I spent two weeks in Bridgewater, MA a few years ago. It was so nice not having to deal with the high temperatures in July that year. We took a weekend trip to the cape. I was cold sitting there watching the fireworks. Got back to NC and could not stop sweating. It's so unflattering.

I can't stand weather extreme's, so of course I live in Ohio.:P
When the snow melted this week I saw some crocus coming up, monarda is green and my mums are up already. That is the hardy one I've had for three years. Now they are all buried in snow again and I don't want to leave the house. Sigh z7 does sound nice.
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*sigh*

We have temps in the single digits coming in our forecast... but not until we get another 3-5 inches of snow tomorrow.

70 Days, 18 Hours, 47 Minutes until the Spring of '09

Enjoy all the extremes everyone!

That is why I love living the the Philadelphia area. You still get all four seasons for a reasonable amount of time, and we do not get much snow.

Now that being said, that storm they are talking about hitting us this weekend will end up being all snow for us. Well, if we do get buried in, I have the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies World Series DVD box set. At least that will keep me in euphoria and thinking of summer time!

"70 Days, 18 Hours, 47 Minutes until the Spring of '09"
lol- how many seconds??

I usually start counting the days too, but not until it is about 40.
But getting active in this forum again definitely takes a bite out of the winter doldroms. or is it doldrums? well what ever it is - I am "thinking Spring".

ellen

I'm bipolar and I get seasonal "moodiness" (although that's putting mildly! lol). I can't stand to be without the sun... the long days bum me out! During the winters when I winter sow, and bury my head in thoughts of springtime and flowers, it's not so bad.

70 Days, 17 Hours, 9 Minutes until the Spring of '09

111 days til last frost. Sheesh.

Sheesh yourself, Token, don't you have a hoop-house? All you need worry about are the very tender annuals... so much griping for one in ZONE SEVEN!!!

What are you anyway? Are you a tough and hardy perennial or you a wimpy half hardy annual? Toughen up, already! Head north for a season! We'll teach about WINTER sowing!!

Ice, ice, and more ice here. And very gusty strong winds. I just came in for a break from chipping ice off my 80-ft long driveway. Slow going, but there really isn't any other way to get the ice off. And more snow this Saturday.

I don't usually mind winter too much, but this year, it really seems to be getting to me. I'm rethinking my husband's idea, which I've been blowing off for years, hardy New Englander that I am, that we move down south for retirement. Starting to sound good....

:)
Dee

Nancy, I would die up there. When it dips below 40 during the day here, I crawl up in my sweat pants and wait it out. LOL

Dee,

If you think about moving, NC is a very good choice. We've got mountains and beaches. We've got flat lands and sand. We've got national forests that go on for acres and acres. We've got lakes and rivers. Some areas near the coast have 220+ days with no frost. The Western part near Asheville is the exception and is zone 6. Parts of Eastern NC are even in zone 8. Most of us are smack dab in the middle of zone 7.

128 days here until the official last frost date, although it could just as well be 138.

It'd be nice to be able to visit warmer climes in the dead of winter, but I honestly don't think I'd enjoy living there year round. When it's been so cold for so long, the first day of spring (the real 1st day, not the one on the calendar) is a big deal.

Around here you know it's arrived when all of a sudden the wind is warm, the air smells like black dirt, the trees seem just a tiny bit "thicker", somehow, and the birds commence singing in the dark, quiet hour before dawn. When all these things converge at once, I usually just stand outside awhile to feel the wind on my face, although I never think, "It's spring!", but always, "It's over!!".

I guess I just feel so very, very grateful to've made it through another winter, because sometimes (usually around the middle of February) I start to feel as though maybe it'll never end.

Of course, by September I'm so sick & tired of mowing and monster weeds that I daydream about freezing temps. ;^D?

Tosser, what date are you using? I'm considered Zone 5a and I think the last frost is about the 15th of May?

Yep, 15 May. Should be 127 days. I added 29 for February - haven't quite gotten out of leap-year mode, I guess. Last year we had a nasty frost 10 or 12 days after that, can't remember which, and I meant to write that down, too. In any case, I don't stick much in the ground until Memorial Day.

Token, funny thing about NC. My friend moved down there a few years ago for job reasons. After about six years, she moved back. When she did, I asked her if she moved back to New England because she couldn't take the NC winters!

