Preserving

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Old Man Winter has returned

We had two beautiful warm days in a row. The temperature yesterday reached the 70's!! Well, Old Man Winter is back!! Overnight the winds have picked up and we are under a wind advisory with gusts reaching 50 mph today! The temperature is supposed to drop down to 17 F tonight :( 

I was really enjoying the warm weather yesterday and got a lot of work done outside. The shed is almost completely cleaned out and I managed to get everything out of the garage next door. While I was working outside I noticed bunny droppings in the one veggie bed. This reminded me to get out the bunny spray and spray around the beds and the crocuses. Hopefully, I have beat the bunnies to the crocus flowers. It is usually quite cold & I forget to spray them in time to avoid the bunny buffet!

Now as I look outside, the garbage can has blown across the deck, the lid to that one is in the yard next door and one of the recycling bins is up against the cold frames. I'm going to have to venture outside and get things under control and picked up. Well, I can look at it this way....maybe we are having an early March!!

With the sounds of Old Man Winter outside at least I have happy seedlings growing in the basement.


The early Basil is looking good!

Turkish Parsley

My "Little Garden Helper" wanted to plant some seeds last Friday and picked out some sunflowers. It's going to be fun to tend to these inside for a few months!! When they get a little bigger, I think that I will pot them up and send some of them home with him. They have a nice size room off their living room which has windows on all three sides and faces south

Some Broccoli and Cabbages forming their fist true leaves.

18 comments:

  1. That wind was awful last night. I never heard of rabbit spray. But I have 3 mating pairs of hawks who live on my property, so needless to say I have no rabbits. The chickens aren't happy about that either.

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  2. Jane, I have been using different brands & types of bunny repellent for years. I try to change it every couple of years to avoid them getting used to it. The one I bought last year has pepper and mint in it. The sprays manage to do the trick most of the time.

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  3. I had never heard of rabbit spray, either...how interesting! And Turkish parsley...wow...where did you get the seeds for that? Your starts look fantastic.

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  4. I'm sorry....this is the one thing that drove me nuts in Wisconsin....it usually happened in February or March.....we'd get one week of 50 to 70 degree weather and everyone would be outside in short running around....and then suddenly as it came, winter came back with a vengeance...usually in the form of snow storm:( Hopefully your seedlings will be okay.

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  5. Lynda, My memory is starting to go...I swear!! I can't remember which blogger had grown the Turkish Parsley and this site

    http://peaceseeds.cn/PSList11.htm

    OK, who ever it was please remind me!!

    rohrerbot, The seedlings are down in the basement nice and warm on the germinating tables and will stay down there for a while

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  6. The early basil looks great as do all your seedlings. I need to pot up my basil this weekend. Their true leaves are starting to show. I hope old man winter is on his way out. We are also having low temps for our area with rain. Rain good, cold bad. I've had to keep the lights and heat mats on in the greenhouse to keep it a bit warmer in there. Good Luck with the winds!

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  7. Same here, gusting to 45-50 mph. Although we are supposed to have mild temps until tonight, I called the kids inside since the trees and fence panels are making that "hurricane creaking" noise! Honestly, I'm kind of glad since I really need to get my niece's quilt finished before Monday - after that I can go back outside LOL

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  8. The wind is crazy today. We had a wild thunder and lightning show last night as well. At least it's all melting and signs of spring are coming. The seedlings certainly help.

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  9. We had that warm spell too! Worked outside all weekend, then Monday, bam! Freezing cold again. It's almost 9:00, and I'm still in my jammies, fire going, nothing done. I should be outside, but it's waaaayy too cold. I think I'll start more seeds inside. Nice basil you have! I like your idea of sending the sunflowers home with your helper. Most of the time, we would send pictures and stuff the kids had made to Grandma that I didn't want to throw away, but didn't know what to do with, only right it works the other way around, huh?? I enjoy seeing things your little guy has done. Thanks for sharing.
    ~~Lori

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  10. Liisa, Thanks...the winds are supposed to die down soon.

    Erin, If it's nice out tomorrow, just set-up your machine outside to finish the quilt!!

    The Mom, It's crazy windy out there...I think that it's March!

    Lori, It was so cold and windy that I stayed inside and actually cleaned the house!! I think that my little guy will love taking some of the sunflowers home. He will probably drive my son crazy watering them...but, since he isn't here every day any more, it will be good for him to watch them grow on a daily basis.

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  11. Cold and windy here, but the hard winds blew while we were gone. My raspberry posts are cattywampus, as was one whole side of the dog kennel, before my son-in-law did a bit of straightening. It still has one crooked, possibly bent post.

    Your plants are looking so nice. The only things I have peeking out are a couple of parsley plants and some oregano that may or may not get larger than a pin head.

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  12. The seedlings look great, Robin. We're on "Stormwatch" here in SoCal! There's this wet stuff falling from the sky, I'm still trying to figure out what is,,,,,

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  13. Hi Robin, your basil look like spring in a pot-how cute!
    We had a 2 day warm up but it's back to the blustery cold and a storm warning for 8 inches of the white stuff. Your pretty seedling pics are just the pick-me-up I needed!

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  14. Basil really sings of summer doesn't it! Mine are dying down down so I'm busy making pesto for that burst of sunshine in the colder months ahead. Not our cold comes close to yours!!

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  15. Granny, the winds died down last night...thank goodness!! You will be up to your ears in plants before you know it!!

    Vic, I thought that it never rains in Southern California!! I'm sure that your garden will appreciate a little wet stuff.

    Sue, I glad to hear that my little seedlings gave you a winter pick me up :) I hope that your forecast is wrong....I don't know if I could take it if we had 8 more inches of snow!!

    Mrs. Bok, Thanks for stopping by and following my blog. I just took a quick look at your blog....I'll be stopping back soon. Yes, the basil is a nice refreshing reminder of things to come!!

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  16. Things are looking great in your basement! The seedlings are looking fabulous!

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  17. Thanks Holly...at least there is something nice and green to look at!!

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  18. You are weeks ahead of me. Love all those green babies you have going!!

    Wasn't the wind fierce?! I'm always afraid when I'm in the woods with wind like that -- projectile wood-missiles might hurt, you know?

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