When I checked on it after I got home, it was hot enough in there to warrant opening up and tying off the door. I also shifted a few bins to the other side, to follow the sun a bit.
We’ll need to bring them back into the old kitchen soon, since they’ll freeze if they stay there overnight, but I am so glad to finally get them out into the warmth and sunshine. We should finally see some improved growth!
I also uncovered the bed in the old kitchen to give it a good watering, since it can’t get any of what little moisture we’ve been getting. Some of the sprouts in there are now big enough that I can identify them as spinach.
The bed my daughter and I covered with plastic yesterday evening is still covered; it withstood the wind! We are expecting rain in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, which will be good.
I won’t be able to do much else in the garden tomorrow, as I expect to be in the city doing the Costco shopping. After that, it’s back to home stuff again!
In the first image, you can see the seedlings that need potting up. They all should be much bigger than this, but it’s just not warm enough, even with using the heater and the heating pad, in the basement.
With concerns about the outside cats potentially knocking the transplants over when we moved them out, I decided to use some storage bins to hold the Red Solo cups I was going to re-use to pot up into. They’ve been stored in the sun room all winter, so they had to get a cleaning of cob webs and whatever other debris managed to get on them. Thankfully, the old basement is where the laundry used to be, so we still have the old laundry sink that I could soak them all in, then scrub the ones with drainage holes in the bottom to transplant into. I also pre-soaked the seed starting mix with hot water, so it still be at least not cold, by the time the cups were filled and the seedlings transplanted.
These bins hold only 9 cups in them, so that basically became my default for the maximum number of transplants to pot up into. Which worked out really well. With the Black Beauty tomatoes, there were only 4 large and strong enough to pot up. With the Chocolate Cherry, there was only 5 to pot up, so they got to share a bin. The Spoon tomatoes and the Sub Arctic Plenty both filled one bin each. The Sweetie Snack Mix peppers and the Turkish Orange eggplant both got one bin each, too, with almost zero “extras” that didn’t get transplanted.
In the second photo, you can see them after they were all potted up, before I topped them with vermiculite. The potted up seedlings are small enough that I could use the lids on the bins, but I had only 2 of them handy at the time. The next photo is after the vermiculite was added. Then I got more lids for the bins from the sun room and my daughter helped me get them out of the basement. Which was actually quite dangerous. We started with me taking them through the old basement and up the stairs to where my daughter was waiting at the door, one bin at a time. She would grab the bin at the door (keeping the cats from dashing downstairs) and take it to the old kitchen, while I went to get the next bin.
The old basement stairs are narrow; each step is about half the width of a typical step. It is also steep than most stairs are, and there is very little space at the door. Which means I could only go to the third step from the top before I ran out of space. Even going sideways and carrying the bin on one arm, I couldn’t reach the door knob, so having my daughter open the door was an essential. Once she had the bin, I could go higher and close the door, but just going up and down these stairs is simply not good. I go down them backwards, like on board ship or using a ladder.
After a few bins, my daughter kicked me out of the basement and we traded places. Apparently, I sounded like I was in a lot of pain. Which I was, but I wasn’t going to say anything, since I know it’s not any better for her!
In the last picture, you can see all the bins and trays now set up on the freezer in the old kitchen. I was so tempted to put them into the portable greenhouse. The thermostat in there was reading more than 40C/104F! Pretty impressive, considering we never got above 4 or 5C today (39 or 41F). And that wind!! Yikes! The problem is that we’d just have to take them back inside after a couple of hours, and I didn’t want to do that today. We’re still forecast to have -6C/21F tonight, though we’re not expected to reach those temperatures until 6am tomorrow, and I know it will drop below freezing inside the greenhouse, even with the heat sink. They will go into the greenhouse tomorrow, after I get back from running around.
Once that was done, I grabbed a late lunch, then headed to the post office to pick up a parcel. On the way back, my cell phone started ringing. I don’t have hands free, so I couldn’t answer it. When I got home, I found a message from the home care coordinator asking about something strange my mother had told the morning home care aid about her puffer, and having already taken it in the hospital.
???