You see, in the time she was down in NC, in her area (Raleigh) there were more snow storms and ice storms than we had up here! She griped a lot because she thought she was getting away from all that - and to make matters worse, according to her, folks down there couldn't deal as well with it, not being used to it. I think her town didn't even have enough plows to do the whole city. She was on a dead end so the snow usually melted before the plows got to her.

So, when the thought of NC crosses my mind - and it does often, since I'm always hearing how beautiful it is, prices are soooooo much lower than where I live, and it's not *too* far south to be overly hot in summer (or so I hear!) - I always think of my friend and wonder if the winters will be any better, lol!

:)
Dee

Dee,

I guess the "winter gods" gave here one last taste of winter to hold her over....!

You know, sometime you are the dog, some time you are the hydrant. But eventually, the dog show walks by that hydrant!

Dee, in 2003, I think it was, Charlotte got 21 inches of snow in only two days. A few years before, we had record low temperatures and inches upon inches of ice. It does happen, but it's rare. Last year, I think our coldest days were in the upper 20s with nights in the teens for a week in January. That's when my power bill is highest. Still...the ground never really freezes, and some people have to mow their lawn all year.

I would have Zone envy if I had all the holiday decorations put away!!!
Somedays I get anxious, as I know I have alot to do outside this Spring, bad girl didn't have a chance to even collect leaves or properly winter beds.
Then again, I look at the 7 day forecast and see that 7 degrees coming, look in the journal and read: 2/5/07 -20 degrees, upstairs heat and well froze 2/14/2007 blizzard
Feburary 6 2008 -10 degrees.

Hee hee hee you guys are so funny. "below 40 is too cold" hee hee hee

Top five things about temps in the minus teens:
-When the wind blows over your ws containers that are balanced on the top of a 4 foot snow drift, nothing spills out...it's frozen solid!
-I never have to water my ws containers when I put them out. Just stuff the tops of them with some snow, it will melt when it matters.
-When to dogde outside to set out some ws containers you can stop on the way back to the house and make a snow angel.
-You can stuff your ws containers into a snow bank and they won't move until spring. Of course, if you are not careful you end up with several layers of containers in the same spot and they tend to not balance well on one another when the snow does final melt (learned this the hard way last year).
-You can REALLY turn heads at Christmas parties when you tell them you started planting seeds for your garden.

Ok, maybe I'm just an optomist. Jug is always half full here...half full of potting mix with some seeds on top that is! :)

Summers can be brutal here in zone 8. I market garden so come July until like Oct...sometimes Nov.,working a garden can be heck of earth. I have to get up at daybreak to get anything done and am soak to the skin almost as soon as I walk out the door and can barely make it to noon before I run back to the house for a shower. We don't turn on the a/c until 4-6pm.REA bill will eat you up in the summer if we run it all day.

69 Days, 19 Hours, 14 Minutes until the Spring of '09

It's only 41 degrees. I've got a fire going in the basement heater and I'm still cold. Jeez louise.

When its 41 degrees here, Im still running around in shorts and a talk top half the time.

:)

41 deg. token and you are freezing?? doris is right!! :)...that's balmy ;-)

I grew up in Zone 8 in SC. I moved to zone 7 14 years ago. I still haven't gotten used to the 5 degree change. I will NEVER understand why or how y'all can live way up there. My hands are numb. My toes crunch when I walk. It's 45 now. This old house is drafty. I can't afford to keep it as warm as I would like. So I supplement the central heat with a wood stove and a fireplace. Come April, the windows will be open until it's above 85.

You sound like me token! Up on our hill we run woodburners, have contests on heat temps, lol.
I took an extra electric heater into work cause I was freezing there, why?
Because most of us on the hill keep our houses at 75 to 82 with the wood heat!

Calling for 1/2 foot of snow or more tommorrow, maybe I will have time to Ws and go thru the seed boxes!

Well Lizzy, that snow is passing through my neighborhood before it gets to you! It's 24 and blustery, by Tuesday it's back down to single digits. Guess I'll doing a lot of the same... going through the seed box and getting more containers ready for when my seed order arrives... gosh... I hope tomorrow!

LOL Doris, yup 41 degrees here and everyone would be in shorts and sunglasses.

