Status of The Garden, Early August

Sugar snap peas in August? Well, it's been a strange year. These are the products of what is left of the pea vines after Ms. Doe got after them. I replanted yesterday, thinking optimistically as ever, that I may get a fall crop in. I will take steps to decrease Ms. Doe's interest in garden greenery.

What is that? A micro melon? This is my first year's attempt at growing melons, and I am encouraged that I even see flowers and mini Blacktail Mountain watermelons.

Doesn't this tomato bed look great? Of course by this time of year it should have fruit in various stages of ripening. But this is the unsung Coldest Spot in Minnesota after all...

And the dill. Best crop ever, and I didn't even plant it! I keep hoping my miserable frost bitten pickling cukes will catch up to it. By the way, I love the repetitiveness in the dill head and dill flowerettes. Garden fireworks.

Welcome to the Coldest Spot in Minnesota, again

This is not sun scald, or some strange fungal thing. This is frost damage, here on a winter squash. In the middle of July. The plant will survive, but excuse me? Are we entering a mini Ice Age here? Can I not expect to grow frost sensitive vegetables and not have to worry about covering them up every night in the summer?

On the other hand, the sugar snap peas, which I planted pretty late, are thriving. As are the kale and Swiss chard. The tomatoes and other frost wimpy plants survived too.

not the coldest spot in Minnesota

I've blogged before about how I live in a strange cold spot that often rivals International Falls for low temperatures. I've had frost in every month of the year. I've questioned my thermometer's accuracy, but even if it reads a few degrees low there's no denying it was cold this morning! That thermometer read zero, my car thermometer read 4 when I drove Calvin out to meet the bus at 6:30.

But most cities north of here were reporting below zero temperatures. Whatever was correct, zero or 4, was downright tropical compared to other spots in Minnesotarctica.

Still, it's mornings like this that make me think indoor toilets are a good idea.

Happy 13th of July

Still more proof that I live in the Unofficial Coldest Spot in Minnesota.

The garden looked okay, but sometimes frost damage doesn't show up until later in the day.

Update: Pickling cucumbers and winter squash sustained some light frost damage. I have now seen frost in every month of the year.

Those crisp, cool days of...summer?

It's June 29th, right? At least the botanical calendar says it is. Fireweed is in bloom. Last weekend, we had temperatures in the 90's and high humidity. This morning the thermometer read 35. Fahrenheit, that is. Darn near freezing. As I have mentioned previously, I live in the unofficial coldest spot in Minnesota.

Not that I'm complaining. If the whole summer could be like this, I wouldn't mind, as long as we had some rain once in a while. High temperatures today are supposed to hit the mid seventies. Perfect.



And now, the not-so-daily, or even not very weekly lupine picture. Seeds should be popping soon, and it looks like there will be plenty for those of you who wanted some.

the calendar says it's summer

...but the thermometer says 39 degrees F this morning! I just dug out my wool socks; glad I didn't stash them away too far! I have mentioned before about how I live in The Coldest Spot in Minnesota; I'm beginning to believe that deep down by the bedrock (Hinckley Sandstone) right underneath this place, there lies a giant ice block that never melted after the last Ice Age.

But really, I much prefer this to heat and humidity. My peas, Swiss chard, lettuce, and spinach like it too. The tomatoes and peppers, however, are going to get their plastic hoophouse covers put on today, to give them a little boost. Maybe "Sub Arctic Plenty" will be my best new tomato variety of the year. I'm not joking; that is a real name of a real open-pollinated tomato developed in the 1940's for the US Air Force base in Greenland. If it works in Greenland, it just might have a chance here.

I took a day off work today, so I get to play in my garden! That is, after I finish mowing the foot-tall grass in the back yard. I should just let the sheep graze back there, if we had a way to keep them fenced in. Of course, I do have a nine year old boy with no plans for the day.

An invitation

I would like to extend this invitation to all readers of this blog to come and spend this, the coldest weekend of the year, here at Sand Creek. You'll have to dress warm, and cover everything; with the wind chill factor added to the temperature above, any exposed flesh starts freezing almost instantly. But don't worry; it's plenty warm inside, with the wood stove and propane heater going simultaneously. You can enjoy watching Calvin playing Tony Hawk Skateboarding on the Game Cube, or watch Harry Potter movies, or maybe enjoy a little music from me, or help me plan my garden. The beer is nice and cold, all I have to do is keep it on the porch floor and it nearly freezes. Later on I'll make a pot of chili guaranteed to warm you inside and out.

The Hermit claims the temperature before sunrise, which tends to be the coldest time, was 28 below zero F. How does that compare with the rest of Minnesota? International Falls, the icebox of the north, recorded a low of 24 below. Rural Lake County, which includes the towns of Tower and Embarrass that hold the record for the coldest temp ever recorded in the lower 48 (I think it was 60 below), also bottomed out at 24. The lowest recorded temperature I could find for last night was Hibbing, northwest of Duluth on Minnesota's Iron Range, with -27. Cloquet, about 40 miles to the north, recorded a balmy 20 below. Duluth, forget it, with the lake effect they never get as cold as we do here. So it is very likely that this was the coldest spot in Minnesota this morning. As Calvin remarked, "It's so cold, when I pee it freezes before it hits the ground."

Oh, and you can also enjoy a cup of coffee or tea by the woodstove, while you watch the activity at my bird feeder.

I call this dead spruce the "Tree of Life" in winter, because on a day like today the branches are a flurry of bird activity. Note the yellow guy on the trunk.

Here he is at the broken top of the tree. This is the male Evening Grosbeak, a boreal species that we see occasionally in the winter. This morning was the first time I actually saw them come to the feeder.

And of course there are black-capped chickadees. They will likely be close to the feeder all day, as they must eat constantly to stay warm. They are hard to photograph, as they are constantly in motion, like this one.

So come on up to the Frozen North!