Sunday, April 5, 2009

Temperature drop

Here's the scene in Oklahomegrownvegland at the moment.
Sad sight, isn't it?

The weather has once more taken a dramatic turn and we are now forecast to get snow these coming days. Night time temperatures are forecast to be around 20F (-7C).
We had an unexpected heavy frost the other morning which has nipped the potato plants pretty severely though I'm sure they will pull through. Luckily, my determinate tomato plant in Plot2 was covered and survived.
Yesterday was warmer and calmer so I made a start on my favorite chore.....................


Mowing with my old mate Herbie. I was late starting so only got around the house done.....................

.......around the back...........

.....and front.
Whilst trundling around on Herbie I see that the Fuji Apple tree blossoms.....
...................are still there despite the cold temps and frost.
Even the Tulips are hanging on in there




For how long is any ones guess?
I left the rest of the mowing for Sunday but this morning The Happy Gardener arose to extremely high winds of around 40 mph making it feel very cold even though it was above freezing. A 10 minute walk around the property and my earlobes are burning.
I decide against it and Herbie is left in his stable
This a blow as the land down by the creek gets extremely boggy and if the grass grows out of control it's difficult to cut. So, I chop some firewood instead. A log fire may well be required this evening and tomorrow.
Back indoors, things are still moving along. I picked out the strongest looking tomato seedlings and re potted them.

The Old Virginia and Giant Beefsteak are at the back. At the front left are two pots containing Big Reds and to the right some more Catnip. Speaking of which...................................

These are doing great. I moved them from my office windowsill and put them back under the grow light as there was no sunshine or heat to be had and probably wont be for the next few days. They seem quite happy with the move though.
Below are a couple of other things I've started.

On the left are Spicy Globe Basil seedlings and on the right are some Cherry Tomato seeds, something I've not grown before and want to try. I recall that the Basil is pretty slow to grow and this seed is over a year old now. I have more on order (hopefully).
Then, around lunchtime, on the way back from the filling station I called in at the mail box.

At last!! The seeds have arrived. Phew, panic over. But in a way I'm glad I haven't been able to start some of them as they would have surely perished in these cold times.
This season I'm hoping to get a supply of parsnips and carrots growing and leave them in the ground for use during next winter. But, the soil is going to have to warm up quite a bit before they can be started.

Enough!!

1 comment:

Dan said...

Good to hear your seed turned up. We having cold weather as well. In fact it is lightly snowing right now, such a bummer.