January days

Usually in January we go on some sort of vacation.  We have gone to Florida a few times, to Arizona once and if we don't go anywhere we try and spend a few more days up at the farm.  This year I guess we won't do either.  I am not disappointed, but it it has been  the way we celebrate our anniversary
in the past 10 years.   This year will be our 35th anniversary. A long long time.  Some years better than others, most years quite wonderful.  Last year was a pretty good year.  No one got too sick, no frightening health tests.  Let's hope this year will be the same.

The weather has been very strange lately, not really settling into winter temperatures but cold blasts from time to time.  When the temperature drops below 30 degress or so, I have my heater set up for the greenhouse.  It is on a timer to go on every so often, maybe 5 times per night for about 15 minutes each time.  Last night I had it set for a regular cold night, not realizing the temp dropped lower than 22 degrees.  When it gets that cold  I set the heater at a different level of temperature.  I went to check on the greenhouse this morning and it seems the cold was a little too much for some of the plants.  The begonias are now done for, and the lovely tree that Kathy Garner gave me last summer (it had outgrown her space and her time) seems to have some brown leaves.  I think it is a type of ficus, the leaves look like ficus but they are different in spacing.  We will see what happens later this spring.  Last year I had a major malfunction when the door blew open during a very cold night and I lost alot of plants.  I thought I had lost the mandevillas but they dropped their leaves and came back from the dead in the spring.  So I guess so far this year I have lost the geraniums and begonias for the rest of the winter.  They always perk me up.  The ferns all seem ok.

I don't really use the greenhouse for starting seeds, I use my dining room table, which drives my husband crazy.  After they have sprouted I will put them under lights and move them day to day.  When the weather gets a little more dependable, say some time in March, I will move some seedlings to the greenhouse.  It really depends on the temperature.  And I check the temperature every day to see how cold it is going to be.  So in the greenhouse are the plants that I have in the garden every year, cast offs from neighbors, things I find on garbage day.  I am always amazed how many plants people throw out when they get tired of them. Lots of tropicals, some everyday houseplants.  They usually only need a small amount of tlc (tender loving care) to recover.  I end up with lots of mums every fall that I can usually get to survive in my outside gardens. 

This week I hope to have my son David come down and help me get some cow/horse/alpaca manure to spread on the big beds.  There is still 120 days til we plant and that is the rule of thumb for spreading manure on vegetable gardens.  Last year I was convinced by my husband, Jim, to just get compost.  I was not very happy with the results.  And this year he wants to put in irrigation on the lawn and my gardens so I will not be held hostage by the hot weather.  I will be so excited to not have to line up people to water all the gardens every time I leave for a few days.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the new year, living the life of Riley......