Hi digit,

I'm sorry for your wet mess! Right now I just go outside. We're having a very unusual February. Mid 60's daytime temps and I've seen humidity levels as low as 3%. I've been watering what I can. Who'd have thought we'd be needing to roll out the hoses in mid February? We had a brief rain last night, more like a sprinkle, but it was welcome. Noaa is predicting rain/snow on Thursday and more normal mid 40s daytime and 20 dg nightime temps. I'm not holding my breath for moisture, but it would be nice.

I have been visiting local garden centers on cooler, windy days, like Paulino Gardens and the Westminster O'Toole's. I got a fresh bale of Sungro (used to be Sunshine #1) and some new seed starting trays, so I'm ready to go when it's time. I was at the Denver Botanic Gardens on Saturday for a conifer group meeting and afterwards we walked parts of the garden. It's just beautiful weather wise!

I usually fly down to the Gulf Coast of Alabama this time of year. My parents spend the winter down there and my DD lives there now. What, you say? Alabama has a coast? Yep and a nice one, too. They have both the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay, so sharks on one side, alligators on the other! We spent Xmas there, so we're not going this month and it looks like we made the right call. It's pretty nice here!

Barb

It's finally happened. It "nearly" happened a year or two ago when I fell about 2' from the bottom step. This time, it was off the bottom step.

No injuries, although the lower back seems a little more stiff than usual. Didn't even drop the box of tools I was carrying! Thought I might be able to catch myself on the concrete landing at the foot of the stairs but it too, of course, was covered by the same 1/10th inch of freezing rain ... that I didn't know about until that moment!

Rain dripping off the roof, tv station says it's 35°f. Yes, it's heck to get olde.

Hey, I have been to that Gulf Coast a couple of times! Three weeks in Corpus Christi one November, about a week (December) in Tampa and Punta Gorda. DD was in Mexico this month. No, I'm thinking 6 months in North America, 6 months in South. Maybe New Zealand ... オ

We are getting your rain! Or, is it California's fault! They are paying a high price but, we are lucky ... sorta ッ. The Weather Service says that there are only 5 times that February has had more precipitation than this time around. And! We aren't yet close to the end of the month!

I can't complain too much. Shoot. Many California communities will get more rain today than we have had in 3 weeks! Remember, my home and gardens are on glacial till gravel! We had only about 1 1/2" of rain during the entire 3 months of summer in 2016. We need winter snow and rain ...

Pepper seeds in the warm kitchen, soon. First. I need to risk getting up on the greenhouse deck, opening that door and getting in there with my bok choy plants and sprinkling some onion seed in a flat of potting soil!

Of all the saddest words
That I have ever heard
The saddest is the story
Told me by a bird
He had spent about an hour
Chatting with a flower
and here ís the tale the flower told
I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch,
an onion patch, an onion patch
I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch
and all I do is cry all day
Boo hoo, boo hoo
The air ís so strong it takes my breath away

ッ Steve

Easy Digit, we don't need any injuries around here! Glad you escaped with only minor damage! Wet sloppy weather is a mess, no doubt, but there's better excuses to lay up in the house than broken bones.

We have been having some phenomenal weather here. Seems we often get a good stretch of warm days sometime in January-February, the calm before the storm shall we say? Even I am getting a little concerned about the water situation though, no snow cover for weeks around here, this can't be good, and without being nearby my garden anymore, I'm not there to drag out any hoses. Well, lets hope this xeric gardening thing I've gotten myself into pans out cuz it doesn't get a whole lot drier than this. Maybe we could get some moderation huh? You can use half the rain and snow you've got and we could use the other half. But, if this isn't the High Plains and Rockies, well, I don't know what is.

No seeds have been started yet. I was going to start some of the super hot peppers this past weekend but decided to postpone it another week or two, no need to get antsy just yet.

I'm so sorry to hear you fell, digit! You'll probably be feeling the worst of it today and tomorrow. I hope it's not too bad. I'm glad you're getting good moisture, I just wish you weren't dealing with ice. Stretch and walk around (inside) to loosen up if you can.

I think it was Bette Davis that said, "Old age ain't no place for sissies!"

I've got another decade to work before retirement, but the better half and I have been talking about it. Spending 8 months a year here and 4 months somewhere else sounds pretty good. That's tough to do with a property, garden and pets to look after. One dream is to get an old airstream trailer fixed up and spend 4 months a year on the road, traveling the country.

