Notes for January 12, 2010

I have received at least four more seed catalogs since my last entry.  I will look through them all.  Who knows where I will find my next idea (plant etc) that actually works in my yard.  Yesterday I even received two post card packs of gardening gadgets but I didn't see that they came until this morning.   One of my local gardening stores doubles as a Christmas store and each January and February they advertise 40% off all seeds.  Looking at the calendar, I will probably be stopping by there the weekend of the 23rd this month.  I have already started my list although I haven't completed my inventory yet to see what I need.   I have decided to change one thing so far this season.  For my larger vegetable plants, I think I am going to start them from seed in biodegradeable pots.  I lost a couple of tomato, pepper and cucumber plants during transplanting and using the peat pots will eliminate that problem.  I will have to use some sort tray underneath to keep them from falling over as well as catch any water.   I think I am going to try even another variety of green pepper to try to get some earlier than late August.  I found a variety that touts its for short growing seasons but it was only a day shorter in its description than one of the two varieties I grew last year.   I had beautiful success with growing Juliet tomatoes instead of growing cherry tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes seem to crack more oftten.  I think I will grow them again and look for another variety of grape as well.   I didn't plant my lima beans until late and I think I am finished with that exeriment for a while.  Not sure what I will plant instead, maybe some leaf lettuce or another row of carrots.  I wish I could get better spinach germination, I'm thinking of trying a different variety to see if the germination is better.   It was a little warmer this morning.  It was only 27 when I got up.  The last two days it was 11 degrees.

Notes for January 5, 2009

I have received (so far) 15 different seed catalogs.  Now that the wind is howling and the ground is frozen and lightly frosted, its the perfect time for browsing and planning.   We've had some hard freezing weather (enough for skaters on the local smaller lakes) and a couple of snow storms.  We got 24 inches between Saturday December 19 into Sunday morning.  Every time its gets below freezing or we get some snow, I get bluebirds in my front yard.  They love the berries on my hedge along the road and the droppings from the suet block from the other birds sloppy pecking.  They wait until a piece drops and swoop down and get it.  Sometime they go to the suet block but most of the time they watch and wait for sloppy eaters.

Notes for December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!  We are guaranteed a white Christmas this year.  We got 24" of the white stuff Saturday night into Sunday.  I have never seen that much in December.  I am still getting seed catalogs and I got two more this week.  More reading for the holidays.

Notes for December 15, 2009

I picked the last of my carrots on Saturday and I think they are on the menu for tonight.  I was able to pick some nice medium size and small carrots.  I picked them around mid morning and had to chip the frozen earth around them.  The top two inches of the ground was frozen.  I could have waited until the afternoon but there were other things on the schedule.   Did some cleaning later on Saturday which including recycling the pile of last years seed catalogs (why is difficult to part with them?).  I have a few catalogs already for next year and have started a new pile.   We've had some wind storms and the leaves have started to pile up in the usual places.  But they are not posing a threat to my grass or gardens yet.   Saturday afternoon as I went to borrow the extension ladder (to put up the outdoor Christmas lights on the house) from a family member I noticed not one but two red tailed hawks perched in the trees behind my house intently watching the birds at my feeders.  In defiance I shouted to them "Leave the birds alone!  There are plenty of squirrels!"  Then one flew off.  When I returned with the ladder, the other was gone.

Notes for Monday November 30, 2009

Finally a success for the record books.  Well ok may be just for the journal.  Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning, I picked the last of my radishes and I picked some carrots.  The carrots weren't big enough for the dinner meal but they were big enough for the snack tray.  And this year they were alot sweeter.  Last year the carrots were bitter.  So this year I tried a variety known for being sweet and I made sure that I added wood ashes to the soil.  I plant my carrots in the same bed that I plant my onions and after harvesting the onions I plant carrots in late August in hopes of some small carrots for Thanksgiving.  When I made the soil ready for the onions and then for the carrots, I added ashes and leaf mulch to the soil.   This weekend I also finally put up my two suet feeders for the woodpeckers and nuthatches as well as the squirrel jar.  I bought a new silo feeder for the finches.  The one I got this summer was already caked up in the bottom half and the birds stopped coming to it about a month ago.  Last month I collected about a bucket and a half of acorns and I plan on putting them out for the squirrels in January.  I'm interested to see what happens.   I replaced the screens with the windows in the storm doors as well this weekend.  It really hasn't been that cold yet for it really to be needed.  Even yesterday afternoon was delightful after starting out at 27 degrees.  I tried to put up the outdoor Christmas lights yesterday but I had completely forgot that my father-in-law took back his ladder a few months ago (I borrowed it a few years ago and he hadn't needed it since).   I've started to get seed catalogs already but I try not to look at them until after Christmas.

Notes for Monday November 23, 2009

On Saturday I was able to finish mulching the leaves in my yard.  Most of the trees have finished dropping their leaves while a few remaining trees will gradually lose them throughout the winter.  So until the next wind storm blows them in from my neighbor across the street, I am caught up.  I asked my son to help me and he was able to give me an hour and that helped.  I didn't have to do the complete front yard, there weren't that many leaves.  I was able to blow the leaves into smaller areas so I didn't have to do the whole front yard.  The areas in the back yard were thicker with leaves because I wasn't able to get to them the last few weeks so I ran them over with the mower a few times before I bagged them.  This makes nice finely mulched leaves and I pile them separately.  I use the finer leaf mulch to turn under in the veggie garden and to mulch in tight spaces (like my onions).  So right now all three of my leaf compost piles are over flowing but in another months time they will have settled about a foot.   I still have radishes and carrots to pick and I will be picking them on Thursday.  I test picked a carrot on Saturday and it looks like I will have a bunch of baby carrots for snacking on Thanksgiving.  Hopefully this variety will be sweeter.

Notes for Monday November 16, 2009

With the remnants of Hurricane Tropical Storm Ida passing by to our south and then reforming into a typical NorEaster, we got 1.4" of rain over a three day period.   On Sunday morning, I can't remember how many times I went back and forth deciding whether or not to mulch leaves in the afternoon.  When I got up it was cloudy and so damp it was dripping off the trees.  It didn't look like it was going to dry out enough to mulch leaves.  Then when I left for church it was getting brighter and it started to nag at me that if I didn't do it today then when? (especially since the long range forecast looks like we might get rain again just before the weekend).  So after I got home from church, I did end up mulching leaves that were still wet but picked up by the mower.  I kept telling myself as I was pushing the mower, "I have to do what I can, when I can," and it seemed to fit.  At least this time I did get a little further into the back yard and it looks like no more leaves will be falling.  There are still a few trees with leaves but those oaks don't seem to give them up until spring.  So after I finish the back yard (hopefully next weekend) then all I have left to do is to mulch the leaves as they pile up in my yard from the wind (from either of my neighbors).