Shuffling

It's 39 degrees. It's dark. Rain is expected this afternoon. I'm traveling to Winston-Salem today with my coworkers for a district wide training session.

Sunday afternoon, I moved all the plants under lights to the rolling rack. Now that the daytime temperatures should be reaching the mid to upper 50s and higher, I want to be able to move them in and out each morning. They'll remain inside today, since I have to leave before daybreak and it's still a little too cold for them outside at the moment. I did hose them off to remove as many spider mites and aphids as I could.



Five days ago, the fig I stuck in the cloner several weeks ago was potted up. I was curious.



Looking at the 10-day forecast, I'll probably move everything back to the light rack Wednesday. I've got a trip planned for this coming weekend. I start my vacation in a few days. Carla will be coming by to check on things, and feed the cat while I'm gone. I plan to start my tomatoes inside soon. When I return, I should have seedlings. Mmmm, tomatoes.

The Winter Garden.

No, this is not about snow. It's about all the things I have growing under lights in the basement. Outside, it's 25 degrees and cold. On my little rack of sunshine, it's a balmy 76 degrees. When the wood heater gets back up to speed, it can reach 90 in the basement quickly.

Brugmansia seedlings.



I pruned a few of my yellow orange brugs. The leaves were getting in the way of the lights. They were looking sort of tortured. I didn't take cuttings of these since I already have too many.



It's hard to tell unless you know what to look for, but my black mission figs are beginning to push out roots. I've been keeping them on top of the uppermost fluorescent light. It's very warm up there. I need to keep an eye out for any mold that might develop. I did clean these with a 10% bleach solution, but you can never be too safe.



The weeping willow cuttings are pushing out tiny roots too. I'll be planting a clump on the other side of the stream in the gully. I'd love to hide some of the houses I can now see on Brown Ave.



Of course, I fed the birds today. With so many waiting to take turns at the feeders, I thought I would scatter some seeds on the ground. Juncos, Eastern Bluebirds, cardinals, and what I think is a sparrow have all shown up to eat. There are more Juncos than anything else in this photo.



I can't wait for spring. Next week, I'll be able to check on my wintersown seedlings. The tiny sprouts should survive this cold spell just fine, but I can tell from just looking that the bottles are frozen solid out there.

Summertime.

That's what it feels like outside tonight. This morning, it was cool and brisk. I wore my hat to work and removed several layers of clothing throughout the day. By the time I had lunch, we were in the 50s. Tonight, it's 63 and, breezy would be an understatement. It's windy. The hurricane chime on the perennial bed arbor has been sounding steadily since sunset. It's made from long pieces of chainlink fence posts and requires a decent amount of air movement to make it sing.

Before I headed back to work this afternoon, I moved all the indoor cuttings outside. I know. Brugmansia and pineapple sage outside in January. The nighttime temperature is supposed to fall to 51 with a 64 degree high tomorrow. I'm contemplating leaving them out there all night. They could use the rain. By now, the soil is stagnant and needs to be refreshed. Rainfall nutrients can't do much harm. However, the wind might. I pulled the rack up close to the house. I can always wheel it into the garage door if I need to, and in a hurry.



I haven't really been paying much attention to these plants lately. They've just been doing their own thing. Lights come on at 7am, go off at 7pm. They get watered when I think about it (or notice a crunchy leaf). I guess I hadn't realized there was so much sage in bloom.



I'll have to pull them back inside tomorrow if the sun threatens to show its face. But for tonight, they can dream about warmer days. The rain has started already. It's blowing fierce against the bedroom windows. I'm thinking about calling it a night and turning in early.

Leaves and wood

I started shredding leaves at 9am this morning. I filled the bed sheet sack twice just from the leaves in my front yard, driveway, and along my side of the street. I've noticed when they are dry, they shred better than when damp or wet. They also blow around more when dry. It's hard to collect leaves moving around the yard in tiny whirlwinds. Both sacks were deposited on the crape myrtle bed. I'm done, I think, with this one for the fall. Still plenty of leaves to fall in the back yard.



I also moved everything inside from the rack in front of the garage door.



No longer a pot ghetto. Okay, there's a couple left, but those go to people at work. Hilda gets a little more than a dozen red spider lilies. I potted them because she's slow about getting things in the ground.



On the light rack, the pineapple sage cuttings I rooted a month ago are putting out new growth.



The white brugs are rooting nicely too. They're really wet from the inch of rain we got yesterday, so I've put the fan on to dry them out a bit. Can't have them rot on me in the basement.



Last year, I set up the hoophouse in late December. I'm trying to wait until then this year too. I'm still not sure which raised bed(s) I will use. I could do two hoophouses using the tomato beds. Or one really long one using the upper bed. Knowing me, I'll use all three.



Mr Lincoln has decided to bloom again. The fragrance is very nice and strong.



It's 52 degrees and overcast. Still no promised sunlight. The clouds aren't as thick as they were when I started this morning. Hopefully, we'll clear up by the time I get to work.



I also chopped up a few more pieces from the dead oak tree. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get rid of the whole thing over the winter, but I've got great plans. I used the wood splitter until it finally stopped pushing. I think the log I was trying to split is just too knotty for the old machine to handle. I've got to pick up a grease gun from the store. Two nights closing then two days off. On Wednesday, I've volunteered for the Lowe's Hero project. We'll be painting the ball room of the Albemarle Senior Citizens' Center.

1:17pm - I've showered and am ready for work. I also cleaned the cloner again and have it normalizing for cuttings I will take tomorrow. One of the pink brug tips actually rooted even though it hasn't produced any new leaves yet. I stuck it in a container of soil and will hope for the best. Tomorrow, I'll be taking cuttings of my white, purple, and Miss Huff lantana. I'm not sure about the hardiness, so I want to make sure I have it for next year. I've scattered Miss Huff seeds all summer as they ripened. I'd like to have a large mound of it next year on the butterfly slope. I'll take other cuttings too as the mood hits. I've got 57 spaces in the cloner. That's a lot of new plants if they all take. I'm running about a 50% success rate. I need a way to turn the air pump on and off every 30 minutes so the cuttings have time to dry out a bit between sprays. There's a timer at the store in the Christmas section that has 48 on/off positions. I may pick one up this evening.