I called back and left a message telling her as much as I knew, then called my mother. I hadn’t gotten through to her this morning about her telephone doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning, so I told her about that, first. She wasn’t impressed that it was in the morning, but it’s at about the time she gets her morning meds, so she’ll be up, anyhow – and I intend to be there, too. I then asked her about the puffer. She told me a completely different thing from what the apparently told the home care aid. She also seems confused about the type of puffer they used with her while she was in the hospital, and the original type she was using before then – which she has started using now. She had an unopened refill from before she went to the hospital, and the other type was done, so she started taking it on her own. I have no idea where she had it stashed away. Then I found out she’d already taken it three times today. I told her, she’s only supposed to take it once in the morning, then again before bed. Not several times throughout the day. Plus, we already talked to her doctor about it. This was an experiment to see if it would help with her breathing at night. It didn’t, and she turned out to be developing pulmonary edema, which she no longer has after being in the hospital for a couple of weeks.
Things were still confused, but we agreed we would talk about it when I’m there tomorrow, and she could show me what she had. I then called the home care coordinator back and got her right away. We talked for a while and confirmed my mother told different things to them than what she told me. I then found out they were giving her two puffs in the morning, but not in the evening (with the disc type of puffer, a dose is one puff, while the other puffer, a dose is two puffs, which is why the pharmacist and I decided to fill the prescription for the disc type). So there’s a mix up right there, too. Not that the puffer has been helping her in any way, but a neighbour of hers has asthma, so she decided she needed a puffer, too, and the doctor was willing to test it out with her rather than go through the years it would take to refer her to a specialist and get all the respiratory testing done.
Hopefully, we will get that straightened out tomorrow.
After I was done on the phone, it was time to get out and see what I could do to protect the winter sown raised bed.
I have a cover for the bed, but it needed some maintenance work first, so I brought it closer to the garage, where my tools where. One of the things that needed to be done was secure two sections of the mesh. The jute twine it had been tied together with before had degraded and broken apart. I’d already had to replace the twin in the other join and used paracord for that, so I did the same thing again.
The hoops supporting the mesh are sections of pipe that turned out to be rather too strong. They are held in place with strips of metal strapping, but would get pushed downwards – usually because of a cat jumping on it! So I wanted to get those nice and snug, then screw them into place.
Syndol and Judgement decided the mesh was a night place to sit!
After the hoops were secured, I brought the cover over to the raised bed, but had to get a daughter to help with the rest, because of the wind. We got the cover on the bed, then opened one of the 8’x12′ plastic I’d picked up to cover it.
It was a lot thinner than I expected. Definitely not 7mm, which is what the guy looking up the information for me said it was. I suspect he didn’t quite understand what I was asking for.
Still, it will work for now.
We made sure to water the bed before putting the cover on (and I had to fix yet another hole dug into it). I noticed there are more sprouts coming up, so getting it covered to protect it from tonight’s cold will be a good thing!
After unfolding the plastic, we rolled and tucked the excess under the frame as best we could, but that wind was still threatening to blow it off. After looking around, I found a couple of sticked I’d joined with twine threaded through sections of a hula hoop to create a support for ground cherries flattened by the wind, a couple of years ago. That did well to drape across the top of the cover. We also found some lighter old boards to set on top as well; you can see the end result in the last photo above. Hopefully, it will be enough, but with how strong the winds are, I’m not entirely sure!
If it does hold out, it will protect the sprouts from tonight’s cold – and I plan to leave it on to also protect the bed from the cats! When it’s less windy, I’ll see if I can find a better way to secure the plastic, too. It’s meant to be temporary, though, so we’ll see. When the plastic is no longer needed, I have to find a way to close up the ends of the cover, so it can still be used to keep the cats out.
Since the coldest time of the night will be around the time I’ll be feeding the outside cats before heading to my mother’s, and then I’ll have to hit our own pharmacy in a different town when I’m done there, I’ll have to get my daughters to keep an eye on things and, when it starts warming up, move the transplants into the portable greenhouse. We’ll probably need to leave the door tied at least partly open so it doesn’t get too hot in there. Tomorrow’s high is supposed to be only 9C/48F, but if it could get as hot as it did in there at our current temperatures, it’ll get even warmer tomorrow. By the weekend, we’re expected to get highs above 20C/68F. Hopefully, before then, we’ll be able to get more progress on the trellis build. We’ll also have our Costco stock up trip in a couple of days.
