Wipe Out Kinda Day




The shovel is on the other side of that drift :-), and it's still snowing.

       As you can see from the picture, we got a lot of snow last night. 10 inches here, with another inch all day today.  The wind is something else and the drifts are huge.  Without 4 wheel drive, our driveway would be almost impassable.  It will be drifted shut again tomorrow, and we'll have to get the guy out to plow again.  We call a day like this a "wipe-out" day.  Businesses are open, but not many people are out and about.  At our chiropractic office the phone just kept on ringing   ----  with cancellations.  My path to the ducks was filled in with a 4 foot drift  ---  my legs aren't that long :-)

     These kind of days are great for staying home and tackling projects.  I used the day to plant seeds.  Things that I would plant outside in about 10 -11 weeks or, in the case of the violas and pansies, things that I wanted blooming for early spring.  So, besides the violas and pansies, purple wave petunias got planted, eight slips from my sweet potato plant that had roots, white petunias, and some purple millet.

     Last year I planted my tomato plants too early.  They were long and spindly by the time it was ready to plant outside.  I had to dig a trench and bury them 3/4 of the way up the stems. It worked, but I made a mental note to not start them too early this year........now if I had greenhouse.... :-)

Planting Geraniums




You can see that even in the
basement it was trying to
 green up.

 

     They never look like they could come to life, but they always do.  In the fall, I pull all my geraniums, knock some of the dirt off the roots, bring them into the darkest part of the basement,and just lay them on newspaper.  That's where they stay until about this time.  I can't bear to buy geraniums every year when I know how easy it is to keep them.  And with the prices in the greenhouses going up every year, well....  One of my goals is to start all of my flowers from seed, early in the house for some, and right in the ground for others.  In the past I have been known for "over doing it" when it comes to buying flowers.  I love the flowers for the hummingbirds, and the bees, and their pure beauty .

     I will grow these geraniums in the house until mid April.  Then they will get planted in my outdoor pots. They will be right next to the garage door, so it is easy to bring them in at night or if we have an exceptionally cold day with a lot of wind.  By early May the pots will get planted with other flowers and get set where they will spend the summer.  The bright red ones are my absolute favorite.  Planting red geraniums,with double white petunias in a blue pot...beautiful.