Re: December 2012 New England

**camprn** 12/16/2012, 11:22 am

December 16, 2012. I think the ground has finally frozen for good..... We'll see. It's beginning to snow now. Everything is brown and bare and resting in the dark of the year.
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It has finally gotten cold enough and late enough in the year that I decided to wrap my hives. The roofing paper will give the hives a bit of solar gain in the coldest part of the year. Fingers crossed the girls make it through the next 4 months with their stores of honey and emergency feed of fondant I put inside the other day.
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My own reserves are holding up.
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Of course, the compost keeps quietly doing it's thing.
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CapeCoddess 12/16/2012, 11:40 am

Great photos, Camp. And WOW - that canning photo is amazing! Thanks for that. It's so interesting about roofing paper around the hives. Will the girls hibernate in there? Do they sleep or just slow way down or how does that work?

CC

**camprn** 12/16/2012, 11:45 am

The bees don't hibernate like bats and bears do; they are active all winter, thus the need for the honey stores. The bees make a cluster and keep themselves warm (45-90F), moving in and out of the cluster center where the queen is. As a cluster they will move throughout the hive over the course of the winter eating their stores unless it's really, really cold. Thus the need for the wrap which offers wind protection and solar gain.

quiltbea 12/16/2012, 12:20 pm

I love the photos, Camprn. Great look at your winter space. Glad the bees will get a little bit more insulation for the winter.

CapeCoddess 12/16/2012, 2:23 pm

Camp, what is that little bitty hive about? And how many people do your canning reserves have to feed?

CC

**camprn** 12/16/2012, 2:40 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:Camp, what is that little bitty hive about? And how many people do your canning reserves have to feed?

CC

CC I love your colorful bowl photo!
the small hive is what is called a nucleus hive or as more commonly known, a nuc.
It was a small colony I started off one of the other hives last July. For the winter I should probably move it over near the larger hive on the right.
The canning is for 2-3 people and gifts.

CapeCoddess 12/23/2012, 4:01 pm

OMG you guys, check this out! I was just reading about CindyLou's cold frame a few minutes ago and remembered that I'd removed the windows from my boxes DAYS ago and we've had freezing nights. So I just went out there to see if there are any survivors and cyclops

...

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Everything's OK and still going! I'm so thrilled I can hardly stand it! So I pulled up these for supper tonight: December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4314

December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4314

Then I re-covered the boxes for the coming snow. If these leaky windows hold up, I'm hoping to pull half of everything for Christmas supper, and the other half for New Years: December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4315

December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4315

This poor little garden is just about totally neglected now, and it just keeps on going. I love you

Todays carrots can be chopped up, greens and all, into a salad from the indoor salad garden: December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4210

Oh darn...I should have pulled some beets, too. OK, heading back out before it gets dark in 10 minutes...this is so much fun it's crazy!

CC

NHGardener 12/23/2012, 6:53 pm

Wow - and all from just windows resting over your boxes! How easy is that?

quiltbea 12/27/2012, 12:24 pm

We're in the middle of our first big snowstorm of the season. So far we've had over 6" of the white stuff with more coming. Expecting up to 14" today.
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My raised beds.
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Our driveway is buried here somewhere.
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But the trees are pretty.
Its a great day for starting my 2013 garden journal with seed starting and transplanting dates. I'm hibernating for the day.

I had to edit and add this.... But on the inside, my African violet is blooming.
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December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_6710

NHGardener 12/27/2012, 12:30 pm

Looks pretty much like that here too, Quiltbea. I think we'll be getting a foot, altho there might be some rain in there too, but not yet.

Don't they call snow "poor man's fertilizer"? In that case, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Very Happy

CapeCoddess 12/27/2012, 3:28 pm

Nice photos, QB. Amazing how the first 3 photos look black & white, and then the bright pink & green of the violet really pops out! It's so special to have flowers blooming inside during the winter, isn't it? Maybe we could have 'Flowers' as our January avatar subject.

No snow here yet, but we did get a ton of rain and wind. I totally forgot about my windows again and by this morning they were all over the yard. One was completely ripped up so it's no good anymore. Funny how they blow off the boxes but if I left them on the ground I bet they would never have blow ON the boxes. Laughing

Anyway, all the veggies look fine and are well watered now, if not drowned, so I put the windows back on today at lunch since it's supposed to get cold here again. Next blow that comes thru (this weekend maybe) I'll try to remember to top them off with some heavy lumber.

CC

CapeCoddess 12/29/2012, 2:00 pm

I picked a bouquet of carrots today. There are still so many more left - a girl can only eat so much. December 2012 New England - Page 2 370856013

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Then I window covered the boxes again for the coming storm and this time used lumber (that's awaiting to become a new box this spring) to weigh them down in anticipation of tonights storm. December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4410

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I covered the newly planted garlic cloves with about 2 inches of compost since they don't have any leaves on them, hoping that that will protect them from the snow. If anyone thinks I should cover them with plastic, let me know. There's still time.

