Winter Doldrums 2013

[jal_ut]

Looks like gardening is done here for a few months. My big tiller had a problem, and I just got that fixed up today. Nothing more on my list till time to plant something come the spring thaw. Guess I will have to hit my Ham Radio hobby a bit harder? So what are you doing this winter?

[DoubleDogFarm]

One should never be bored James. Always something to work on.

Business is still trickling in. Currently I have a MTD Yard Machine, Horse rototiller, Stihl chainsaw, Poulan chainsaw, Italian ice cream machine, Dremel Scroll saw, my brother's backhoe attachment, Wet paver saw and a 3" Centrifugall pump in my shop. I could squeeze your tiller in late next week. I also have about 50 listings on Ebay.

I'm also slashing and burning, doubling my growing space. Moving a fence along my road to widen the shoulder and new shortcut road between the new and old gardens.

Some of the neighbors helping. Our neighborhood is part of the Firewise Community. Part of it is keeping our private roads navigable by firetrucks and paramedic.




Find something to do!!!

Eric

[!potatoes!]

I'll be harvesting for months yet, but I've got plenty to do in other areas regardless. I'm so overbooked I haven't been bored in years.

[rainbowgardener]

Right now I am well in to Christmas present making season. After Christmas, it's only a few weeks until the first seeds get planted indoors under lights.

In the meantime, I do a whole bunch of committee work and other work for my Quaker Meeting (today is woods work day where we help rid our 3 acre woods of honeysuckle, ivy, etc for a few hours), help cook and serve dinners for 35 at a local homeless shelter for mentally ill, once a month, still work about 25 hrs a week, and pursue hobbies: knitting*, learning crochet, glass painting, cooking, learning Spanish, and others. I have two different books I am working on writing, which may or may not ever see the light of day. I try to get 30 min to an hour of exercise every day.

And hopefully this winter we are going to repaint the whole inside of our house and do some other fixing up, get it ready to sell.

I read usually one or two books a week. And I spend way too much time on my computer, especially HelpfulGardener but also email, Facebook, etc.

Other than that, I am sitting around bored.

*Just thought I would mention that I did knitting when I was young and then somewhere along the way had forgotten it and not touched my needles for a couple decades. My adult son independently took up knitting as a relaxing thing to do, a few years ago, and got me interested in it again. His reward for that has been several knitted items as presents, including a multi-cabled Irish fisherman's sweater.

[digitS']

I just need to look harder for those out-of-date sweater styles that I like Nah, I'm not much of a shopper. Oh, I consume, tho'! Since the garden clean-up came to an end ~ altho' there's that half of a flower bed still out there ~ I've gotta pay awfully close attention to not eating everything in sight! Really, I'm a light eater - start from first light and eat all day!

To help me not put on that usual 15# this winter, and I did take off the 15# this summer, fruit and veggies have to stay in my diet. It won't be much of a contribution but I put several dozen bok choy plants in my greenhouse! The greenhouse was really built with plant starts in flats in mind. I had to take out my old 3' by 18' bench and will be replacing it with something that is more portable. Take it out so that something can be grown in the soil during fall & winter. The heat won't be turned on in there until March and it will be too cold for much growth soon but the transplants are doing well! Sown seed for Asian greens look like it was a bust, however. Next fall, I'll do better and have a couple hundred plants to move into that bed .

I've already hit the library circuit and have a couple of new books on hold - one on "Healthful South Indian Cooking" - yeah! Two books that I've picked up are on the "carrying capacity" of Mother Earth and a book on human genetics.

There's Bonzo the dog to look after and I've gotta make sure the mice stay out of the chicken feeder. Ya know, livestock . . . Snow in the forecast for tomorrow. My only real exercise during the winter - need to keep the sidewalks clear.

Steve

[freedhardwoods]

I think I have mentioned before that I am a packrat. In the past, I didn't much care what my place looked like. It probably looked like my neighbor and I were in a contest to see who could pile up the most stuff/ junk.

In recent years, I have started trying to clean up some. In 2 previous cleanups, I sold over 7 tons of scrap steel and burned several pickup loads of burnables. I also have found a lot of usable things that just got buried along the way.

I am still a lousy housekeeper, and my shop went from picture A to B this summer. The third picture is a 100+ year old schoolhouse I use for storage.

