Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to bring you yet another riveting update, even though there isn’t much about me. You may remember me from such snow- and snowdrop-related posts as “Manzanitas, Snow, And Snowdrops”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
It’s almost sixty degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius), and the snow isn’t melting. If you think this drives the guy I live with right up the wall, you’d be right.
Not only that, it’s supposed to get down to about three below zero (-19.4 Celsius) later this week.
The guy I live with says he used to find winters here tolerable, but not so much any more.
There are some advantages to snow. Well, one or two, anyway. The seed frame definitely benefits from snow, by insulating it, and also by giving the seeds the required amount of cold they need to germinate.
The frame is nothing but 2×4s and chicken wire on top.
Hardware cloth would be better, to keep mice out. I know we have mice in the garden because I saw a couple on the patio last night. They were eating thistle seed that the guy I live with spilled when he was filling the feeders.
You can germinate seeds that need a cold treatment in other ways that bypass the need for cold (he talks about that a lot), but the guy I live with says this “lazy way” is excellent, and gets good results.
I should also mention the flat of seedpots sitting on the shelf on the patio. Careful attention needs to be paid to the pots having enough snow cover, which means the guy I live with will have to be more alert than he usually is.
For some reason, the snow falling on that flat isn’t meltproof. If the seeds dry out, it could take years for them to germinate, because they can become even more dormant.
There are also seeds in pots in the middle frame in this picture.
Those frames, even though they were just built a few years ago, are going to be removed and “repurposed”. This is kind of a big deal.
The guy I live with has decided they’re ugly, especially covered with plastic, and he’s going to transplant the snowdrops in the frames into the garden right there. (It’s actually called The North Border.) You can see there’s no snow, and the soil isn’t frozen because of the mulch, so it might be an ideal place for more snowdrops.
The main planting of snowdrops, which you can see in the blog’s “header”, are beyond the gate in the picture above.
In recent years there’s been snow on the ground for a long time there, which is frustrating to the guy I live with. He would rather see snowdrops.
So I guess there will be another garden, or border, devoted to flocks of snowdrops, especially ones that flower earlier. A couple might not like our hot winter sun, like the one with the sort of funny name, Galanthus ikariae var. snogerupii. (The leaves have these air pockets which cause the leaves to burn.)
These might have to go to the Botanic Gardens, for a better home.
There is some action in the snowdrop frame, but not much.
This is ‘Chequers’. Not a very focused picture, I know.
The main trouble with the frames is that because the low winter sun doesn’t shine on the soil as much as it should, the soil doesn’t get warm enough, and so the snowdrops planted closest to the front don’t do much.
And it would be easier to cover the snowdrops when it gets as cold as they say it might.
Not only that, but bees could get to the flowers, to do their pollinating.
The only other thing is to show the whole setup upstairs. The LED lights make the color look a little peculiar.
There used to be fluorescent lights, but the guy I live with said they were useless, and very annoying when they started to flicker or buzz. The new lights are much better.
The seed pots are in the propagators (fancy English ones), which the guy I live with got from Garden Talk.
The pots on the lower shelf are cyclamen that haven’t produced leaves yet, for some unknown reason. He wonders about this a lot. The pots on the middle shelf are cyclamen that are just waiting to go out in the garden next year.
So that’s the snow, seeds, and snowdrops talk for today. There wasn’t enough about me in this post, but the guy I live with said that sometimes we do have to talk about gardening rather than just about me, even though I’m so fascinating.
I guess he’s right; he sometimes is.
I’ll say goodbye for now with an evening picture of me, outstanding in my field. (I had to say that.)
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Mew mew mew ‘outstanding inn yore field” mew mew mew Mani yore THE kewlest Poochie an funny two!
THE set up upstairss look furry guud. An your wee snowdropss are so purtty. Wee under 3 feet of snow an not a flower inn site! Our Snowdropss will show up inn April or May….
Guy you are purrty amazin makin mew planss fore yorer gardenss. Wee sorta think THE plastic coverss are not so nice lookin eether; butt you did werk with what you had….
Iss 60 deegreess yet snow iss not meltin??? That iss so weerd. Then again, this hole winter has been weerd rite???
**nose bopss** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum look
Pee S: Mani you look so ether-reel inn yore glow collar an furry snazzy!
Thanks. I like my collar, and the other dogs are jealous.
The snow has started to melt, a little, but it’s going to get cold again.
I guess the guy I live with didn’t consider covering for the frames. The plastic is really ugly, and doesn’t keep out the cold very much. Almost everything can be reused, even if it’s been painted.
Wee hear you Mani bout ree-usin an ree-cyclin… BellaSita Mum iss allwayss doun that!!
Of coarse all THE other Poochiess are jelluss!! Yore a ifine lookin man dog an you glow….CATFISH mee even thinkss mee wuud liek a glow ollar an mee NOT wear a collar, mew mew mew…….
Iss -3 Cellseeus today…goin to get cold again an more snow tonite an tomorrow here!!!! BBRR!
It’s snowing here; we’re supposed to get like a foot of snow, which doesn’t make the guy I live with very happy, but there’s nothing to be done about it.
Just yesterday evening I saw another dog with a lighted collar. This one changed colors.
It’s possible I’m jealous of that.
CATFISH a collar that changess color Mani?!?! Maybee Guy will buy you one some time soon!
Wee gotted rain last nite; then icey sleety stuff an now iss snowin again!! Winter sure found all of us hasn’t it??? 😉
He might get me one, though he says the blue one is just fine.
It would never rain here in the winter. Never, ever.
We have maybe a foot of snow on the ground right now. I had to wear my boots on my morning walk, but the guy I live with couldn’t keep up, slogging through the snow, so we walked in the street instead.
Mee thinkss you look hansum inn yore glowy blue collar. Mee likes itt bettur than other flashy collar.
Sloggin thru snow iss not alot of fun iss it?? Guy wee hope you can enjoy walks with Mani without sloggin!
**purrss** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks. No, slogging through the snow is one of the guy I live with’s less favorite things to do.
BellaSita Mum does not like sloggin thru snow eether Mani!
Seed can be so demanding. Some want chill. Some want just the right amount of chill. Some do not want to be too wet. Some do not want to be too dry. In California, and likely in your region as well, there are a few types of seed that prefer to be exposed to fire prior to germination. When we were in school, we put seed out on flats of medium, put newspaper over them, and then burned the newspaper. That seemed like too much work. Some types were satisfied with baking in the oven. Others actually needed flame. It is weird.
The guy I live with has done all sorts of things like that. And also getting into arguments about it, because there are ways to bypass all of that stuff people said you absolutely have to do.
There’s a seed pot of Romneya coulteri outside right now. The cold does the same thing that fire does. (The last time he did this, ages ago, he gave the seedlings to the Botanic Gardens.)
Gads! I SO know about that! Some people still believe in soaking seed for 24 hours (not 23 and not 25, but 24!) to get them ready for sowing, as if that is somehow different from them soaking in damp medium. Canna seed supposedly require scarification for germination, even though they grow like weeds where they are not wanted without anyone to scarify them.
I have never grown Romneya coulteri from seed because it is so easy to grow from pups once it is established. It can be invasive.
Well, because the guy I live with isn’t a horticultural professional or anything like that, some people get upset when he suggests there are other ways to germinate seeds. It’s just a hobby, really.
Many hobbyists take their respective hobbies more seriously than some of the professionals.
Maybe so.