Monday, February 1, 2010

The Shortest Month.

It's February. January passed by pretty quick. Seems it was only yesterday that I was sitting here sowing seeds on New Year's Day. The real test for those seeds comes tomorrow. Did the sprouted seedlings survive? I won't know until the temperatures rise above freezing. Tomorrow, I'll spend some time peeking through the holes in the two-liter containers hoping for the best, not expecting the worst.



It's 19 degrees this morning. The sky is clear. The sun is coming up. In the driveway are purchased plants from the last day of the fiscal year. My boss told me I could have them all for a penny a piece again. The tea olives and Foster hollies are probably dead. That's 15 cents. The nandinas will probably come back from the roots. These were plants damaged by our unusual cold spell in early January. I also got a dwarf Alberta Spruce and a 7gallon Arborvitae in this batch. Both have cold damage, but should survive. I'll look into planting them in the near future.



There are more cold damaged pansies in the basement. I'll be using that soil to sow my annuals later and to amend the two smaller raised beds for veggies. I need more soil for those two beds. I also have to finish hammering the rebar on the bed furthest from the house. If I can talk Carla into culling some more warped landscape timbers this week, I'd like to build a third bed out there before spring.

Today's high should reach 48. The birds are still feeding from the seeds I tossed out in the yard. They're drinking from the stream that's still flowing freely in the gully. I've got three days off when I finish work today. I plan to make the most of them.

1:36pm
- Lunch. Busy day at the store putting freight on the shelves. No new plants this week so far. We've got some houseplants coming Wednesday. It's 45 degrees and sunny.

The Robins are here. When I pulled into the driveway, they scattered. I just counted 18 in the backyard through the window. They seem hungry.

5 comments:

gld said...

Tom, I can count on you to be an early riser and have a post for me to check out with my morning coffee!

We were warmer than you this morning at 25°. We still have most of the snow remaining but it should melt off in the next few days.

I have great plans to 'winter sow' some larkspur and poppy seeds soon.

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Glenda, I was actually up before daybreak this morning. I restocked the wood heater and went back to bed. Didn't seem to be any other reason to get up that early.

We're still at 21 right now. I can't wait for this stuff to be gone. Looks like we might get some more before tomorrow is done though.

I direct sow my larkspur and poppies. If you wintersow them, be sure to plant them out early. They can take the cold and resent being transplanted. When you see the first leaves, plant them out.

Darla said...

I'm hopeful that your seedlings survive the winter blast..a penny sale, how cool is that? We are expecting MORE rain..sigh. With three days off you have plenty of time to come to Florida and work in my gardens...LOL.

Unknown said...

before dawn! I got up at 9:30 but I'm a bit lazy right now. Nothing else to do.

Darla said...

re: comment on my blog...I am trying the winter sow method with some success, thanks to you..Don't know if I will ever give up sowing seeds inside though. You have a very impressive list Tom..I'll continue to learn from you as long as you continue teaching...(and you don't even realize you have students): )