Problems Archives : Page 17 of 18 : Cast Iron Garden

February 14, 2021February 14, 2021

Insulating blanket of FUN

We woke up to a snowy world! Briar has seen snow before and enjoyed it but was hesitant at first this morning. She got over that soon enough and subsequently went insane with happy bouncing.

Briar examines the herb bed. Only seeds there except a single low growing oregano from Judy under the bucket. You can see the plant window in the background.

Briar passes outdoor stratification native wildflower seeds in little pots. Heck of a cold stratification this time!

The front yard raised beds with *Salvia greggii* in front.

Snow whiskers! You know it’s cold when your breath freezes on your snoot!

Lots of little plants safely under the snow now. I feel a lot better about the impending -9°F etc coming up in the next few days now. Below: safety. Above: bouncies!!

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021

Having seen the two wilty front yard seedlings of standing cypress, I went to check on the backyard ones. Those two seem a little better, maybe, possibly, so maybe some will live? I think of them as a more southerly plant, so fingers crossed.

Front yard seedling is kinda tipped over and so was its neighbor.

The two backyard plants are more sheltered.

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021

Snow and melting even at 18°F in the sun

The kale looks kinda wilted even under its glass cover.

Garlic has pretty snow and melted refrozen ce

Standing cypress seedlings look pretty wilty in the front yard but I have not checked the backyard ones yet. Lettuce, cilantro, and cabbages I’m unsure how they look (sort of like the sugar snap peas, they could go either way once it warms up).

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021

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.

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021

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!

February 12, 2021February 12, 2021

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.

February 11, 2021February 11, 2021

A soft, sheltering blanket begins

Hopefully we will get the additional forecast snow to help everything from the single digits forecast for Sunday and beyond!

The new onions especially need some protection. This is an experiment to see what they can handle since I should be able to get more if they die.

The backyard strawberry patch already has a lot of leaves, dead grass, saffron leaves (the green grass-like leaves), and the snow, so I think they’ll be fine. I’ll cover the front yard strawberries before it gets below 10 F.

February 7, 2021February 7, 2021

The big freeze: an outdoor stratification event?

Supposed to be really cold (with highs not above freezing) later this week, so I figured I should get my lately acquired native and wildflower seeds in the ground. These included desert globemallow, blue flax, Liatris mucronata, and mystery Aster sp. (the latter two from Mom, thanks Mom!!). The first three I also put some seeds in the fridge for manual stratification and the first two I saved a bit to try planting in the fall if the spring planting doesn’t take.

I also had a few indoor seedings to catch up on. Judy kindly sent me some Chimayo chile pepper seeds, my Jimmy Nardello peppers never sprouted, my ground cherries only had two sprouts, and the poor Tommy Toe tomatoes died of cat and damping off.