the summer so we are going to see if we can grow our own.

First Seed Order

I finally got my garden seeds ordered.  I am not done.  I haven't ordered the seeds that will be directly sown into the ground yet and I am sure there will be some remembered ones but I got the tomato and pepper seeds ordered so I can get those germinating.  It seems like each year we try a few new things.  This year I ordered a couple more early tomatoes, ones that are touted to set fruit in cooler weather.  There is a definite advantage to being the first one to the market with tomatoes.  I am also trying some new peppers.  I ordered two varieties for drying and making into paprika.  We will see how that goes.  This year I also ordered flower seeds that are good companion plants for an edible garden.  They are plants that attract pollinators but also plants that discourage garden pests or attract beneficial insects that feed on garden pests.  Some are perennials and some are annuals.  I intend to plant some near the big garden and near the orchard and near the grapes.

This is Ellie sleeping on the seed mat.  I had to put an empty cell liner on top of the clear covers to keep her from sleeping on top of the trays. 

 Seed Starting Equipment Sanitation 

Part of the germination process is getting my seed trays sanitized.  I wash them and then sanitize them in a bleach/water solution.  Because it is cold when I need to do use them I always end up doing it in the kitchen.  If I would think to sanitize them as I empty them so they are ready for the next round it could probably be done outside and save some clutter in the kitchen.  When I got the first of the trays done I decided to do some of the pots that they will go into for their first round of potting up.  My daughter's mother-in-law is now my good friend.  She is a volunteer at an arboretum and last fall they did a big planting and she helped with that and rescued the pots and the matching trays that they were going to throw away.  I guesstimate that there are 250 round 4 inch pots with matching trays and 150 slightly taller square 4 inch pots with matching trays. These will work so much nicer than my old system of red solo cups that tip over.  So excited to get these and put them to use.  Thanks Bobbie!!!  Each of the pots is washed and then soaked in a container of bleach water for 20 minutes and then air dried.  My container holds three trays at a time, and maybe 20-25 small pots, so I work in batches.  They are then set individually to dry.  Takes up a lot of room during the process.  I have the round pots done and before I put away the mess I will do the square pots too.  It will be nice having them ready to go.

lots of round and square pots!

Not quite a before and after but sharing with Susan at BNOTP here.