Dust

It's 30 degrees and sunny. It's going to be a beautiful day. There was a light frost.

I woke up this morning with an urge to clean the rest of the house. The kitchen, as far as it can be done, is spotless. I've spent the morning dusting, mopping, sweeping, and am about to start laundry. There's a lot of dust.



This afternoon, once the neighbors have risen, I'll be back outside splitting the last of the usable wood from the oak tree. My dad is coming to get his chainsaw. There are three trees he knows of back home that need to come down. He's going to have help doing it Friday. On Saturday, they plan to bring the wood to me. I guess I'll have a nice stack somewhere all summer long. I wonder where I can hide it.

I've got plans to head down to the basement in the meantime. I still need to take cuttings from my overwintering pineapple sage and stick them in the cloner. I've got to do something about all the dirt in the basement. Half of it is on the floor, the other half is still sitting in penny pansy containers. Some of them will be tossed into the two lower veggie beds and tilled in, whenever the soil dries out a bit.

Somewhat related to the video, I'm back down to 215lbs as of yesterday morning. By the end of summer, I'd like to be back to a 34" waist hovering somewhere around 200lbs. Time to shed my winter fat.

12:34pm - Lunch, tuna on toast.

I've done very little of what I set out to do this morning. Pineapple sage has not been stuck. The pansies are almost gone. Last night I started with the very dry 6" containers. I used 1/2" screens to remove the root clumps and any remaining top growth. I'll use this soil to fill the wintersowing containers my mom is bringing this afternoon.



The 6-packs and some of the moldy 6" containers were run through the leaf shredder. I used that soil to fill the two lower garden beds.



I turned in all the leaves that have been out there since the fall, tossed out some 10-10-10 to speed decomposition, and layered the shredded pansies and soil on top. I used the pitchfork to aerate the soil as I watered. It seemed very odd to be watering after 3" of rain fell just a day ago.



I'm thinking of using this space as a place to grow herbs in the summer. Basil, dill, and cilantro are my favorites. It depends on where I plant my tomatoes.



Behind those beds, there's new growth on the 15cent asters. I got 10 of them this past fall. There were supposed to be 15 10cent asters, but someone swiped a few after I had paid for them. It's a buck fifty, I won't complain.



On the front slope, I counted about a dozen daffs pushing through the soil. 188 more to come.



Unfortunately, inconsiderate neighbors made me do it. I like dogs. I just don't like some dog owners. I've got enough trouble with the feral cats that live around here. Walk your dog somewhere else.



It's 41 degrees. Heading back outside in a bit to split the firewood.

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.

Game On.

I've been waiting for today. Farmers Almanac says today and tomrorrow are the two best days for starting seeds for flowers all month. I'm ready, just as soon as I put in 8 hours at my day job.

Yesterday, I spent a couple hours emptying all the quart sized pansies.



I broke up the rootballs, composted the green stuff, and screened the rest for nice fluffy soil.



I mixed it with my other screened soil to stretch it a bit, emptying out all the previously filled 2-liter bottles.



I refilled those and then some. I stopped when I ran out of soil.



But not before I refilled 224 quart sized containers.



If all goes well this evening, I'll have sown 360 containers of perennials and hardy, reseeding annuals. Closer to our last frost in April, I'll do the same with the remaining six inch pansy containers. I've got them sitting on a rack about 6' from the wood heater. Dry soil is easier to work with. I give them a week, at best.



It's 41 and cloudy. Last night, the National Weather Service had issued a Severe Weather Warning for NC, saying that temperatures over the next 7-14 days would likely be well below freezing for many hours at a time, including daylight hours. The warning seems to have been canceled this morning.

8:45pm - 117 containers are done.



I would have done more, but as I was searching for my seeds in the alphabetized folders I keep them in, I realized I was missing lots of labels for some seeds. I'm going to spend a few minutes going through them tonight before bed to determine what else needs to be sown. I have 19 two-liter containers left to sow. That'll give me 136 total. The 224 quarts will be sown using repeats and multiples for things I want to place in various parts of the yard, hopefully before work in the morning. The best part of sowing in the two-liter bottles is how many plants I can get out of each one. I sowed heavily and should be able to break each into 6-8 Hunks of Seedlings. The beds will be stuffed next year.

10:13pm - A total of 136 two liters have been sown. There were only 13 repeats, so 123 varieties of seed for next year's garden. I'm done for the night.

The Weatherman Who Cried Wolf

For the second time in as many weeks, the weathermen around here have been completely giddy about the impending doom coming towards us in the form of snow. Two weeks ago, we were supposed to get a half inch of the stuff. It didn't even rain. Yesterday, they predicted an inch of sleet, ice, and snow. It rained all day, the temperature hovering around 37. This morning, the clouds are screaming past trying to make way for the sunshine they claim we'll see this afternoon. It's 34 degrees. Walking in the yard is like walking over a septic field. There's actually standing water in the front yard. I've never seen that in the two and a half years I've lived here. The rain gauge collected an inch of the wet stuff.

In the basement, the last fire has been built in the tiny wood heater. My parents are on their way. If all goes well, the house will be warm and toasty this evening. I've got plans to split more firewood this afternoon.

Before work yesterday, I finished 100 containers for wintersowing.



Because I'm cheap, I buy broken bags of dirt from the store at half price. The rules are about to change, I'm told. Instead of a small hole, the bags will have to be nearly torn open in order to get that sort of discount in the coming year. We'll see. The soil I bought is $1.29/bag at regular price. I sifted it using the method I've shown before.

Straight from the bag.



The Leftovers.



Perlite added for drainage.



Each container is filled with roughly 3-4" of the sifted soil. When moist, it's the consistency of a gooey chocolate brownie. mmmm, brownies.



On Monday, I'll sow my seeds. Until my parents arrive, I'm going to package up some of the 50 kinds of seeds I'm sending out to one lucky winner over at the GardenWeb wintersowing forum. If they email me with the correct answers to the questions I've asked, their names will be placed in a recycled milk jug. I'll pull one name from the jug and send all 50 packs of seeds to the winner. I've got way too many seeds. Trudi, the woman who started this wintersowing idea, gave me her blessing. All the answers can be found at wintersown.org. I've got 12 names in the jug right now. The contest ends Monday night. The seeds will be shipped out on Tuesday. If you're a member of gardenweb, feel free to enter. If you're not, sign up for a free account. It's a great forum to discuss anything garden related.

I can see blue skies. I'm going to get another cup of coffee.