It’s still winter and it’s still cold and no matter what the groundhog says tomorrow it will be months yet before I can do any gardening outdoors. This week the forecast is promising a few nights will slip below zero (-18C). In spite of that, the worst of winter is behind me but the hardest part is still ahead. This is the time I begin to get a bit of cabin fever. And while Bookman and I have a Valentine’s date planned that includes a trip to the conservatory, it is only temporary relief.
So I’ve been gazing at gardening books and gardening catalogs and doing garden planning like a thirsty person in the desert. Grocery shopping Friday night, our natural food co-op had the seed rack out already and I immediately spied a package of cosmic purple carrot seeds. Since I forgot to order carrot seeds with all my other seeds I grabbed a pack. I’m still hoping to find atomic red carrots somewhere but if not, the purple alone will do.
And then I got an email from the urban farm supply store saying it’s time to order chicks if you want any. And I couldn’t help but look at the varieties they had on offer. Such beautiful birds! They offer a class on backyard chicken basics and you get to pet chickens too. The class is next weekend and I came this close to signing up just to pet the chickens. Plus, Bookman said I should totally do it. He figures if I took the class and learned all about it I will either a) no longer want chickens or b) want chickens enough that I will be able to convince him that he wants some too. But I decided to wait until next year to take the class. We have far too many other plans for this year in the garden to be able to find the time and energy to proceed with chickens if we decide to go there. Something to look forward to for next winter!
I spent a good amount of time studying up on season extending gardening techniques and mini hoop houses. Bookman also came up with an idea of making a temporary unheated greenhouse that we could walk into from the backdoor of the house. That is an exciting prospect. It has a few complications we will have to work out if we decide to do it next winter, but just the thought of it has me jittery with excitement. The mini hoop houses though will be easy. The hardest part will be timing planting the things we will grow in them because once daytime temperatures drop below freezing, the plants inside will stop growing. Which means the size of the lettuce and spinach and whatever else will be in there at the time will be what we have to work with all winter until it warms up enough for things to start growing again. In a hoop house, that will be much earlier than in the ground, but here in Minnesota I’m still looking at four months at least. I’m not sure I can grow enough lettuce plants to last four months, but even if they only last two or three that’s something.
I’ve got the seed starting for my tomatoes and peppers all worked out including the timing. Bookman and I will be making our seed pots from newspaper, a cool thing because we just plant the paper pots in the ground in spring and paper composts right there. We’ll need quite a few pots, haven’t worked out just how many yet. I’ve been saving up newspaper from work so we’ve got plenty of that ready to go. The pots are quick and easy to make and I want to make them now just for something to do but it’s far too soon. The seeds won’t be started until mid-March and I have no place to keep a pile of paper pots safe for a month and half.
But February is a short month and it will fly by, right?
It was a good weekend for reading. I finished two books and am very close to finishing a third. I am very happy to have books to write about for the coming week. I also got an email from Library Journal to let me know a new book is on the way for me to read for review. This one is a gardening book called First Ladies of Gardening: Designers, Dreamers, and Divas. Doesn’t that sound like fun? I have two books to pick up from the library that have been in my hold queue for a time, the hold queue to which I have not been adding anything no matter how hard it’s been (yay me!). I can tell you my library list has gotten really long though! The books I will be picking up are Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg and Pico Iyer’s The Art of Stillness.
Now off to enjoy what remains of the weekend.
and besides, darling little chicks grow up to be
ugly hens–they’re mean, too! Our son was
“lucky” enough to inherit the fourth grade’s
baby chick years ago. Aaaaargh.
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booksandbuttons, oh no, the photos of the hens all look really pretty. I have a friend who has chickens and a rooster and her rooster can be mean but her hens are all pretty friendly. It’s not a foregone conclusion I’ll be getting any, I still have lots to learn about it before deciding.
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The chickens will take up space in your garden and if they escape they’ll eat it all!
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piningforthewest, ah, yes. But we have a concrete parking pad at the back of our lot next to our garage and we never park there so in theory, a small coop and run can go back there with no garden space lost.
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I had a good time with Texts From Jane Eyre.
Have you ever read the Flannery O’Connor story “The Displaced Person”? That’s what I thought of when you said “what beautiful birds” because there’s a priest who says it about peacocks in that story.
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Jeanne, I am looking forward to Texts from Jane Eyre, I could use some humor to lighten up my cabin fever twitchiness. I have read the O’Connor story! O’Connor loved her peacocks!
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February IS a short month, more’s the pity. It means our summer – a cool one this year – will be over! Our average January maximum was nearly 3°C lower than the average maximum this year. My daughter and I are NOT happy. Still, it’s better than your winter.
Anyhow, enjoy your garden dreaming and planning. I do hope you get chicks next year.
