Monday, February 14, 2011

A Year's Difference

Last February we put a contract on the house we now own. On February 15th we did the home inspection and I took this photo of the back garden.
This February is drastically different. I anticipate my start to the garden will be delayed this year while waiting for the snow to melt. Here's what it looked like today.
Since the forecast calls for sun and above freezing temperatures this week I decided to go out and shovel off the cold frame. I found it was easier to crawl over the surface of the snow than sink into the very deep paths of at least 30 inches.
When I found the coldframe there was 12-15 inches on top of it.
I slowly shoveled it off. I got to the last window and realized I hadn't gotten the edge.
Here's where I made my mistake. Instead of scraping across the window I went straight down on where I thought the edge of the wood was. Ooops! I broke the glass.So I covered it with some plastic and come spring we'll have to replace it with plexiglass or something.
Here is how things look on the inside of the cold frame. Green but frozen. And smelling like a fish tank. When things begin to thaw out I'll have to clean out the dead plants and see what will rebound. Here's how the garden looks now.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh no! Thank goodness you were not hurt. There is so much snow still on the ground this year. Hopefully this week some will melt.

Robin said...

How in the world did you even find those cold frames???

You are very lucky that you didn't hurt yourself!

Emily said...

Robin,

There was a slight difference in the snow where the cold frame was so I knew where to start digging. Thankfully, all the glass went down when it broke and I was standing just outside the cold frame.

Daphne Gould said...

We still have a ton of snow too, but today it was melting. We hit 55 for the first time in a long time Whoot! Maybe my road will melt out a bit. I'm not fond of the ice skating rink it has become.

Anonymous said...

I hope that some of those plants will survive. It is a good think you didn't step on the glass. On that second picture I can't tell where the cold frame is.

Marcia said...

Too bad about the glass but better that they stitches for you.

We have had a lot melt since Sunday. I'll post another mid day photo on my blog today.

Eleanor said...

Wow! That's an amazing effort! I've been wondering about covering my raised beds with black plastic, but not til a couple of feet of snow melts and hope is in sight. Keep us posted on what's next for the cold frame!

Shaela said...

Oh, how fun! I started reading your blog right before you posted that first photo of the new garden. Here's to your impressive dedication!