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Entry Date
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Location
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Saturday, November 06, 2010
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shazzy
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Joliet, IL
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Entry 255 of 267 |
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20 degrees this morning. brrrrrr. first hard freeze of the fall. since i just put down the cover crop 16 days ago and the sprouts are still somewhat immature, i threw on the sprinkler last night at 10 pm when it was still 33 degrees. i left it on til early this morning about 5 am. the ice coating that slowly devloped on top of the saturated soil overnight should have protected the immature roots from freezing and also stop some soil expansion from the freeze by insulating the soil surface. the winter rye was of no concern due to its hardiness. but i want the hairy vetch, which sprouted 4 or 5 days after the rye and is still very immature, to have a better chance of get substantiated. also the final annual rye topping is not as hardy as the winter rye and the the small srouts coated with ice should help to insulate it from the 20 degree temps and give it a better chance of getting a good strong root base over the next week of above normal temps in the 60s. you can see in the pic how much ice formed around the sprinkler itself, but all that green vegetation to the right also has a nice coating too and the fence has icicles and is coated and shining bright now in the morning sun. should be a nice week of weather for the cover crop and hoping to get some more decent roots formed and some thicker foliage prior to the the continual nightly freezes right around the corner. the sprinkler and hoses will put away tonight and now the patch work has officially ended for the season. time to hunker down for the winter with dart league action, euchre, texas hold em, pro football, college basketball soon, and hopefully our stanley cup holding blackhawks can find their rhythm with all the new personnel changes. a little snow skiing, fall fishing, then ice fishing, some seed auctions and winter meetings, then the superbowl, march madness...and boom...i will start the tomato plants in mid march and the season begins all over again.
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