Good morning, and now comes the dark time. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
We had a really nice warm-up here in Denver, after the 10" or so of snow dropped last weekend. By Tuesday we'd gotten to the 50s, and yesterday the high was 58°.
Today is forecast to be just as warm, although a bit of a cool down is on the menu — nothing drastic, just going down into the more normal 40s. Luckily no weather excitement is predicted for Thanksgiving when we make the annual trek down to Pueblo to the Mister's family.
But we're now in that time of year when it's light late and dark early. These two months from late November to late January, when the sun doesn't rise until 7:00 and sets before 5:00; when Arctic Blasts keeping temperatures hovering around 0° (or lower) for day; are so very hard for a gardener.
But Zasu enjoys sitting in what sunshine we get — I'd like to put a plant where she's sitting, but the pooties won't tolerate the plants getting all the good spots!
This Christmas cactus is loaded with buds — it had occupied the spot where Zasu sits, but I had to move it as the pooties kept knocking off the buds. I'd love to put the larger Christmas cactus there, but I'm afraid the cats would knock it off the table — that's "their" window seat.
I've continued this week getting the hyacinth that get me through this dark time set for forcing, as well as getting a nasty surprise. Well, not too nasty, but bad enough: some of the bulbs in the bar fridge froze.
But, I also came up with yet another new twist on forcing — net pots. The idea is that they'll provide a more stable base for the hyacinth set in dishes. I ordered 20 of the 2" size and they'll work, although they're a bit small — they're best if used doubled. So I went back and ordered 20 of the 3" and I'm waiting their arrival, although I'm afraid they'll be a bit too large. If so, I'll have to decide which is better: a bit small or a bit large. Or try ordering the 2.75" pots.
What really surprised me this week was the arrival of the first seed catalogs from Seed Savers Exchange and Pinetree.
WTF? I can't recall ever getting seed catalogs in November — if memory serves, mid-December is when I've gotten them before.
This weekend I'll likely spend time getting the house ready for the Christmas onslaught. I need to pick up and clean up, then figure out where to put the Christmas tree as the brugmansia and its light are now in that space.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?