Blooming houseplant & winter hike

There has been little to no garden activity these last 2 months of winter. In my climate, the only gardening you can do is water your houseplants- which is exactly what I have been doing! I also continue to make compost, save food scraps and put them on the gardens to prep for spring growing. 

Winter is generally cold, bitter, unhappy times here. You risk your life in the conditions, physically and emotionally. 

But it's hard not to also admire the beauty of the winter- the draping pines, weeping vines, the dripping ice on elm leaf; a snowy umbrella of a cedar. The quiet of a blanket of snow. 

It has been quite dreary, snowy and rainy in my neck of the woods- I couldn't resist buying this bouquet of tulips. 

It's refreshing to see blooms in the winter- I have a Christmas cactus blooming now...

On January 8th, one of the christmas cacti began to bud; and it bloomed 3 days later...

Covering the fruit trees from snow & other fruits trying to grow

It was a cold and snowy morning so I prepared for the snow last night by covering the tulip garden and blooming fruit trees. When I woke up this morning, I knocked off the snow from the tree covers and the row covers on the tulips.

Obviously I can't cover the bigger fruit trees, but I can cover the blueberries and actually I should have because they're trying to bloom as well.

The two large pear trees and plum are too big to cover

The old peach is too big to cover

I have kept the 3 fig trees covered all winter & spring so far

I think there's less than 10 blueberries and most of them are trying to bloom

2 goji plants are leafing but the other 2 are not

The other 2 goji are here with aronia plants and grape vines that are leafing

The raspberries are leafing out here, but the 5th goji here is also not leafing yet 

Elegant Spring Flowers, Snow in the Woods, & Blooming fruit trees

Throughout the early Spring as the snow and cold have come in phases, I have covered the fruit trees in blankets or tree covers and any cloth I have laying around. I even covered the flowers too. Here are some pictures I took of the flowers before and after the snow, and I even took pictures of the snow in the woods and the blooming activity at night after a long day's rain. 

nectarine blooming at night

nectarine trees are blooming 

old peach tree is blooming but the younger two are not

plum tree blooming

younger plum tree blooming

Pear trees blooming but the cherry trees have yet to do so

tulips growing under both pear trees as well

this is about 100 tulips are growing at different stages, but the ones blooming are early varieties

Cold front in late Spring: Row covers & recycled bottle Cloches to protect garden

As you can tell, I have used many different materials cover small, young plants. Although I imagine the Brussels sprouts and Broccoli to be quite hardy to these weather conditions, there are tender greens sprouting like lettuce, spinach, kale, which I want to ensure protection from snow and frost that may accumulate. And using the plastic and row covers will trap some heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

recycled item to protect broccoli

recycled item to protect broccoli

 

 

 

I made sure to cover the flowers too, except the Daffodils and Scilla flowers--there are too many clusters around the house to cover. I did cover the Hyacinths and Tulips, one with an old plastic fish tank and the others with recycled refrigerator shelves.

 

tulips covered

 

Hyacinths covered

 

Today's cold weather was a contrast to the sunny, warm weather we had for the last two weeks. We had freezing winds bringing in snow, which came as quite of a surprise. Quickly I cut bottles to put over the starter plants, then James and I covered the four Hugelkultur mounds with transparent plastic and row covers to retain heat through the cold night. The forecast predicts temperatures to drop to 24 degrees F tonight and tomorrow night.

 

row covers on Hugelkultur mounds to protect young plants