We got 4 of the 5 Cream of Saskatchewan watermelon seeds potted up, as well as a couple of Honeydew. There were still 2 Honeydew seeds, and the Kaho melon seeds, that were not germinated, so we ended up combining them into one tray. I’d gotten rid of the one Cream of Saskatchewan watermelon seed that didn’t germinate, as it seemed like it was not viable, but the remaining Honeydew seeds look like they might still germinate. I’m not sure about the Kaho seeds, though. They may simply be too old.
With the pre-germinated seeds potted up, there wasn’t room in the tray for the container with the remaining seeds, plus the container with the Zucca melon seeds, so they got stacked. The large Zucca melon seeds would need longer to germinated, but it does seem like it’s taking too long. I’m not sure we’ll get any at all this year. We shall see.
My daughter and I then went through some of my herb seeds to figure out what else we could be starting inside. In the end, I decided that I will buy transplants, instead, for the ones we want. I also seem to be missing some seed packets! I’ve no idea what happened to them.
We also talked about some of the flower seeds. I’d picked up some Baby’s Breath for my daughters, as my older daughter in particular really likes them. They looked them up and, apparently, they are considered invasive in our area. Which I find strange, since we already have some in a small flower garden where my mother had planted them, ages ago. They barely survive and are certainly not spreading! It’s part of the reason I got more seeds.
Once we were done, my daughter ended up staying in the basement for a while longer to use the exercise bike, so we could keep the heater on for longer. Later, we both headed outside to feed the cats, then go through the garden beds. I wanted to make sure she was on top of the plans I had, in case they had to take over for me for some reason.
She was very happy to see that her tulips are coming up, and we even spotted a few grape hyacinths emerging. No sign of the snow crocuses, though. We pulled back the black tarp to check out where I was thinking of planting the asparagus and strawberries, and it does look like the weeds and crab grass have been killed off well enough to use the space. The only issue will be the roots from the nearby elm trees, and I’m really hoping we can finally cut those down this year. In trying to clean the area up, I found stumps that showed others have tried to clear them away in the past, and they grew back, so I’ll have to take that into account when we finally get those taken down. It still blows me away, how much their roots have been getting into the garden beds and choking things out.
We checked on the beds that I want to cover with the netting, and had to refill more holes dug by the cats. Very frustrating, that we couldn’t cover them because of the wind.
Speaking of the wind, in the next photo of the slide show above, you can see an area in our spruce grove I was finally able to get to. I tell that we lost a few trees over the winter, and saw some that look like they came down within the past day or two. Cleaning up in there is going to be a huge job!
We checked on the netting I put over the bed at the chain link fence yesterday. Much to my surprise, one of the supports at an overlapping section had been completely pulled up and almost took a few others with it! It seems like the extra netting with the drawstring that would normally be the end of the row cover got caught somehow. Hopefully, that won’t happen again, and there was no damage.
The portable greenhouse was getting some wind damage, though.
In the last photo in the slideshow above, you can see the tear along the zipper. It has gotten bigger – big enough that cats could easily fit through, if they wanted. I’m not sure how to reattach it to the zipper. I did add some clear duct tape above the tear, in hopes it will prevent it from tearing more. We also found a tear in one corner where the tie downs are attached. The loop of fabric the cord was tied to actually tore loose from the plastic. The loop is part of a tie that is fastened to the frame itself on the inside, so it can’t go very far. The clear duct tape came in handy to cover the hole and, hopefully, prevent it from getting worse. I know the covers on these little greenhouses don’t last long, but we don’t even have any plants in it yet! High winds were why I’d hoped to set it up in a corner closer to the house, but the ground is just too uneven there.
I’ve been looking at 6mm greenhouse plastic online. What I’d really like to do is get a roll of it, but that’s well out of budget right now.
I keep looking at various notifications on my weather apps, telling me things like, light rain coming soon, or, rain will end soon. The problem is, we’ve had NO rain at all. According to the weather radar, we’ve got a system right on top of us, and we’re supposed to get rain for the next couple of hours, yet I’m not seeing a drop of rain out my window. At this rate, I’m going to have to hook up the hoses and start watering the winter sown beds! I might even have to fill the rain barrel I’ve set up with the hose, to have warmer water for the garden beds, because we sure aren’t getting any rain to fill it! Nor are we expecting any, for weeks.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a cooler day than today, though with the wind, today felt downright chilly. I’m really hoping the wind dies down, so we can get those nets set up. Given my pain levels today, it’s probably good I’ve got an enforced day of rest.
