Hello Winter

[jal_ut]

Dec 21, first day of winter. Feels like it here at 21 degrees and an inch of fresh snow on the ground. Nothing growing here but ice. So I go put some seed on the bird feeder and come in and play on the computer. Guess this would be a good time to go find the seed box and make an inventory of seeds, then make a list of what seed is needed come spring.

[ID jit]

If it makes you feel any better, I have ice and mid 20's this morning..... Snow in New England is a myth. It is just a transitional phase of ice while it is in the air. Went down to dump my kitchen scrapes on next year new compost pile and my stock pile of browns is frozen solidly enough that I could not get enough of it to cover the fresh greens.

[jal_ut]

17 degrees F, calm and overcast here this morning. 4 inches of snow on the ground. Guess I will go take some feed to the birdfeeder and sit by the fire and play on the computer. I did find one six inch pot and planted 5 seeds in it just to have something growing. I am not an indoor gardener, but thought one six inch pot might be tolerable.

I also keep bees and am hoping the bees will survive winter.

[jal_ut]

The wife came up with a gallon can of garden seeds. This was an actual sealed can from 2002. It was a storage project against the day we may not be able to get seed. Lessee this is 2016 and by planting time it will be 2017. Do you think there is any chance any of this 15 year old seed will grow? There was corn, beans, carrots, spinach, lettuce, chard, cabbage, and others.

[imafan26]

I got 9 year old beans to grow. It all depends on how they were stored. Corn does not keep long. It loses viability quickly. Dill germinated 12 years later and I have gotten some lettuce seeds to germinate that were 4 years old. Well, I guess you have your winter project to do germination tests on the seeds or at least clean the basement.

[jal_ut]

December 25, today it is snowing, 26 degrees, and about a foot of snow on the ground.

[jal_ut]

Did a germination test on some radish seed from that can. got 100%. I was surprised.



No bees flying today!

[Taiji]

I saw some seeds for sale like that online from Salt Lake City. We've ordered some things from a company there before. Hermetically sealed and all that; dried to just the right amount of moisture. I don't have any experience with them, but I would guess they would be viable a lot longer than seeds just sitting around in a paper envelope. (my usual method of storage) I guess it wouldn't hurt for everyone to have a can of seeds like that just in case.

8 new inches here; 13 degrees this morning. This coming week warming to mid 50's to close to 60. A lot of it will melt fast.

[jal_ut]

No snow melting here. 11 degrees this morning. I don't expect a warm up and melt until March. So I will take the birds some seed and then hold this chair down.

[gumbo2176]

I've been running my A/C off and on for the past 4 days to keep the humidity in check. The outside temperatures are very nice with them being in the mid 70's, but the humidity is way up and inside it feels very muggy.

We've not had a single night of weather cold enough to put some frost on the green things. Matter of fact, I had to cut my grass this past Saturday. There's no cold weather in the next 10 day forecast for this region.

[jal_ut]

Sprouted some of the corn and peas from the sealed can. It all came very well too. Hmmmmm, that is looking like a good way to store seed for future use.

[jal_ut]

I went out and found the box where I keep my seeds and went through it and made a list of the seeds I have. Oh My, there is a lot of seed in that box. No corn seed.

[jal_ut]

The Elk Herd

[jal_ut]

Beautiful Day in Northern Utah

[Taiji]

I saw on a cooking show a while back that some grains of spelt and kamut found in some Egyptian pyramids actually sprouted having lain dormant in there for thousands of years. Now that's a world class storage facility!

That's a magnificent elk herd. Are they being fed by people? Almost looks like a flatbed vehicle there.

[jal_ut]

Yes, they are being fed by the DWR. Yes, they take people out on sleds pulled with horses.

[jal_ut]

WOW! We got snow last night.