Saturday, January 30, 2010

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.

6 comments:

Jeff Vandiver said...

Cool! You have great things going on in the basement. It's nice that you fed the little birds.

L. D. said...

It's a jungle in there. I am jealous of your bluebirds. We can't get them to come into town. They are out there in the meadows and the state park north of here has houses all up and down the surrounding area. I want to get houses going on our side of town. I will be watching to see how warm and how fast it will return. Take care.

Brian David Morley said...

can't wait to see those Brug seedlings bloom, are they specific crosses?

Darla said...

Everything is coming along quite nicely Tom. Other than that frozen yard you have....

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

EG, those plants in the basement keep me occupied while it's cold out. When it warms up, I tend to forget about them.

LD, I can't wait to see how quick it warms up too.

David, those brugs are crosses. The seeds came from a GardenWeb member in GA. She crossed a prolific blooming pink brug with a long tendril flowering brug. It was pink as well. Can't wait to see what we get. All of them should be slightly different.

Darla, It's really frozen this morning.

pam_chesbay said...

Tom: I enjoy your descriptions and discussions of different propagation methods. Next year, I'd like to branch out and experiment with other methods. Am especially interested in your cloning machine. ~ Pam