Thursday, December 08, 2016

wintery temperatures are coming soon

Icy cold weather is coming in here this weekend. The ground will be freezing. Time for me to pull the last of my carrots, celeriac, beets, cilantro, and leeks tomorrow morning. I'll pick some herbs: sage, thyme, and oregano the dry for winter use. I'll bring my potted rosemary plants in. all my outdoor pots need to be turned on their sides so they don't crack during the winter.

My husband and I have been raking leaves the last couple weeks and I've added many back to my berry bushes to protect them. I'm hoping to keep my bees warmer this winter by adding a couple insulation panels to their hives soon. My chickens are good. They've finished molting and have nice new down jackets. I've turned their heated water tank on now and a light bulb in their coop comes on at 3:45 am. I'm glad it's them and not me getting up that early! But they need 12 hours of light a day to lay eggs and they roost well before 4 pm now.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sure must stay very busy

Karen Anne said...

I really covet the big piles of leaves I see landscaping people dumping in their trucks, but I don't ask for them since i have no idea what's been used on the lawn or if they have oil etc. from the street. All that mulch and compost going to the landfill.

kathy said...

I don't think it goes to a landfill, though I wonder if it should. A lot of grass maintance companies use lots of chemicals. I don't know that the lawn chemicals really get into the leaves though. Our town could compost leaves but they don't. All yard waste is sold to some company that composts it. Probably it end up in one of the Home Depot compost bags for sale. I don't know, but I'm guessing that's where lawn company leaves go.

I feel very lucky to have all the leaves we do. I raked again today. I piled leaves onto my new roses with small garden fencing to hold them in place. I piled them onto the new flower border along one edge of my vegetable garden. And I raked them into the woods. I don't like to rake too many into the woods because of the wildflowers there. The flowers need enough to mulch them, but not too much for them to grow up through come spring.