Nancy Drew,
I love the count down til spring,are you going to continue it?
I e mail my daughter every time you post it,sure is fun.
I think you should keep it up,is it a lot of work?Any way, i appreciate it,and it sort of breakes up the long winter.
Maybe start a new thred with all zone count down?
Carol

Carol, the Spring thing is the calandar date for spring. It's the same for everyone. It isn't any work at all!

Here is a link that might be useful: Days Till Spring

Token, after seeing your pics of hollyhock and other seedlings I decided to check my containers. I have hollyhocks and nigella sprouting. I was surprised I don't remember them sprouting this early.
When you were talking about tomatoes, you mentioned taking cuttings every couple weeks. What is the purpose of that and how do you root them???

Ginger

I normally plant tomatoes in succession, about every two weeks. It gives me a longer harvest period, but it does take some space to plant so many. Normally, I have at least 2 bushes giving me fruit from mid-June or so. It's what my dad always did too.

If you take cuttings, you can put them in really good draining potting soil, and put that pot inside a bag or use a two liter bottle to make a cloche, mini-greenhouse. In a couple weeks, it should be rooted. This year I have my cloning machine and should be able to speed that up a bit.

I want to be able to freeze and can tomatoes this year. The store bought stuff is crap.

Cloning machine?
Do tell
Carol

Thanks Nacny,
I always thought spring arrived at different times for different zones,like,down south,spring comes sooner than here,so the hours would be different.
Whata ya know,learned something new again.
Carol

It's 41 degrees here too. Supposed to be 56 tomorrow. I'm freezing!!!! Hubby has his shirt off. He grew up in the mountains and thinks my getting cold so easy is hilarious. They used to get blizzards every year.3 or 4 ft of snow. In March. I lived there for a few years. Then we moved here and they cancel school if it rains too hard. I thought that was funny.

Homemade cloning machine

It works!

I built it myself based on this design I found here on GW.

I can root pineapple sage in 4-5 days. I expect the same results from tomatoes. Cost was about $45.

Token, to hold the cuttings can you use the vials (I don't know the name of them) that you get with roses? They're long tubes that taper and hold the water so the roses don't dry out in a bouquet? I thought you could cut them in half so the roots could grow. Other than that I don't have any ideas how to hold the leaves but you're the creative one!!

ooo yes, cloning machines are cool.
About as addictive as winter sowing I tell you!
:)
I've had mine for a few years now and only start it up in the summer or I'd have to line the insides of my house with shelves for potted plants!

Yep Nancy, I get what you usually have in 3days.
they are saying 10 inches of snow today, then single digits next week...brrrrr a high of 7 degrees!

Maybe will be an early Spring then, looking at 2007 and 2008 we didn't get severe weather till the beginning of February into the 14th.

Shasta, I figured out a way using foam hair curlers from the dollar store. They have a hole all the way through. I take the foam off the roller, cut it in half to make two pieces, then cut that lengthwise through the hole. I wrap that around the cutting and push it through the holes in the "tray". It seems to be working alright. My pineapple sage did try to root through the foam, but with so many roots sticking out of the bottom, I didn't care. To sterilize them, I wash them in a mixture of nearly boiling water and bleach. Seems to do the trick. I need to change the water this week. Some of my test cuttings are starting to rot. Just the wrong time of year.

68 Days, 18 Hours, 45 Minutes until the Spring of '09

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yea!

62 Days, 19 Hours, 37 Minutes until the Spring of '09

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Can't get here soon enough.

I am sick of this cold weather!

Glad my cable box has a DVR and I can watch replays of Gardening By The Yard!

Nancy Drew,
I went to the link you posted - "days til Spring", but all I got was one bird call and a picture - is there something I'm missing?
Is this a site that tells how many days, hours, minutes, seconds, etc?
And all this time, I thought YOU were figuring it out!

ellen

Ellen, it should say across the top of that page. Above the picture.

Good grief... figure it out for myself? To the minute? There are few things I'm not good with... sharp objects and numbers!!

61 Days, 18 Hours, 0 Minutes until the Spring of '09

Thank you again Nanct Drew,i bookmarked it,but it so much more fun to see your posting. :0)
Carol

55 Days, 16 Hours, 45 Minutes until the Spring of '09
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47 Days, 21 Hours, 15 Minutes until the Spring of '09

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38 Days, 15 Hours, 52 Minutes until the Spring of '09
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