Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My garlic is like a weed to me. I always leave some cloves behind by accident. I haven't planted it in years. Dill too grows like a weed here in my garden boxes.

We are still trying to minimize stuff here. Last year I let stuff go wild and that was a mistake. Next year we will kill or dig up some self seeding perennial like phlox, and marshmallow. I can no longer weed my flower beds, so I'm trying to convert most to shrub beds. We also took down the fences around the two beds so the chickens can help to weed, and they hopefully won't dig too close to the shrubs.

I'm also going to only start my tomatoes, and am planning to direct seed my pots instead of starting stuff.

Our corn field worked out okay. We probably don't need as much as we planted. The pumpkins got choked out by the weeds, so I'm gonna try maybe planting in the donkey pasture. They grew there once before from a self seeding.

As you can see I have tons of plans already, and I haven't even gone through my seeds yet to take inventory. Oh that reminds me also, I still got a few carrots out there I should go find.

 

[tripletfeb]

I plan on doing some more strawberry too. I love making my own jelly from my own plants. My son and I started an avocado tree from a pit a few weeks ago. I know we can't plant it outside but it's fun to watch it grow inside. So far, the pit has split and a tiny root has started

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Oh, Lisa. I just read the post about having to let go of your poor cat.

Sometimes --too often it seems -- the kindness thing is to let them go. I am so very sorry about your kitty.

Thank you Barb. I'm a closet cat person. He will be missed. The saddest part was he wasn't even a year old yet. Here he is back in June. He was pretty.

 

[lagrange chicks]

Happy New Year. I got leaf lettuce growing in my basement, some for the wife and I and some for the chickens. Garden plan is the same as every year corn and beans for the freezer, kohlrabi, zucchini, carrots , peppers and tomato. o yeah and pumpkin for the chickens.

 

[Callender Girl]

Bad news yesterday about one of my senior cats. I noticed Sunday that he was drooling excessively. Vet said it's a tumor in his jawbone. Both his mother and his brother developed tumors in their heads, so I guess it's likely he's genetically inclined. The tumors grow very fast; part of his jaw would have to be removed to try to get the tumor. What kind of life would he have then?

Marco Polo was the first of the kittens -- 15 years ago -- to wander away from the bunch and explore, hence his name. He is a handsome black fellow and very sweet. I am giving him antibiotics for the infection and a something to reduce the inflammation and pain.

I will make him as comfortable as possible until he lets me know he's ready to go.

 

[Callender Girl]

No point in even trying to start the snow blower until the blizzard warning expires. The snow isn't terribly deep yet, but the wind is endless and visibility is extremely limited.

Lisa, thanks for admiring my spirit. But at this point, it isn't much better than my attitude! There are days of crappy weather ahead, and if I didn't have outdoor critters, I would just snuggle under a blanket on the couch, read and/or watch TV until the weather breaks.

Hope your full spectrum light makes you feel better!

 

[Callender Girl]

Just heard the weather guy say something amazing and terrifying: "We will see some improvement (in the wind chill) to minus 30" by Monday. Oh, boy!

 

[wyoDreamer]

We ended up with about 18" of snow in the backyard. Quite a bit of drifting, but DH worked hard and got everything cleared out before the big freeze. A snowblower in the tractor sure helps alot.

Starting to plan for gardening this summer. Need to get the garden area cleaned up and planted. Then I am going to start setting up a new flower bed just outside the window near my desk. I get to work-from-home 2 days a week.

I found out a mouse discovered my blue corn stash and wiped it out. I am going to be finding blue corn seeds everywhere, lol.

 

[Callender Girl]

The wind chill warning will expire today, but a wind chill advisory will be in place until 9 a.m. tomorrow when it could hit a glorious 15 degrees above zero!!

I was able to get the snow blower started and chugging away yesterday afternoon. I let it run until it sounded healthy enough to keep going. Alas, every time I would get it right to the garage door, it died. Friend Frankie is going to stop by this afternoon and see if he can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

The blizzard created drifts of up to 5 feet tall in some places and swept the ground clean in others. Unfortunately, big drifts landed on my ramp, deck steps and half the driveway. I am hoping to be able to leave the property today or tomorrow. I went to town Friday morning and stocked up on essentials, so I'm not desperate for anything.

Good news: with the blizzard over, the dogs have finally acclimated to frigid temps and are going outdoors to relieve themselves. More good news: They don't want to play around, just do their business and hurry back inside!

Planning a garden sounds like a good way to keep up hope that it will -- someday -- be warm again!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They are talking 30-40's next week. Just crazy. Hope they are right. I've had enough winter.

Barb my dogs are getting squirrelly. They definitely need to go back to their daily walk and play. 15 degrees sounds wonderful. Hopefully tomorrow we can get back out there.