Winter Blahs

Well, it seems as if winter decided to remind us that he is still out there. We got a nice little snow storm yesterday, and today the schools are running one hour behind. If you look out into the garden, all you see is white.

It is snowing

I will honestly admit, we miss the garden right now. It is not just buying tomatoes and cucumbers (which in and of itself is hard) but its the ability to walk outside and see what is going on. Pooka asked when we could start seeds, I told her soon, but we could start some of her Christmas gifts, and that seemed to help. Meanwhile, we wait for winter to cut us a break. I will say this year has not been as bad as last, but the lack of sun and of being able to walk outside is taking a tole on all of us. Especially Pooka who doesn't do well in the cold, so she is inside more than most.

Everything is waiting on spring

Another causality of winter.

Well, I finally called it. One of the blueberry bushes just did not seem to want to wake up. I don't know why, but I was tired of waiting. We have one that the buds had started to open and the cold snaps hit, so it waited and is finally reopening. But the one just was not doing anything. 

As you can see, its looking a bit sad

Daddy, Kiddo, Pooka and I went out and bought a new one. We found a nice one that had leafed but not flowered. Hopefully we might get something off it this year. We started to transplant the berry plant and realized 2 things. One was that the pot had tons of standing water. Apparently it was not draining well. The other thing we learned was that the blueberry bush didn't seem dead. it was still springy when you bent the branches. I couldn't just throw it away if it might be savagable, so we transplanted it into a smaller container. This will either give it a place to dry out and wake up, or it will kill it. Either way, it will free up the other pot for something else. Oh, and we made a point to fix the drainage issue for the berry plants. Hopefully they will not have standing water anymore. 

Blueberry given one last chance

I will say Kiddo loved watching the water gush out of the new drainage holes in the pots. Since these are his bushes I made him do his share. Technically right now we have 4 blueberry plants. This may mean we keep 4 plants, or we go down to 3. Its a matter of what the sad blueberry wants to do. Honestly, I would just love everything to green up and prove that it is ready for another year, even if we don't get much out of it. I know the winter was hard, but I keep hoping that I have finally found all the losses and we can move on for the year. 

4 blueberries all in a row.

This is not what April is suppose to look like

Winter AGAIN?

On Tuesday I woke up to find this on the back deck. While we had brought everything in the night before, I am more then a bit over this whole winter thing. Especially after seeing blooms on our magnolia tree less then 24 hours before. Poor Pooka was even fed up saying "Winter, leave us alone." Let my spring go.

More of this please

Winter returns

Winter threw a what we hope is a last swing at us on Weds. The temps went from being almost 60 degrees to back in the 20s. It was rain that turned to ice that turned to snow, and while we only had 2-3 inches, it was enough that it closes schools. Apparently the snow cut power to a quite a bit of town. I only hope this is winters last hurrah. I am grateful for the nicer weather once more.

More winter yuck. 

Sprouts

We have sprouts. Pooka was so excited.She told me Rosebud, (Green Thumb's friend) was working really hard since Green Thumb was still in Hawaii for training. Some of these seeds have been in the dirt for less then a week, but they are growing quite well. I will say this year we broke down and got some seed warming mats since we do tend to keep the air temperature a bit cold for them. It looks like the seed mats were a good investment.

So far, I know the leeks and the snapdragons, tomatoes and broccoli have started, and I am sure more have started since this picture. The pepper plants which I always seem to struggle with are starting to show a bit of green. We turned the seed trays after this picture so they would start growing the other way. To be completely honest, I need to get in there and see exactly what is growing and make a note of it for next time. 

There may be more cold and snow in the forecast (and it is official, this is the snowiest winter we have ever had), but it looks like spring is starting in the house. Lets just hope it warms up enough to take things outside a bit during the day once we transplant into pots. 

Oh winter

We got lucky over the weekend. We were suppose to be hit by yet another winter storm over the weekend. 8-10 inches of snow, bitter cold temps, ice, basically what has been usual this winter. The storm tracked further south, leaving us with about 3 inches or so, some cold weather and a bit of ice.

The Garlic bed this morning. 

I think everyone is happy the storm missed us, Pooka included. However, I kinda wanted another snow day. Pooka has been fighting a cold, and while I think she is okay to go back to school, another day home would not of hurt.

So we are happy the worst missed us, but the idea of one more day in our PJs staying home to do stuff doesn't sound too bad either. Mostly, we just want winter to go home now, and Green Thumb to come back with the baby fairies from Hawaii. Apparently that is where fairies go for training in the cold months. Lucky fairies.