Dormancy

Much of my January has been spent taking courses and planning for next year. I look forward to what the soil samples reveal about the health of the earth and how we can improve it prior to next year’s growing season.

January 3rd

Yesterday I threw out the molding and non-sprouting hyacinth seeds and cleaned the seed starting trays. I mixed equal amounts peat moss and perlite and replanted fresh seeds. Hopefully this medium will not mold or grow mushrooms.

January 10th

This weekend, before the snow fell, I removed the stones around the base of the sugar maple in the backyard. After taking an online course on trees and learning about the Tree Protection Zone (TPZ), I realized my error in placing both weed fabric and rocks around the base of the tree, potentially compacting the dirt and reducing the oxygen levels in the soil around the roots. 

This weekend I finished a rather long course on Soil Management and am a little overwhelmed at the time, effort, and knowledge required to be a good steward of the land, and ensure that your garden soil, the building block for everything that lives and grows in the yard, remains healthy.

A highlight for me this week was finding a lone pansy which has bloomed in one of the succulent planters under the grow lights. No sign of life from the hyacinth seeds, but there is no sign of mold in the much more sterile mix they were planted in the second time around.

January 17th

The weather is unusually warm during the day and below freezing at night. I continue to take courses from the Colorado Extension Certified Gardener course. This week I completed a course on small fruits (raspberries, blackberries and grapes, and fruit trees). 

January 24th 

I gathered soil samples yesterday. The ground was frozen solid and I read a post on a Farmer’s forum about using a wood auger drill bit to access the soil It worked well in most spots, but some of the soil was too rock hard to penetrate, even with a wired drill.

I changed the Rope Hoya’s soil from last year’s gardening soil to the seed starter mix from the Flower Bin. The new dark leaf growth continues after placing the plant under a grow light a few months ago.

Still no sign of the Hyacinth seeds. 

I ordered 25 bare root strawberries (Fort Laramie) after researching the best cultivars for Colorado.

I set up the grow lights on the plant stand S built from PVC pipes.