Tag: faucets

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04/23 front yard

Viola bicolor going to seed!
There’s a lot of it growing this year. I have taken some of the seeds and sprinkled over on the new filled in soil as I don’t want to bury their next generation.
Native Bluets going to seed!
Mystery plant in raised bed. Tree of heaven (invasive non native) has been suggested.
Mostly got this leak taken care of with new rubber seals and Teflon tape. There’s still a tiny drip, but I’ll just call it watering the strawberries. Before, it was a consistent trickle.
Extremely bored helper.
Four varieties of strawberry. First harvest of the season.
Culinary sage in rainbow garden is about to bloom!
Potato straw bales are growing!!
Blue flax babies where I’m pointing, as well as larger ones near front of picture. The broad leafed plant to the right is mealy blue sage.

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The survival report

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!

The saffron leaves seem intact.
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.
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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.