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whisperinggums, I feel for your cool summer. We had one too but it translated into a mild winter so I can’t complain about that too much. Perhaps your own winter will be more mild than usual too, no gusting winds and blizzards 😉
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I hope so … last winter was reasonably mild as I recollect. We don’t usually get blizzards in our nexk of the woods. Just frosts and cold winds. Our days are usually glorious, clear, sunny 10-13°C. Last year we had greyer days, but far fewer frosts. you can’t have everything!
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Your winters sound positively mild! Grey days do get tedious. We’ve had quite a few of them here this winter so I will cross my fingers you get lots of sunny days 🙂
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Yes, by your standards, they are mild, but many Australians look aghast at those of us who choose to live here. It’s the coldest capital city in Australia! It’s all relative, eh?
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As an Australian, I can’t even imagine weather that cold or being housebound thanks to snow but it does mean lots of time to read!
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Kate, LOL, before I moved to Minnesota I was born and raised in southern California where it hardly ever freezes so I could not imagine the cold either. You’d think I’d long for the warmer climate, but in spite of February being such a hard month for cabin fever, I love it here, including the weather. Yes, I’m weird 🙂
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It’ll be March in the blink of an eye, and I love the idea of your cosmic carrots, heh! Plus, I’d love to know how to make plant pots out of newspaper – such a good biodegradable idea!
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Litlove, I know, isn’t that fun? Cosmic purples carrots. I will find the YouTube video link on how to make the paper pots and send it your way. It’s a simple matter of origami and once you get the hang of it, it goes really fast and easy.
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I wish I could raise chickens here. We can’t have any “barnyard animals.” Sigh. But why would a vegan raise chickens? Can you eat eggs? I guess you could sell them at the co-op, though. And I’m sure you would not…um…dispatch one for Sunday supper either? Although I hear their manure is good for a garden. I’d like to have chickens that lay those lovely multi-colored eggs. I sort of miss those Mid-Western winters. P.S. I love Minnesota, too. It’s a wonderful place to live.
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Grad, have I mentioned the city is considering allowing goats? I think I’ll pass on those though because even while a pygmy goat is super cute they need more room and require more care than a couple of chickens do. No, vegans don’t eat eggs. I’d have chickens for the manure and the natural pest control. We would likely give the eggs away to our neighbors and coworkers. No, we would never consider eating them! I know you love Minnesota. Ever consider moving back?
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It’s so hard thinking about spring and gardens when you just get dumped on with 8″ of fresh, soggy snow. I know I have little reason to complain since we have had hardly none this winter, but that still doesn’t make it easy or pleasant when you have to walk down a busy city street because no one shovels their sidewalks! Hrrumph. I swear I am not in a grouchy mood, though. Yay for finishing books. I hope to do that sometime soon–I am nearing the end in a couple. Alas the Burgess is not one of them. Must pick the book up again soon. How are you getting on with it? At least it is nice thinking about your garden and organizing your seeds!
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Danielle, that’s where all the snow went! We were supposed to get a couple inches but it never made it up this far. We have such a snow deficit this year that the forecasters are beginning to worry about a drought. I do hate it when people don’t shovel. There is a house on the way to the bus stop that hardly ever does and it drives me nuts. Burgess got pushed aside but I started reading it again yesterday.
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I’m going to try and keep reading along this week, too, though I am lagging behind you (once again…..). It is weird how easy it is to get involved in such a weird story as that is, though.
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It is a weird story and I still haven’t decided what I think of it.
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February is a short month! It’ll be over before you know it! Already it’s nearly Mardi Gras. Pretty soon, March will be right there, and you’ll be planting things left and right.
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Jenny, ah your optimism is encouraging 🙂
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I follow Mallory Ortberg on Twitter and she’s hysterical. Texts From Jane Eyre is on my TBR and it looks awesome.
February is hard – I’m looking forward to gardening, too! Can’t wait to see if and when my bulbs come up from the fall planting!
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Laila, ooh, what kinds of bulbs did you plant in the fall? I like planting bulbs in fall, but there is always that bit of anxiety not being completely sure they will come up.
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Some of those giant purple alliums, and some crocuses, some daffodils. We’ll see!
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Fun! I love those giant purple alliums but have never planted any because they are very marginal here so I stick with the sure bets of daff, tulips, etc.
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I keep telling Bob I want to get chickens when we move to Maine. I haves friend who lives on a farm, and she loves her chickens.
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Emily, I have a friend in the city with chickens and they are so awesome. Really pretty birds. You totally have to get chickens when you move to Maine. I’ve decided that unless some unforeseen circumstance comes up, next year I will be getting three chicks. I’ve got some learning and preparation work to do!
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You read books like I watch movies. I’m all envious at how fast you can read. Wish I can finish a book as fast as you do… two books in a weekend? Every Tues. for us here in Cowtown is discount movie tickets. So yesterday I watched two movies back to back, quite like you finish one book then another one, all in one weekend.
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I don;t really read that fast, I just read all the time. And those two books I finished I’d been reading one since just before Christmas and the other I’d been reading for two weeks so had together maybe 100-130 pages. It sounds more impressive than it really is? 🙂
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