My husband, sweetheart that he is, ordered some Tai Fu lotion (not an affiliate link), that came in today. We’ve used this stuff, in balm form, in the past and it helped, but we were a lot less broken back then. I’m looking forward to trying it when I go to bed tonight. I hope it helps. Lord knows, the prescription stuff I tried a few years ago didn’t do much, and I’m hurting a lot more these days, then at that time. Between the lotion, and today’s enforced rest, I’m hoping to be able to get some work done tomorrow!
We had such a gorgeous day today! I finally got to the winter sown beds to remove the mulch, and even got to work on some beds that were not pre sown. I got enough done that I went ahead and recorded some video, instead. I hope you like it!
Temperatures are going to drop over the next few days before getting back into the double digits (Celsius, of course), but only for a short time. We’re supposed to be fluctuating quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. We’re still supposed to stay above freezing for the highs, at least, but a few nights are dipping below freezing. I’ll continue to monitor the temperatures in the portable greenhouse. It might still be a while before we can safely put trays in there and leave them overnight. Once we bring the trays out of the basement, they’re not going back!
I was really happy with the covered bed in the old kitchen garden. I had to be SO careful removing that mulch. There were a lot of seedlings visible. It’s too early to tell what they were. I’m hoping they survived the disturbance! The cover should protect them enough, now that the mulch is off. Especially considering there were still patches of frozen soil in there! I was especially happy when I uncovered the garlic bed. There were so many garlic tips visible! All blanched because of the mulch, but they will soon turn properly green, now that they’re exposed to sunlight. I’ll be watching all the winter sown beds closely for the next while, as a light mulch will need to be added, once the seedlings are large enough.
If felt so good to finally do some real work in the garden!
The first (rather crappy) image above is of our very first sweet pepper seedling! I was starting to wonder if they were going to make it or not.
The pre-germinated Spoon tomatoes (in the next image), however, are growing like gangbusters! Almost every cell has at least one seedling emerging. Of the four varieties, these ones have been growing the fastest, and I’m quite impressed with them.
While I was out today, I picked up a new dial type thermometer for the portable greenhouse. With the old one showing temperatures like 50C/122F, and I thought for sure there was something wrong with it, since it didn’t feel anywhere near that got while I was in the greenhouse.
It looks like I was wrong!
In the next photo, you can see old and new thermometers, next to each other. The new one is on the right, and had been in there for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
This time, however, it did actually feel very hot in there. Not sure why it didn’t, last time!
The last image is of our chitting potatoes. When I’ve done this in the past, I’ve laid them out on cardboard egg trays, cut side down to dry off. Recently, I watched and MI Gardener video on chitting potatoes, and he was laying them down on wood shavings to absorb the moisture. With I think would work better than the egg cartons. So this time, I used some older drain trays from seed starting kits – they have cracks in them and can’t hold water anymore, so they won’t be used for seed starting anymore. I put a layer of the stove pellets we use for litter on the bottom. As they absorb moisture, the pellets will swell up and start breaking apart into sawdust. I am thinking that will do a very good job of absorbing moisture so the cut surfaces will try off and “heal” better.
In the past, I set the trays of chitting potatoes up on our chest freezer in the old kitchen, which gets in the way of actually using the freezer. They are supposed to be set in warmth and light, so I moved things around and set them under the light next to the seedling tray with the warming mat. I had to lay them crosswise to fit, so half the potatoes weren’t getting as much light. That was solved by shifting the winter squash tray on the shelf above, so now the shop like that shine through the openings in the shelf. That should work fine, and the trays can be rotated, if necessary.
I checked on the pre-germinating seeds while I was at it. Still no sign of radicals.
As for the potatoes, I honestly don’t know where I’ll be planting them this year. They can be planted before the last frost date, though. I am expecting to plant these in one of the main garden area beds, and it will just depend on which one I can get ready yet. We hit 15C/59F today, and tomorrow we’re supposed to reach 17C/63F. I’m rather hoping that the snow covering the beds in the main garden area will finally melt away! Maybe then, I can lay some plastic down over some beds to help them thaw out faster.
