Moving TundraGarden to Wordpress

I'm moving the blog to Wordpress. It's not that I don't like it here, but I've got another blog over there that I needed more features for, and it's just easier to have them both there.

It's hard enough to find time for blogging, and things really lapsed here after the loader made such a mess of the garden, but I'm back at it.

Come take a look at the New TundraGarden.

Almost ready for a little clipping!

Everything is up, and the green basil and the chives are actually far enough along that I'm going to be able to start snipping a few bits of for cooking.

The "replace bulb" light is on, and it's proving a challenge to get the bulbs up here due to insane shipping charges. I'm ordering a set, but I'm going to order more shipped free to my mom's & bring them up next time I visit. Don't need to spend over $20 to get two little bulbs mailed. Total rip-off.

New seedlings!

So far, three of the seven are up. The thyme was actually first, in 2 days (!), followed by the 2 basils on day 3. These weren't the freshest seed pods, and they were just sealed in the box in plastic, so I'm pretty impressed.

New Round in the Aerogardens

It's been a while. (Life intervened, which I may explain in a later post if I get to it.)

At any rate, the Aerogarden with herbs in it did well, the basils lasting until almost Christmas. I could have kept them going longer, but they'd sort of outgrown it and gotten woody. Also the roots had sort of grown everywhere, including into the pump & water level sensor it turned out. So I pulled the plug.

Today I started another set of seven (mint, 2 basils, dill, thyme, chives, and parsley). We'll see if they do as well as the last lot.

I'm planning to get the other one going on mesclun, I think. The tomatoes were OK, but they've got a new model with about a foot of extra height, and I think that would be the ticket for tomatoes. I really need to find a place for about 3-4 more of these & we could do pretty welll.

The "Pond" emerges

I believe I've mentioned the "pond" in the TundraGarden before.  It fully emerged from the snowbank today, although a bit the worse for wear.  The arctophylla seems to be intact.

However, we had an awful lot of snow this year, and the snowclearing efforts have been correspondingly vigorous, in an attempt to move most snow onto the lagoon and sea ice while it is still thick enough for heavy equipment to operate safely.  The idea is that it will help keep the mud in check and the roads will develop fewer potholes.

In the process, a loader bucket seems to have caught the bathtub (which is what the pond was in a former life) and deformed it enough to cause a good bit of the porcelain to come off at on end.  It may eventually look a bit more natural, but it will also start to rust.

Oh well, everything is archaeology in the end.  Something for my professional successors to puzzle over.  Unless of course this blog survives.

Robin in Barrow

I was driving back to my office from a meeting when I saw a familiar-looking round-breasted bird hopping along on the ground beside a frozen puddle.  A few seconds went by before I thought "Wait a minute!  That looks like a robin."  The sun was behind it so I had to wait for it to move a bit to see the orange breast, but sure enough, it was a robin.  

It's not the first one ever in Barrow.  A couple years ago some friends emailed me pictures of a strange bird they didn't recognize that the husband had taken.  A robin.

We still have a couple feet of snow on the ground, and much more in drifts, so it's kind of odd for a robin to be hanging around in this anyway, and we haven't had any really big storms from the south that might have carried it up, so who knows what it is doing here.

Status of the Aerogardens for those who are wondering

The Aerogardens are chugging along. The pictures above are from late January. All the herbs (above) did quite well, although the basils seemed particularly happy. They are still going strong, although the purple basil is getting somewhat odd looking leaves. The dill also did well, but a few weeks ago it just died, although it had not gone to seed. The mint has more or less overwhelmed the parsely at this point.
In January the tomatoes were not up to the light, and had started growing fruit, although none had ripened. Now we're getting the second flush of ripe tomatoes, and more are coming (both the yellow and red cherries seem to be inderterminate). I personally think the red are much tastier, but hey, fresh tomatoes in Barrow in April.....

Spring arrives on the wings of snowbirds

Well, it has been a while.  But the sun has come back and the temperatures are above 0, and the snow is even melting a teeny bit every now and then, so in a month or two, the TundraGarden will emerge.

But I know it's spring, because the snowbirds are BACK!!!!  They are really snow buntings, but everyone here calls them snowbirds.  They are the first birds back (except for the ravens that spend the winter) and they are the true sign of spring.  The males sing, loudly, from high perches, and I often hear them a couple days before I see one.  I'd been hearing them for a few days, and then saw one driving home from work a couple of days ago.

More baby herbs

As I was saying, when so rudely interrupted by Blogger, almost all of this happened in one day. The thyme really grew fast too.

The chives are having a real growth spurt today as well. The mint and parsley seem to be coming along fine too.



In the other Aerogarden (located in the office/exercise room for lack of available table space in any other area where it will get the necessary dark to set fruit), the tomatoes are also progressing nicely. The yellow cultivar sprouted in 3 days, with the two red cherry tomatoes sprouting in 4.5. I took the hot cap off the yellow ones on Thursday night, and the other two got their caps off Friday night. Today the yellow ones are just starting to show the 2nd set of leaves. Tme to find my teeny scissors and sacrifice the weaklings among the tomatoes.

Portrait of the Basil as a young herb

Things have been coming up apace in the Aerogardens. The dill showed up on day 4, and was ready to have its hot cap off the next day, along with the 2 basils & the thyme.

The chives appeared on day 5, as did the mint, and the parsley is just showing a hint of green.

Unfortunately, Blogger is pretty much refusing to upload pix.  I've tried about 10 times, so the rest will have to wait until later.

Patience may be a virtue....

but it's not one I possess in any quantity. Fortunately for me, the Aerogarden is really going gangbusters. On day 3 (well, 2.5 from starting) 3 of the 7 types of herbs have sprouted. Both the purple and green basils and the thyme are up. I tried for a picture, but the teeny-tiny hot caps reflect too much. They'll come off in a day or so, and then I'll get a portrait of a young herb.