Well the snow had continued, but it is warmer

Getting up to almost 25 today. Spent most of the morning shoveling snow and roof raking. By 1400 most of the raked roof was already warmed down to the shingles. The downspouts are running and the runouts are clear. Didn't look like much ice dam action but... it will do the roof well to get it open. Probably in excess of 14" on the roof.

The leaf piles continue to shrink and compress. It is hard to believe that with it as cold as it has been that the heat from composting can still be happening. There will be some very good leaf mold in the spring. The compost bins are sill working well and room is still left to keep adding. Again, looking forward to some good compost come spring. Probably will have to do some additional turning and watering.

Sunday will be the day for putting wire around the blackberries and taking a hard look at the reds/purples.

Should be getting cold again later in the week, but until then rain is in the forecast for Monday. Hard to believe that we go from -25 to almost 40.

Spring is coming.

Snow and bitter cold

We have gone from the too warm to the too cold. About a week ago it was raining. The past two days we have awoke to -15. At least we have snow on the ground.

Took a look for damage to plants. Looks like the bunnies are having a field day with the black berries. I will put up some fencing to prevent anymore damages. Doesn't look like they like the currants. Need to take a look at the red/purple raspberries to determine if there is more damage than just the blacks.

Snow load on the Carol Mackie daphne is large. The limbs are frozen in place so will leave them to thaw out. Will need to prune back in spring, probably pretty hard. Doesn't look good, but haven't found more around the yard.

The snow cover will do us good. Looking around the neighborhood I see the beginnings of ice build up on roofs. Glad we have used the roof rake.

Oh well, garden time will be in 90 days (at most). Spring is near.

Another catalog

It is probably easier to talk about the mass catalogs that are starting to show in the mailbox at this time of year but I really want to talk about one today. That would be the Nourse Farms (www.noursefarms.com) folks. We have had a great amount of success with their products and would heartily recommend them. The raspberry, ribes (currants), and asparagus plants have been the healthiest and most productive. We did have a very tough year in 2006 with establishing some raspberry plantings and lost about 35% of the new plants. The folks at Nourse stood 100% right behind them. The new plants went in early May 2007 and came along just fine.

I won't be planting anything new from Nourse this year but still like to get their catalog and think about the next changes.

The last few weeks have seen some good snowfall and relatively cold temps. Today, and for the next few days, the temps should moderate into the high 30's and melting should take place.

Saw a neat diagram for a mini-greenhouse for putting over the raised beds. Pretty much a PVC frame that a spun polyester sheeting fits over. Will do some thinking of how to make this fit for what I need in our garden. Stay tuned for more updates.

Remember, spring is now only 5 months (150 or so days) away. The snow will leave eventually.