No frost here yet, but that's about to change in a really big way! Of course extended forecasts are subject to change, but for right now my weather is predicted to be in the 23-24 degree range on Friday and Saturday nights - and that is a reason for concern in the garden. The 23 degrees is about 2-3 degrees above the threshold for doing some serious damge to the broccoli growing in swp's. As long as it doesn't get any lower, it should be ok though. So, ready or not - the little greenhouse is gonna get skinned Thursday evening. No automatic door opener will be utilized, because well - the controls aren't finished. That's ok though...i'll just crack the door open each morning, and close it up during nighttime hours for now...
Not much has been going on around here, but I do have some updates to tell you about. The grass clippings are really in abundance right now, and I have enough on hand to supply a great source of nitrogen for the entire upcoming compost cycle. Around 6 really big bags of them amount to alot, and scattering them on the lawn to dry out before use is what I like to do, if possible. Now, if the dadburned leaves will cooperate and fall to the ground already....As you can tell, i'm getting impatient. Hehe...
My little tomato seedlings in the bucket propagation system lasted all of 2 days before drying up to nothing. Reason? Because the temperature inside the shed easily rose to around 90 degrees one sunny day last week, and confining seedlings like that need pretty cool ambient temps to keep them from baking. Oh well....i'll try again in a few weeks. (when it's much cooler) Just for kicks, i'll probably start a few varieties of tomatoes and peppers.
Oh! I made muscadine grape jelly the other night, and it turned out perfect! Only 2 pint jars came from it, but it has the most beautiful color to it and man is it good! Me likey.. :-)
With temperatures really beginning to drop now, it's almost time to start some of the outdoor projects planned earlier. I guess the ramp for my parents' electric wheelchair will be first, and i'll probably utilize the scrap 6x6's to form it up with. With some rebar, plywood, gravel and conrete, it should be finished before christmas.
****If you have seeds ready for trading, i'll be doing a post that will explain what I have to offer - I can't wait!
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
10 comments:
Brrrr. I'm glad I'm not getting those temps. The first frost last night was bad enough. We will probably get another frost this weekend, but are safe until then.
I've had muscadine wine before, which I'm pretty much addicted to, but never jelly. Sounds yummy.
It's supposed to get pretty cool here too and they're even forecasting snow in the N GA mountains. We're a bit too south for it, but we'll still get a cold spell. Seems like we went straight from warm to fridged with no inbetween.
Geez, I can't believe it's going to get that cold! We just had our first frost two nights in a row and it only went down to 29.
I'm happy to hear that you made some nice jelly and are enjoying it :)
I do have some seeds available for trading. I sent out an e-mail to a few bloggers...but, I din't have your e-mail address.
Daphne - cold fronts always dip down to where i'm located, and it gets downright cold at times.
ribbit - oh, the jelly is to die for! Not much on the wine, though. Yeah, it got cold fast in these parts...
Robin - my email address is at the bottom of the page......
We've had a few nights in the 20s. In fact, right now it is 25. Thankfully the wood stove kept us cozy. We haven't turned on the furnace yet, but will need to soon if this keeps up. Stay warm!
Definitely get that plastic up on the greenhouse, I hope none of your plants are harmed by the frost!
Yikes, that is cold EG. I hope it stays a bit more mild so the seedlings stay safe.
Sorry to hear about the dried up tomato seedlings. We're also expecting night time lows in the mid-20s this weekend. I'm not sure if my cold-tolerant leafies (spinach, asian greens, lettuce) will survive. I'll just have to wait and see!
Looking forward to your seed list. I don't have mine organized yet, but I know that I'll have some available, including the Kumato tomato seeds I saved from a couple of months ago.
oooh, grape jelly. Yum. Would you share your recipe? The one I used for concord grape jelly is so sweet! It calls for 4 cups of sugar, I tried adding less, but then the batch wouldn't set. Too runny. I'm trying to find a recipe that has less sugar. It has definitely gotten pretty cold lately.
A friend gave me some muscadine jelly that they had made. It was some of the best I have ever had... not too sweet. I was sad when the jar was empty.
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