Early birthday present

I just ordered an early birthday present for myself. I was on another blog and found this great gardening journal. I really liked the 10 year format. It is laid out so each date can be looked at with all of the entries for that date. Did that make sense? In other words, you can look up January 9 and see all 10 years of entries rather than having to page through each year and try to compare notes. It is hardbound also. A great plus. The downside was the shipping. :(
I am trying harder to journal this year. We'll see how it goes.

Lettuce progress

The lettuce that I am growing in my potting shed is doing well. I transplanted it a couple of days ago into a basic flat filled with soil. I wasn't sure if I would kill them since I transplanted them a little deeper than they were originally due to the seedlings getting a little leggy due to me not getting to them soon enough. They are doing pretty good though.
I am thinking about getting some of the plastic windowbox planters that I can put some other veggies in. Maybe some radishes.
The seed catalogs are really coming in and the pre spring fever is starting. I always start with such great hopes for the spring and then later on in the summer my enthusiasm fades. It is good to dream.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! We are spending ours in snowy Wisconsin at my brother in law and sister in law's house. Warm fire, kids playing in the snow, just hanging out....

Winter has arrived!

Today is the official first day of winter as well as being the shortest day of the year. Now we are working toward springtime day by day with each day getting longer. Something to look forward to on this icy day!

Ice storm

We had an ice storm Thursday night and Friday morning. All together we got about 1/2 inch of ice. The power was only out for about 4 hours. I think that a line was down in the neighborhood because after the power went out, you could occasionally see a very bright red glow/flash down the road. The cable was out until this morning. I loved it. Katie did not see the humor in no cable TV and no internet.

The above picture is cockeyed so that I could get the whole branch in the picture. We lost one other 4 inch dia. branch that hit out bedroom window and ripped the screen, but other than that, no real damage. We were very fortunate!

Tonight all that ice is still on the trees and lines, and the wind is getting pretty gusty due to a cold front moving through. The temperature dropped 15 degrees in 1 1/2 hours.

Lettuce sprouts

My lettuce has sprouted. The package said 10-14 days germination so I felt that the conditions in the shed must be pretty good. I went to take a picture to post, but my camera ran out of batteries. What luck! Anyway, I got new batteries at Wal-Mart today, so I will get some to post.
Now I just need to see how transplanting them goes.

Indoor lettuce

I am trying some indoor lettuce this winter in the potting shed. I planted 4 varieties of which I cannot remember right now. I will have to get the names to write down. I know that one is romaine and one is black seeded simpson. The seed is old, so if it germinates great, if not, no loss.
I have a set up of lights that I use to start my seeds in late winter for outdoors that I am using. We will see how it goes. I would also like to try some other seeds depending on how well these do. The heat and fans are on in there and the temp is about 64 degrees.