The melting report

To be followed by survival report!

Garlic under the snow from Thursday.
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.
Front nook early afternoon Saturday.
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.

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.

The drifting side of the house

The wind seems to be from the northwest and the front yard confirms that.

The most exposed strawberry patch has a good layer of snow!
The sheltered nook on the south side of porch is full of snow too.
Looks like a pretty good blanket on the raised beds too!

Mulching the peach tree

Paula came over this afternoon for a masked visit outside. We put down cardboard around the new peach tree and covered it with cedar mulch.

Paula insisted I have to be in the picture. Thanks for the picture and help, Paula!! You can see our rock and sedum garden in front of it.

Fruit plants in the ground!

I planted the peach tree and currant bush in the front and back yards, respectively.

Briar supervised. We have no fence in the front yard but she likes to hang out and watch. The peach tree is hard to see but has the lighter colored bamboo stake next to it. I believe this dwarf tree is a genetic dwarf, not grafted onto a dwarf rootstock, so while I looked for soil line on the tree for planting I didn’t have to watch for keeping the graft above the soil.
Another underwhelming stick picture! The Crandall black currant is a native North American currant. Both this and the peach I made sure to water deeply per instructions. I put this currant on the northeastern corner of my “currant patch” (three others planted last year) just because it’s where there was room.

Peach and currant planting

Well it’s my day off so it’s time to plant yesterday’s new arrivals. I secured them out of the way from box- and stick- interested supervisors Gram and Briar.

Peach and currant bare roots showing packaging
Ison’s vineyard packaged these with a nice bamboo support stake for the peach, some sort of water retaining goo/slush, and tied them together gently with a thick baling twine. I will save the baling twine to tie the peach to its stake.
This nursery’s instructions didn’t specify a pre-planting soak for the roots, but Stark Bros does and I’ve seen it in several books now. So, these new friends are getting a drink while I walk the dog (most important) and then dig holes (possibly more relevant to their interests).