I'm itching to start seeds. I think I'll sow some pansies this weekend, just to start something.

Moderation in all things ... but, I will try to keep falls to a minimum.

The path to the garbage can in the garage is across the "lawn." How the grass comes back every spring is an example of heroic plant growth! I try to choose alternative routes for the growing season other than the 2' wide, beeline straight, mud road between the berms there right now.

Teevee said 32°, I headed out. Tap, tap on each step wet with fresh rain. Nope. No real coating of ice. The water had mostly drained from beneath the frost-sparkled path, and with the rain only just starting, it was an easy walk to and from.

Timing is important for everything and a retired person has more of it. Still, drop the pressure off his or her shoulders and the typical response is procrastination! That's about the opposite of getting it done when needed. Good advice would be to make plans and take the first few steps long before the retirement moment arrives. Some "preliminaries" can take into account a Plan A, B or C. Hopefully, you won't have to get too far into the alphabet. Life, however, isn't tied to moorings.

Exercise is important! The consistent snow shoveling almost got me out of the Indoor Mile habit but I filled 30 minutes with tramping and the needed arm movements ... It just always helps!

Uh oh, while I am typing the rain turned to snow and now thinly blankets asphalt and semi-frozen mud! My buckets stuffed with snow melted in the greenhouse and aren't likely to be frozen again. I'm 2 weeks late getting some onion seed in. Umm, my guess is that's about right for February 2017. The basin is buried under November snow. Well shoot, it's within a "handle length" from a shovel in the carport ... and off I go!

Steve

So, what were you expecting - a photo like @Zach 's? ah,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!!!

Drip cycle ... Then, sown & sprinkled with more potting soil! And, now ... maybe some sunshine to warm their little feet ..?

Steve

Awesome, the growing season has begun!

Three days ago, the sun broke through the overcast at 3:30pm. I don't think the interior received 1 drop of sunshine that late on a February day!

There was freezing fog yesterday but the sun was out beautifully by 1pm! It was a very nice afternoon ...

This morning, the 20% chance of snow - found us! But there was just a skiff, turning everything white outdoors by soon after daylight. It isn't noon and the sun is trying to make an appearance! Snow is off the roads altho it is still below freezing. The afternoon highs have been in the mid 30's so the greenhouse has been warming nicely in the sun.

Snow forecast for tomorrow afternoon but, just maybe, we will have morning sunshine! We now have about 2 hours more daylight (well, light, at least) than the shortest day of the year, up here at 48°N latitude!

Steve

Steve, I am SO excited about the longer days. Our "spring forward" is closing in on March 12. One hour less light in the morning, but one hour more light in the evening. I'll take a dark morning over a dark evening any day. I LOVE still having some light at 9:00 at night during the height of summer. Personal preference. How much "light" do you receive there at 48N during the summer solstice? Here in the Denver area, we get around 16 hours (5:00am-9:00pm). Full-on sunshine, probably 14 max. Which is perfect. My house is at about 40N.

I got around to direct-sowing a couple lettuces, white icicle radishes and some pak choy last weekend when we were having high temps close to 70. Now, of course, we're having highs in the 20s with an inch or so of snow. We should moderate some with highs expected to be back in the 50s in about a week. Normal highs for us this time of year are around 48. I have several wonderful mini greenhouse cloches that I use this time of year that allow me to start harvesting lettuce by the first week of April almost every season no matter how cold or nasty the weather is. I'll be working on hardening off some kale, red onions and garlic chives over the next few days. They've grown very well under my lights since the beginning of January!

My Jonkeer von Tets currant plant has broken dormancy in the garage because of this record breaking February weather.. almost 12 degrees above normal to date.. it makes me slightly nervous, but there's nothing I can do about it. It will stay in the garage until early April when I will begin introducing it back to the outdoors. In the same circumstance, a few volunteer strawberry plants in the same whisky barrel have also awoken. Luckily, my two pear trees and one cherry tree are still asleep, but I wonder for how long. I think they'll be okay to begin hardening off in the next few weeks, though, as all are supposed to be hardy to zone 4. I err on the side of caution because they're in whiskey barrels and not in the ground. In years past, I have left barrels outdoors and the plants have never survived, but I have little doubt they have survived this winter in the garage where it rarely drops below 40. I have watered twice which seems almost overkill, honestly.

