Winter Sowing
I’ve had cabin fever in a serious way this year. I just want to be in my garden digging around, harvesting squash, sharing a cucumber with Vector, generally enjoying the sun. But alas, it is less than 20 degrees outside and we’re looking at a solid 2 more months until spring. The bulbs start popping up around mid-march, earlier if it’s been warm.
But, even in this cold weather, I can garden! Seeds just came out at Home Depot and I’ve already put in an order with Burgess.
In addition to dreaming and ordering seeds, I actually already planted some. It’s called winter-sowing and the internet says it’s awesome. Basically the idea is that you make little green-houses out of milk jugs and plant your seeds in them. They will freeze and thaw and get snowed on just like seeds in nature. The freeze-thaw cycle is great for re-seeding annuals and perennials alike. It increases germination rates and prevents the need for seed stratification, soaking, and nicking that some seeds need to get good germination. In the spring, the little green-houses will warm up faster than the surrounding soil. As things heat up, you gradually remove the covers and soon enough you will have seedlings ready to transplant into the garden.
Winter-sowing is different than fall-sowing where you plant perennial seeds and next year’s hardy annuals in the garden. Winter-sowing prevents the seeds from being eaten by birds or buried too deep for germination. The greenhouses of the milk cartons also prevent the death of the young plants by late frosts. I’ve never tried this process before but I’m excited to see the results. I’ll report on my experiences as usual.
For more information on winter sowing, check out this blog by Kevin Lee Jacobs:
http://www.agardenforthehouse.com
There is plenty of other information but Kevin is in zone 5b, not too far from me in zone 6b.
So far, I’ve planted Russel Hybrid Lupines and Shasta Daisys. I had two gallon size milk jugs, 2 half gallon jugs, and a large gatoraid bottle. On Jan 19, I planted a gallon and a half of the Daisies and a gallon and a half and a gatoraid bottle of the Lupines. On Feb 2, I planted Pansies in a windshiled wiper fluid jug and Black Eyed Susans in a gallon milk jug. Stefan just finished another Gallon of milk so I need to decide what to plant out next!
I’m waiting on Stefan to drink more milk so I can plant some more seeds I purchased: Columbines, Petunias, Foxgloves, Delphiniums. I also ordered some herb seeds from Burgess which should be here in the next month or so. Some seeds like Parsley and Thyme are receptive to the winter-sow technique. I need to do a little more research though. Here is a great link for a list of herbs that can be winter-sowed in what zones.
List of Winter-Sowing hardiness
I’m afraid I’m probably going to have to get creative about containers. I don’t think Stefan drinks that much milk and my lactose free milk doesn’t come in the plastic jugs but in the paper cartons.
Have you ever tried winter-sowing? Are there any plants you think I’m missing? I keep toying with morning glories but they tend to grow all by themselves without needing any help, I also got some great recommendations about the artificial plants Melbourne, I think I need to give them a try!
Sarah
Who’s Excited for Spring?
On Saturday, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring. I am so ready for spring. Just a few more months. I’ve started getting seed catalogs by the dozens and I’ve started to keep track of which ones I like.
I’m a budget shopper and I’m not a die-hard gardener so I’m looking for good prices. The best prices I’ve found have been from www.eburgess.com. In fact, I put in a large order from there just a couple weeks ago.
Plants
Strawberry Bargain 25/$5.99
Lilac, Old Fashioned 2/$4.99
Gladiolus Garden, Glory 40/$2.99
Fern, Cinnamon 3/$5.99
Lily of the Valley, White 5/$4.99
Arborvitae, American 9-12″ 3/$4.99
Hydrangea Tree 2/$2.01
Hosta, Handful of 8/$10.99
Sale Hosta 3/$4.99
Phlox, Creeping 12/$3.96
Hosta, Regal Blue 2/$3.50
Lavender, English 1/$1.99
Periwinkle 25/$3.98
Seeds:
Sage, Thyme, Chives, Coriander, Dill, Oregano, Parsley for $0.79 each
Buttercrunch Lettuce $0.69
Gourmet Blend Lettuce $0.99
Tendersweet Carrots $0.99
With $9.49 shipping the total came to exactly $80. Not bad for the number of plants I got. I’m so excited! I hope everything comes looking good. The real drive for the order was the mini arborvitaes and the Tree Hydrangeas which are in the $30 range elsewhere and I got 2 for $2.01.
They are listed “Choice, 1-3′, nursery grown trees with vigorous root systems.” I’m hoping for a big one! I’m planning on planting it in the front of the house to replace the hideous Yew we took out.
For seeds, I’ve purchased Burpee Seeds at Home Depot in the past and have been pleased with them. Be ware that Burpee seeds vary in price a lot from place to place. I’ve heard Walmart is by far the cheapest but our Walmart is hard to get to and kinda far away. Home Depot was probably a dollar or more cheaper per pack than the Burpee display at the Supermarket. I also added some seeds to my Burgess order.
I think next year I may try to place an order from Baker’s Creek Heirloom Seeds. While I’m not anti-GMO for food production I do think that by planting heirloom veggie and plant seeds in the home garden we can insure that the genetic diversity of our food supply is maintained. I also find that the system of seed -> plant -> seeds -> plant is an amazing system that God has designed and that I hope to share with my children. Maintaining this system in the face of GMO food production which I believe is all-in-all better for feeding the world’s population is left to smaller farms and home gardeners who will act as stewards of this amazing cycle of growth.