I’m itching to get started on a lot of clean up out there, but some areas are just too muddy, while others are still covered in snow! At the very least, though, I should be able to start removing mulch from the winter sown beds that no longer have snow on them. Somewhere along the lines, I’ll figure out where the potatoes will go!
Okay, so working on that pipe is not going to happen today. Pain levels are on the upswing and I know if I try to work on it now, I’ll mess myself up for days.
So, instead, I worked on garden stuff!
The tomato seeds were all showing radicals, with some even starting to show seed leaves. It was time to get them into the seed starting mix.
The first image has the Black Beauty on the left, Spoon tomatoes on the right. Those Spoon tomatoes were really doing well! It’s hard to see, but all the Black Beauty seeds had radicals showing.
The next image has the Sub Arctic Plenty on the right. As a short season variety, it’s no surprise that they germinated so quickly. On the left are the Chocolate Cherry. I was a bit surprised that these were the slowest to germinate. I would have expected the Black Beauty to take the longest, considering they have the longest growing season needed.
I had to moisten more seed starter mix for this job, and I made sure to use hot water for that. By the time the cells were filled and the seeds were being transferred out of their trays, the damp mix was still warm. Warmer than the damp paper towels the seeds were on. Now they’re in the tray along with the Turkish Orange eggplant (there’s 6 visible seedlings there), the luffa (all three have finally emerged) and sweet bell pepper mix (no sign of any of those, yet). The bottom of the tray got warm water, too – I wanted to make sure those square peat pots had plenty of moisture to absorb, so they don’t try out the seed starting mix.
That done, I went through my next batch of seeds and decided to go for it with the melons. The White Scallop seeds were set aside for now, as they can wait until May to be done. I got the containers all prepped and labeled ahead of time, and even got some markers labeled for when it’s time to put them into seed starting mix.
For the watermelon, I used my older Cream of Saskatchewan and Kaho seeds. The Sarah’s Choice melon seeds are also older, but the Green Flesh Honeydew packet is new seeds.
Then there are the Zucca melons. Which are the giants. These seeds, which I made a point of scarifying by scraping their edges with a utility knife, are also older seeds, so I made a point of choosing the plumpest, most solid feeling seeds. Which could have been any of them, really. They were in quite good shape. I started 4 seeds. These are the ones that started out so well last year, only to be decimated by slugs, so any transplants we get out of these are going to require extra protection.
Four seeds each was what I was shooting for; we over did it with melons last year, and I want to cut back. With the Cream of Saskatchewan, there were only 5 seeds left in the pack, so I set them all out. With the Kaho watermelon, there were only 3 seeds left in the pack, so I guess that balances things out!
They all got covered with dampened paper towel, and are now set up on top of the aquarium light fixture. At this stage, they don’t really need light, but they do need warmth. I didn’t want to set up the other heat mat yet, and the light fixture is ever so slightly warm. Not as warm as a heat mat, but warm enough. Once they germinate and get transferred into trays, they’ll get a heat mat. It should be interesting to see how many germinate. Especially with the older seeds.
After this, the next things we might start indoors are some herbs and a few back-up White Scallop squash. Those can be started towards the end of April or beginning of May. I’m hoping we’ll be able to start using the portable greenhouse at around the same time. It really depends on those overnight temperatures inside the greenhouse, as we have no way to heat it. We won’t have the option to use the sun room this year, as the space is pretty much all set up for the cats now!
Ah, well. We’ll figure it out.
It felt good to be able to do some garden related stuff on such a dreary day.
As I was finishing my morning rounds, I decided I had to get that cover off the high raised bed and move it to the old kitchen garden. The snow is still deep in the main garden area, but the bed in the old kitchen garden I want to set it on is already almost snow free.
Getting to the high raised bed was not going to be easy. I had to break a path in – literally! With the thaw/freeze cycles we’ve been having for the past while, the surface of the snow is hard, but not hard enough to hold much weight. I had to stomp my way through, breaking the surface layer, until just before I reached the high raised bed, where the surface was solid enough that it actually held my weight.
