Thursday, January 14, 2010

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.

1 comment:

Darla said...

You are showing promises of warmer weather. Maybe you installed the batteries backwards, lol.