i hope phil is right. this winter's been kicking my ass. worst january weather i can remember--nearly three weeks of temperatures in the single digits OR BELOW. only a handful of above-freezing temperatures. one day we had an ice storm, something that hasn't happened here since before i was born. i woke up to a quarter inch of slippery ice covering everything, encasing my car, it took 45 minutes of running the heat before i could scrape my windshield.
it's too early to start seeds, but i started a few anyway. i thrifted an aerogarden, and instead of using it for hydroponics i'm using it as a grow light. meyer lemon seeds sprouting in a coffee mug:
they won't live very long in this container and i won't be able to transplant them, but for now they're wonderful. i also started a few micro tomatoes, hahms gelbe variety:
there's nothing like the smell of tomato leaves in late january when it's 2 degrees and snowing out.
the lemon leaves smell wonderful too. very sweet and fruity.
my fire ranch aloe plant had five pups, so i separated them out into different containers and gave them to friends.
minnie is the energizer bunny of egg laying. she's the only one who barely slowed down all winter. prinnie molted last fall and didn't lay at all until about a week ago--also her comb shrank down to almost nothing, then popped back up almost overnight.
the last few days have been relatively warm and most of the snow melted, so the ladies are happy to get outside. they wouldn't leave their coop at all when the snow was deep.
3 comments:
This may be a dumb question, but do the meyer lemon leaves have a scent? I love meyer lemons, would love to have my own plant. It's been weird around here, mild some days and then we get arctic blasts on others. But no blizzards yet, so I won't complain too much. I hope winter gives you a break soon!
not a dumb question at all! yes, they smell sweet and fruity. if you want them to grow lemons i would start from a cutting from a mature tree, because it takes something like three or four years for them to bear fruit when started from seed, and they might not breed true.
Great pic of Minnie! Our three young ones are the only ones laying. The older gals are holding it in so far.
Here's to warmer weather on the way!
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