CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing February 2017?

Hi, Canadian SFGers and friends:  I am setting this up a day early as I will be away for a few days.

When I return, I hope to be on page 2.  Love to you all.  Kelejan

The weather has been kinda warm here lately.  So I got out my pvc pipe to make my done for my sfg.  I have to get some real proper plastic this year.  After my dismal failure with trying to extend my season last year this way by starting in mid February, I am not defeated.  Yet.  I guess I am really behind all of you though in the planning stages, but I really have no good place in the house to start any seedlings so I will try my luck outside again. 

It has been warm enough that I bet if I pulled the leaves back on my garlic and flowers that they would be up, but I will resist that temptation as we are about to get a cold snap. 

I will enjoy reading your adventures.

p14 ... you should look into Winter Sowing.  I am going to give it a try.

http://www.wintersown.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO_KKbGYTEM

M

Thanks TD.  I did a little cursory looking last year, and thanks to you I did a little deeper look into winter sowing tonight.  My latest information that I can get my head to understand is that winter sowing is not really a way to harvest earlier, rather it is a means to, like you suggested, starting seeds directly outdoors.  I am sure the amount of sunlight plays a part in this as well.  Although depending on the weather of course, you could harvest earlier.  My results from last year I guess kinda help prove this.  I started some peas in my hoop in March and some in mid to late april, and the ones I planted late, caught up to the ones I planted in March.  Clearly more study is needed.  Lets see what I can do this year.

Back now to see what you have been doing while I have been away.  Peashooter. Scorpio andTD, thanks for your postings.

Peashooter, you are doing more than I can manage.  Like you I have little space and light to plant seeds indoors, the most I am managing at the moment are some peony sprouts that are surviving and due to be up potted.  Each year I keep saying to myself that I will get myself some lights and shelving but all the ones I like are far too expensive to buy off the shelf so I postpone it for another year. Next winter I really will try sprouting on a larger scale as sprouts are very nutritious and should keep me going during the winter along with kale and cabbage.

I saw a piece on the internet BBC page where ice berg lettuce are being rationed and are costing three pounds each with a limit of three per customer.  This is due to England not growing enough of their own food and Spain, where most of these lettuces come from, experience cold and wind. Now the government are turning prime growing land into housing estates.

What makes me sad is that Iceberg Lettuce is mostly water with little nutrition and little taste, maybe just a bit crunchy when they are fresh.

During WWII England did not have enough to feed the population,  then about 33 million people, let alone the 65 million (estimated by the grocery chains to be a population now of 80 million). Even then they were turning playing fields and grass verges into growing spaces.  If anyone watches PBS they sometimes air a series called Farming in Tudor or Victorian Times etc, and one of them is Farming in Wartime Britain. I lived in those times but it only by watching this series that I found out we were on the brink of starvation but saved by the U.S.A. and Canada. As English born and bred, thank you, our friends south of the border and Canada.

Kelejan wrote:...  If anyone watches PBS they sometimes air a series called Farming in Tudor or Victorian Times etc, and one of them is Farming in Wartime Britain. I lived in those times but it only by watching this series that I found out we were on the brink of starvation but saved by the U.S.A. and Canada. As English born and bred, thank you, our friends south of the border and Canada.

I love those Victorian farm shows.

I was born in England after WWII but I am thankful for the contribution (and often sacrifice) of those in Canada and the USA to the war effort and prevention of starvation in Britain.

Finished  clearing my driveway, it took one hour ten minutes, had a cup of coffee then out again to clear what the snow plow left at the bottom.  I made myself do it as last time I left it thinking it would melt, but it just stayed and stayed and got very uncomfortable getting across it.

Now to watch some golf and perhaps have a nap.

Amazing story KJ and TD.

Checked our weather before retiring to bed; it is snowing again, that is after shovelling three times today due to the snow plow coming for the second time and placing another  snow berm across the bottom of my driveway.

I know what my first job will be tomorrow.  Repeat what I have done today.  At least I am getting some exercise.

The weather forecast has seven days of snowflakes except for a little break in the middle to give us time to catch our breath.

Vancouver and the Okanagan are promised an interesting Monday morning commute.
I was always so glad that I lived within walking or cycling distance of my job, and sometimes actually lived on the premises.

Welcome home, KJ!  And great story indeed!  Especially since it had a good ending!  We have been faithful neighbors and allies....all.  

Our precipitation is coming as rain....yuk.  Less disruptive to travel, but so gloomy.

Thanks, Scorpio.  Always good to be home.

Off to bed now and a last look outside where the snow that restarted early this evening is coming down nice and steady and that means more exercise for me tomorrow morning.  Also checked out local weather forecast and the snow will continue into the afternoon and to expect 30 to 40 cms. and for our friends south of the border that means up to 16 inches.

If I get overwhelmed, all I need to do is clear a path down to the roadway and forget about the rest and hope it does not freeze solid.  The main thing is to keep the path open to the road through any snow berm that happens.

It is going to be hard going for drivers tomorrow.

