Information Archives : Page 77 of 81 : Cast Iron Garden

February 21, 2021February 21, 2021

Kohlrabi and cabbage in dinner

The chef served a pork and tofu soup this evening with rice.

The soup contained (in no particular order) carrots, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, the round chunky mushrooms whose name I can’t remember, sweet baby bell peppers, Sichuan chile peppers, pork back strap (from Paula), tofu, soy, dashi, kohlrabi slices, cabbage, and kimchi (from Paula too).

Between the chopsticks you can see the green shred of cabbage and the kohlrabi slice. We’d never had kohlrabi before. It sort of just blended in with everything.

February 20, 2021February 20, 2021

More survival reports

I went out to get the kohlrabi and cabbage for Wes and uncovered some more areas.

The tops of most onions seem frost damaged. Not sure about their bases. We’ll see if they grow back this week or if I need to go get more.

Adjacent snow covered onions seem similar.

The chard is definitely frozen. Will be interesting to see if it comes back from its base or if I need to reseed it. Tucked under it is a ragged little cabbage.

I cut the kohlrabi at the base. Most of the leaves are in good shape, too.

The cabbage (left) and kohlrabi (right), harvested and set on the snow.

The Dutch corn salad greens are as hardy yet tiny as ever. I think from reading recently they don’t get much bigger, so I guess you’d need to plant a lot more than I do?

At the edge of the front nook, these strawberries and mealy blue sage were

Another towel and tub protected area. Strawberries look good and so does the oregano in the upper right corner (at the edge of the snow).

I think the sad little standing cypress has survived!! I put a bit of mulch around it after my last visit to it (when it looked very sad). The other front nook one and both backyard ones are still covered by snow.

By the time I got done outside Wes had trimmed up both the kohlrabi and the cabbage for use this evening.

February 20, 2021February 20, 2021

Well, on the way out to walk the dog, I started lifting up some tubs and towels to let things have sun and see what survived. I’ll go out again later and see about the kohlrabi and one cabbage as the chef wants them for dinner. Any feedback on whether to trim back the damaged perennials (irises, garlic, rosemary) would be appreciated!

Strawberries with the saffron seem okay too! These were all under a towel and a tub.

The cilantro was under a tub. It died. The leaves of cilantro in the cactus planter also died, but there appeared to be some live bright green at the base. We’ll see if it grows back.

This native plant rosette (I think *Gaillardia*?) seems fine and i didn’t cover it or its neighbors at all. It had more snow on it during the coldest cold.

The oregano in the herb bed by the plant window looks a little worse for the wear. It had two plastic tubs over it. Some leaves look damaged but some seem maybe okay.

Both the front and backyard faucets and pipes seem to have survived!!! That’s a relief. I opened both slightly for a few minutes, just in case to clear any bits of ice out, but it was all liquid coming out that I could see or hear. Whew!

Front yard strawberries seem overall okay on the northwest side. These had towels and tubs in the center, and just towels around the planter base.

Even the un-toweled leaves seem okay so far.

Other parts of the bed had an aluminum trash can lid and leaves over them. I’m feeling pretty optimistic.

The irises by the mailbox got frozen. Anybody know if I should trim them back or just let them regrow on their own?

Most of the rosemary is now a very dead looking brown-green, but at the base of at least one there is still life (the brighter green branches) so I hope they can all grow back. Presumably insulation from snow helped the base.

Like the irises, the garlic is very unhappy. I hope they too will grow back from their roots.

February 20, 2021February 20, 2021

The melting report

To be followed by survival report!

Front nook from Thursday. Dog for scale.

Front nook on Friday. Dog scale not cooperating.

Melting progress in front nook as of Friday night. Dog cooperated this time.

Plant window and herb garden from Friday. The Norman official temperature made it to 32°F.

Plant window and herb bed as of early afternoon Saturday.

Backyard cactus planter, cilantro, and strawberries/saffron bed coverings on Friday.

Not related to melting, there were two crows eating suet mix on Friday.

Front yard raised beds beginning to be exposed again on early afternoon Saturday.

February 16, 2021February 16, 2021

Insulation power of snow

We only made it to -8°F (-22°C — I only really comprehend cold in celsius because of my time in Canada being the previously only time I experienced cold this low) when I got up this morning around 7am.

The gallon jugs in the makeshift faucet boxes were both very cold but unfrozen so I have hope for the pipes in the adjacent walls.

I was really fascinated to see the frost on the window this morning. There’s frost right down until the snow that’s piled on the sill. That snow is only an inch or two thick because of the depth of the window sill outside. Gives me hope for the strawberries buried under the snow! (At least if the cold before the snow didn’t kill them.)

I left the plant window completely open to the house this morning: no curtains or cat shield plexiglass. It only got to 50°F but ice still on bottom metal and on lower glass surfaces.

Amazingly, yesterday’s affected eggplant and peppers have not died. I wonder if it was just ice at the very bottom of the pots, where it touched the metal? Fingers crossed they will continue to recover. The *Salvia* cuttings also seem hopeful.

February 16, 2021February 28, 2021

Insulation for -12°F forecast overnight

That’s -24° Canadian. Regular Winnipeg weather!

The Peruvian ground cherry I had been nursing along with towels and tubs and a hot water bottle every night succumbed to freezing last night (it was 3°F outside this morning around 7:30am). I have lots of babies in the plant window though.