With the taste of spring we've already had, I am ACHING to be out in the garden again, but this Rocky Mountain weather always shows us who's in charge. It's almost never worth risking it, no matter what anyone says. Stay patient, all - spring will be here very soon!

Nick.

Nick, the U.S. Naval Observatory says it's 03:50 to 19:50 PST, sunrise to sunset. So, it would be a 16 hour day of sunshine on the solstice if my horizon was level. Which it isn't but ... I've gotta few minutes and more of actual daylight to spare.

Speaking of daylight, did you know that the Pacific time zone extends all the way to the Montana border? Southern Idaho has Mountain Time. I don't know why the official chart stays on standard time through every month of the year ... maybe those mathematicians don't like figuring out when the clocks change or, like me, find it's a disorienting experience, to lose or gain an hour.

It's a good thing that I don't need to have daylight to wake up or have darkness to sleep. Light! I need light, however, and I was recently talking to a lady who grew up in Alaska. She fairly well convinced me that the natural spectrum lights aren't just "nice." I'm gettin' one to set here by my cookbook collection. Yeah. Light - vital to human nutrition!

Steve

There's an 80% of snow tonight after it rained all night since yesterday's sunset. By Tuesday, there will be a 90% chance of snow. I'll use that as an excuse to put this here rather than on Jerry's Seed Starting thread. Besides, the near total lack of useful information may offend Jerry. If you are of a practical mind, be forewarned, and you may as well stop reading right here!

... Tracking. Three seed order shipments in transit ... exciting! No, I haven't checked on them every 4 hours ... more like twice that. I'm betting on the one from Wisconsin arriving first and on a Saturday. However, altho it may arrive with the mail carrier, it was shipped UPS. I remember being startled the first time I saw a UPS truck backing up to a post office.
I gave the WI outfit a day's head start with the order. UPS already dropped the ball once when their computer didn't connect to USPS after the transfer. Intense anxiety set in!
No, I'm kidding. KItazawa was again the champion this year! Yeah. They actually notified me the seeds were shipped on the same day I made the online order!

I discovered tracking a few months ago and just get caught up in theplacesthey'vebeen on their way to my little place on Earth. Think I'd better go drop some more of last year's onion seed in the potting soil before viability wears off. Ya know, Osborne Seed actually prints

"Steve"
on the seed packets so I know that they're for me and not my neighbor

Ok, Steve. Now I am getting jealous.;o)

Of your moisture, not that you have goodies on the way! Please send a little our way, pretty please! A foot of snow would be most welcome.

Much of the state is in drought again. Our last little inch of snow Tuesday netted about 40 gallons in the rain barrels, so I'll be watering this weekend. Upper 60's today and 70 degrees tomorrow. I don't think the bulbs can be stifled with mulch at this point, they're really coming up, so I'm giving them a drink.

It feels like time to finish cleaning up the beds. I leave some stalks up for "winter interest" and to feed the birds, but now it just looks like laziness on my part. The farmers have started ditch burning in the area so it smells like a campfire outside. Not a bad thing, but I have to watch it with open windows. Fresh air is nice but smoke in the house is not.

The tracking is a good/bad feature I think. I did learn something about UPS deliveries to my house. They land at a distribution center about 15 miles south of me, then get sent to another location 20 miles north of me before being put on the final delivery truck, delaying a day or sometimes two. It temps me to go get them, especially with plants, but that would defeat the purpose of delivery. Patience is a virtue I'm still working on!

That's a good idea by Osborne Seed. It helps them keep things straight and gives the order a personal touch.

Barb

Im right there with you Barb, just cleaned up most of last years dried up old stalks about a week ago. Some stuff like Agastache and grasses still has its leftovers standing, I'll cut those down at the end of this month.

I have plenty of things waking up...except bulbs lol. No rush though, it may FEEL like the first weekend in April, but my calendar says otherwise. Two more weeks until winter officially ends, and another month after that until it actually ends here in Rocky Mountain Gardening land haha.

I did finally get some seeds in the dirt though. 11 different kinds of peppers this year... I better make it to the spring swap or Im going to have to find a home for nearly 70 pepper seedlings (thats how many I planted anyhow we'll see how many poke their heads up the next week or two).

Barb, you can see that we don't have anything high above normal to share.

It is somewhat unusual for lower altitude locations to have had so much snow and snow cover for so many days and snow instead of rain.

Zach, you should plant another 70 and when the peppers begin tugging at your sleeve - find yourself a garden! Of course with peppers, it could be 70 ice cream containers beside a driveway.