There was no way I could carry the raised bed cover while making my way back, though. My balance isn’t that good anymore! Thankfully, that wasn’t really an issue.
Once I was clear of the deep snow, I could carry it normally. This cover, made using fence wire that needed to be sandwiched between two boards to secure it, is probably the strongest of all the covers I made.
If you click through to the next photo, you’ll see that the cover almost perfectly fits over the bed in the old kitchen garden! Which wasn’t at all intentional. When we first planted in this area, the bed was more triangular in shape. It was too wide at one end to reach the middle easily, so when I used logs to make it into a higher raised bed, I made it rectangular, but just worked with the space I had. I don’t think I actually measured anything. The covers are all 3′ wide by 9′ long. At one end, by the rose bush, it fits perfectly between the vertical corner supports at that end. The end closer to the house is slightly wider, but not enough to be an issue.
The challenge is going to be, how to cover it with plastic. Not only does it need to keep the cats out, but it has to be secure enough that the wind won’t blow it away.
There are gaps around the sides and one end of the bed that a cat could potentially squirm through. Which means my original thought of somehow securing the plastic directly to the wood frame itself is not going to be good enough. What I might be able to do is have the plastic go on the outside of the bed and secure it into the path in some way that would allow me to lift the plastic to tend the bed, as needed. How to keep it from being blown loose by the wind is going to be the main issue. I know that simply using ground staples to pin it in place won’t be enough. The wind would tear the plastic free in no time.
We have small logs from when the branch piles were chipped, each about 4′ long, stacked beside the wattle weave bed. I may just use some of those to weigh down the edges of the plastic, all along the outside of the bed. It will take several sheets of the plastic I have, though, and those will need to be taped together with clear tape. I’m definitely going to need to get a daughter to help me out with that, because I know the wind is going to make that job quite difficult!
Before we secure it, though, I’m going to see if I can remove the mulch, then add more snow to the bed before covering it with plastic. The melting snow will help “water” the bed. The mulch might still be too frozen, though. If so, we’ll put the plastic over it for a day or so, which should thaw things out faster, then try again.
If this works out as I hope it will, that will give this bed a head start. This is the bed that has:
– spinach – four different varieties – Swiss chard – two different varieties – Shallots and onions – saved seed – Kohlrabi – both purple and green – Hedou Tiny bok choi – saved seed
There are a lot of older seeds in this mix, so it’s hard to know just how many would germinate, even if they did survive the winter.
Well, this is an experiment, so whatever happens, happens!
I really look forward to those bulbs I ordered to arrive. I’ve received a shipping notice, and they are on their way. I really need more light for the seedlings in the basement!
Here is how the winter squash was looking, this morning.
In the first image, you can see the Baked Potato and Mashed Potato squash are coming up nicely. Still no sigh of the Sunshine squash.
Normally, once seedlings are emerged like this, the tray would be taken off the heat mat. With the basement temperature being so low, I don’t want to take away the one consistent heat source. What I’ve done instead is add a cooling rack – I picked up several at the dollar store to use with my seedlings – on the heat mat, then put the tray on that. This puts a bit of space between the tray and the heat mat, so there is no direct contact, but there will still be at least some warmth from below.
The second image is of the two Arikara squash that are pushing their way through. After taking the photo, I added more water to the tray below (with the heat mat, it dries up pretty fast), I brushed aside some of the vermiculate to get a bitter look. Those seeds leaves are a LOT larger than what can be seen in the photo. They’re also still mostly encased in the seed shells. I’ve left the light on for the day and will check on them later. Hopefully, they’ll be able to shed their shells once the leaves start reaching for the light. Sometimes, they need a bit of help to get the shells off, so the leaves and unfurl.
Still no sign of the eggplant or peppers, but it hasn’t been long enough, yet. I believe both take a week to ten days to germinate in soil, and with the seed starter mix being cooler, even with the heat mat, I would expect them to be closer to the ten days than the seven.
Looking at the long range forecasts, it seems we’ll start having overnight temperatures above freezing consistently, by the last couple of weeks of April. By the end of May, we typically have overnight temperatures consistently at or above 6C/43F At that point, we can start direct sowing cold hardy, frost tolerant seeds.
