New England ~ February 2014

The days are getting longer. The sun is as high as 30 degrees in height. There are about 100 days until my last frost. And I'm still in no hurry. I have ordered my bees and need to do some work on some hives and frames. I did have to buy another ton of wood pellets this morning, pfft.

February garden chores, from Margaret Roach.
http://awaytogarden.com/garden-chores-february-2014/

We're having a heatwave with temps in the 30s this weekend with a high in the 40s tomorrow before it drops down again.  I need to get out the suntan lotion, ha ha.  Love it.  The snow still covers the ground and the gardens.  The dogs only stay out for five mins at a time.  I've got many seed catalogs now and I browse thru them every once in a while changing my garden plan each time.  Had the oil man deliver more oil last week.  Typical winter time doings.

Low 40's here today, sunny and gorgeous. I'm learning how to use my new Nexus 7  . All is well. 

No gardening here yet other than to watch growingyourgreens YouTube video about organic pest control. He suggest neem oil and Dr Bronners SarSuds soap n water. I'll post a link later.

Lilly is hollering at the door to come in.  She can't go far with all the snow on the ground and gets bored easily.

I heard on the Weather Ch that February is to be colder than normal so enjoy it while you can. All for now.

CC

holy crow! I just figured out how to post a photo from the Nexus. These are what I have growing right now. Stevia with babies growing from the drop seeds, parsley coming back from being cut back with new seeds planted around them. And a potato doing its thing.

anyone else have anything growing?

CC

 How did your strawberries and raspberries fare?

A few of the varieties of strawberries collapsed but there are some everbearing that made it through last year and I had a few fresh strawberries in September.

The raspberries are doing well. this will be year two so it will be telling. I think I lost one or two plants the first year. I really should tag them as some are early bearing and some are fall bearing.

How are yours doing Martha?

CapeCoddess wrote:

holy crow! I just figured out how to post a photo from the Nexus.
CC

OK how? Are you liking the wee tablet? It's taken me ages to get comfortable doing some things. Other actions are still a mystery to me.

camprn wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:

holy crow! I just figured out how to post a photo from the Nexus.
CC

OK how? Are you liking the wee tablet? It's taken me ages to get comfortable doing some things. Other actions are still a mystery to me.

The only reason I'm able to figure this crazy thing out  is because I refuse to turn on my laptop or PC. If I need to do something I have to figure out how to do it on the tablet.

For uploading photos, choose file opens choose an action. Click on documents then Gallery. Choose the photo you want to upload.,  get it in to browse. When copy appers hold your finger on the line until the blue hi light appears make sure it is spread across the entire link. Click the Copy button at the top of the page . Click upload, etc. place your finger on the spot where you want to paste the photo link and click Paste which appears above your finger or at top right of the page.

  when I say click I mean tap ...not used to this yet, and I had to do this while I was dictating it  so I don't know if yours will look the same as mine or not but it's a good start.sorry for the bad grammar, spelling, etc. I'm still trying to learn how to correct dictations and it's not easy.

CC

Thanks. Auto correct is the worst, except for maybe shopping for apps, that's bad too.

CC Adorable photo

Spring is coming... I bought rooting hormone and some poblano seed today!

I'm debating whether to start my own tomatoes and peppers this year, or not.  I'm thinking I might order a few plants from Territorial Seed (only 3.75 ea) in varieties not too common and buy some old faithfuls at Home Depot this spring.  I have plans for the use of my banquet tables in the furnace room and have no place else to start my own seeds than there.  It won't be too costly to buy and will save me lots of time and attention over several weeks of diligence.   Decisions, decisions....

  

 

GG

Last week when it was so wicked cold, the fellas at the dump were turning over the compost pile.

Is that steam from the compost pile?

It looks like Fedco has potato onions!!! I see them in their online catalog.

Now to order before everyone gets there first.

kryzzy124 wrote:Is that steam from the compost pile?

Yes it is steam. They are turning the pile with a big loader and whatever you call that belt thing that makes high piles (elevator?). I think the outdoor temp when I took this photo was about 3F.

Now it looks like the forecast for a lot of Vermont on Thursday's pretty much flurries, lol.

Another 8-12" for us in southern Maine Thurs, and more on Sat.  I'm hibernating.

Same here QB. My snow thrower was misbehaving for the snow last week. I hope I can get it going well tomorrow, with any luck it was just bad gasoline.   I'm down to 50 gallons of oil. I hope it warms up soon.  

Mostly a wind/rain event here for tomorrows storm unless the system moves south a bit.  Maybe the rain will wash away all this snow we've had laying around since Thanksgiving.  I'm wondering if there are any daffies under there.

I haven't started any seeds yet...just not in the mood.  When do you folks start your onions/leeks?

CC

Cape, I'm no help with onions and my leeks were a bust last year so I won't try those again.  Simpler to buy the few I use in a year.  I plant onion sets in the spring, outdoors, and no fussing with seeds and transplanting for me.

CC, aren't you planting the potato onions this year? Or are you going to do seeds, too?

Okay guys. I'm in the midst of ordering potatoes. I can't do without the 3 varieties I picked from Fedco, and I can't see ordering less than 5 lbs. each because the 2.5 lbs. isn't much less. 

How many lbs. of potatoes are you going to plant? I have a 4 x 8 bed and 15 lbs. is probably WAY too many!