Cold Climate Gardening

Inspecting the seedpans and seeing tiny rosebushlets and miniscule iris,

Popularity: 3% [?]

On Friday the apple tree I bought from St. Lawrence Nurseries arrived. It came while I was out, and I didn’t get back until late in the day, exhausted from working. The tree was supposed to be planted as soon as possible, and since it wasn’t a cheap plant, I didn’t feel at leisure to put off the planting. Being a dutiful fellow, I ate supper and went out and planted the tree, even though I had a headache. Tired and working with a headache is not the best circumstance in which to plant the “present to myself.” I hope to mulch it on a pleasanter day and so redeem the situation.

Planting the apple sapling was only the beginning of my labors. There is more work that needs doing outside than I’ve time to do. Spring races ahead, and I race to keep up, dashing from one crisis to another. The sapling is in the ground, but the three grown apple trees desperately need pruning.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I’ve noticed that the grass around the house has turned a vibrant green. The grass looks very nice, but when I look at it I am reminded that very soon I will need to start mowing the lawn.

I hope the lawnmower starts. It has led a very abused life and in recent years has grown wheezier with every summer. The Brush Mower can do a large part of the mowing work, but some tight spots still need a hand mower.

Popularity: 3% [?]

For my birthday, my oldest son Teman got me a wireless min-max thermometer, but we discovered that it didn’t go down lower than 32°F unless you used the probe, which, of course, isn’t wireless. I remembered the one I had admired (at our car mechanic’s office) had the Weather Channel logo on it, so I went to the Weather Channel website, and, sure enough, they have a store. A little search revealed a min-max thermometer pretty similar to our mechanic’s, but a little more searching revealed this.

Popularity: 2% [?]

What have people heard about soaking peas the night before planting? Dad always did, and I had assumed it was necessary for germination. However, I recently read that pre-soaking peas supposedly causes “legume seeds to absorb water too quickly, split their outer coatings and spill out essential nutrients, which encourages damping off seed rot.” (The Organic Gardener’s Home Reference, by Tanya Denckla. Too much info, and some of it seems irrelevant. I honestly couldn’t care less about how long pea roots are!) Has anyone else heard, or experienced, this? Or should I just follow my instincts and keep pre-soaking peas?

Popularity: 5% [?]

I wished I had a bulb book keyed backwards by identifying characteristics like some of my wildflower books are. And, ta-da, there is one at

Popularity: 2% [?]

I don’t plant/dig/plant the rosemary plants I winter over–I feel it is too hard on them to repeatedly re-establish. So I keep them in pots, large enough for them to be comfortable in and small enough for me to winter inside feasibly. And carry! This also allows me to indulge in pretty pots for the porch. To harden them off, I start trooping them in & out about now so they spend some cool rainy days outside, then brighter sunny ones, then maybe not bringing them in overnight after a week or so. But as we can have sharp frosts (20’s or less) right into June I never put them farther than an arm’s reach from …

Popularity: 2% [?]