Day Four

This is the fourth day of an eight day work week for me. With three under my belt, I'm itching to get my hands dirty. This morning, I'm hoping to sow some seeds of cool weather plants. I'm thinking cabbage and snow peas. They'll go into the hoophouse. I need to change the batteries and check on my wintersown containers. I'm not expecting any sprouts yet, but who knows. At the end of the driveway, they're still frozen solid. It's 19 degrees.

The kitchen is calling to me as well. With warmer weather in the forecast for the next 10 days, I'm likely to spend most of my free time in the yard. The plan was to have the kitchen finished before it warmed up. Cold weather zaps my energy, so that hasn't happened. But it is on the list.

I need to clean and restock the cloner, too. I just filled my second cup of coffee. The wood heater is coming back to life. My pajamas are nice and warm. 58 is the forecasted high today. We'll see.

10:49am - Coppenhagen Early Cabbage, Pak Choy, Italian carrots, and Sugar Daddy snow peas have been sown. I'll put them in the hoophouse before work. I'll need to get dressed first.

The cloner has been cleaned. I discarded a couple of yellow/orange brug cuttings that were mushy. I also tossed out a couple of Carla's roses. They were turning brown. Others have calluses so I should get a few of these very fragrant pink roses. The lantana still hasn't rooted, but cotoneaster and a couple of brugs did. They were potted into quart sized containers. I need more dirt.

I've also started on the kitchen again. More on that later. A little at a time.

11:23am - It's 43 degrees. The hoophouse is very warm inside. The batteries have been replaced, just waiting on an update from the wireless thermometer, but I would guess somewhere in the upper 50s. No sprouts yet. Hopefully next week. It's very moist inside.

11:53am - Assessing the damage.

The first daffodil has popped. This one is along the edge of the butterfly slope near the orchard.



Nice fat buds on the Belle of Georgia peach. The Morris Plum and Thundercloud seem to have come through the cold nicely too. Not so sure about the cherry tree.



The brown turkey fig has some issues. About 18" on each of the three branches has turned soft. I was planning to prune it hard anyway. I would have liked to have made cuttings from the tips.



Under the kitchen porch stairs, the container of black mission fig cuttings is still frozen solid. I'm okay with that. Hope they stay that way a while longer.



Knockout roses by the front walk have buds. I bet them open next week, with lots of freeze damage.



My oldest gardenia cuttings from Sharon's bush is still green. That's a good sign.



Husker's Red penstemon has survived in a tiny quart sized container at the end of the driveway. Several sprouted in the fall. They're tough little buggers.



Cornus mas is no mas.



Surprisingly, the Oak Leaf Hydrangea still holds on to its leaves. This one has been through some trials and tribulations with me.



It's 43 degrees. No jacket required. A beautiful day. Still no word from the hoophouse. I must have installed dead batteries.

Waiting for Petunia

For three days now, I have been waiting for my first wintersown petunia bloom. As of this morning, it's still not open. These seeds were collected from a pink, trailing variety similar to the wave petunia. It's not pink, as you can see.



Purple is the dominant color for petunia seedlings. I'm glad I bought a few other colors and didn't depend on my "white" ones from wintersowing for the white beds. Those in the cloner are putting out roots. I should be able to create 20 new plants each week without much trouble. Once those in the cloner are done, I need to clean and refill the holding tank. It's been a while, and some gunk has collected in the bottom. I hope to do that on Monday.

Today's chores including mowing the yard and edging with the weed whacker. I may try to get some zinnias planted out in the perennial bed. Or, I might just sit here with my coffee contemplating how my thermometer currently reads 48 degrees and Accuweather tells me it's 37.

10:49am - Planted out 10 asparagus crowns given to me by a fellow wintersower from GardenWeb. Planted out a few petunias, some glomphera(?) (white), and allysum. Pruned a few things, set up the bamboo teepee for the peas I sowed last month, and got the cucumber trellis mounted to two pieces of pipe I had laying in the basement. I'm going to buy cucumber seedlings. Mine are starting to commit suicide. No idea what the problem is, I've never had issues with them before. I'll pick up a 6 pack today from the store. I'll get a couple cayenne pepper plants too. If there's eggplant, maybe one of those as well. 63 degrees and sunny. Another nice day.

Productive Morning

Got to be brief as I am about the leave for work. At the crack of daybreak, I headed outside. All the plants in the hoophouse were moved out and the structure was taken down. It's laying in the basement right now, but I'll put it up for storage in the joists later this evening.

The tomatoes are looking good. Planted out some more indoor grown plants and got a load of leaf mulch from the landfill. Seedlings are filling out too. Now for the pictures.

Pink Knockout Rose I picked up yesterday. The benefits of unloading trucks are unimaginable.


Yvonne's Salvia


Brugmansias




More wintersown containers to empty.


More cuttings and seedlings to plant out.


Pineapple sage along the driveway bed.


The driveway bed is done. Bamboo will become teepee trellises.


Blue Spires Salvia rooted from overwintered cuttings planted in the front bed.


Lantana in the front bed on the slope.






Wintersown Artemesia planted in the same bed.


Hoophouse seedlings.


TOMATOES!!!!!!!


Look at those roots.


Leaf mulch where the hoophouse was.


Good black stuff. I'll till it in tomorrow.


Peas are up and growing.


The White Bed is done too.


That's all I got done this morning. Another hour and I would have gotten wood mulch for the driveway bed. The landfill is closed Saturday because of Easter, so I hope to have some time next week to get that done. Off to work now for a very long day. 22 racks of flowers and assorted plants should be delivered before 4pm.

1:56pm - lunchtime. 64 degrees and light rain. Thunderstorms are in the forecast. It should taper off this evening and move out by morning. The garden center is jumping today. Half the store is out there working. It's our busiest weekend all year.