The weather has been beautiful this week. Sunny days and much warmer temperatures, although the wind is still airish especially in the shade.
The cabbage we started indoors was about to out grow their pots and needed to be moved to larger containers. I carried them out to the greenhouse to better enjoy the weather. I was surprised to see a narrow line of snow along the backside of the greenhouse still hanging on from our last snow.
That white line is a good indication of how cool our backyard stays during the winter. The sun doesn’t fully hit us in July, and during the winter the arc of its daily path goes behind the ridge.
The garlic we planted last fall is up and growing as are the potato onions and walking onions we planted. We even have the first signs of life in the cold frame we recently put out.
The warmer weather has me itching to get out and start planting. Since we’ve been planting our carrots in February for the last few years, we’re about to be behind on our garden 🙂
Last night’s video: Answering Your Questions: Criminals on the Run, Celebrity We’d Like to Meet & More!
Tipper
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Hi Tipper, I am searching for where to buy the mugs you showed sitting on the floor of “the dangerous room” (Celebrating Appalachia) as well as the cookbook by you and Jim Casada. I found the cookbook on Etsy but I don’t like to order from Etsy, my account got hacked one time I ordered through PayPal. The mugs look like they hold more than 12 ounces, esp. with your turmeric milk. Can you share how many ounces they hold? I need minimum of 12-14 ounces for my Keurig. I am subscribed to your channel and I love the content. You’re in my top 5 channels! I grew up in Southwest Virginia in Buchanan County. I’m also subscribed to the Presley Girls channel. I love the recipes you cook and would love to get your recipes and love all the content.
Marie-Some of them hold 12 but other are smaller and hold less. I’m not sure there’s one that holds 14 ounces. I’m so glad you enjoy what we do!! We really appreciate all your support 🙂
re: counties, i would bet the questioner was more wondering why it’s county that is the sense of place, rather than state or city. i expect much of the population of the US thinks state or city before county, if county even comes into it. for instance, i will always be a californian from san francisco, even though i’ve only been back there once, briefly, in nearly 40 years, i spent my young adult years in los angeles and new york city, and have been in florida for the last thirty! (i would never even think to mention san mateo county, which is techinally where i grew up.)
I can look out my front door and see a little spot of snow in front of my neighbors garage. I think it’s from where he was plowing his driveway and it is what’s left of the piled up snow. It was a gorgeous 50 degrees here yesterday. It was the day we have three of our grand babies with us all day. The two girls had a blast in the woods working on a fort that all the grandkids started last Easter. Some of the sticks they had put in the ground had blown over during the winter. It’s amazing how much fun a child can have playing with nothing but sticks in the woods. I believe Kourtni is right…February teased us yesterday with a warm springlike day. We have an inch of snow predicted tonight…Winter isn’t finished with us just yet.
Tipper, the weather has been beautiful here in Alabama this week also. I’ve got my tomatoes and pepper seeds planted, but they haven’t come up yet.
I am soaking peas right now to plant outside, I think this is a good time, and my potato onions did fabulously in a raised bed planter. I do have some bok choy that is getting ready to bolt so that will need to be picked, but I’m still wary of that last frost date. This has been a cold winter.
Mom planted snow peas and leaf lettuce on Valentine’s Day every year. The ground was prepared in the fall, making it easy to plant the seeds. However, it would have been nearly impossible to plant anything on February 14th this year without moving the ice and snow that has been hanging around for far too long. The snow and ice have finally melted, but I am not going to put my winter coat away just yet.
You just reminded me how far behind I am with planting some of my plants. I did plant my onion pearls in January and noticed some have come up. I haven’t planted my carrots, beets and lettuce yet, so I need to get busy planting them seeds. I decided not to start most my cabbage, tomato and peppers from seeds this year, but will probably regret that. I’m sure buying the plants will be way more expensive than in past years. With all the warm weather we are having in my area of NC, it really is time for me to get busy working the rest of my garden to get it ready for planting. Thanks for the reminder that it’s garden working time!
You make me smile, Tipper, at your noticing way about sun and shadow and little ecological indicators. That’s the gardener in you, looking for those subtle signs. I’m the same way, in the garden or out and about in the woods. Nature shows us the more we can understand what we are seeing. And I understand about the ‘goat bluff’; there are always struggles of one kind or another. I can tell you that even here just north of Gainesville, GA the ground is still cold. I’ve been setting fence posts and my hands get chapped each day. Speaking of which, have you ever heard the phrase “waiting for the ground to warm up” or even “waiting for the cold to get out of the ground” ? I seem to recall each of those from childhood. But I really can’t be sure.