Steve

Yes, the mountains have been hogging most of the moisture this year. Our snowpack %s are higher than yours. That's interesting. Central Wyoming and Utah have some incredible numbers! I wonder why NE Colorado didn't report? They've got to be in bad shape right now. We'll be good when the irrigation ditches start running, but that's a couple of months away. Humidity was at 8% yesterday. The ground is so hard and dry that I have to use a sprinkling watering can, apply just a little water and wait till it soaks in, then add a little more. If I try to soak anything it just runs off.

I did get most of the stalks down yesterday and attacked the mint, which was growing out of it's concrete bed and under the railroad ties that border it. I love mint, but it is an ambitious plant! Then I tried to transplant a tree. I got a 24" wide hole dug but really struggled to get more than a couple of inches deep. The soil is like concrete! My elbows finally got cranky with me. I think I'll follow my own advice and put a little water in the hole to soften things up before I try to finish. The good news is I didn't dig up the tree yet so it can stay where it is till the hole is the right size.

I'm dawdling with seed starting this year, don't know why. Maybe because it's warm and I'd rather be outside. If it was cold I'd be more inclined to stay in and play in the seeds. Good luck with the peppers, Zach and thanks for the nudge!

Looking at that map made me wonder about New Mexico. The weather there might bear more resemblance to NE Colorado, Barb.

"February 2017 was well above normal over most of New Mexico, while precipitation was near to below normal." NOAA Albuquerque That link will show some nice precipitation and temperature maps of CO neighbor to the south. They might show the intersection of climates.

David52 and I used to discuss the near identical native flora in southern Colorado and here. There are differences but I felt in my travels through Alamosa and Durango that if I would just drift a few dozen miles south of Wolf Creek Pass that I'd find myself in exactly the same environment as here!

A weather difference would be summer monsoons. Nothing like that here. Maybe the Denver area will be blessed with some growing season rain. Wouldn't that be nice?

Steve

It would, Steve. Last July's monsoon was not much here and we've been dry ever since, except the December/January cold with snow.

I was thinking about David and Colorado Kid over the holidays. 2 people I miss and wish I'd gotten to meet.

When we were in the Pullman area visiting WSU in 2011, I remember thinking the terrain was pretty similar to ours. Grassland, except you have more rolling hills and we're pretty flat.

If you move north of those hills of windblown soil you come to very near what could be described as desert. The border with any trees at all is there among the basalt outcroppings.

Fortunately, I'm back among a more diverse forest including many lodgepole pine, that seem so dominant down near the CO/NM border.

The mountains nearest at hand are not quite the Rockies, altho the actual Rocky Mountains are just a stone's throw away. No, the geologists tell us that the Selkirk Range actually predates the Rockies ... but, are considered a part of the Cordillera.

Drought really threatens the Ponderosa pine about 20 miles west but they grow of some size here where more precipitation is concentrated on mountainsides and above aquifers. The lodgepole join them along with Douglas fir, grand fir, hemlock, aspen, and near the lakes and rivers, birch. Cedar are on the north slopes and spruce down along the creeks. Sound familiar??

Steve

As far as I know, NE colorado has seen almost no moisture this winter. They can get some real whoppers out that way (Ive gotten stuck on an occasion or two trying to get to hunting spots out there) but dry as a bone this winter.

I have a garden to put some peppers in, and most DO go in containers, but 70.... Thats quite the investment in pots and potting soil! It might be a whole driveway rather than just the side, something I have done before. Speaking of, Home Depot has their bales of sunshine peat that I will be picking up soon. I use it to refresh the potting mix from the from previous year. I never throw it out (this year a few buckets will get tossed because there were disease issues) just buy a bale of sunshine and maybe 2 of potting MIX and mix them all together in the wheelbarrow to fill the pots with... I try to be a frugal gardener whenever possible, this hobby aint exactly cheap.

I sat on my hands starting seeds this year too, Barb. Partially because I have peppers going in the ground so they will be transplanted later. Also because trying to keep things happy under lights from the end of February until the end May is a little challenging so I figure if I can cut a couple weeks out of that it may make my life a little easier. Mostly my problem though was getting in the truck and driving over to Littleton to get it done. I feel much better now that Im started now, and Im also only starting peppers tomatoes and eggplant inside so Im done seeding until next month. Im a little anxious thinking about where all these plants are goibg to live for the next 3 months, though. Shelf space is at a premium to be sure.

