Almost St. Pat's!

      And I hear that there's a storm brewing for later in the week. It's March Break for the schools this week, and historically we usually managed to get one final big one sometime in the week. Ah well. I am only working two days this week, and not tutoring (because of March Break) so I can happily stay home and hibernate if necessary.
       I planted some more seeds today - three kinds of tomatoes (Hybrid Sweet Million, Melody mix and a blight-resistant one called Defiant), as well as cauliflower, cucumbers, larkspur and lavatera, pink and white. I did some of the tomatoes and cauliflower for indoors too, for comparison purposes. And I potted on the Osteospermum, just into tiny pots so the next move I can put them into proper-size pots with real soil, not just seed-starter mix. I put in some pelargonium slips as well. Feels like spring!
    We are booked to go to the Pub at noon tomorrow to celebrate St. Pat's with some of our dancing friends. We'll see how long we can hold on. We had our own St. Pat's dance last weekend at the BIS and it was great fun - though we only got six dances done in 3 hours. Amazing. We had developed a list of 12 and didn't even come close!
      We learned a cool new rumba move last night at Ballroom which we hope to perfect before next Saturday, when we are going to see a group called "The Count and the Cuban Cocktail". We are hoping there will be dance room.
    I have finished the pattern yoke on Blaithin and am about to do short rows, and then it's finishing - including the famous steek sandwich. The colours look nice, although the green doesn't show up too well. The camera has disappeared, or I would take photos!

The Freckle Wind

March continues mild and breezy, and I remembered this morning that my red-headed cousin used to refer to this phenomenon as "the Freckle Wind" because it brought out the freckles on us red-heads (as I was then!). I suppose that we spent more time outdoors then, too - investigating crystal structures in the rotting snowbanks, and breaking the skins of ice on the puddles on the way to school.

     Now I roost indoors, just going out to fill the bird feeders or check the mailbox, unless it's a work day. I am pleased to report that the Osteospermum "Fire and Ice" has germinated! And will need potting on in a few weeks. Nothing else is showing in the indoors pots, and certainly nothing in the mini-greenhouses outside - though that is to be expected, as they are mostly still frozen. It's perfect weather for maple-sugaring, if only we had a few sugar maples that were big enough!

    I've been knitting a bit, working on my Blaithin, which I'm making out of Briggs and Little wool. I have just started the Fair Isle yoke, and right now am doing three colours in the round - I wanted to make the background blend into the pattern so am carrying it (it's the grape colour of B and L Heritage) up into the yoke, which will be light mauve (Fundy Fog, maybe) with the flowers in white and grape. The sleeves worked up surprisingly fast, given that it took almost 8 months to get the body plain part done. I may be wearing it this spring!

Windy and wettish - welcome March

         Today I did more of the same - planted up some more milk jug mini-greenhouses - this time I put in alyssum, larkspur, Jacob's ladder, lots of candytuft, salvia blue angel, rudbeckia cherry brandy, purple tansy, bachelor's buttons, cosmos, and another kind of actaea.  I got the jugs from my father-in-law - cleaned him out.

A bigger group of mini greenhouses

     For keeping indoors I did another pot of cat grass, onions (bunching and Norstar) and leeks. It may be too early for the onions. The only thing that's come up from Feb. 22 is the cat grass. Ah well, Girly is happy.

      I managed to keep some Dichondra silver falls alive over the winter, so I put a few cuttings into a pot and bagged it, to see if I can manage to propagate them. There aren't many side shoots, as the light levels have been so low, so I only got 4 shoots to my pot.

Dichondra silver falls in a bag on the filing cabinet

      I am beginning to worry that I will soon run out of room for the indoor plants, especially if they will need potting on. And another thing is that the stores only have potting mix on sale at the moment, so when they need something with more nutrients I won't be able to get it.  I will have to re-skin the greenhouse/polytunnel this year, but I do think that March is a bit early for that.

 
            I saw my "pot for winter colour" in the garage/root cellar today, and decided that I could put it outdoors safely - the next couple of days will be above freezing, even at night. It was looking a bit dry and peaky, to be honest,  but the crocus shoots are up and I see a couple of daffodils poking through. Not exactly *winter* colour, but welcome all the same. There are even four pansies still alive.

Winter Sowing

         As previously mentioned, I have just learned about winter sowing and am giving it a try. Today I started some perennials and fruit in milk jug mini-greenhouses, and put them out on the deck. I am going to wait a month or so before starting tomatoes in this way (as advised by Kevin Lee Jacobs) as they can't take the cold and don't need the stratification that the perennials require.

        I ran out of milk jugs so I had to stop. Also, I need more potting soil/seed starter mix. And maybe more perennial seeds. If this works, I can't wait to do more of it. It's so therapeutic to be able to do something garden - related so early in the year. Now we must drink more milk and choose more seeds! 
        I've been listening to Scotland's Garden podcasts while working (on my great new dock machine Anne gave me!) so feel I'm going right through the garden year as I work. And learning as well.

