Propagation efforts and results ( the basics) Dec ,

Good come back Ju. Yes I guess you do get a little complain card for that. LOL. And Kitt, granted our houses are built a lot different and in my case I have a wood shed chalked full of fuel so INSIDE it is nice and toasty warm. I did get the grandkids out for some sliding and a walk up the creek on a snowmobile trail made by some trespassers yesterday.

Here I am trying to thaw a few things warmer today 18 degrees above that is about minus 8 C .
Coveralls lot of sources of warmth ,
Day before yesterday it was not livable outside at all .

i see some blue sky out there, maybe it will get up to 32 today!

It's made it to 32 so far, supposed to hit 40 this afternoon.

I have blue sky, hasnt thawed anything out, but, it LOOKS good. 45* warmest today for about 3 hrs than back below 30* it will go. I can't get warm, electric heat sux.

It is snowing here ,,

I have electric heat. Used to be $300 a month (in 2009 dollars) and sit wrapped in a blanket. And have electrical rolling blackouts because the grid couldn't cope with the cold and the load. I installed the woodstove in summer 2010, and cut down all my fenceline hackberries in June for fuel. Picked up a little chainsaw, volunteer to help with downed trees, I have spent a little on firewood but I haven't had the electric heat on in 7 years. and most of my firewood is free. I close off my bedroom and just heat the rest of the house, circulating fan in the dining area behind the stove, and one at the door to the hallway, tipped, blowing hot air behind it downward and to the front. Electric bill is $92, mostly fish tanks, lights and cooking on my induction cooktops. I gave the range away.

I miss the fire, warmed up enough to go out and start a few fires. Grasses, leaves....
Eggshells, membrane peeled out of them, crunched, soaked in vinegar til the ph turns neutral; these shells now have the calcium in them immediately available to plants. I usually mix treated and untreated crushed eggshells in the dirt I plant my butterfly weeds in. It serves 2 purposes I know of, 1) soil alkalinity increased, and long term treatment of calcium. I don't have the limestone soil, nor clay available like DFW, I have sand -yish concrete. If wet it is quiksand, if dry, you will break shovels. If I were planting a water garden plant, I have to buy the clay that is needed, we only have sand. Even tree bark turns to silty sand in a year here if local wood.
I can't bury compost piles- I would immediately have the happiest fireant city of NY in all of Texas. I do use all sorts of tea leaves, coffee grounds, epsom salts, bone meal for bulbs, clean ashes occasionally. I think my mustard plant bit the dust in the freeze- the one that grew all summer without bolting, wierd plant is just backwards this year. started cleaning out the tiny bed for my clematis - solid with pine roots, needed refreshed, deepened, lined and it has begun.

We have had a little rain but groundfires still a bad idea. Foster dog shipped out tonight. Now I can maybe start the garden

It was very cold for the last few days but it's warming up now to 16 degrees F. I have already done some Winter Sowing but just have a few more to do when it wArms up. Already have my cuttings of Coleus from fall growing nicely in my spare room. I am brain waving an idea to start my Okra early because my zone takes long to warm up for those plants . I am thinking about doing the seeds in a small pot and placing it in a 2 liter Soda bottle and keeping it on the sun so it germinates and stays warm in there . Every year I have trouble with Okra plants.

My picture did not post before.

16 is COLD. I was complaining about the heat and thinking about moving north but I'm not impressed with this cold stuff at all. Maybe Arkansas?

I like the 2 liter idea.

finally a sunshine, yesterday and 1/16th inch of moisture! ( today ) Been working with Rose as she prepares for the re-take of her final board practical. Oh golly I am praying she passes, She has been so stressed out it is killing me. Praying she passes and get this deal over with. Joe and I both are so tired of her angst. I almost got put to work today at Sallys Beauty Supply, LOL. I told them I would bring the application back later, it is 20 hours a week. I still have another trip to san antonio before I go back to work anywhere.. will be working on seeds again as soon as this testing is over. Hope there is not a fail and all the drama that comes with it. My stictocardia is getting buds. I had a double yellow datura bloom and totally missed it. all this Rose stuff has put the brakes on my indoor gardening. from the teens to the 50's tomorrow! No winter sowing in jugs or bottles this year.. but it works, I know, cuz I have done it every year previously.

Tux is attacking my typing. I can't winter sow here except in the refrigerator

Today was the BIG THAW of life below zero , It will be 50 degrees here in a few days . I will do some poppy seeds for winter , They will stratify Seeing what is remaining in spring will be interesting ,

I'm going to have to start broccoli seeds again, indoors. I covered my broccoli with big flower pots but it was a different variety than I usually plant and it is not looking good. and today is onion set day, as soon as I figure out where I'm putting it. Happy gardening.

