Good morning

Oh geeze, you guys are in the Okanagan, well sort of for you Farmer Bob, Echo for sure... I wonder why we don't have pack rats here. The worst that we have are field mice. Maybe because we are in the middle of a valley, flat land, inbetween two 40 acre fields (a long narrow 3 acre strip inbetween them is our farm, yes, only 3 acres, such a weird thing) and then across the highway a little town and then the Shuswap river and some more 30 acre fields and then the mountains, so pretty much in the open. Maybe that is why only mice and I thank my lucky stars. I have never encountered a pack rat and now for surely, know that I hope never too. Sounds unimaginable the damage that they do, dastardly things! Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

Well, another chilly morning... But I've put the cold weather to use... The little buggers aren't so wiggly to hold when it's cold out
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I guess we have it pretty soft here in southern Ontario- looks like we are going to miss that polar vortex.  So far it's been hovering a bit above and below freezing, there were a few flurries today but it's actually nice outside for catching up on yard work.  Izzy D, that duck is very cute- looks like a toy.

Izzy D's call ducks are favourites of mine - they have such wonderful expressions in all her photos!

Forecast for -25C tonight. Sigh.

Thanks, they make taking pictures easy and fun.

Its so great to have so much sun in the forecast after all that rain we had. Makes me want to wander the property and make project plans for next year... Here I go making more work hahaha

Sheesh, one thing that I did not get done before the below zero came on Sunday night was get the big butternut and spaghetti squash prepped for any kind of food saving. I left them in the nice gazebo to stay cool. Well. Got them yesterday and pretty much frozen right through. So today, I need to take them one by one in the house, thaw (well probably a few at a time) and then figure out what to do with them and I have no clue what I am up against, but this was not a good thing. Oh well. Happened last year, so sudden, that once the ground froze (like an overnight thingy, smiling), anything in the ground or outside in the cold remains that way until mid March, smiling again. I am already thinking of projects for next spring, yes, lots of time to ponder these ponderings over winter, and learnin' new stuff. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM. (oh yes, one thing for surely is to get CathyJK's carrot seed from Veseys and get that Gigantuous sunflower seed or whatever it was called from West Coast seeds....lots of seed catalogue looking at too, gonna be lots of fun! )

This talk of garden products freezing reminded me...I forgot to mulch my fall planted garlic before the ground froze solid...I've always mulched it before...I wonder if it will wreck it?

Farmer Bob wrote:This talk of garden products freezing reminded me...I forgot to mulch my fall planted garlic before the ground froze solid...I've always mulched it before...I wonder if it will wreck it?

I guess that depends on where your original stock came from- if it's really strong garlic it's hardier. We've never mulched our garlic, and never lost any even when it had sprouted six inch leaves before it froze up.. I'd imagine you are colder than us, the coldest we get is about -30 maybe one or two nights with variable amounts of snow. If you get lots of snow you should be fine. We tried elephant garlic but never had success with that one, it always died over winter.

That's good to hear! I don't think we are any colder from the sounds of it. I started with 1 original garlic bulb bought at a health food store. That bulb was grown by a local farmer...I planted the 5 cloves...and then the next year I planted all 5 bulbs which was 20 cloves...and now this is the first year that I actually had some to harvest and planted 25 cloves. So I will be pretty disappointed if I killed them!

From my experience with garlic, it's pretty tough, so I think it will be fine. Our favourite is the Music variety. The tastiest thing in early summer is a fried garlic scapes- with- mushrooms- and -cheese omlette. MMMMmmmm!

Frozen is frozen. I did not have time to mulch my garlic either. I find that switch to winter turns on so fast that there is never enough time to get even the last of the things done that require to be done. Garlic was planted, should have mulched the same day, but just got onto other things. I had more garlic to plant, but didn't get that in, now kicking my butt. I don't think that the garlic will suffer. If I am not mistaken, I think mulching is basically to hold the garlic below the earth in the event of frost heaves. Even with mulched garlic, it freezes down to four feet deep here (code for wire and water lines is 6 feet I believe) , so even with mulched garlic, it is gonna freeze. Time will tell the tale, cause this is the first year in my life I have never mulched garlic. Now I want to know what will become of the garlic when I plant the rest of it in mid March, when we have thawed ground. Doubt if it will mature, but might make some small bulbs. Winter. Blah. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

I guess this is one way to find out what will happen! I suppose it wouldn't hurt to throw some mulch on top of everything anyway- I think that as long as the garlic had time to root before it froze, it will be fine (here's hoping). Cynthia M it sounds pretty cold where you are though.... we certainly don't freeze to 4 feet here.

