Native plants & winter is back. Garden Update 2018 Week 13.
Three days ago we had one of the strongest Chinook winds in a few months. For those not familiar with southern Alberta & northern Montana these are dry, warm winds that come racing down the Rocky Mountains and into the plains. The winds took care of a lot of the snow and I even saw a bit of my garden surface exposed. This was looking promising until the following day when a forecast for 0.5cm (2/10") of snow turned into 20cm (8"). Arctic air is pushing in today and is expected to keep things well below freezing for the next 7 days so it looks like hopes of getting in the garden are delayed again.
Seedy Saturday
Last weekend I was able to attend my first seed swap. It was a lot of fun! I came home with many new flowers to try in my yard and a few vegetable seeds.
One of the most exciting finds was a local blacksmith who makes garden tools! I resisted buying right on the spot because I need to inventory what I have and decide what is more useful to start with. His tools are expensive, but he sells them planning that you will only buy a tool from him once. They are strong, but still light enough to be easy to work with. You can check out what he makes at his website Iron & Thyme.
Seed starting
I’ve put a hold on any new seed starting because I have no place for new seedlings. I’d hoped to have my onions in the garage by now. The garage is an ideal place to acclimatize seedlings because it’s always a bit ahead of the outdoors. It won’t be as cold as it is outside and warms up during the day. It’s usually 10–20C (~20–40F) above the outside in the winter. It also has a south facing window to ease them into the sunlight and, on warmer days, I can open the window to help them adjust to the wind. With temperatures being below freezing day and night all next week, it’s not an option right now.
However — one thing the garage is good for is giving a chill cycle to native plant species. I’ve tried seed starting them before but without much success. In our nearby city, Lethbridge, the Galt Museum sells native seeds collected locally. I’d forgotten about them but came across them again in the gift shop of the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. I realized when looking at them that that is my art. I can take a package of seeds and imagine how I can make a beautiful display and not be daunted by spending several years to do it.
On a bit of a side note, the reason I was at the SAAG was to check out the “Visualizing Agriculture” exhibit. It’s inspiring walking through an art gallery, and especially inspiring seeing artists create something from reams of data supplied by local researchers.
So although I put seed starting on hold, I still got my hands dirty this week putting seeds into seed starting blocks and then putting them in the garage. The weather forecast should help me in this respect since I probably should have been doing this in February. They are moist, cool, and have sunlight hitting them each day. The temperature in the garage should go a little below freezing each night and a little above each day over the coming week. This should give the seeds the signal that the snow is melting, temperatures are rising, and there is good moisture.
Until next time,
Scott.