Your forest soubds more messic, Steve. We don't have hemlock or much birch. Lodgepole is ubiquitous however and the dense "doghair" forest of it is a major contributing factor to the beetle outbreak and increased fire risk and intensity. But, people have adopted an attitude that every tree is sacred and cannot be removed. Nat geo put out a number on how overcrowded the forests of the Rocky Mountains are compared to their historic population. I think it was around 30% more trees per square mile than there ought to be in most places. Many are apt to comment on the breathtaking view of a solid pine covered mountain not understanding how unhealthy such a forest actually is.

Ponderosa stands are a little different. They are often called savannah rather than forest since the trees are spaced out further with an understory of grasses. In places where this type of ecology is being restored its really very nice. Once again however because of our misunderstanding of how important fire and other factors are to the health of the landscape these savannah's must be artificially created and maintained.

Oh, my, yes, Zach! “because of our misunderstanding of how
important fire and other factors are to the health of the landscape”

I don’t think you’re old enough to remember the Fires of
Yellowstone (1988) but as the fires spread that year there were more and more
and more people (on TV reporting) ranting, “why don’t they PUT THEM
OUT!???” As if anyone with a brain could
believe that Mere Human Beings even COULD put out fires encompassing nearly
800,000 acres!!! I, in return, was
ranting (back at the TV!), “and who PUT OUT the fires before white man got to
this continent!???”

You’re not old enough, either, to remember: Only YOU can prevent forest fires! Smokey Bear, ALL over the place—even in
Illinois where I grew up! [But Digit is
olde enough to remember!]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/0b/dc/2c/0bdc2c579b592bca5800d6a9ef42261a.jpg

https://pigeonholedpress.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/h_smokey_bemyguest.jpg

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/sign-warning-you-can-prevent-forest-fires-18363916.jpg

If the intent had been to prevent fires caused by MAN, that
would have been a good thing, but way back then that meant preventing—and
actively putting out, ALL fires as soon as they were discovered! Hence the glut of olde, dead, dying, and
unhealthy trees that allowed for the mega-fires in Yellowstone that year! If only white guys would figure out the
they/we really DON’T know more than Mother Nature we’d have a whole lot fewer
problem to FIX—after we create them!
(Tamarisk! Kudzu!))

Check out the bottom of page 7 at this link, which shows the
incidence of fires in Yellowstone from when it came “under government control”
until 2003. The “early years” show some
of the naturally occurring fires in various years—and then you get to the “fire
suppression” years, 1945-1971, where there are virtually no fires
“allowed!” Then there were a few fires
around ’80, but the majority of the “fire suppression years’ fuel” was still
there, leading to the MASSIVE fires in ’88.
when I first quickly looked at the graph I “missed” that the “bar” for
’88 goes all the way up to the top of the page!
It appeared to be a “border” (of the page!) to me! Then I looked closer and figured out what I
was actually looking at! WOW! That’s what happens when man knows better than
Mother Nature! Since ’88 the graph shows
more naturally occurring fires are being left to burn again—letting Mother
Nature decide what’s “right” again. When
I was there in 2012 the air was hazy with smoke, I wasn’t even sure if I’d be
able to get into the Park a few days (or if I might need to evacuate the one
place where I was staying near Gardiner at the NW entrance), and while they
were “controlling” them enough to try to keep them from burning the things
humans had built there, the fires were left to burn and monitored in “natural”
areas. Yes, climate change will very
likely mean more fires in coming years, but “preventing” all fire is not an
option!

There’s some interesting—and fun—pics on this site! I love the one in the middle on the very
bottom of the last page! Cooke City is
the little town that’s immediately outside of the NE entrance to the Park!

https://www.google.com/search?q=year+of+yellowstone+fires%3F&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Mother Nature is definitely smarter than us!

Skybird

Colorado already has fires?! Early March. I guess if there is a time when some control can protect valuable resources, natural or built, it's a much better time. Kind of painful to use the word, "better."

I'm dreading fire season. So much trouble with allergies in recent years. It's carrying right over and through winter, to some extent. Last summer, the air was okay but 2015 and some years previous - brutal.

The National Park Service says as many as 90% are man-caused. Resource management somehow reminds me of a deck of playing cards. Played out one at a time but there are only 52 and combinations depend on where one sits at the table. In some years, I should have folded rather than have taken the hand dealt me. Beyond ... over the horizon. Away.

Steve