Spring Seed Starting

Finally, it is the first day of spring. Time for barbeque (while wearing a winter jacket) and shoveling the snow off the kids playground equipment. Of course, they still need to play outside while wearing snowsuits. Nevermind that I can't even get to my vegetable garden or raised beds due to a great deal of snow. I know that my crocuses haven't forgotten their spring duties.

Feeling the spirit of spring nonetheless, I pulled out the plastic trays, seed starting mix, and hundreds of little plastic pots. Actually, the project started with what looked more like a sewing project. I've used the moisture wicking fabric from Lee Valley for a few years now and really like how it makes watering the little seedlings quite easy. The stuff comes in large pieces so that you could cover big greenhouse benches with it, but I cut it to fit the black rectangular trays that I put under my grow lights.

Next, I reuse my plastic pots from previous years (washed out by Resident-LawnmowerMan last fall after he got tired of the heap of dirty pots that grew steadily in our garage). I fill these loosely with seed starting mix with an extra bag of perlite mixed in. If you can't find the finely-sieved seed starting mix, you can use potting soil, but it occasionally has big lumps and sticks and other aggravating debris.

I did plant some seeds today, though held myself back from planting the majority of them. I regularly plant the seeds far too early and end up with large plants that I have no room for, having expanded out of the basement to all available windowsills.
A few flower and herb seeds are sown and kept under the plastic humidity dome:

With the wicking mats below all the pots, I only need to water into the tray and don't need to water the pots from above. This has the dual benefit of avoiding dislodging the seeds and reducing the fungus problems that attack seedlings. Eventually, the fabric gets dirty and thins out, but it does last a few years before needing replacement. In warmer weather, it can also be hosed off and left to dry outside.

From Hot to Sooo Very Cold

It has been unseasonably cold here, with windchills in the -40 degree range and colder. I imagine this cold would be intolerable while standing on a dog sled, as several intrepid racers have been doing here the last few days. A few racers dropped out of the race, presumably due to the very cold winds. Last night, we went to La Ronge's Patterson park, where the dogs get fed during the mandatory rest period and get checked over by vets. The littlest gardener got some pretty cold hands pretty quick though, and we had to head on home before seeing them run.

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Otherwise, we had the chance to visit the relatively hot weather of Arizona this past month. It's great to fellowship with the cactuses and the other winter-escaping Canadians. We laugh at the lack of sandals, sunhats and open outdoor pools there in February. The locals' excuse is "it's winter". It didn't feel like a winter to us! I did get to play with plants by pruning shrubs and planting a flat of ice plants for my mother. There actually was some frost-kill of some of the plants, and damage to some of the citrus trees in southern Arizona this winter. Weird weather happens everywhere!
Ice plants I planted under palm tree:

"Red Spike Ice Plant" (lame store tag didn't have Latin name):

I can't wait to see what things look like next year. These plants have an irrigation system to keep them alive over the roasting summer months.
A "less-prickly" cactus:

Night-time photography of a very large organ pipe cactus:

Growing Aphids

It's that time of year where we recoil at the cold temperatures, knowing full well the worst is yet to come. I'm hoping I can grow a nice furry undercoat, like our outdoors-dwelling dog. That, or I'll be drinking more tea.
Shabby Chic is the "in style" for cedar trees this year, featuring burlap coats with nylon rope trim:

Every few days, I go down and check on the herb seedlings and other basements plants kept under fluorescent lights. I like to have some fresh herbs on hand for cooking over the winter time, but that has not been very successful so far.
Herbs under the lights:

I was not too surprised to see some aphids a few weeks ago, as I've been through this many times before. These little green imports came inside with the plants and cuttings brought in this fall. No matter how careful you are, preventing aphids on plants coming indoors is like preventing influenza from coming in through Canadian airports. These little infectious bugs are just too sneaky. I first saw them hanging out on the tips of the orchids and on the parsley and cilantro. They particularly love the herbs, but they leave the strong-smelling perlargonium cuttings alone. I've been squishing them and used up the last my insecticidal soap sprays. Now, I'm using some Sunlight dish soap diluted in water, which I hope will get the tiny ones that I can't see.
My attempt at a winter display at our front door (cedar boughs from BC, red dogwood twigs, and crabapples):