New England, February 2016

It's February, about 50 degees and...*drum roll please*...

Actual Time: Sunrise 6:52 AM EST, Sunset 4:55 PM EST

We're at the 10-hours-of-daylight mark on ol' Cape Cod!  

CC

Hey, so are we! Why do we care?

Makes it easier for plants to photosynthesis & grow.

We have almost an hour more of daylight than we did a month ago. The sun is riding higher in the sky.  Winter is waning.

Hi, i'm lurking again now that the weather is getting warmer and gardening planning is starting. Hubby doesn't wanna mow part of the yard so he's giving me an area that is 16 feet by 16 feet.... but he doesn't want the expense of boxes so he's just gonna till in some compost this year. I think over time i can get boxes put in(things are tight and we get the compost from my dad.. he buys me some from a farm for my b'day) So i just ordered seeds and supplies. Then later this month i'll be set to plant. And santa made sure i'll have more room... he left a plant green house tower under the tree for me. I just got some seed starting mix in today and wish i could start planting something. 

I might have my hubby cover one of my 4x8s so i can get some stuff in early, depends on his work schedule and weather(he travels for his job) But here's hoping the groundhog was right!

 Sarah!  In the places where I can't build boxes, I use tree branches, old fence posts, scrap lumber or whatever I can scavenge up for edging.  Helps to keep the compost in and the weeds & grass from crossing over into the bed.

SR, I think I read somewhere once that most plants stop growing with less than 10 hours of daylight.  

Or maybe I dreamed it.


Soooo, the lettuce seeds I started on Sunday were up this morning!  I immediately pulled them off the heating pad and popped them into the window.  See the tiny white furry things? That's them:

Collards & kales in the 2 clam packs on the right:

Kale and broccoli are still on the heating pad that will probably come up tomorrow, and then I'll start more collards.

Not sure why this is so much fun this year but it is!  Must be the mild winter we're having.

Looks like I have 10 1/2 hours now.

www.sunrisesunset.com

Do you just use a standard heating pad? Human one? On low?

SDugas....I have the early SFG video where the garden was marked by 2 x 4's laid above the ground just to mark the growing area so no one walked over the soil and compacted it. 
CapeC......I love seeing that you are beginning with your garden seeds.  Gives one hope that spring is really in our future. 
Temps even here in Maine are topping the 50*F mark for our winter thaw.  Loving it.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Do you just use a standard heating pad?  Human one?  On low?

Correcto!  I like my stuff to perform double duty...or more.  Like the 1 lb lettuce clam packs = greenhouses, soil warmers, cloches, bottom water seedlings, seed packet files, shoe storage...the list goes on and on.

Broccoli & kale came off the pad & got popped into the window this morning.  

Just used up the last of the SFG's frozen kale, collards & strawberries this week.  C'mon spring! Still working on frozen raspberries, daikon greens, leeks & turnip greens.

Hi QB!

Thanks for the ideas. i was gonna plan some paths and sections to make it more managable for me. and with some soft edge vs solid boxes.

CapeCoddess wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Do you just use a standard heating pad?  Human one?  On low?

Correcto!  I like my stuff to perform double duty...or more.  Like the 1 lb lettuce clam packs = greenhouses, soil warmers, cloches, bottom water seedlings, seed packet files, shoe storage...the list goes on and on.
:

OK, thanks. Me too! I am known as the Queen of Green at work because I shame all the hospital staff into rabidly recycling, as they should be doing!?! I like reduce, reuse, recycle. I do not think I own a heating pad, but will look around. My plants will have to go under lights, my east window does not have any more room, with my house plants occupying the space....and my overwintering Rosemary!

LOL, SR! I know about those houseplants & Rosemary... I'm trying to get seeds going in the place DH set up for me last year. And I've got a HUGE aloe spearmint, peppermint, etc. taking up the space...

Do you have a generator? If we lived in an area with ice and wind I would want the refrig to keep going. Just wondering.

No, no generator. But there's plenty of ice outside if I needed to throw some into a bag and put it in the fridge.  Also There are shelters to go to if one needs to. One of them even takes pets. I have a fireplace but I'd really like natural gas.  There's a moratorium on the gas lines in my neighborhood right now . One of these days, if the moratorium isn't lifted soon, I'll get a wood stove.

Fortunately the seedlings are all cold crop plants and don't mind 50 degrees at all.

Crud, here we go again...Blizzard Warning...

 http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=b714e91f51c02d97&hl=en&gl=US&source=wweather

Not sure how the seedlings will like being in the teens if it should come to that.

So...how'd it go, CC?

No problems with the blizzard other than not going in to the office.  Actually, I wouldn't call that a problem.    Still have shoveling to do which I'll finish up during lunch today.

I'm thinking about transplanting some of my extra seedlings instead of cutting them down.  Has anyone had good luck doing that? I'm wondering if pulling one out will disturb the other one...

CC

I've found that it sets them both back unless the roots are so young that they haven't begun to get tangled up in each other's. But you've got time, so why not do a little experiment? Eat some as micro greens and try transplanting some others and compare notes.

Hang in there, New England... This Valentine's Day deep freeze should be over by Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, back in the freezing cold window with frost  on the inside edges, the children are showing their true leaves:

Time for a little Neptune maybe?

Good idea, Molly. I'll divide some of them today and cut back the rest. I don't think their roots are tangled yet, but not sure.

-13°F and only one of my water lines froze.

CapeC.......Thanks for the pretty green pictures.  You made my day.

Only one? Dang, that's cold!

camprn wrote:-13°F and only one of my water lines froze.

OH, that's not good. Potable water or in your heating system?