Category: Infrastructure

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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.
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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.

Strawberries and oregano are under the tubs. There is some sedum along one wall and those poor little standing cypress along the back wall.
Foil and tissue under the regular foam cover, which is now covered by newspaper and cardboard, with a gallon jug of hot water sitting at the base.  We’ll change out for new water before bed.
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Unexpected freeze

One corner of the plant window froze!

The Salvia greggii cuttings and one set of seedlings got frozen. You can see how the dirt is expanded out! Seedlings lost were eggplants, bullnose pepper, and Craig’s grande jalapeño. You can see the plants just to the right appear to be fine with no frozen soil.
Juncos getting this morning’s sunflower seeds.
This one junco hopped around with snow on its back, presumably from overnight.
The heated bird bath is holding up well!
Several outside window sills show this neat layering from each round of snow yesterday.
The inside of several windows frosted. The blinds did a good job insulating in both directions! It all melts after I open the blinds.
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Leaves for strawberries

I had a nice bag of leaves for the compost pile that I decided could be better used as mulch right now. I put it all on the strawberries as those are the big investment relative to onion sets and potatoes seed eyes.

Piles of leaves around the towels and tubs. We’ll see what works best.
The northwest exposure corner of strawberries.
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A late night decision

This cold is ridiculous and last night I saw the forecast keeps getting lower and earlier. Got up to find 9°F this morning! -8°F forecast next week! That’s -22°C! That’s Winnipeg weather!!!

So, in anticipation of Canadian type cold on my poor strawberries, I added another pocket of insulating air with some plastic tubs. It won’t cover everyone but I tried to get the center of each variety. I’ll see about adding some leaves as mulch today in the daylight. Fingers crossed that snow is coming before the biggest cold!
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I changed my mind about the backyard strawberries

After thinking about what Judy and I have been texting about on snow vs ice and the extreme and unusual cold impending, I decided to cover the biggest part of every strawberry bed, even the backyard ones. I hope it will snow as forecast on Sunday before the most extreme cold for insulation.

This nook stays a little warmer than elsewhere.
These plants are also by the porch so I hope they get a little shelter.
These strawberries are on the north corner of house and have the fewest leaves on them.
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Window rearranging

Some guest plants are departing, so the Salvia greggii cuttings are moving into the plant window where it’s safer from the cat.

The extremely innocent young cat who definitely did not nibble and step on several seedlings causing the current fortification of the plant window and abandonment of the table as a plant staging area.
It looks like two or three of the five cuttings have “taken”, based on the new growth.
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Spring planting! It’s going to freeze next week!

Paula and I were going to plant things tomorrow, but it’s looking quite chilly. It’s just gorgeous out right now. So we spent a half an hour or so and got two kinds of onions (yellow granex and white granex) from sets in the beds, two kinds of potatoes in containers (experimenting with burlap sacks, potting soil bag, and cardboard boxes to make hilling them easier to get more potatoes), and seeds of French breakfast radish, green wave mustard, and Oregon sugar pod II pea. The peas we already have a few little vines of but I figured another round wouldn’t hurt to replace some since they blanch and freeze well if we get a lot.

White granex onions with some moss curled parsley from last year.
Yellow granex bulb onions with some cabbage and chard from last year.
Paula had the excellent idea to show the Yukon gold potato (burlap sacks/top) and Kennebec white potato (box and plastic bag) with their planters. We’re having a big freeze forecast for next week, so I only used half of the seed potatoes in case these die. (Also, I ran out of containers for now.) I am putting potatoes in containers to make them easier to hill dirt around, and also because crop rotation when all you plant is Solanaceae is very challenging.
Briar says it was good sleepy sunshine to supervise in. She was pleased.
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Plant window ventilation

No more cases of damping off since Wes has added the fan for me. Many plants were ready for watering! So I think the fan is helping dry things out.

The plant window has some permanent residents like various succulents and a venus flytrap, but is mostly full of young plants right now.
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Airflow to prevent damping off?

Wes rigged up a small fan with power supply to pull air through the plant window. Fingers crossed it works! There’s always taking the baby plants in and out each day for sunshine but I’d really rather not. Because I’m lazy.

The small fan. You can see the plexiglass gap there and a larger gap is at the top, which you can see in the next picture.
The cause of all this nonsense (Gram the cat) walks by the clamp I need to put back up to hold the plexiglass in place. Briar supervises.