Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Garden Catalogs...already!


I received my first two gardening catalogs in the mail today. I think that has to be a new record...every year seems sooner. The garden has barely been put to sleep for winter! Let the spring dreams begin!
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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Indian summer

It feels like yet another round of Indian Summer here in IL. It has been in the 70's for two days with bright sunshine.

In wondering about the origins of the term Indian Summer, I went to my good friend Google once again. The following two were interesting. Phrase finder appears to be a site out of the UK, but still good info.
It would be a great day to hang clothes on the line, however my neighbors seem to think that it is also a great day to burn leaves. Not good for that outdoorsy smell I love on clothes... :(

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Peoria October weather facts

National Weather Service - Climate Data:
* OCT 2009 2ND WETTEST OCT WITH 7.95 INCHES OF RAIN
* OCT 2009 8TH COLDEST OCT WITH MEAN TEMP 49.3 DEGREES
* OCT 8 RECORD DAILY RAINFALL 0.60 INCHES
* OCT 13 TIED RECORD TRACE OF SNOW
* OCT 15 TIED RECORD COLD HIGH 43 DEGREES
* OCT 22 DAILY RECORD RAINFALL 1.89 INCHES
* OCT 29 DAILY RECORD RAINFALL 1.61 INCHES

Somehow, I missed the trace of snow...I can't imagine that! There is more rain forecast for tonight....

Monday, November 2, 2009

Fall weather...indoor gardening

Tonight is supposed to get to 30 degrees. We have had a few good frosts now, and I have brought in my plants that I want to overwinter; perennials that did not find a home, spider plants that always love the humidity of the summer, Lauren's strawberry plant that we grew from seed, and the gerbera daisies. Now to clean out my shed so I can hang out in there and not feel nuts from the clutter left over from summer! The heat needs to be turned on soon, and one set of lights is running to keep the plants happy.
I am thinking of doing some lettuces under the lights again. I had good luck with that last winter.
Soon I will be pouring over the seed catalogs again dreaming of spring while snow flies...

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Potatoes

We finally got the potatoes dug today. Bill said that we probably lost about 5 lb. of the reds to a mouse. At least he ate well. We still need to weigh them and find out how much we got overall.
Yellow Finn
Dark Red Norland