Then I made chunky cake box carrot cookies using the whole carrots, greens and all. December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4319

December 2012 New England - Page 2 100_4319

Now I'm heading to the sofa w/ coffee, a plate of cookies and a Eureka Season 3 dvd.

Happy New Year, All! December 2012 New England - Page 2 3170584802

CC

quiltbea 12/29/2012, 2:50 pm

CapeCoddess.....You don't need to feed your garlic bed right now. You don't want them to grow but hibernate instead, so no more compost. And Don't cover your garlic with plastic. Its time for them to sleep. They need winter weather now. If you've covered them will layers of leaves and straw, they'll be just fine thru the winter, even covered with 2 feet of snow.

I hope your greens come thru another day of winter. Those greens popping up thru the window need to be tucked inside so they don't freeze solid.

Lucky you with all those carrots. The cookies look delish. How about cole slaw? Or grate them thickly and refrigerate for salads later. Enjoy.

We are getting more snow, darn it. I thought we were done for a couple days.

CapeCoddess 12/29/2012, 3:29 pm

quiltbea wrote:CapeCoddess.....You don't need to feed your garlic bed right now. You don't want them to grow but hibernate instead, so no more compost. And Don't cover your garlic with plastic. Its time for them to sleep. They need winter weather now. If you've covered them will layers of leaves and straw, they'll be just fine thru the winter, even covered with 2 feet of snow.

Oohhh...I didn't even think about the garlic, which I planted 11 days ago, getting fed by the compost - duh. Woopsie. I was only thinking about the depth since the box I put them in was for greens and only had 3 inches of MM, so they were down only about an inch or so. Oh well. Rolling Eyes

I could still put mulched leaves on them from the new compost pile. Do you think I should do that now? There's nothing but a few sprinkles out there yet.

CC

**walshevak** 12/29/2012, 3:38 pm

Sounds like the compost is really just the finishing up of planting. I would cover with leaves/straw and let it snow. I covered mine with straw, but our weather stays just at or above the freezing mark so much of the time that they are still growing.

Kay

CapeCoddess 12/29/2012, 3:45 pm

OK. I'm on it. I'll have to use heavy branches of leaves as I think the mulched leaves will blow right off in the wind tonight.

Thanks for the feed back, Kay.
CC

durham64 12/29/2012, 5:29 pm

I love the photo of the square covered in snow, just beautiful! I, like everyone else, have been browsing the seed catalogs and have way too many things on the list for a newbie with a 4' x 4' bed.

Love all the photos too of everyone's gardens and the "window garden" is a great idea. I learn so much each time I take a look.

It is actually spitting snow here. I went out to grab a bite to eat and there it was, pelting my windshield with teeny tiny snowballs. The African Violet is beautiful!

**camprn** 12/29/2012, 5:35 pm

CC, in the spring, you will want to pull off the leaves and branches, if you put them on, and fill up your bed with MM or compost for the garlic. It is finally winter, so they will not be growing until it gets steadily warmer.

I didn't have any room to put a mulch atop the garlic and grey shallots. But I did throw about 10 inches of snow on them yesterday.

April is only about 13 weeks away, that's about when I will pull off the remaining snow and plant my peas, if I am lucky enough. What a Face

I will probably start my onions and leeks in about 6 weeks. They are very long growing.

Until then, 'tis a long winter's nap. sawing logs

Now we wait... and read. study

CapeCoddess 12/29/2012, 6:16 pm

camprn wrote:I will probably start my onions and leeks in about 6 weeks. They are very long growing.

Will you plant them outside? In the frozen ground? From seed?

CC

**camprn** 12/29/2012, 6:30 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:
camprn wrote:I will probably start my onions and leeks in about 6 weeks. They are very long growing.

Will you plant them outside? In the frozen ground? From seed?

CC

Noooooooooooooo, I will start them inside. They take so long to get to a transplantable growth stage... they take a long time from seed to table.
http://myfolia.com/plants/312-leek-allium-ampeloprasum-var-porrum

NHGardener 12/29/2012, 6:55 pm

6 weeks till onion seeding? 13 weeks till April? GAH! This winter is flying by.

Did anyone get their Johnny's catalog yet? Because I emailed them for a catalog a few weeks ago and I haven't heard anything from them, wonder if I should request a catalog again.

**camprn** 12/30/2012, 10:26 am

CapeCoddess 12/30/2012, 11:31 am

*LOL*...I can't stop laffing, Camp! *LOL* I have to post this to my Facebook!!!

CC

PS Gadz, I have laffed like this in days! Thanks so much!

quiltbea 12/30/2012, 11:45 am

NHGardener....Yes, I got my johnnys about 3 weeks ago. Yours might have been lost in the Xmas rush mail. Request another. It won't hurt if you get two.

NHGardener 12/30/2012, 11:46 am

Thank you, QB!

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December 2012 New England