Ron, I have heard my Daddy and others around here say “waiting for the ground to warm up” many times. My Daddy would say there is no sense in planting early, if it comes up, it will not grow, wait until the ground warms up. I have proved him right on this several times. Daddy did not plant by signs, he would plant by the condition of the soil-temperature and moisture. I heard a Ga. produce farmer say he never planted until he saw the pecans trees begin to “bud” out, that was his sign.
I about to up transplant tomatoes here in Florida. I have transplanted my cucumbers and zucchini. Looking forward to my first spring planting ever! The winter crop did not do well for me but things look pretty good so far.
It’s been warm and sunny this week in south central Virginia. My husband and I took advantage of it and did some yard work. We pruned some bushes, trees and grape vines. Removed two juniper mounds that were getting huge in front of our porch and raked up a bunch of tree limbs and some leaves around the house. It took us three days, but we got the yard work started. We also have patches of snow lingering in the shaded areas of our property. It has been a cold winter and it’s not over yet. I’ve seen snow in March and have learned not to plant before the first week of May. My daffodils and hyacinths are up about three to four inches. It’s exciting to see that spring is just around the corner.
My first snow lasted almost a week. The second one linger on for almost a day. It’s been in the 70s for the last couple of days here. If there was any persistent snow that would have done it in.
I ran my tiller over my garden Tuesday. It was a little sticky but there was some weeds that needed their roots exposed to the dry winds and bright sunshine we have had recently. I skipped a couple of spots which had turnips that overwintered, hoping they will come out enough to pick a mess for one old man.
I don’t have a mountain to the south of me but there is a row of 60″ tall pine trees that block the sunshine for a big chunk of the winter.
I have been enjoying the sun this week as well. Like the others around here in East TN, I was out soaking up the warmth. We were just talking about putting in our carrots. Ground ain’t frozen and I’m inclined to give it a go this weekend. No harm in trying and I can’t wait any longer.
Sounds like Spring is knocking on the door.
I got NO complaints although it looks like rain today in southern WV. The temperature is nice, I got my back patio door cracked open and I’m listening to some “happy” birds sing! It’s been nice 3 days including today so I’m content as can be having a much needed break from crappy weather since Jan 1-I mean it has not stopped! I got garlic but I don’t know what it’s supposed to look like at this point. I got heated mats and seed. I gotta get a cattle panel as a frame for my greenhouse and I’m off to start seed in the next month or that’s my plan. The older I get, I realize plans are made by mice and men… they’re subject to change or alter at a moment’s notice so there’s that… now I know where “laying for more” comes from! I learn something here every day! Have a blessed day y’all!
We’re south facing and while our front gets blasted by the sun, we have a bit of space behind the house that stays shaded all the time. It’s a nice cool retreat during the dog days!
Growing up in East TN I always heard when patches of snow lingered around it was an indication more was on the way. ” Laying for more ” was the phrase I often heard.
Never heard “laying for more” in eastern North Carolina on the rare occasions when we got snow, but
my parents’ generation would say it was “waiting for more.” The strangest weather expression I ever heard down here was when it rained and the sun was shining, “the devil was beating his wife.” Do you
have that one up your way? I strongly suspect it came over on a boat from “ye olde country,” be it Scotland, Ireland, England or Wales. It’s very rare saying here, haven’t heard it since my mother
and her sisters passed away many years ago.
My daughter ( 16) has been going on about the sunny days being in the upper 50′ s and 60’s. A couple days have reached the 70’s. I told her we’re not over Winter yet. We still have March and the beginning of April to go. Every year a week or so in February teases us with what spring will be then it gets cold again. We must hold on and be as patient as possible.
I really struggled with patience a couple years ago. One day God gave me the answer . Luke 21:19.
I used to pray for patience and then my mother-in-law moved in with us. Then I discovered the verse that says, “Tribulation brings patience.”
There has not been enough enough snow around here to hang around, just enough to stick to the grass one time. It has been colder than normal most of the winter, but mighty pretty this week with daytime temperatures in the 70’s. Sure does feel good to just sit on the deck and let it warm up these old bones. I remember the time when I had the energy, desire and felt good enough to be as active doing things like you are doing with your greenhouse or garden. But that was yesterday and yesterday is gone. When he was living, this weather would have my father in law thinking of and maybe him even planting an early “frost” garden. Too early to plant but he couldn’t wait, the frost would kill it. After he retired, planting a large acre or more garden was one of them things he enjoyed.