First Snowstorm of 2011

The above photo of my gate to the front garden can be thought of as both happy and sad. I say that because while I can't be outside gardening right now, I know that with this snow there is

already hope and warm thoughts of the spring that is only 3 months away. A lot of what January is about to a gardener is hope. We look beyond the ice and snow and spend the time indoors reading and planning for the spring. Seed catalogs seduce us with their glossy-colored pages that make the spirit stir with inspiration of what will be. Our starry eyes sparkle with each turn of a page, we fill up order forms and wonder why they can't be longer. Ah, yes it's that time of year - and it only gets better!

Temperatures hovered in the teens the last few days as we had snow all day yesterday into the night which ended up being about 8 inches total. This was the first big snowstorm of 2011 - I'm just glad that I was asleep while the bulk of the snow fell last night. By the way, the time on the clock is still set to summer time, it was really 8 AM...

The orchard looks like it was photographed in Siberia - so barren, so bleak... It's hard to believe that these trees could be alive from this scene. One thing's for sure, these trees are protected with white plastic trunk guards below the snow. This is a no mole/vole zone!

I thought this was a nice winter photo of the remaining Mugwort that grows close to my mailbox. One thing that I learned from recent reading is that you should be careful where you plant mugwort because it tends to kill-off any flowers or plants nearby. Once established, mugwort will grow back each year and it's great for making incense or smudge sticks.

I'm glad that I brought the remaining 2 cords of firewood in last week because I sure wouldn't want to have to be digging it out as in previous years. I guess I might actually be getting smarter with age after all!

The big garden can be seen in the distance, dormant as ever, but I'm adding wood ashes to each section on the weekends to help amend the soil for the spring. Some so-called experts say not to put too much in the garden - but I disagree. My soil is starving for anything to be added to it! It's better than doing nothing at all. Besides, I add bags of compost manure in the spring to help even things out.

I placed my first seed order last week with R.H. Shumway. I like their online ordering and rate the site 8 out of 10 for ease of ordering. The only problem I had was that an offer in the catalog was not listed online - yet I was able to get the offer in my cart by using the quick order number from the catalog (it was tricky, I had to open that in a 2nd window) that's why I can't give the website a 10.

There's much more ordering to do and many books to read. January is good for that.

Keep warm!

:)