image from Pinterset Weather update: Temperature is 25 degrees at 7:45 AM. Lots of clouds today and high of only 31 degrees. Low tonight of 24 degrees. NOT warming up much. So my question to you, with our day light shorter, what things are you doing to make the time go better? We aren’t having sun, we have more hours of darkness, so what are doing to help you keep busy? Let us know. Thanks.
How Much Daylight Do We Gain After the Winter Solstice? Starting Saturday, December 23, the days will start being longer, and the Sun will be slightly higher up. We’ll start feeling greater warmth on our skin, too! Solar intensity depends on the sun’s height. But since the ground and the air take awhile to catch up we won’t reach our coldest average temperature until the third week of January, a full month from now. As for things you can easily observe, the most obvious solstitial effect is that you can look out your most southwest facing window on Thursday and again Friday and see the Sun set at its leftmost position of the year. If you’re an early riser and see the Sun come up at around 7:15 AM, that will happen at its rightmost possible spot, in the east/southeast. The matchup with our clocks is less clear-cut. We already had our darkest afternoon on December 7 and will not suffer our darkest morning, meaning latest sunrise, until the first week of January. This is thanks to the lag between the days’ variable lengths caused by our planet moving at different speeds in our orbit and the inflexible length of each clock’s minutes and hours. Let’s take a more relatable location in the Midwest, Chicago. If you look at the Almanac’s daylight tool for Chicago, there are just 9 hours, 11 minutes of daylight during the week leading up to Christmas. After this, daylight increases to 9 hours, 15 minutes by New Year’s Day. By mid-January, the increase jumps to about two minutes a day. By the 20th of February, daylight speeds up to three minutes per day! On the 20th, day length is 10 hours, 53 minutes and on the 21st, it’s 10 hours, 56 minutes. In May, the increase slows back to two minutes gain per day By the time we get to the summer solstice, the increase further slows to a minute a day; peaking at 15 hours and 16 minutes by the solstice. Taken from https://www.almanac.com/how-much-daylight-do-we-gain-after-winter-solstice Till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa beckmall@netins.net 641-794-3337 cell 641-903-9365
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image from West Fork Methodist Church Cool out this morning at 21 degrees at 8:00 AM but looks like clear blue sky is going to be this morning. I read that during Jan we gain 50 minutes of sunlight, so that is exciting. High of 34 degrees and low tonight of 17 degrees. With this mild winter weather, the waste oil stove at Larry’s Garage which is tied into the greenhouse furnace is keeping up with the heat. We haven’t had to start the outdoor wood stove at the greenhouse yet. Of course, we are using the outdoor wood stove at the house, and I have been keeping it going while Larry laid up. It is a science on how to keep that wood burning and not getting too many clunkers in the fire box. Looks like another quiet week, but just heard that next week more active weather is coming. We might get some snow Monday night into Tuesday. See what happens.
We have many poinsettias at our church, here is how to keep them looking good. 7 Tips for Poinsettia Plant Care, through the Holiday Season and Beyond by Doreen G. Howard Keep those poinsettia plants going strong, especially after the holidays! Poinsettias can even be kept year after year to rebloom if you give them proper care. See our tips on top mistakes to avoid. Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are the perfect Christmas plants that bloom when the days are shorter! By the way, the showy red parts of Poinsettia plants are not flowers; rather, they are modified leaves known as bracts. A poinsettia plant’s actual “flower” is the yellow bloom at the center of the bracts. The colored leaves, known as bracts, are not the poinsettia plant’s flowers. They are the tiny yellow or orange buds in the center.>Getting Off to a Good Starting the future, when choosing poinsettias, select plants with little or no yellow pollen, as they will bloom longer. Also, do not buy these tropical plants from an outdoor stall, nor leave them in your cold car while running other errands! When you get home, always remove the plant from its plastic sleeve. Make sure there is a watering hole in the bottom of the container (or drill a hole) and place it on a saucer that captures extra water. At home, follow these plant care tips: Poinsettias are particular about light. They require bright light during the day for the brightest color (at least 6 hours a day), but they don’t like direct light that could fade or burn the leaves. In the winter, place yours near a well-lit window. East-facing windows are best. Avoid spots near heating vents and doors, as well as hot appliances. Cold drafts will cause leaves to drop. No part of the plant should touch the cold glass. Excess heat can dry out the plants too much. Poinsettias favor semi-cool conditions. Keep temperatures between 65° and 70°F, ideally. Basically, maintain temperatures that are comfortable for people. Be sure to lower the thermostat at night so that plants cool off. Do NOT overwater. Keep the soil moist, but be careful not to overwater, which is the most common cause of death. Only water when the top inch or two of soil feels dry to the touch. If underwatered, plants wilt and shed leaves. Don’t let the plant sit in water or water-filled sauces, which causes root rot. Be careful to remove any foil which may gather water. Treat the saucers like water catchers, and 30 minutes or so after a good watering, detach it in the sink and let it all drain out. Fertilizer is never recommended while the plant is in bloom. Fertilize only if you decide to keep them after their holiday bloom. Poinsettias like humidity. Add plants nearby to aid humidity. Use a humidifier or place plants on a tray filled with pebbles and water to increase relative humidity. Taken from https://www.almanac.com/caring-for-poinsettias Till next week, this is Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, beckmall@netins.net 641-794-3337 cell 641-903-9365 image from publicdomainpictures.net Happy NEW Year to all of you. It looks like I haven’t posted for 10 days. Larry and I both were very sick over Christmas. We had that cold and sinus virus. We just stayed home and rested. Now as of Jan 2 we are feeling better.
Also, some of you have known that on Halloween Larry had a knee replacement. It has been 9 weeks, and he is doing fine. He has been back to his Larry’s Garage part days now for 2 weeks. He just finished up 8 weeks of physical therapy and that all went well. He is bending and straightening his leg fine. He is walking straight and no limping. They gave him more exercises to strengthen the leg muscles. I just asked him this morning if he remembers what it was like when he came home from the hospital. He said he really doesn’t remember but he has come a long way. First month he couldn’t drive. The knee was swollen a lot, so he used the water treatment a lot. He had physical therapy three times a week. The knee was stiff, and I found him rubbing it a lot to get feeling back to it. I do believe it is the most time he has spent at home was during this recovery. He worked with his chain saw this last weekend. So slowly he is getting back to doing what he does. The hardest is kneeling with his automotive work, but he is making that work. I am working on plant orders for the first ones to come on Feb 20th. Here we go. I have lots of cleaning and organizing to do before the planting starts. 6 months of being in the greenhouse, gives me only this short time to work on the house and all the bookwork I have with the two businesses. With the holidays behind us, it is time to get ready for 2024. HARD to write that for sure. Hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and the best of the New Year. Till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa beckmall@netins.net 641-794-3337 cell 641-903-9365 |
AuthorHi! My name is Becky and I am a Master Gardener. I own Becky's Greenhouse in Dougherty, Iowa. Archives
March 2024
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