February Gardening

I dreamed about sun the other night. In my dream, the sun was bright and hot. It is a sunny day today and the sun is dim and warm. So I will continue to dream of tropical beaches and summer-to-come.

But, in the meantime, there are signs of life inside.

I was afraid that I had permanently harmed my amaryllis last year. It spent its summer inside in a sunny window instead of outside in the garden. When the side shoots erupted, but the central bulb didn't, I was afraid that it didn't have enough stored energy to sprout. But, mid-week, this week, the center shoot erupted! You can see the grey-browns of winter outside. I am looking forward to a bright, red, cheery amaryllis.

Petunias delight me. I like their color, their smell, and their desire to bloom always. In some way, I am even charmed by their sticky little stems.

I bought myself a bouquet of color. It is the antidote to the brown-greys of winter and good medicine for the winter blues.

New USDA Zone

The USDA has revised their zone map. Most of the Twin Cities are now zone 4b.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/?loc=interstitialskip

Garlics In

The garlics went in yesterday.

We planted:

1) Music

2) Inchellium Red

3) Big Unknown (one that we've had for a couple years and don't know what it is)

I was sad to see that someone helped themselves to my cabbage. In a little garden plot, you only get so many cabbages.

One of them was gone and another had all the leaves trimmed off. Garden pests!

Kohlrabi.

Freeze Warning

It has been a tough summer for plants. I haven't had a single red tomato this year. But the peppers did well. Now we have a freeze (not just a frost) warning tonight. That's early!

http://www.startribune.com/local/129747843.html

STRONG CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE WILL SETTLE OVER THE AREA TONIGHT... BRINGING A COMBINATION OF LIGHT WIND... A CLEAR SKY... AND WELL BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. A WIDESPREAD FREEZE APPEARS LIKELY WITH LOW TEMPERATURES IN MOST LOCATIONS BETWEEN 25 AND 30 DEGREES. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP INTO THE MID 30S IN MOST LOCATIONS BY AROUND MIDNIGHT... THEN SUB FREEZING TEMPERATURES WILL BECOME LIKELY AFTER 2 AM.

I covered up the tomato and the flowers. I harvested the basil and the peppers. We will see what the night brings.

It is a beautiful night out. Cool. Crisp. Almost full moon. The morning glories are in full bloom. I especially like the blue ones with streaks of white on them. I will get more of those next year.

Blue Moon Gladiolus is Pink

This is the picture on the package:

This is the flower that is growing in my garden:

Beautiful, but not what I had expected.

Bonnie Best Tomato

I removed dear Bonnie Best from my garden today. She looked so beautiful when I bought her at the green house. But one leaf turned brown and the rest followed. With so many varieties of tomatoes to try, I think this is not the most disease resistant.

Fall Seeds Planted

I planted my fall seeds. Some should have been planted in July. But I figure late has better odds than never.

Pac Choi -Ching-Chiang. 40 days. "Dwarf."

Chinese Cabbage - Soloist Hybrid: 40-50 days. "Baby." Recommends planting indoors in July and transplanting in August.

Beets - Merlin: 55 days. Neon-colored red. Recommends planting in July.

Kale - Wild Garden Kales: 30 days. An array of Siberian kales. Recommends planting in June-July.

Lettuce - Arctic Tundra Blend: 50-75 days. A blend of the most winter-hardy lettuces. Recommends planting in August-Sept.

Spinach - Bordeaux Hybrid: 40 days. Recommends planting in July and August.