Spring flower seeds sowed

We have had snow twice today, both in the morning, and again this evening. The morning snow was a rain that slowly turned to snow. Just yesterday our high was up near 60 and today we have snow. We got a break in the middle of the day, and then all of a sudden around 5:30 we had near white out conditions with the heavy wet snow coming in nearly sideways. By now the ground has had time to get cold and there was sufficient snow to accumulate a couple of inches on the ground. The neighbor's kids were nice enough to build us two fine snowmen in the front yard, which we added a hat, scarff and carrot nose.
 I was supposed to be at softball assessments today, but the weather changed those plans. It was for the best, as I have been fighting a slight virus that makes me somewhat weak with a sore throat. I am looking forward to another season of coaching an 8U girls softball team. It is loads of fun working with the kids. The association tried to get me to coach at the 10U level, but at that level the girls do all the pitching and it can be a tedious thing to watch nothing but walks or strikeouts. So, after originally agreeing, because I wanted to coach, I had to tell them I wasn't interested in coaching at the 10U level. As it turns out, when I called to inform them, an opening had come available to coach an 8U team (where it is a combination of girl pitch and coach pitch) so I jumped at that.
 I have been working on erecting my new electric fence the past week. The toughest part is getting the ground rod into the soil. About two feet down our soil turns to a hard pan which is really hard. I dig a little, wait for rain to soften it up, and dig alittle more. I need to get the ground rod as deep as possible.
 The deer have already gotten to a few of my pea transplants, but I'll start some more this weekend and plant them out in about a week, after I finish with the fence. I planted two 6' rows of nantes carrots and one row of Detroit beets Saturday.  I'll be planting a row or two of each for the next few weeks to stagger my harvest.
 It's also time to start sowing flower seeds indoors. I started some Wave Petunia seeds, Arizona Sun gallardia, some bacopa and some New Guinea Impatients. I put them in some moist potting soil and then put the container in a sealed baggie and place that under lights on a heating pad. Once they get their first set of true leaves I'll put them into individual containers and grow them under lights until it's time to harden them off.

Some Fall Blooms

I took a walk around the house today to get some pictures of what's blooming here in early November. The knock out roses, both the pink and the yellow, are still blooming. This is not unusual as I typically have blooms on them until early December and our first hard frost.

This Beauty Berry (callicarpa japonica) spilling through the split rail fence is at it's peak.

And while the Coral Bark Japanese maple isn't in 'bloom' it is quite beautiful this time of year!

What follows is a sampling of my sasanqua camellia collection. Not a collection so much as an assortment.  These shrubs do really well for use here and are very adaptable to our climate. They grow well in both full sun and part shade. No real pest problems to speak of. One year I had an outbreak of leaf gall (swelling and toughening of the leaves). I spent some time picking the affected leaves off, being careful not to touch the unaffected leaves. That seemed to have solved the problem.

 Snuck  in an Encore azelea bloom here in this picture.

This is an Oakleaf hydrangea. The leaves are a brilliant burgundy. 

Here we venture out into the veggie garden where we have some carrots and beets growing in the foreground. You may be able to make out the golden leaves of Simpson's black seeded lettuce in the background.

Here's a row of radishes. 

And here I've planted a much more reasonable amount of garlic this year. Last year I went way overboard and had far more than I needed and the bed got overrun with weeds. This year,  I might have around 50 plants.

Here you can see some of the strawberries I transplanted last weekend.

I am trying to let these broccoli plants go to seed this fall. I am hoping to be able to harvest my own seed to plant again in the spring. It may prove to be a waste of time, or free seeds, we shall see.

I am experimenting with growing some hard winter wheat this year. It looks pretty much like grass you find growing in your yard right now.

And the dogs enjoy eating the tender young shoots.

The bees get active on the warm days like this weekend. We are supposed to be up around 70 degrees for our high all weekend. 

You may be able to make out my blackberry plants in the picture below. I planted these 2 winters ago, the deer like to graze on them so I haven't had any berries yet. 

Here are some crimson clover seedlings coming up in one of the garden beds. I plant it as a cover crop to nurish the soil. I'll turn it under on the first dry day after mid-March. I want to give it 5 weeks or more to break down before I plant the summer crops in this bed. 

Here you can see I've cut down the asparagus stalks and top dressed the bed with a couple inches of compost. This one bed with 24 crowns is plenty to feed DW and I for about 6 weeks in spring.