Records

It was about time I got myself a little journal to keep some of our garden records in. Got the book, now I need to make sure I keep writing in it - though the blog last year has helped. Much to do with record keeping now as the spring season approaches....

I have sown some seeds to get a start on cool season crops. Things like kale, broccoli and cabbage will go in the ground as soon as they can, which is usually mid-April. I even updated my planting records! Also I am settling on where to put all of our crops this year, you can look at the current plans on the records page.


We got our last order of seeds in last week from Pinetree Garden Seeds. They have some smaller sized packets for our smaller garden. I was really excited to get some Alpine Strawberry seeds. Those went in the freezer to be cold treated so that I can get them started in spring. Now we are only waiting on two crops for the garden - Sunchokes that will arrive in April from Jung Seeds and Potatoes I have yet to purchase.


It's been an interesting last week for weather. As I mentioned, last Tuesday (3/10) we had a blizzard with a total of 10 inches of blowing snow. This wasn't as bad as our December Blizzard, but it buried the car deeper.


After the blizzard blew through, in came the cold air... -17F in the early hours of last Thursday (3/12). That was over 30F below the average for this time of year. I guess to make up for the cold and snow, we were served with a heat wave of +47F on Sunday and Monday. Wonderfully warm days above average...but that lead to huge melt-off. The water had no where to go but our back door. Luckily the ground slopes more to the side of the house, so the water went around the house and down the street. Now we have been glad to get a couple of days back below freezing just to slow the melt some and give the water a chance to settle. It won't last too long as predictions are for warmer temps over the weekend, which might take care of the rest of the snow.

Enough of the crazy March weather...I'm off to find a sunny and dry blog to read.

Winter Reports -Late

It's Winter! Well, it has been winter for a while including record snow in December and frigid temperatures in January. I have meant to do some updates these past months, but I think a hibernation mode set in once the snow started to fly. I've been visiting my favorite blogs over the winter - but have not left many comments (don't be surprised if you get comments on old posts!).

Let's take a snowy tour of the last couple of months...December was the "snowiest" in record - at least in terms of inches of snow fall. Everything was helped along nicely by a blizzard around 12/15.

(North Dakota Blizzard 12/15/2008)

It was interesting to see how the stiff North wind made the windward side of buildings and fences almost bare to the ground...meaning the leeward side got double the snow as it swirled back.


My wife's vehicle was on the windward side and free of snow. My vehicle...


January has been a calmer month than December, but colder. Nice, clear sunny days didn't feel all the sunny in the arctic temperatures.

(Clear cold day 01/04/2009)

As winter wears on, the view of the car gets smaller and smaller.


The dogs, especially our little one, now have tunnel-like tracks around the yard.


Dakota is in her element -- she is always Queen of the Hill.


The features of the garden are limited to some structure from seed heads that are not yet buried or eaten by rabbits.


I think someone wants out...only to sit in the snow.


I would say December was a time of embracing Winter and snow. January has been a time of dreaming about the next growing season (posts about seeds and catalogs to come soon).