Ok Cynthia, we will have to compare notes next spring to see if our garlic survived! I'm betting it will. Ground thawing in March...that made me chuckle. I don't think it is a lot colder up here...it just lasts longer. I can't do anything in the garden here until May. In March it is still full blown winter and I've seen it be -20. Another beautiful day out there this morning, clear and crisp! Just like a fall day should be!

-10 this morning at 4:00. Blick. That is the coldest yet this fall. We can get down to -17, but that is not until January, late. We have only been in the Okanagan for 4.5 years now, previously lived on the Lower Mainland all our lives, so this cold, cold has never quite struck in how cold, cold it is. I do know the cold is totally different than that moistness of the west south coast. I don't miss the Lower Mainland at all, we lived in Maple Ridge, close to the mountains, and boy did it rain there, think the clouds had to always decide to dump whatever they had before they crossed that mountain range, smiling. Anyways, I love the dry snow here, I can sweep it off my porch, I love the dry, dry and would take this cold over the wet weather back on the coast. But yes, it is darned cold regardless. I love how here it can be mud one day and the next day, when the sun shines, that mud is gone and turned to well, I dunno, but it is not the mud, dry is good. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

I would agree with CynthiaM on that note of winter here in the okanagan beats the winters in the lower mainland (IMO) Been out here since 97 and could never move back to Vancouver. Some of you would think I'm crazy....but I thought I was in heaven for the first few winters, living in a snow belt (Trinity Valley). One winter it was up to my mid thigh LOL I did get over the joys of living in a snow belt now LOL shoving pathways to the barns (plural on that) Now we live inbetween Vernon and Kelowna with a lake view, very little snow here but enough to enjoy it's beauty and yes it is dry. But definitely a woodstove makes it

Anyways thought I'd pop on and say good morning. Just sittin by the woodstove enjoying a coffee. looks like it's going to be another beautiful day.

Good morning okanagan peppers. Just heading out the door here. Wood stove fully stoked. It is starting to warm up. -8 this morning. We are supposed to get a dump of snow soon. We don't have any snow at the moment, although the frost is so thick in the grass that it looks like we do have some.

Another cloudless day on its way. Sun just over the mountains, -19C. Frost so heavy the whole world is sparkling but still no snow. Never seems to snow until it is right around freezing. Off to water weaned calves - have to use a hose (currently coiled up in basement) so quite a chore.

heda gobbler wrote:Try a bit of tin foil or something else sparkly - seems to attract the pack rats and not the mice.

Ok,..this worked first try!  Caught one last night with tinfoil...learn something new all the time!

good to know it worked that quick!!

CynthiaM wrote:  Garlic was planted, should have mulched the same day, .

I thought so too Cynthia, however was told by a garlic farmer that they usually wait till it freezes so the mice don't set up their homes under all the mulch... I thought that made sense..mulching mine today

Great catch! And tin foil is so easy - husband likes a bit of bacon grease on it but I like the clean and easy plain tin foil!

bigrock wrote:

CynthiaM wrote:  Garlic was planted, should have mulched the same day, .

I thought so too Cynthia, however was told by a garlic farmer that they usually wait till it freezes so the mice don't set up their homes under all the mulch... I thought that made sense..mulching mine today

Oh, oh, oh, now if that doesn't make the most sense I have ever heard. I'm not going to bother mulching at all, period, and just seem what comes of it. Can't hurt, there is always many around me that grow garlic in case mine don't make it, smiling...and if they do make it, then I have saved myself a whole lot of grief, worrying about it.

Okanagan Peppers, Trinity Valley is the most beautiful place on earth....I love to drive through that way to Lumby when I am heading that way, instead of going through Vernon, I especially love Hidden lake, smiling. Today is cold again -9, the night before last it was a few degrees warmer. Weird. Anyways, yes, we have blue skies coming again I think. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

Today is bath day for the Chanteclers that are going to the show this weekend. We will do the Silkies later in the week.

Let the wild ruckus begin!

I have never mulched my garlic here in Cranbrook or when I lived in Prince George. Every year I get nearly all of it to grow too.

Cool, now that is nice to hear cbrookkelly!! Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.