What have you done today in the Garden?

Nothing today everything is frozen but after tomorrow it should get better.

 

By Tuesday we should be enjoying temperatures around +10c.

 

It got up in the 20s today. That is better than the teens it has been for several days. We got 6 inches of snow overnight and today, so no garden work other than taking care of my pets. I did clean up doggy-do before the storm last night. My hens did not come out of their house today even though I had the door open for them.

I did indoor stuff today.

One more package arrived yesterday. I still have several out there somewhere.

 

I did more prep work in the fenced garden. More ground prep, weed barrier then arborist chips.

Here are some views now.





I moved the remaining jumbo containers into the sunny area where they will have room. They are quite tall, for easy maintenance.



The blue container is kind of ugly, but it works. Maybe it would be good for a zucchini plant.

Meanwhile, the garlic is emerging through the leaf mulch.



Oriental poppies are growing. Somehow I didn't know they were there, when I planted that Dusty Miller.



I think these are Leucojum.



Some muscari by a fig trunk.



It almost feels like Spring! In early January!

 

Daniel— So good to see your pics, mate. Your Springers are coming right along aren’t they. It is so encouraging to see.
The woodchip application looks quite smart. I have taken my hat off tou so many times I can imagine that I am growing a bit bald. Haha.

 

Daniel Great job. That looks like a nice safety net to keep the weeds down and the deer at bey. Nice weather helps a lot with garden projects. Spreading them out over time rather than race in the spring to get it all done.i
Glad to see your slowing your projects down taking time to rest and do less strenuous activities.

 

Daniel, it's all looking good and glad that you have a dear fence.

 

We're up to +4c today, the snow is beginning to melt, but it will take some time, as the ground is still frozen.

The birds and squirrels have been fed.

One of my concerns is our tall mimosa, I hope it has survived. The previous one we had didn't, a few years ago when we had just as cold weather, but that was in a tub.
This one is planted in the ground so should have a good root system.
The other concern is water.
The main feed to the taps, basin and water heater in the garden and garage, is off at the supply on the back wall of the kitchen and all the taps are open but obviously frozen.
The supply to the garage is via alkathene 25mm plastic pipe. There's a bit of insulated 15mm copper pipe in the "freezer room" in the back of the garage. The exterior supply to the tap on the side of the fence from there is "speed-fit" plastic pipe, so should be OK.
There is a further supply to my "leaky hose system" that runs along the length of the side bed and turns to feed plants and the bamboo along the back fence. But again, that is all plastic and should be OK.It's very rarely used.

 

I haven't done much outside....too cold! It's warmed up to low 20s F. I tried walking after dropping my granddaughter off at school, but the wind chill was too much. So I've baked bread, made yogurt, and today I will be .making granola bars.

 

Willow— verrrrrrry nice yoghurt. Seeing that takes me back to when I was travelling about out in the world. I used to make it in the warmer climes but instead of glass jars, we used large, green bamboo segments to save it in. In fact, that is how I bought it originally. The original yoghurt was water buffalo yoghurt. Ahhh the good ole days, life was sometimes a bit of a challenge on the road.

 

Sjoerd, you've had such an interesting life!

 

More garden prep. Repaired a heavy planter (like a barrel but a but bigger and cinder-cement sides), did a bit of digging/replanting some Egyptian Walking Onions (too muddy), pruned suckers from the base of a dwarf apple tree, and did just a little more work on pathways.

Then it started raining so I quit. Which is a good thing.

 

I've given my son blackberry starts several times and the bunnies think it's their own personal salad bar. Last year they actually were finally able to get 2 berries.

Something got one of our chickens at one point. We looked everywhere for it then finally gave up. About a month or so later a black and white speckled one showed up in our yard. So I went to different neighbors and no one lost a chicken. So we ended up getting Chicken Little lll. Chicken Little was not a good name for our flock.

That sounds very unique. I just use glass jelly jars because I have so many. It's been several years since I made yogurt. When I lived in Texas, I'd make it about once a week.

I didn't get to my granola bars. I was doing dishes when I heard a huge noise. I went to the living room to ask my granddaughter what that was. Everything was fine in there. So I went upstairs to her room and the landing, nothing in the landing. Opened up her door and her mirror was on the floor. This was a huge mirror we had brought home a couple years ago. It was old and HEAVY! It shattered. So we got to clean it. She now has a new mirror on a stand. Picture is her new mirror. LEDs all the kids have them.

 

Daniel— cheers mate. I realise that it has been different than most folks. It has been fun most of the time, but there have been occasions….

That was a short stint in the garden, but in the cold and rain- - not ideal, eh.

Willow— yeah, the wabbuts really are anti social. Haha. I hope your family get more berries this coming season, but it sounds like they will have to actively protect the bushes and fruit.

If we would ever get the urge to make yogi here, I would have a problem— all my glass jam jars are standing full already with….my own jam. Haha. No, but the way you do it is perfect. These days I eat Turkish yogi, laced with my own blueberries or blueberry jam.

What an alarming mirror story. If you reflect on the use of that mirror, do you reckon it was too large and heavy? Chuckle.

When I saw the room with the lights, I first thought it was a place where you were nurturing some new seedlings. Some grow lights are that colour.

 

We're up to +5c today and the lawns now, are only half-covered with melting snow.

I checked the water supply to the garden and garage as the taps are no longer frozen.
Despite my best efforts, I still had a "burst" in the room in the back of the back of the garage. I say burst, but when I turned on the supply very low I could see water coming out of one of the pipes under the basin, so turned it off again.
The problem was with the horizontal pipe under it. Although it was insulated and all taps left open, the water in part of the system, if it expands before freezing, has nowhere to go. You can get a burst anywhere, when it's freezing, it just finds the weakest point.

Anyway, it wasn't a problem, I just turned it all off again and removed the damaged length of pipe, measured and cut a new length, (I'm always prepared) then with a couple of olives and a bit of ptf tape, it was all done and dusted with the insulation replaced, in ten minutes.



I checked the water heater, that's working fine as I'd put it on the frost protection setting, as is the basin tap and the tap on the side of the shed. So everything is back to normal.

But I turned the supply off and opened all the taps, in case it freezes again.

No gardening of course, but there's been plenty of tennis, from Australia on Eurosport. They are 11 hours ahead of us, so there were several live matches to watch, as their night games don't finish until at least 1.00pm here.