What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

cold here but I'll try to plant a tree or two.

 

[NanaK]

That's some really cold weather some of you see. We've probably got 20f or so coming.
I'm cold at 50f.

 

[jerryse]

Snow coming tonight 8 inches predicted next 48 hours. Then negative temps even negative highs. Now we pay for all those mild temps. We went out for lunch yesterday and did our weekly grocery shopping.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

@akroberts1085 ya, it's gross and rough, and we complain about it, but it's normal here.
It's trying to do stuff bundled up like a bear that is such a pia.

My winter chicken outfit is right by the back door. I roll out of bed and pretty much into that outfit. In the run before my eyes are fully open! Now a days I at least make a cup of coffee first. Adding a camera into run has helped curtail my need to see my hens 1 minute after waking up. Can a camera even survive those temps you talk about? Yikes, take care

 

[WthrLady]

Oh ya. Cameras are fine. We have one older model that doesn't care for the cold, but eh. No big deal.
Our coop is 200 yards down the ranch hill by the barn.
I have other stock that needs cared for a couple times a day.
Cameras are everywhere, but what are you (royal) going to do? Bring everything into the house?
They've all been this cold and colder before, and will be again. Getting them out of the wind is key and breaking ice on water (tank heaters can't even keep up with ultra low temps).
Besides that, the winter gear and bunny suits (ours) live on the floor by the back door for a few weeks - crawl into it, crawl out of it, until it's time to wash it and put it away for the season.
The hen house gets warm meals twice a day, and the noodle-necks have on their coats, and get a lot of fresh hay, water, beets, and nose boops, oh and they have a radio. Lord knows what THEY do out there during the day, dance, listen to and debate politics, discuss the finer points of the day's news, plot world domination? No idea.

 

[castillo_de_luz]

be sure to use soil free seed starting mix, especially for your tomatoes. it totally sucks to lose all your babies to a soil born fungus (speaking from experience).

When you pot up, if you choose to use a soil based medium, then top the soil with vermiculite or perlite to keep the soil from splashing up on the stems and leaves of your babies. By the time you hit your final pot up or plant-out, they should be rugged enough to repel soil-born fungus and pathogens, but as I'm sure you know, a good mulch is still a good idea.

Don't jump the gun and start things too eary - you'll end up with leggy wimpy plants. (again, experience)

Don't worry if your tomatoes are leggy - they will send out adventitious roots, so just pinch off the lower leaves and pot them deeper every time you pot up. When you put them out in the garden, pinch off the bottom leaves and suckers and sink them down deep. This will give you robust plants that take right off.

I vaguely recall reading the onions don't transplant well. You might be better off planting the seeds in a planter and just moving the planter outside at the right time.

Marigolds are a great thing to seed start. I use them abundantly in my gardens, and they are so easy to grow. I hate it when I have to spend $20 for a flat of them when I could have grown 3x as many for half as much!

Oh! another thought - if you line the inside of your green house wiht aluminum foil, it will help bounce the light around. No sense letting that light escape out of the plastic and go to waste. Maybe just wrap the foil around the top bar and let the roll fall to the floor? I don't know what your set up looks like, but might be worth a try.

Good luck and fun wishes!
Tahai

Loving these tips and taking notes, thank you!!

I'm only planning to start a small portion of my seeds (which is a sub-selection of everything else that will be direct-sown as usual) so if the onions fail indoors, NBD. I wonder if varietal makes a difference -- these are bunching onions not bulb, so maybe that's not as risky?

Marigolds -- yes, adding those to my starter plan. I have a couple seed packets so like with the rest, I'll do some as starters and direct-sow the others to stagger a bit. Definitely saves $$ from buying them later on.

The tin foil idea... I have a couple of old space blankets tucked away somewhere, so I think I'll use one to take advantage of this! My greenhouse cover is clear, so maybe I can bungee the blanket on the outside. Must find ways to keep kitten from getting too nosy

 

[akroberts1085]

So I looked into a hen that's not old enough to start molting and now I don't think Darlin is egg bound. Today I have to go to town so I will try to get her some high protein feed.

 

[WthrLady]

I switch to a higher protein every winter, simply because my goobers are used to freeranging all the time, and winter weather kills the bugs and snakes and they're stuck inside.
I don't go too high unless they start after each other's feathers. Then I add more toys and get some meat into them. Let's just say the turkey carcass is no one they knew.

 

[Tahai]

My Prairie Fire cherry tomatoes from Baker's Creek look skinny and wimpy compared to the other varieties. They are kind of delicate and needs to be babied. I hope I get to taste some fruit, this my first time growing them. It supposed to be very sweet.

Based on my last grow out, most of Brad's cherry tomatoes seem to have intermittent resistance to the TYLC virus in my yard, so I have a shot.

I've only grown Baker's creek seeds once, but I was not impressed when compared to my usual vendor's seeds (Tomato Growers.) I recall thinking the resulting Baker's weren't very robust plants, but chalked it up to being a variety I had not grown before.

 

[pvaldes]

shi, shi, shivering