Posted on 04/01/2011 5:34:48 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
My husband just called. Someone took a curve on our road too fast, lost control in the snow, went off the road and hit a telephone pole just one house down from us. My husband stopped to check on him, and he's fine, just waiting now for a tow truck. He's lucky he wasn't killed.
Ha, lost my train of thought.
I decided to use a notebook and record everything I’m planting, the amount, and eventually the germination rates. Transplant dates. I’ve never really done it this way, usually just wing it with results to match. I’m hoping this will help keep us on top of the garden. :)
A composting question, if I may...
This is my first serious attempt at composting, and my heap seems to have “died”. Quite puzzling, since it had gotten up to 155 degrees just a couple weeks ago. Once it dropped down to about 120 (last weekend), I turned it, adding more greens (i.e. alfalfa rabbit pellets, since it’s all the greens I have at the moment) and wetting it down again.
Since then, it won’t get above ambient temperature. Granted, it’s been cooler here lately: nights as cold as 40s and upper 30s, with days in the 60s and 70s.
The heap is roughly a 4’ cube, so it can’t be bleeding off heat. It’s simply not generating any. (In fact, a heap that size should cook even in winter, right?) Moisture is fine. Lack of ventilation couldn’t be the problem, since it never even began heating after being turned.
I’m at a loss. :-/
Morning. Got to finish unloading my pickup this AM. Got a load of old sawdust mixed with manure for five dollars. Makes a great layer for the lasagna beds.
Peas and onions are up. Hope to plant more soon.
Take a handful from in the middle and smell it. Judge the texture.
It might be done
Hummingbirds, I think. I don’t know about bees, but I would guess so.
ALways plant red salvia for the hummers. They love it....Bees seem more attracted to others things. OTOH there are plenty of others flowers to attract them nearby.
After a promising warmup we've had high's in the 40's for over a week and nothing higher than mid-60's for the next. I have learned the hard way that even things like peas and lettuce don't germinate well till the soil gets above 60 degrees or so.
However, the started plants are looking good:
Snow in NH will be gone tomorrow...upper 40’s.
Oy! My daffadils are dropping dead in the cold and sleet, my crocuses did very badly this year and I’m looking at about 40 damp jiffy pots filled with herb seeds. Will they germinate? Or just sit there looking depressed?
And you guys are planting tomatoes! LIFE IS NOT FAIR.
Try adding some manure in with the compost. I had one that did the same thing, added some cow manure and wet it down again. It started up again within a couple of days. Just about any manure will work, and remember - the smaller the animal the “hotter” the manure. I keep a couple of bags of dry cow patties from the farm for that purpose alone.
Your weather has surely changed a lot since we “slip, slided” through that area in early Feb! Thanks for your report!
We have had some very nice weather the first part and mid March, Mid 70s and low 80s, that is up until last week. Last week it cooled down a bit with highs in the mid 50s to low 60s.
Woke up to 2 inches of the powdery white stuff on the almost thawed garden area.
Geez! It got into the mid 40s this week! Couldn't talk the better half into sporting her bikini yet though!
Here's hoping for the Big Warm up! Come on sunshine!
Thanks for the tip. I have yet to find a good source of manure, but there is some cattle grazing land within walking distance. Guess I’ll grab a shovel and a couple buckets and go jump a fence this weekend. :-)
I’ve got cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts started in flats, and I noticed yesterday that the radish seed I planted out has started to come up. We’re supposed to see temps in the 80°’s by Sunday so the lettuce and snap peas shouldn’t be far behind.
You can also add a nitrogen fertlizer to your pile.
Being as my memory is gone, I started a Word doc this year to document my dates and descriptions of how things are going. I have loaded photos to it for further assistance. Next year I will know when to start seeds, and just what my garden looked like at various times. The problem is my procrastination, I started a bit late. My friend started very early, got very lucky on two frosts that we had and now has the largest plants of any garden around here.
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