Today I planted delphinium, actaea, shasta daisy ("crazy daisy"), lupins, alpine strawberry ("Temptation"), candytuft, cranesbill, and others I can't remember. But I must write them down, in case the marker washes off outdoors.
      I also started basil and cat grass in pots for the house, and a tray of osteospermum (seeds bought at Veseys this week!).  I am so tempted to try starting some plants both indoors and out, to see which does better. Perhaps I'll do that with the tomatoes later.
     Winter has continued to be a "real, old-fashioned" one, so we have had massive storms every weekend for the whole month of February. This week the 18th was "Islander Day", and it stormed all day - I cooked and sewed and photographed birds at the feeders - altogether an ideal day!

     We have had a lot of American Tree Sparrows at the feeders all winter - they are so cute with their little reddish top-knots. We bought a thistle-seed feeder and the goldfinches *do* use it, but not very often while I'm watching. But the thistle seeds are decreasing in the tube, and there are the tell-tale husks on the ground, so they are enjoying it - just not when I'm around with my camera.  However, I did get this one shot!

Trying to hurry Spring along

I have been out buying seeds, and pots, and today we stopped at Phillips Feeds and bought some chicken grit to put on the top of the pots to keep the seedlings from damping off and to improve drainage. Carol always does it so I'm giving it a try!
I am also going to try starting seeds in mini greenhouses made of milk cartons with drainage holes drilled in them, like Garden Designs here: http://www.gardendesign.com//seed-sowing-snow?pnid=122085. It is a *bit* late but I'm going to give it a go. The author's in zone 5 as well, so I have high hopes of success.
Veseys had some nice UK-made seed starter trays so I bought some of those, now I'm all set. As soon as I have a day at home I'll get started.

The Cold Weather Continues...

       We have been in the deep, deep freeze for over a week. The temperature hasn't been *so* bad (-12 day, -15 night), but the wind has been from the North-west and has been bitter. As a result the wind chills have been in the -25 to -30 range. Brrr. It is hard to be enthusiastic about - anything! We haven't had a proper frozen January for a number of years, so we are spoilt.

Kitty likes birdwatching too!

        However, I'm making progress on making a few new things to wear - most recently a red top to wear to work, but I have a lot of other things to work on. I have a pattern and the fabric for a knit jacket and skirt in a golden brown cotton, and a print knit material for the top and another skirt, and a slinky sort of snakeskin which I really should make into a dress, rather than another top for the suit. I think, at least. I like the McCall's 5974  (although *why* the designers all seem to feel that everyone needs a few yards of fabric wrapped around their middles to make them look good is beyond me). Anyhow, I do have fabric for that, and will make the round-neck one with long sleeves, and then see how it fits, before I try the snakeskin. Time will tell. And all I need is time to get to it!
         The Vesey's bulb catalogue arrived the other day, and it was as welcome as flowers in spring! It's so nice to have something colourful to see this time of year.  Spring will come, I know it. It is almost time to think about starting seeds, at least the really early ones like peppers.
     The garage is serving well as a really large walk-in refrigerator, though on the coldest days and nights we have had to leave the door open to keep the temperature out there above freezing. As a  result our woodpile has been shrinking visibly! We are half-way through the wood earmarked for February, and it's still January!
    We have been keeping busy with dancing, having started with the ballroom again, as well as Irish. Ballroom is fun, though expensive! I've been getting great shifts at work, usually 2 -1/2 days, mostly during the week. Knock hard on wood.

A beginning Twitcher

       Yesterday we went out to do a bit of birdwatching. I am quite new to this, so while I recognize black ducks and Canada geese (and there were plenty of them!) I am not so good on the bufflehead or the goldeneye. However, there were plenty of these as well! It was not ideal for the pursuit in that it was raining from time to time, and there was fog, or at least evaporating snow.

      We began at the National Park, starting at Dalvey Lake. Unfortunately it is frozen over, so no birds, but we could hear the surf from the beach so we went there next. Just gulls there, of course, but the surf was spectacular. The moon is full, so the tide was quite high already, and some stiff Easterlies in the past few days had churned up the water quite well. It was not cold at all, so the surf looked like you could just dive in. Except for the snow cakes on the beach. There's been a lot of sand blown around, as the dunes aren't frozen yet.

Afterward, we went to Covehead harbour, where we saw a whole flock of common redpolls, playing around the lobster traps, eating weed seeds, and bathing in a puddle. There were about 30-35 of them, the first we've seen this season.  We went on to Oyster Bed Bridge, and saw mergansers, buffleheads and goldeneyes. A busy day!