I am hoping to get the cleanup completed this winter. I got a real good start organizing things last winter and want to get that done too.

Since I am doubling the size of my garden to about 9,000 sq ft (or more) and will be starting a lot of my plants from seeds, that will take some of my time also.

SHOP A.jpg (33.3 KiB) Viewed 1612 times

I.jpg (36.59 KiB) Viewed 1612 times

[jal_ut]

My arborist friend is pruning some trees for me. I will have the mess to clean up. Also need to rake the leaves. Guess it will be snow to shovel after that. (Yet to be seen) Oh, yes, I could also clean up the garage so I can park the truck in this winter. I guess I am not too bored yet.

[digitS']

No "doldrums" around here the last 24 hours. No snow yet either . . .

Wind gusts to 45mph - I figure the leaves are now somewhere between Lethbridge & Calgary!

I need that arborist, James! I've got a big tree that has a number of branches that should come off. I was kind of hoping yesterday that they weren't gonna come thru the south window!

Steve

greenhouse bok choy

[jal_ut]

Woo Hoo! 3 inches of fresh snow and snowing. Winter is upon us.

[bryce d]

I just got the garden all plowed under. It was a race against the clock before the snow hit. Not that I worry about the snow it is that I wanted all the stuff buried under so the moisture could get to work helping break it down.
I don't know about you guys, but winter just means more work. I always liked the snow but as I get older I like it less and less.
Ill tell you what though. The walk behind tractor can plow up grass and push lots of dirt. I dieing to see how it does pushing snow. Not that it can't handle white stuff, I just wonder how it will do on traction. Ill bet that if it can get enough traction on grass to plow grass. it will do OK on the drive way.
Please don't mention the, cleaning the garage, thing to my wife or you will all be in trouble.

[jal_ut]

That snow sure brought the leaves down. Looks like I can finish this week out raking leaves. I like to put them on the garden for added organic matter.

Today finished cleaning up the tree trimmings.

[rainbowgardener]

Someone has a separate thread on planning next year's garden. That made me think about this thread. One of the other things I have to do in the next couple months is decide what I will be growing next year and go through my seed collection, see what I have and what I might need to order. I usually put my seed order in, right after the first of the year. A lot of seed catalogs don't come until the rush of Christmas catalogs is over. But I'm starting seeds by mid to end Jan, so I need to get that order in promptly in case there's any of the early stuff I need to order.

Something else to keep busy with.

I believe on old time family farms, winter was traditionally a time to sharpen all the tools, oil the leather on the harnesses, mend and fix stuff, and lots of chores like that, that you don't have time to do when the farm/garden is in full swing.

[Juliuskitty]

This is my growing season( finally) so I am very busy with 72 varieties of tomatoes, lettuce , bok choy, 4 basils, 8 pepper varieties, pole beans, catnip because I can't forget the little prince and princess, squash, and starfruit!
I asked my husband for a pressure canner for a Christmas present. LOL!

[rainbowgardener]

Wow... 72 varieties of tomatoes! What do you do with all of them?

[jal_ut]

I asked my husband for a pressure canner for a Christmas present.

Excellent!

You may have an extension in your county? Here a cooperative extension program provided by the County, State and the University has a lot of good info on canning and preserving food.

[Juliuskitty]

Thats a good suggestion about the extension because I am going to need to learn a lot!

[ElizabethB]

I started cleaning out the garden. Amazingly my tomatoes which did poorly this summer are lush, green and in flower. I will at least get some green tomatoes for frying and chutney. The peppers have also revived with the cooler weather. I have been harvesting and drying my herbs for winter use. Doing some cooking. Large pots of gumbo, split pea and ham soup, vegetable beef soup and chicken soup. Stored in zip locks in the freezer.

[jal_ut]

[imafan26]

James, I could use you in my yard, I am up to my armpits in weeds. I just weed whacked the yard. It looks a lot better, but I know one good rain and it will all be back again. No snow in sight around here.

I am glad though, I don't really handle cold well. I am used to keeping the windows open almost all year and letting the breezes in. Winter wear here is an umbrella for the rain, long sleeved shirts, maybe a sweater in an air conditioned room, socks on cold nights (ceramic tiles are cold), and I may actually sleep under the comforter instead of on top of it. When it is 50 degrees here I am waiting for it to snow any minute. There actually is some snow at Maunakea around January and February, and some people do ski or snowboard there. Sliding in mud is as adventurous as I get.

