The weather is not cooperating with my planting schedule. You know, the one I totally made up based on St. Patrick's Day and its affiliation with cabbage?
I mean, how inconvenient that since St. Patrick's Day, which I had arbitrarily decided is the day I plant out my cabbage starts, we've had an unbroken streak of coldcoldcold, WINDWINDWIND, coldcoldcold, hey how about some SNOW?
Also, work.
I was all set to plant the cabbages and kohlrabi today, which is the only day that didn't feature winds above twenty miles an hour all day and is a day I don't have to work. It was supposed to be 31 degrees tonight, which is fine if the plants are in their snuggly plastic milk jugs. I was going to show you the milk jugs! I had a plan!
Then I woke up to a changed forecast calling for 17 degrees tonight. AND wind.
And that means no gardening today.
The next even halfway decent day for planting that I can see is Saturday. If we get out early enough, A. should be able to dig before the wind starts and blows all our topsoil away. And it's not going to be below freezing at night for at least the next few nights, which would give the plants time to get established.
Assuming no change in the forecast between now and then, which of course we can never really assume.
Anyway.
I did plant some cubanelle pepper seeds this weekend in an old mushroom container. Why cubanelle? Because that's what A. found at the store when I asked him to look for banana pepper seeds. I know nothing about cubanelle peppers, but I guess we'll see how they work.
The peppers are on a heating pad to help them germinate. It's just our regular, oh-my-aching-back heating pad covered in aluminum foil* to protect it from water. I've found that peppers really will not germinate at all without a little heat boost, but since I don't want to have to buy and store a separate heating pad just for seeds, I modified the one I already had.
Of course, those peppers are a long way from being outside, but God willin' and the temperatures don't plummet, those cabbages and kohlrabi will be out this weekend.
* Ha, I just realized I can make a really good joke here about the heating pad being foiled again. And then my post title is a pun. Okay, maybe not a really good joke, but a joke, anyway.
5 comments:
Meanwhile, back at Black Rock, I have good plantings started of Patterson onions, Electra Leeks, little patio dahlias, kohlrabi and even some cardoons. Whether I can remember to water them and put the lights on is another question. I should have started peppers, but I have no idea why I chose the seeds I did--oh, yes, they are a new variety that should be good for paprika. The dahlias came up very fast, which delighted me. I need to find room for the petunia seeds and get them going. I hope the weather moderates for you! More daffodils are out every day here.
Here we have nothing but snow! Mary in MN.
Mother Nature is like the US Navy. To see either laugh, make plans.
Maybe that's why I have so much trouble starting peppers from seed! I use grow lights, but it doesn't seem to be enough. It's a little late to start seeds now, so I'll get seedlings from the garden center. But next year, it'll be heating pads for the peppers.
I used to start peppers and tomatoes on top of the electric water heater, it was just the right temperature. It was old and probably not well insulated, thus leaking heat.
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