Winter Care

All the trees are in the shop for the winter. I don't have a greenhouse (yet) so this is the best place to put everything. The real deficit is in lighting. The shop lights need replacing and the windows are small, so the shop is fairly dark. However, I do have two six-foot double-paned windows (thoughtfully left by a previous owner) that I intend to insert in the south side of the shop, increasing winter light tremendously. No problem with summer sun, though, a large maple shades the south side in summer.

I have a few trees to work on this winter, now that the frenzy of finding wood to burn is over (long story). I want to begin styling a collected Douglas fir, a small spruce, and a few others. I hope to document them as well as possible.

It got much colder here than normal for this time of year. I have a hose run out to the shop since it was never plumbed, which is now frozen solid, but I did manage to fill a 55 gallon drum with water for the trees during just such an eventuality.

Dealing with these extremes of weather can be a real challenge for enthusiasts without the means to build greenhouses and shade houses. But we persevere.