quiet winter times

[songbird]

[e-mail] wrote: ...

yeah, some people are like that. do you have a spot where you can put in an external cellar? like the side of a hill? that is something i wish we could have here as we have no cellar space at all. nothing good for root crop storage or even an out-building. the water table here is so high at times that it's pointless to consider digging anything as it all has to be above grade, and several feet above grade is pretty much required in case of flash floods.

it doesn't have to be heated much, just has to keep the worms from freezing or roasting. oh, that is something to avoid too.

i got my dentist going on keeping worms because he likes to fish and he went away one summer and the power went out on his place, he had a lot of worms in a big tub in his garage. stunk it up a bit <- understatement... :) if you've ever fished and left your worms in the sun you know what i mean...

the other important considerations with worm keeping is to not introduce invasive species to your area or gardens and if you are a fisherperson to not introduce them to the woods or streams just in case your area already has some unique animals you don't want to mess things up.

songbird

[fos]

i don't have a place for an external cellar. i have excellent drainage, just no place to do it and it may even be against municipal ordinances. doing it outside means in an out building with heat in the winter. i have some very well shaded areas where they wouldn't get scorched in the summer. heat wouldn't be a big deal it seems. even in a shed i could box off an area and use a small ceramic radiant heater. my basement is so cool when i start seeds at the end of this month i use one in my faux greenhouse else the heat pads are nearly contently on. i keep my living space at 63-64F, the basement is mid 50s during single digit cold snaps.

i was warned about invasive (jumping) worms when i contacted the local agri extension for sources of composted manure. when i got a load i checked it carefully. used it in my raised beds when i built them. had spring worms hitch a ride home in a few bags of coca shell mulch. within days of putting the mulch down we got a heavy rain and when i went in back to see if any of the flower plants got flattened i was greeted by zillions of them on top of the mulch. haven't seen them since though. kind of freaked me out lol.

[songbird]

yes, always have to look into the local requirements. for the south perhaps "storm cellar" would be an alternative name for it? :)

if you are able to get it in enough thermal mass (a big pile of dirt would work) you should not have to worry as much about heating or cooling. that is the whole idea of having a root cellar is that it gets you below the frost line and provides a consistent cool space. if you have to heat it or cool it then you're building something else...

:) worms are interesting creatures.

i find life facinating in all forms. microbiologyy really is some wild stuff and they're still learning all the time, like recently they found a bacteria that primarily feeds on viruses. that's a wild thing to think about. how does it know? chemistry, physics, etc. all interesting to me too but i tend too work at the plant and worm level for most of my gardening.

songbird

[invalid unparseable]

Something my dad used to say, It has been tough sledding this winter - no snow.

[songbird]

Frank wrote: ...

what snow we have now is melting plus a warm enough forecast it will all be gone. hopefully we'll get some more cold enough weather to keep the trees from budding out too early. snow is fine with me. i don't like what it looks like out there without snow this time of the year.

in the meantime the deer have been having plenty of fun out there...

songbird

[Dan Purgert]

[songbird]

Dan Purgert wrote: ...

if you have a community regulation that says you must keep your lawn to a certain height or less it may end up being something that ends up with legal complaints and mowers.

i, unfortunately, ended up observing a situation like that where a gf was being harrassed by her ex who had an in with the villiage (because she liked to let a few flowering plants in her grass go tall so they could flower).

otherwise, good luck with the gardens. :)

carrots and potatoes are still fairly inexpensive here. i mostly grow tomatoes, onion, garlic, squash, beans, peppers and melons, plus all the flowers.

i generally do not recommend using wildflower seed blends as sometimes you can introduce a real pest species and then have to spend the next 20 years weeding. yes, i'm speaking from experience. :(

songbird

[Dan Purgert]

[songbird]

...

haha, i'd like to see how they enforce "weed free" as weed is now legal (in MI which is where i think your comments below indicate you're at).

daikon radishes are good ones to use for that if you like hot radishes they're also nice flowering plants. :)

carrots are likely not going to do as well in heavy soil and you might want to avoid having to amend a large chunk deeply by going with a raised bed over that area where you want to grow those specific root crops.

around here fences are required.

tomatoes do well in the mostly clay soil we have here. i'm in mid-Michigan (Saginaw River Valley floodplain).

good luck with those. i dig the thistles out by handsince i don't like to spray poisons here if i can help it. the larger purple flowering thistles are easier to deal with than the sow thistles. but a few other weeds are much much worse (wild grape vines, poison ivy and others).

if you happen to be local enough to where i'm at i have plenty of plants to give away if you need any.

songbird

[Dan Purgert]

[fin]

oh, ok. :)

if you have a grain elevator nearby that has a store for common seeds you can likely find radish seeds in bulk (along with others) for few $ per lb. they are commonly used in a mix here too for growing fields of cover crops, turnips, radishes, etc. deer plots they are commonly called because of what happens later.

good luck!

since strawberries are a low growing plant they could maybe be used up front as an edge plant, but they do require a bit more work than a normal flower bed.

because of where i'm at and how many deer we have once the deer discovered my large strawberry patches they've eradicated any outside the fence. i used to have four large patches and now i'm reduced to one smaller patch which is inside the fence. alas the raccoons and other creatures have really gone after that patch too so now i'm not sure if i'll be turning it under or not this year. it needs to be renovated anyways so no matter what it needs work this year.

we have mostly full sun here with a few trees now getting big enough to cast more shade. i'd like to remove them but i'm not the property owner so what i want doesnt always count. :)

we've had sumac try to invade but i have been able to mostly keep it cut back enough. the poison ivy shows up via bird droppings so i have to remove it each season as it appears. some other plants are really toxic to me so i have to treat them as if i'm working on poison ivy.

ah, yes, ok, no worries! :)

songbird

[Dan Purgert]