Outside

Vegetable Garden Update; Potatoes Planted

On Sunday I was able to get my potatoes planted, and this year I'm experimenting with growing my potatoes in garbage cans.



On Sunday, 5/18 I planted two varieties - Rose Finn Apple, a fingerling I've grown for the past few years, and Carola, a white "keeper" that I'm trying for the first time this year. Both are from Seed Savers Exchange.

Here's what I did. I bought two 32-gallon garbage cans and drilled several 1/2" drainage holes in the bottom and up about 12" on the side. I lined the bottom and sides with leftover window screening left over from the past two years' ineffective attempt at rabbit fencing. I then layered about 8" of compost on the bottom, placed four evenly-spaced, sprouted potatoes in a circle, then topped off the whole thing with another 6" of compost. As the plants start to grow, I'll mound them up, either with compost or straw. I think I'll probably use straw for at least half of the container, as there is already about 50 pounds of compost in each can - filling them up with compost alone will make them immovable!

It's a fun experiment, and it gives me more room in the garden beds - and that's always in short supply!

Otherwise, the weather has been very cool all month. The spring flowers are blooming about 2 weeks late this year. I have tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries and basil growing under lights, but I don't think I'll even bother planting any of them out until May 31st or June 1st. This should be perfect weather for the cool season crops, though. The snap peas and greens are growing well - I can't wait for my first harvest.

Just a Dusting

Here's what the world looked like in my neck of the woods at 8:00 on this blustery and cold Saturday morning. I hope things are better in your neck of the woods!

Turning the Corner - Pond Ice Out 2008

We've turned the corner, from winter to spring, just like that.

The official 2008 ice out date for the pond was yesterday, April 14, 2008. In 2007, the ice out date was March 27th and in 2006 it was April 5th.

Finally, the weather is suddenly beautiful, and it now seems possible that the gardening season is here. Spring!

April Fool's Day Snow

The big April Fool's Day joke here in Minnesota was last night's snow storm. As Spouse and I watched the Twins beat the Angels 3-2 in the home opener, the snow raged outside the windows. This morning, this is what we saw.

The front yard

The vegetable garden

Two deer in our neighbor's yard

One of the deer in a close-up

Inch by Inch

Spring is coming, but very slowly. Last year, ice out on our pond was on March 28th. As of today, the pond is about one-third ice-free.

The ducks, though, have already taken advantage of the open water. Several Mallards arrived on Friday, when the patch of water was 20'x20', at most. A pair of mergansers - a male and female - arrived this morning.  If you click on the picture to the left to enlarge it, you'll see the merganser pair near the middle of the photo, while some mallards are to the right.

But then there's this, from the National Weather Service. Spring may be coming, but it's taking its own sweet time:

1119 AM CDT SUN MAR 30 2008

...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE MONDAY NIGHT...

HEAVY WET SNOW MAY DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA MONDAY MORNING. THE THREAT FOR HEAVY WET SNOW WILL THEN SPREAD NORTHEAST ACROSS THE TWIN CITIES METROPOLITAN AREA AND POINTS NORTH DURING THE LATE MORNING AND ACROSS MUCH OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN BY EARLY MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY SNOW WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE WATCH AREA THROUGH MUCH OF MONDAY NIGHT BEFORE DIMINISHING BY DAYBREAK TUESDAY. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 INCHES OR MORE ARE POSSIBLE BY LATE MONDAY NIGHT.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

Is It Really Spring?

This is pretty much what it's looked like around here since Friday, the first full day of Spring. I think it's finally stopped snowing, with a 3-day total of about 10-12" at our house. Needless to say, I haven't been too inspired about gardening, but I think I'll be getting the peppers and tomatoes started.

Have a happy Easter!

It's Still Winter

It's been dreary and gray, with temperatures in the mid-20's. It looks like it's back to the deep freeze this weekend with below 0F temperatures. Bah, humbug.

The neighborhood deer herd seems to have expanded. Below is a picture of one deer on the pond. More difficult to see are the seven deer on the hillside on the left-hand side of the photo. The herd has been at five pretty consistently for about a year, but I've been seeing eight for the past few weeks. They're not fawns, so our five must have adopted three more from somewhere else.

Tired of the Cold

It's been a cold, cold January here in Minnesota. After over a week of below 0 temperatures in the middle of the month, we had a bit of a warm-up, then back into the deep freeze. When I left for work at 7:15 am this morning, it was -16F, with windchills up to -40F. I suppose I should be happy that we're having a "normal" Minnesota winter, but after the last few years of "global warming" winter, I think I became soft and spoiled.

With the cold, it's been difficult to think about gardening. At left is the garden two weekends ago, as seen through the ice covered porch windows at -10F. The good news is that February is almost here - it will still be winter, but spring is getting closer all the time. This weekend I will finally start putting my seed orders together. One day it will be warm again!

Winter Solstice

It's the first day of winter, and last night we received a fresh dusting of snow to make it look pretty.

I realize my posts have continued to be few and far between, and when I do post, they're pretty short. But I'm working through some "stuff" that I think I'll be ready to write about after I've had some time to reflect - and I don't think I'll have much reflection time until after the holidays.

Plus, with the days so short and me working all week, I never get to take any pictures until the weekend. Which is a bummer because I got a nifty new camera this past fall (which I also haven't taken the time to write about - I'm getting way behind).

A Cold Morning

When Spouse took Brix out for his walk this morning, it was -6F. Here you can see Brix wearing both his jacket and boots for the first time. He was not amused.