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March 21st, 2017

3/21/2017

2 Comments

 
March can be a discouraging month here. Sometimes we wil get several glorious warm days and the snow begins to melt. Then suddenly it turns bitter cold and we get some of the worst stroms of the season! 

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                                                  Snow pile outside my greenhouse door!

Every year I find myself worrying that the snow will never melt and there will be no spring at all. But it always does melt and spring arrives at last.
Today was one of those lovely days when the sun shone so bright and warm, I wished I could work in the gardens, but thjey are still buried under a couple feet of snow, and tomorrow it will be wintry again. 


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The dent in the snow is my birdbath!

Right now is seed starting time and I already havea few trays of seedlings. Bianco Di Maggio and Yellow of Parma onions, heliotrope and heartsease were all planted on the 22nd of February. Never having grown heliotrope before, I read that it takes 4-6weeks to germinate. So imagine my surprise when they sprouted in only a few days! 
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Heartsease
On March 10th, I planted Ajvarski, Mehmet's Sweet Turkish, Bull Nose, and Hot Hungarian Wax peppers. Because it was very cold at the time and therefore chilly in the house, I laid the trays of peat pellets on top of our pellet stove and it worked very well. They started to come up in just 4 days. 
Black Krim, Hungarian Heart, and Pantano Romanesco tomatoes were planted on the 16th and Appleblossom snapdragons on the 17th. About half of the tomatoes are up today and a few tiny snapdragons are appearing also. 
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​Tomato seedlings
A snapdragon seed is about the size of a fleck of black pepper and it amazes me that a 3 foot tall plant grows from a seed so tiny! I think it is more mind-boggling than an oak tree growing from an acorn! 
I have so many more seeds to start soon, but first I'll have to make more room for them in the house where they spend the nights and snowy days. I have a small unheated greenhouse where they stay when it's warm and sunny enough. Getting to the greenhouse is rather treacherous right now, with all the snow and ice. 
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Inside the greenhouse...notice the snow outside!
When the temperature is above freezing I haul the seedlings back and forth from the house to the greenhouse with a sled. Otherwise I make several trips, carrying one tray at a time. I also have a wagon which is a big help when the snow is gone. 
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This only works when it's above freezing. Even so, I've covered the peppers to be safe.
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My wagon hauling plants last May
2 Comments
Karen Barrett
5/9/2019 01:47:47 am

Your sled carrying your seedlings across the snow to your greenhouse on balmier days reminded me of Celia Thaxter's tugboat. She wintered on the New Hampshire mainland and gardened on an island (Isle(s) of Shoals?) in summer. Here's a passage from her book about moving her seedlings across the river?/bay? via tugboat to island:

"A small steam tug, the Pinafore, carries me and my household belongings over to the islands, and a pretty sight is the little vessel when she starts out from the old brown wharves and steams away down the beautiful Piscataqua River, with her hurricane deck awave with green leaves and flowers, for all the world like a May Day procession. My blossoming house plants go also, and there are Palms and Ferns and many other lovely things that make the small boat gay indeed. All the boxes of sprouted seedlings are carefully packed in wide square baskets to keep them steady, and the stout young plants hold up their strong stems and healthy green leaves, and take the wind and sun bravely as the vessel goes tossing over the salt waves out to sea.

source: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/thaxter/garden/garden.html

I just started reading your blog, so if you eventually got around to Thaxter's garden, I hope you'll excuse me.

- - - - - - -
Her book, An Island Garden, (link above) was illustrated by the American impressionist, Childe Hassam, whose paintings are available on line here: http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=tu&aid=1310

I especially love Hassam's painting of Celia in her garden here: http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=26931 - click on thumbnail to enlarge

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Joanna, could you keep this blog up long enough for me to go through and see if I have any other links like the above to add?

My grandmother had a garden a little like this across the Petersham commons in Massachusetts - only got to see it once - but to a nomadic army bratt, it was a kind of lodestone to the idea of "home".

Thank you for this blog.

Karen

Reply
Joanna link
5/9/2019 09:32:58 am

I've read Celia Thaxter's 'An Island Garden' and LOVE it! Her beautiful, loving descriptions of her little garden are so inspiring to me. Thank you for sharing all the links...my copy isn't illustrated, so I really enjoyed seeing the paintings.

I plan to leave blog up for a while yet at least. There is so much that I would have to transfer to my new blog before I could delete this one, but I'm even considering just leaving it up permanently...we'll see! But feel free to comment anytime! 😊

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    ​I am a passionate gardener and seed-saver, who also enjoys playing the violin and accordion, running, spending time with my 4 golden retrievers, keeping chickens, photography, and reading. ​
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