snow storm

After a week of balmy days, we're getting hit with a snowstorm in early march. Yesterday the prediction was four to eight inches, at midnight when I checked again it was updated to ten to twelve inches! Basically it's going to snow all day.

So of course I pulled inside again the tender plants, and blocked their windows with cardboard protection for the night. Then I moved all the containers outside into close groups away from the exposed edge and against the apartment wall. Most of the pots I set into the still-empty planter boxes and then stuffed and covered them with old leaves, nature's own blanket!

Here's the other side of the balcony:

You can just barely see the Rosemary, Lavender

and Thyme plants peeking out from the leaves. (The larger, bonsai-style one got its flush of leggy spring leaves trimmed off).

I covered as much as I could with burlap sacking, for good measure.The still-exposed Sage got piled with even more leaves.

This morning all seems well. There are just a few fat flakes on the burlap

and some melted drops on the plastic greenhouse box.

If you can tell from some of those prior pictures, I put my Lettuce and Broccoli seedlings plus a few little pots of new Cilantro, into the coldframe a few weeks ago. They seem to be doing fine.

The Peas I think are goners. I foolishly planted them wayy too early. At this stage they should be in ground, with something to climb, and starting to flower. Instead they're all falling over. But to my surprise the Dill in the greenhouse box seems to be perking up, and putting out new, darker foliage. You can just see it through the plastic walls here.

There's baby green onions in there, too, but I can't see them. If they don't make it I'll just start more. Got lots of that seed.

And here's what's happening just beyond the edge of my balcony: snow, snow, snow. It's supposed to come down all day and into the night as well.

I took the second half of these photos through the sliding glass door, not wanting to let cold air into my little apartment, so the quality is not that good, but you get the idea.