Here are the little Snapdragons , and a Croton in Holiday color

I may try the Bottle later for starting seeds

Debra ,, Like the Texas weather better ?

bet she does Ju. in winter.

Comgested, I keep trying to gag cough my toenails up, but I THINK it's just sinuses. Got one bed dug out deep enough to suit me, then gotta put it back together with all its new components (plastic liner, newspapers, wood chips, and planted buckets, etc. Still trying to trim out the pine roots...
Was cloudy today- barely made 60* after lunch. Got stuff lined up, but just trying to avoid coughing right now

Kitt the flu is a bad one. I am so far ok despite watching a granddaughter age 7 go from chasing my chickens to crying for her mama because her head hurt in an hour. (being 7 she slept for 2 days and is now right as rain thank goodness) And thank goodness I don't appear to have caught it. I didn't get a flu shot. 10% likelihood of it working, I didn't bother.

going to start broccoli and chard seeds in cups in the house tonight, moon is in Scorpio. Didn't get any other gardening done today, did some pond service and housework instead Place might not smell like a kennel soon

Debra hope all goes well with the boards, take it Rose a daughter?
Nice Croton, they do make nice fall and winter color. I see lots of snapdragons in the garden centers right now, thought it is cold enough to have some this year to brighten up some dormant pots.

Could kick myself for not taking clippings of my favorite coleus this past freeze. I lost them all. My favorite can't be found in nurseries, so I'm going to try and find seeds. I've started seeds with the bottle many times, milk jugs mostly.

My tomato plant is so tall and covered with green tomatoes, I carried it into the FL Room the freezing nights. We have two nights this weekend it will be below 40, I hate disturbing it, but full of blossoms and don't want blossom drop. I'm not sure how cold a tomato plant can take, this is my first winter attempt at growing tomatoes.

Hello All! Do you mind if I join in? I've been lurking here a while and now that a new seed starting season is beginning, I thought it would be fun to start sharing. It will also keep me on my toes as I tend to forget my seedlings as the season progresses.

Kitt I had the flu real early in September ? got the shot last month ,I may be glad I did , Be careful with yourself and get well ,, Lots of the sinus stuff here also ,

Gypsi , us ,, here ,,,

Sun mine won't be outdoors for months , but the early butterflies will have something , My air is to dry for tomatoes indoors ,, Croton is my sister's actually but I have taken care of it for years now ,,

I have to try to discern more space for Nanking Cherry They lower my cholesterol and I can't buy the fruit anywhere sooo more shrubs it is I only got a dozen fruits from three plants ,but it was enough to test the fruit ,,

oh my, Kitt. Do not over do it! I cleaned the fish tank yesterday, finally It got up to 59 here yesterday. Texas was cold while we were down there, hoping it will be warmer in March when I go down again.

I went outside and dug a couple red Gaillardia runners , their not real well rooted so someone like ( Debra) lol, will have to finish rooting them , Their are some seeds along with that ,
Rainy , misty day here

We have another cold snap coming, so I did pond work for a customer today, trying to change the liner in my back yard pond tonight. Finally found the leaks in that liner, and it's just too thin and old to patch.

I am keeping my broccoli and chard seed pots in my aquarium room, it is cooler and moister than the rest of the house. have a 4 ft 3 lamp t5 aquarium fixture hanging over them.

going back out. it's the bottom pond liner. have to lower the water level up top so the wall doesn't fall on me.

50* is the magic number for so many things. 50* baby chicks can survive without heat lamps. 50* SOIL temp before tomatoes grow, air temp they can handle to 38* once rooted.
I got the old flowerbed dug down, cardboard laid, thick plas trasbags for a moisture liner, and the clematis tub sunk in. Tomoro I have to raise that tub, its too low. (Doodleoodle is site inspector), garlic bulbs and green onion bulbs set out. I am not finished in that tiny strip, topsoil still waiting to be added.
My house is too dry inside, our a/c is larger than standard to handle the humidity, have been misting the few indoor plants, but poppin them back outside if temps arent roller coasting.
Sun, thats how I PLAN to exit when the time comes, definitely beats any other exits I have seen. Hope You are good.

Love your site inspector Kitt - is the buried pot slightly elevated the key to clematis?

and welcome Loretta. It's the growing room around here..

Hey Deb, glad you got home safe

Ju.... nanking cherries - are they hard to grow?

Gypsi Not hard to grow at all I have three about 6 ft tall one is weakly though , their three years old from seedlings
Their sour ...

