A little experiment in vegetative propagation—replicating rosemary from tiny, stressed cuttings. Most of the potted rosemary taken up from the herb garden last season got toasted after too many -20°C nights in the unheated greenhouse (a bit of a random how-cold-can-they-go experiment). These tiny cuttings came from one that was taken indoors earlier. They’re kinda frail and stretched from relatively low light (etiolated is the typically uncommon technical term). They’ve already been three days in the tray, let’s see how they do. (Fast forward to…results!)
Winter
Roof is working out
Here’s the barn with the new milkhouse extension, doing fine. We were slightly concerned that the slope of the new roof might be too shallow for snow to slide off, particularly with roll-off from the roof of the barn. The starting point was determined by an existing heavy cross beam in the barn, while the next beam is halfway up the wall – sloping the roof from there would’ve required tons of extra work and materials. As it is, it seems to be working out. Not having much snow or much of a winter at all helps. I doubt the sky will be falling in!
As winter as it gets…
This is, I guess, the new look of winter. The barrels in the field are barely half covered, compared to the three or four feet of snow that accumulated by this time only a few years ago.
In the mix…
My late winter farming friends: perlite, vermiculite and peat moss, the raw ingredients for a standard seed starting mix. For most veggies and herbs, I mix all three in equal parts, although a combination of any two would likely do as well. It’s soilless (no bacteria, sterile), holds water well and allows oxygen to get around…all a seed really needs in the way of ground to get started.
Seed starts here…
This is where everything but the bulky seed goes, and the season starts here. It’s just a big plastic tool chest, with a ziploc bag full of seed packets for each crop. But it’s REALLY the heart and soul of the entire farm, and more so, because there are dozens of small packets of “gotta try this sometime” varieties and specialty crops on top of staple varieties in larger quantities. There’s a whole lotta seed in there. Bigger seed, like corn, beans, peas, and bulk stuff, like buckwheat and clover, have their own plastic jugs.
Winter wonderland
A corner of the veggie field. Yep, it definitely looks like winter out there. The snow is only a few inches deep, but the subzero days and nights are in the forecast for at least the next couple of weeks. Even after the exceptionally mild winter of last year, who would’ve guessed that daily weather watching to see whether wintery conditions would hold would be as normal as looking out for that first taste of spring?
Warmer in here!
Winter persists! It’s minus 20°C out there; unheated, it’s a balmy 15° in here. The greenhouse effect is not always bad…