Once the snow clears away from the garden beds, we’ll be able to start prepping the ones that have not been winter sown. I’m kinda hoping that I can get at the raised bed cover on the high raised bed and bring it around to the front of the house. I want to cover it with plastic, then set it over the winter sown bed in the old kitchen garden. The trick is going to be getting it covered securely enough that the cats can’t push through. The plastic cover will need to be temporary, too. I might need to replace it with netting, to keep the cats out later on. I think we still have some mosquito netting we can use, if we need to keep voracious insects out, too. Most of the mosquito netting we have is attached to the chain link fence over the garden bed, there, rolled up at the tops. They will be stretched out over the beds later, to keep the Chinese Elm seeds from burying and suffocating the seedlings. They can also serve to deter deer. The main problem I found last year is that, no matter how thoroughly I pinned down the bottom edge of the netting, the wind blows it loose, and it ended up fluttering like a sail. The mesh on the mosquito netting is great for keeping bugs out, but the weave is tight enough that the wind can’t blow through very well. The mesh on the other netting we have would work with the wind, but is too open to prevent insect damage.
With the pre-sown bed, we have the sunflowers and a few Montana Morado corn planted. If those survived the winter, they will grow much taller than the fence, to the netting won’t be useable – at least not how it’s set up now – once they get tall enough. We’ll have to find some other way to protect the bed from the deer.
All things to keep in mind over the next few weeks, as we wait for the snow to melt away, and we can finally get started on the garden beds again! One of my priorities will be to set up the trellis posts on the one low raised bed that’s ready for them. I want to be able to use them to trellis pole beans or peas in that bed this year. The other half of that bed is already planted with red and yellow seed onions. There should be space between the onions and the pole beans or peas available for something else, but I haven’t decided what, yet.
We’ll have lots of work to do, and not a lot of time do it. Thankfully the winter sowing – if it worked – will have given us a head start and give us time to work on other things, instead.
I am so itching to get out there and work, but there’s still snow on the ground!!!
With the pre-germinated seeds potted up and the tray on top of a heat mat, I have been eager to see how long it would take for the seed leaves to break through.
Not long at all! It’s been only a week since the seeds were set up to pre-germinate, and here we are…
The Baked Potato squash have the most leaves emerged. There are some Mashed Potato squash pushing their way, or just visible, though the vermiculite. Even the Arikara squash is just visible through the vermiculate. Nothing visible on the Sunshine squash, yet. Nothing visible in the luffa, eggplant or peppers in the other tray, either.
Oh, and I checked the last luffa seed still in the pre-germination container. I gave it a squeeze, and it was hollow; just the shell left. So it’s 3 out of 4 seeds that successfully pre-germinated.
After taking the above picture, I pulled the winter squash tray out and rotated it on the heat mat, in case there were some warm and cold spots. The silver insulating material I put under it seems to be working; I could feel more warmth than when it was just the cardboard.
I have more of this insulating stuff left and was thinking of putting it around the drain pipe I was trying to clean out yesterday, in the general area where I think the gunk might be freezing. I know the bottleneck starts at about 6′ from the access point.
The problem is, for most of that area, access to the drain pipe is blocked by a heat duct and the frame built around the window on the inside, with a platform to hold a fan. It could be done, but I would definitely need someone else to give me a hand.
I’d also want to clean away the many years of dust, dirt and cobwebs first, too!
Though, now that I’ve looked at it, I am now doubting that ice could be the issue. There is that heat duct in the way. I would think any heat lost through the metal of the duct would be enough to keep things from freezing.
It wouldn’t hurt to have the pipe insulated in that section, though. I haven’t unrolled it, but there’s at least 6 feet of the insulating material left.
This stuff is turning out to be handy for all sorts of things, but insulating pipes is what the dimensions of this particular size of roll was designed for.
It seems to be doing well for keeping seed trays warm in a cold basement, too!
Well, I went and did it. I potted up the very enthusiastically growing winter squash. I even did the luffa. Of all the seeds I started only 1 luffa hasn’t germinated yet, and it still might.
I’ve decided I will go the Costco shopping tomorrow and, while in the city, try and find a second heat mat to put under the winter squash tray. If they’re out of stock… well… we’ll see how it goes!
The Re-Farmer 