I tried planting the seeds directly in the ground last year with very little success. The birds and squirrels got to them too fast. This year I’m planning on starting everything in pots even if I’m going to start them outside. I’ll transplant to the ground once they have sprouted. I also have a good number of seeds that I saved from last year that I’m excited to plant out.
Here’s to an Early Spring!
Sarah
Thaw, more Snow, and plumbing – Weekend Update MLK weekend
Oh 3 day weekends, please start visiting us more often! I love a three day weekend. Stefan and I were talking and it seems we have a habit of working really hard on Saturday and by Sunday the combination of the physical tiredness of Saturday and the mental/emotional tiredness of the week takes over and we are pooped. The 3 day weekend gives us a Sunday to recuperate and a Monday to plow through more work. It’s glorious.
This weekend we ran into a bunch of snafus but we got a lot done and are well on our way towards getting things done in the 2nd floor bathroom.
First order of business was to drop off the scrap metal I had loaded into the back of the truck last weekend. Wow. That was an adventure. We went into Everett and there is a whole row of places. I had a place I had looked up online and they were all the way at the end. They were very nice and were willing to explain everything we needed to do. First we waited in line to be weighed. Then we were told to go to the sorting station since we had mixed metals. We unloaded and sorted everything. There were so many interesting people there. It was quite the experience. Everyone was very nice. I’ve found that at places like this where I feel like a yuppy in a local’s environment, I just throw on my country girl accent and remember to make eye contact and smile. I may be a city girl now but I was raised a southerner and good manners go a long way with all types of people. The rough scrap yard guys are willing to help and answer questions if you go out of your way to show your respect for them. I just ignore their stares and make sure I smile and say thank you. We came out about $120 ahead and it only took about half an hour. We took one fairly large piece of copper pipe. It was $95 just for that one piece. We have probably 4 times that much still at the house. This was kind of just a trial run but now we know how it works we’ll load up the truck and do a multi-hundred dollar run.
After that adventure, we went to Home Depot and picked up this extension ladder for $99.
Roofing contractor was planning to use roofing brackets to hold the extension ladder. After more thinking and some playing on the roof, we decided to try another approach. Putting holes in our brand new roof just didn’t sit too well.
You can see here why it was so hard to get too. We had to go just about 8 feet above the top of the roof-line.
To get there, we just used a 6 foot step-ladder. We tied it to a piece of scrap wood that we clamped through the Green Windows just to keep it from sliding out from under Stefan while he drilled the holes.
We got the first one done on Saturday afternoon. It took a mid-project Home Depot run to get a hole saw the right size but we managed one. It started to get dark so we put up shop and worked on an “indoor” project that evening. We were going strong until nearly 11 o’clock. But, we got the water supply done in the bathroom. Pex-tastic, we will see if can finish the project completely. We got help from the First 4 Plumbing on plumbing issues at home.
We even labeled the manifold.
It felt so good to get something checked off the list.
Sunday was windy so we elected not to do any roof-ladder work. Frankly speaking, I wish I hired a professional service to do this roof job, as it turned out to be very time-consuming. I heard guys from roof repair West Palm Beach are great at roof repair, so next time I need something like that, I would probably contact them. Instead, we worked on planning out Electric. We picked out and ordered this lighting fixture for the bathroom:
We also picked out these lights for the vanity:
Since it was a 3 day weekend, we took some time to walk downtown for a late lunch/early dinner. It was great to see the sun and have some date-time.
Sunday we finished up the other two venting heads. These are for the bath fan exhausts. There are 3 in total. One for the first floor bath, one for the half bath on the second floor, and one for the master bath.
We had planned on drilling a bunch of holes for running electric but as Stefan was cutting the last exhaust hole, the right angle drill died a heart-wrenching death. We stripped the gears and it made this pitiful jingley sound as the gear teeth floated around the case. So, that put an end to our weekend of work. We decided to get in the car and make a third and final weekend trip to HD but we walked outside and…it was snowing! Forecast of 4-8″!! We only got a dusting but still, HD in a blizzard isn’t something I’m dying to do again so we called the weekend done and relaxed and watched TV instead.
My sister is coming out next weekend so we’ll have an extra set of hands. Here we come dry-wall ready bathroom!!!
Stay Warm!
Sarah
P.S. Highs are in the teens for the next couple days. Brrrr.
Snow and Stuff
I’ve got some mid-week thoughts and pictures for you all. It snowed!
We had our week of January thaw last week and then another 2-3 inches last night. It’s a “pretty” amount of snow but an unfortunate amount. The forecast was 1-3 inches and most towns elected to just do a cursory plow job. When we get 4-6 inches, the plowing is much more thorough.
I realize I missed a weekend of house update – the first full weekend of January. Just more electric and plumbing. Nothing too exciting but I did make these cool plant hangers. I needed something to keep the cat out of my Christmas Cactus. I don’t know why but it’s his favorite. He likes to pull off all the leaves. I think they make a nice satisfying pop when they let go.
The plant hangers took about 3 minutes to make and look pretty cute if I do say so myself. Google around, there are plenty of tutorials if you’d like to make something similar.
I also have the Piano Room mostly cleaned out. It’s hard to say it’s clean and when you see the picture you will go “clean…really?” but it’s worlds better.
BEFORE
AFTER
You can see floor! I guess you’ll have to take my word for it. Waaaayy better.
I’ve moved almost everything into closets on the 2nd floor. They are packed full but they have doors and I know where everything is which is a big improvement.
That’s the mid-week update!
Sarah
P.S. If you haven’t checked out my sister’s blog on all things baking, check it out at www.bekahbakes.com.