Kelejan ... please be careful with your snow clearing. That's going to be a lot of snow to move even for a path.

I will be heeding your advice, TD. I have had a look and there is no way that I will be clearing the complete driveway.

During the night the snow was blowing across my property almost horizontally so I know the snow is going to be very deep in places.  The plow has already passed by and built up a snow berm. Snow berms are the hardest work but I must clear it before it hardens into ice.

Ta rah! for now. 

I am back indoors, having done what I planned to do.  My driveway is now narrower by two feet each side, and I have removed the snow berm and cleared enough space for one car to park if needed.  e.g. the Post Office Van and neighbours whose driveway has not been cleared.

I have never measured the area of my driveway but it is eighteen of my steps to the edge where the concrete meets the city boulevard but I must keep that clear if I want access to my property.  The grass area is another twelve steps.That is the part that I have cleared properly; on my own part I have only cleared enough pathway to wheel my garbage can down to the roadside on a Wednesday morning.  I have the largest area of city boulevard in our sub-division due the the awkward junction of my road with the other one.

The other one intersects opposite my driveway and it is a steep climb from that road to mine which is why so many drivers drive on to the grass that I keep tidy during the summer.  They take up all the space as they are too lazy or incapable of doing a three-point-turning. 

Now the snow has returned and is forecast to keep coming for the rest of the day.
I think of all the wood chips I have put down and think of all the moisture they are saving for the coming season.

Kelejan wrote:...
Now the snow has returned and is forecast to keep coming for the rest of the day.
I think of all the wood chips I have put down and think of all the moisture they are saving for the coming season.

Well done KJ on your snow removal.

I have a pile of wood chips and I now regret not spreading them out before winter. I would like to start another flower/veggie garden at the front of the house to reduce the amount of lawn area. Mrs TD is not too keen on the idea. I should have gone ahead using the lasagna gardening technique in the fall. I'm not sure how good the wood chips will be in the garden since they come from evergreen trees.

No snow today but a few cms tomorrow, then the temperature  will rise so we get some rain and a big mess.

Some sunshine would cheer me somewhat.  I have a nice catalog to read tomorrow so I will treat myself to something.

Last year, you had some trees trimmed/removed. Has the extra sunlight, even with the clouds/rain and snow, help this winter?

sanderson wrote:Last year, you had some trees trimmed/removed.  Has the extra sunlight, even with the clouds/rain and snow, help this winter?

Yes it did help but mostly effective in the morning hours. It was worth doing as every extra bit of light is appreciated.

Will do some more this year as winter caught up with us by the time my neighbour apologised for his son and said we could continue.

In addition to light, I am always worried in case of fire as the trees overhang my roof and during the summer my home could go up like a tinder box.  Now, if I knew it was going to be razed by fire and I had notice, I could get out all my little treasures and start again. 

Today I cleared my driveway three times due to the amount of snow that fell last bight and today.

More due tomorrow morning and then the winter storm watch will end, it will then turn to rain and flooding and then the trouble starts if it freezes during the night. We have had warnings of what has happened in Vancouver and other places west of us.

All this if the fault of the Pineapple Express which comes from Hawai'i, I will have to have a word with Rosina there and ask her to start it in a different direction.  California needs it more than us.

Kelejan wrote:All this if the fault of the Pineapple Express which comes from Hawai'i, I will have to have a word with Rosina there and ask her to start it in a different direction.  California needs it more than us.

California already has it and doesn't want any more of it. Plz send it somewhere else.

I couldn't find this thread.  For some reason it found its way under "Everything Else" so I moved it to the Canada regional forum where it belongs.

On another subject ... Mrs TD and I are thinking of vacationing in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador this summer. It's a big province (slightly smaller than California) so we will have to focus on one specific area ... probably in and around the capital, St. John's, and the Avalon Peninsula including Cape Spear which is the most easterly spot in North America (excluding Greenland). Maybe we will get a chance to visit the Memorial University Botanical Gardens.

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/tripplanner/#/explore/stjohns

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/tripplanner/

http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/AboutThisPlace/Geography

http://www.mun.ca/botgarden/gardening/gardennl/veggie.php

countrynaturals wrote:

Kelejan wrote:All this if the fault of the Pineapple Express which comes from Hawai'i, I will have to have a word with Rosina there and ask her to start it in a different direction.  California needs it more than us.

California already has it and doesn't want any more of it. Plz send it somewhere else.

If you do not want it countrynaturals, then please pass it on.  What about Southern California; has the rain reached there yet?  Perhaps Texas could do with some moisture to fill up their aquifers?  

kelejan wrote:If you do not want it countrynaturals, then please pass it on.  What about Southern California; has the rain reached there yet?  Perhaps Texas could do with some moisture to fill up their aquifers?   

I wish we could just box it up and put it out front with a "Free" sign on it. Yes, even So Cal has had almost enough rain. We're in for still more. Our governor has petitioned Washington for flood relief, which should be interesting since our state is not exactly besties with the new administration.