aspenhill's blog: Winter Tasks Update

Posted on Feb 10, 2024 9:23 AM

Saturday
I spent all day working outside yesterday. It felt great. I didn't actually get to the tasks I had planned, but I did get quite a few other things done.

I never did get all of my bulbs planted last fall, so I spent time potting them up in containers. Most bulbs need 10 weeks of cold weather and I'm hoping they will still do ok even with this late planting. As my friend Jill always says, they "might not" survive or bloom, but if you don't plant them, they "definitely" won't Green Grin! Anyway, it is worth a try. I've been planting tulips in containers for several years, treating them as annuals, so that was a given. What I also potted up were iris reticulata, alliums, hyacinths, and six different cultivars of daffodils - none of which I've done in containers before. If those do grow, I'll move them "in the green" from the containers into the ground later this spring.

I also spent time getting my new greenhouse in order. I've been stashing supplies in there for months. All those supplies are now organized and the working area is ready to use. My intention for the greenhouse is for starting seeds, but until we get 220 power run to it for the heater, I can't keep the temperature high enough for seed germination. I've shifted gears for this season and will start seeds in the house and then move them to the greenhouse when it is warm enough to keep them growing. There are some seeds that I'll treat as "winter sowing" and do directly in the greenhouse though. I'll also use the greenhouse as a working area to sow everything and then carry the sown flats into the house. It is great to have all the supplies set up in one place and so convenient and easy to work on. Instead of moving the heavy duty shelving unit that I've used in the past back into the house, I remembered that I had several light weight "greenhouse" units that I got from Aldi years ago. They are plastic, have four 24 inch wide wire grid shelves, and a plastic cover that goes over it - hence the "greenhouse" designation. I cleaned those up and moved them into my living room. I'm ready now to get the seed starting underway.

River was outside with me all day long. For a good portion of it I was in the greenhouse and he was happily doing dog things out and about. At one point I had gone to the basement to find some small storage boxes for odds and ends, and I heard his pathetic persistent barking. I came upstairs, looked outside to see what the heck he wanted, and saw him standing outside the greenhouse door wanting in. Crazy dog thought I was still in there and wanted to join me. The look on his face when I came out of the house was priceless Hilarious!

Clutter always seems to accumulate, and clutter outside is nothing new. I spent a few hours decluttering, whether it be putting things in their place or loading up for taking to the dump.

It is amazing how many hours can be eaten up with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. At the end of the day I did another walkabout with Bonnie when she got home from work. We discovered two more snowdrop cultivars poking up, so now the loss of named cultivars is primarily just those that I think were due to tractor damage. I was happy that 'Blewbury Tart', which is my favorite cultivar so far, is still alive Hurray!

Post a new thread about this blog entry:

Drag and drop a photo here to upload, or click below:

- 😀

smily acorn grouphug glare tongue_smilie blushing drool angry rolleyes hurray tiphat bigear thinking hogrin biggrin greengrin nodding blinking confused crying grumbling sad doh hearts rofl thumbsdown thumbsup cross_finger whistling lol angel shrug iagree thankyou welcome sigh

« View aspenhill's blog

Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by Murky and is called "Ballerina Rose Hybrid"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.