Snow Days

Snowy bird bath

The winter storm system that just blew through Kansas gave us more than wind and cold.  We actually got snow this time, and lots of it!  Our official total here for this storm was 14.2 inches. 

I've read that 10 inches of snow melts down to the equivalent of one inch of rain. That makes this snow enough to do some good, but won't come anywhere close to making up for the drought.

Winter Sowing

Getting ready for winter sowing.

Today I started planting my garden for the summer--way earlier for outdoor planting than I would have ever thought possible before!  Over the last several months, I'd run into mention of "winter sowing" using plastic milk jugs like tiny greenhouses, and found fascinating descriptions of this method of starting plants.  It is supposed to avoid the all-too-prevalent problem of damping off, and gives the gardener seedlings with healthy root systems that do not need to be hardened off before planting.  I decided to try it for myself.