Thanks Kitt, I totally agree with ya. Looks like Doodle kitty thinks someone's making a big litter box.
So much moisture in the air here, the FL room floor looks like it has rained inside, put fans on it last night to try and dry it out. Hasn't really rained here, but ground and plants stay wet like it has.
That cold front coming here too, some nights back to upper 30's again the beginning of the week. I'm thankful for my little greenhouse, has come in handy this year.

I liked Doodle checking that out also , lol
54 degrees , cold returns tomorrow
Not much outdoors so far .

Doodle won't outdoors, has busted his guts gettin back in if I shut him out during the day, chuckl. He is prone to trailing whoever is moving around, gives me a break. I hear ya on freeze snap coming.
Gypsi, I dug this out of the ground it has barely survived in (lack of water under pines). I had told my daughter I was going to plant it properly when I was home. The bucket is so I can remove it. A vining clematis doesn't prune, We shall see if the fresh dirt and hydromulch under the bucket gets me flowers this year. There is also a pansy and last years snapdragons in front of it now. It isn't elevated nor lowered, just protected from pine roots and not losing all its moisture and nutrients, and protected root wise from deep cold.

well I never had one live in the ground here, so I put 3 very small ones in 1 gallon pots (really small Burgess $2.33 wonder plants). and buried the pots in the front flower bed, bottom 2 inches anyway. I did that in 2013, and 2 of them are still alive, or were last summer. . I think drought and root competition from trees were a factor here as well.

what is hydromulch? Regular mulch just being used to retain water?

Mulch, hydromulch, it is basically red colored wood pieces usually used to dress up the top areas. I have pure sand a few inches down, so the cardboard and mulch give the sand something to process. I also have rusted solid chunks of iron ore in parts of the ground. It allows drainage for my pots where these choke the drainage.
And moles, grrr, this isnt going to stop the moles, but this experiment is a step above what was happening.

wow that is a lot of work! Love your site inspector, too. I have two cleatis frozen to the fence right now, they vine, I thought they needed pruning? They are exactly alike, so I plan on digging one up to give to someone.. it is jackmani I think or nelly mosier, cant remember .. big huge pinkish purple blooms with whitish stripe? Rose passed her test, thank goodness that is over..
Oona and I have been keeping each other warm it has been so very cold here.
Hi Loretta, welcome to the group! I usually have seed trays going by now, I have trays of seeds sitting around instead.
Here I am all retired and all, thought I'd have so much done by now, but stay covered up in a blanket in the chair instead. Bah. It's supposed to warm up Sunday to 40 yay!
We went to this garden in SAN ANTONIO.. it was cold. There were cat stations everywhere, I did not see a single mouse or rat. I can't wait to see it in March!

Jackmanii is purple Debra, those must be Nelly Mosier

the more time I have the less i get done

2 types clematis, no prune the vining one, prune the woody ones. It usually never got more than a foot out of ground, but from the plant in that one pot, I now have 6 rooted sets, we shall see. I once knew the name of it, chuckl. I dig deeper than I set the pot in, ground so I can amend the sand farther up. I do this also with unpotted plants going into the ground- It's just because of the lousy sand. I did it also in black gumbo clay up nearer to the Okla state line, again, it was to give the roots a better environ til they were tougher.
Is cold outdoors again, and having had my hands in dirt, they are giving me the impression the skin is dusty and dry, chuckl, now where did I set the lotion down? We are having our winter down here this year, last yr we only had 1 decent cold spell. The mail brought me notice of another jury summons, but this one is actually for my county, so we shall see what happens in Feb. Had to declaw the tips of Doodle claws, he was snagging the tablecloth onto the floor and the sheers out of their lofty brackets. He is diligent about his sharpening efforts, but he can start over now, and maybe he won't bring the house down around our ears. He is making Shadow growl even now. Little meanness must be in a growing spurt. Catch ya guys tomoro, have to rescue an old cat...

Kitt, I try to avoid the dyed mulches, is it dyed or is it special color associated with water retention.

Good point about the kitty claws, been a week since I trimmed. I just tip them when they start tipping me.

From the leaching, dyed. Not a problem here...we used black mulch around the base of the Quercus nigra, that water oak has knees fit to rip out a mower blade, so mulched the base. Looks better and is a mower warning. If the mulch is applied on top, snails, slugs, and bugs, so, like adding your new dirt to the bottom of a pot, I put the mulch underneath.
More the merrier! welcome always! A lot of what I am doing is adjusting to this area now I am no longer slamming the interstates from one coast to another. RElearning. Deb, I am with you on the more huddling than accomplishing. It is winter, come Spring thaw we'll kick into higher gears, chuckl.