[jal_ut]

Yes, I suppose there is quite a climate diff from there to here imafan26. There won't be anything growing here till March, except icicles.

Today I am working at raking up the leaves and putting them on the garden. There is still a little snow on my lot. I am just raking around the snow. Wife said I should take it easy and not overdo........

[w_r_ranch]

Still working on the garden expansion here... Had 140 yards delivered & started the back-fill... then the rain started, so I've been 'work stop' for the last 10 days.

Backfill_1.jpg (67.65 KiB) Viewed 1647 times

Backfill_2.jpg (63.11 KiB) Viewed 1647 times

[jal_ut]

Wow! That is some project. Good luck with it.

[jal_ut]

My garden today. As you can see, I don't have a raised bed, but garden on the soil that is on my lot. I did rake the leaves and put them on the garden. Didn't have enough to cover it all. There is a bit of broccoli still blooming and I let it go for the bees to enjoy.



I planted garlic and a few seeds of cold weather stuff a while back. Nothing is showing yet. Maybe it will wait till spring?

My lot is right on the city limits. Behind me is farmer's fields then mountains.

[jal_ut]

[Gary350]

This is my winter project. I collected 18 very large bags of grass at Road Mart then I covered my garden 6" deep in dry grass and tilled it in. Then I planted a row of broccoli, row of Chinese cabbage, row of rhubarb Swiss chard and Brussels sprouts, row of Spanish and Brussels sprouts, last row lettuce and a 5' spot that has not been planted. There are 2 beefsteak tomato's are the end of row 2 and 4. I made an irrigation system with 3/4" pvc pipe attached to the garden hose I turn it on for 1 minute every evening.



I raked the water melon vines to the side they rolled up like a carpet. I picked 4 water melons last week there is still 1 large melon to harvest next to the red brick birder. The bell peppers I planted in March and doing better than ever now the weather has cooled down, 60 at night, 80 in the day. All the plants are growing too fast in the cooler weather I can't keep up. The grape vines have gotten out of control. I have irrigation on 4 rows that is all the pipe I had laying round. Pipe is not glued so it will easy to pull it apart and move. I drilled a 3/32" hole every 2 feet on one side of the pipe it works much better than a soaker hose.



I bought a camper trailer in pretty bad condition it was exactly what I wanted because I can put it back together the way we want it. There were lots of holes in the walls and parts and pieces missing. The left 1/3 of the kitchen cabinets were missing I had to rob pieces from other parts of the trailer to build in the cabinets. Refrigerator in missing and no toilet in the bathroom either they will all be built back the way we wait it soon. I have an air conditioner but might leave it out we like winter camping better than summer. I hope to have it finished to go camping a couple weeks in Canyon lands UT when the weather gets a little colder. I have propane heat but won't need it with 6 thick Quilts and Blackest on bottom and 6 more on top we will be toast warm all night with no heat on 20 degree weather.



The outside of the trailer was in bad shape too. It had an advertisement painted on it. I sanded all the letters smooth and painted over it with white. Caulked some of the front side then some red paint too.

[TheWaterbug]

Amazingly my tomatoes which did poorly this summer are lush, green and in flower. I will at least get some green tomatoes for frying and chutney. The peppers have also revived with the cooler weather.

Mine as well! They turned almost completely brown in September, so I thought they were done, and then October brought a huge flush of green growth.

I'll take a picture sometime this week, if I remember.

[jal_ut]

My corner of the world this morning:

[DoubleDogFarm]

Paradise Popsicle

Eric

[digitS']

Very lovely, James.

We are having a horrible day! It isn't fit for man or beast out there! And, I just had to walk home from leaving the pickup at the garage . . .

Looks like our high will be 37°f and it is alternately raining and snowing. Wind gusts above 30mph and it is only supposed to get worse overnight! (Good thing that it really doesn't know how to snow in this neck of the woods .) Gloom, despair and agony on me!

I've got the pvc pipe hoops in the greenhouse, along with the plastic film. I'm all set to cover that bok choy when the temperature drops below freezing in that greenhouse. I've used a forecast 15° outdoors as my cue to cover the rosemary plants in there. Better not do that with the bok choy .

Steve
oohhh!