February Garden

I think it might actually be winter here.  Tonight's temperature is due to dip down to 18 degrees F (-7.8 C).  The coldest we've had this winter.  I, of course, had uncovered all my beds and had to go out with a headlamp and fight the wind to get the row covers up. 

Here's what my garden looked like during the first week of February.  You can click on the image to make it larger and read the labels.  And be sure to ignore the weeds invading the paths!  A great thing about mild winters is how many veggies keep growing and producing.  The bad thing is that the weeds enjoy the weather too. 

This was my first year of growing and harvesting through the winter.  Next year I want to expand with more broccoli, carrots, and lettuce.  Since it has been such a mild winter, I'm not really sure what to expect in a  more typical winter.  I may be experiencing beginners winter gardening luck!

Winter Stops By

Winter stopped by for two days this week, bringing temperatures into the teens.  This meant I had to actually use the row covers I was so excited about two months ago.  I had planned to only have one or two winter beds and thought I had plenty of fabric, but it turns out that my fall plantings were still thriving and I didn't want to loose them.  I ended up covering five beds, but didn't quite have enough fabric.  I was hoping the broccoli could handle the frost better than the lettuce, carrot, or radish, so they got the abbreviated cover.  I have also harvested most of the main crowns, but was hoping to keep harvesting side shoots.

Some of the leaves on the edge are a bit droopy, but it seems they survived.

In the lettuce, onion, and cauliflower bed, the romaine and leaf green lettuce did well while the mesclun mix is wilted.  I will have to remember that for next year's planting.  However, they were located on the end of the bed and it was a windy night and the row cover may not have stayed put too well.

The radishes look a bit droopy, carrots seem fine, and in the back is a pathetic artichoke plant.  Last spring I had a bout of impulse shopping at the farmer's market and bought an artichoke plant.  Even though I don't eat artichoke often, I thought I would if I grew it.  However, I got zero artichokes and hundreds of aphids this past year.  I was suppose to dig it up and store it for the winter, which you can see did not happen.  It's not looking too great... we'll see if it survives.

 

Another bed of carrots, beets, turnips, and some others also seems to have made it through the chill.

Domino has been working hard to clean up the leftovers in the garden, including cabbage leaves:

Temperatures are back up to the 60s, that is until Winter decides to stop by again.

Home to the Garden

I traveled to Tennessee for the Holidays and its wonderful to spend time with family, but its always nice to come home.  It's also nice to have a fresh salad from my garden after all the not-so-healthy, but very yummy holiday food.  I was sent home with a grocery bag full of chocolate candy.  I had to put it in a large tin, under a stack of other tins in the cabinets over the fridge that require a chair to reach!  Much easier to roam through the garden and pick a salad now!  The lettuce is growing well despite the cold.  I clipped a few young pac choi leaves and baby beet leaves to add to my salad.  I topped it with broccoli, radishes, and a tiny white carrot.  My carrots have been incredibly slow growing and my curiosity led me to pull one.  They definitely need more time.  

 

It also seems that the cabbage has stopped growing.  I had one decent sized head at 1.5 lbs and a smaller 0.5 lb one.  I'm probably going to have to harvest the rest this weekend.

There's a cold front coming Tuesday night with temps getting down to the low 20s.  I think I will actually use my row covers!  Maybe winter is finally arriving. 

Better Late Than Never Harvest Monday

My winter garden dream has come true.  I wanted to have fresh salad in December and that has become a reality.  I harvested a nice bowl of lettuce:

 

Some radishes:

Add my first fall broccoli harvest:

This head of broccoli weighed 4 oz.  I'm very sporadic about what I weigh.  It seems the crops that I'm the most excited about or those that I have waited a very long time for get the honor of being weighed.  This broccoli has been so slow.  I planted transplants at the beginning of September and I'm just now harvesting at the end of December.  Hopefully the next few weeks will bring more broccoli- its one of my favorite veggies!

To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday

Not much harvest to report this week.  I pulled a couple of turnips to cook and mash with some stored potatoes to go with meatloaf (and lentil loaf for me, the vegetarian). 

There's more to harvest in the garden, but I just don't have time this week to cook. This is a nice thing about fall/ winter gardening- there is no hurry.  My lettuce, broccoli, radishes, and cabbage that could be harvested today will not bolt if I leave them for another day.  I'm enjoying the slow pace of cold weather gardening.  I don't get overwhelmed by produce that needs to be picked and put away now.  It's not a race to harvest before bolting or before veggies grow to overripe sizes.  Slow and steady is more my speed!

To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Winter Strawberries

Strawberries in December- that just doesn't seem right!  Do I have super duper cold hardy mutant strawberries?  Or maybe they have the perfect microclimate in their raised bed, which is tiered and perhaps it keeps the cold wind and frost off their leaves?  I was contemplating all kinds of theories and then on the local news is a story about winter strawberries:

Strawberries growing almost year round in York County

This is the same county I live in, so I guess my strawberries aren't so special after all!  I didn't drive my strawberries to the mountains to acclimate them to the cold- maybe I should let them know that wasn't necessary.  Although it does look like their strawberries were a bit more productive than mine.  It's very exciting to know that I can have strawberries in winter.  Now if only we can convince the peppers and tomatoes to do the same!

Garden Goals: November

The days are getting shorter and the leaves are falling from the trees.  Normally I would be done with the garden after the first frost, but this year I'm trying to extend my season.  So, here's November's gardening goals:

• Clean up garden: I need to pull the eggplants and clean up the herb garden.
• Add manure to beds as they are cleaned up.
• Mulch: rake up leaves, get Jeff to mow them and add to beds
• Plant the winter garden: This is my experimental garden because I have no clue if seeds are going to germinate this late in the year, much less grow and mature.  I guess I will find out!
• Cover beds: since I ended up getting much more row cover than I originally needed, I'm going to make a cold frame for the broccoli.  The broccoli seem to be taking their time and I don't know if they are going to make it before it gets too cold.  I may make another frame for one of the fall beds too.
• Harvest and eat fall veggies!

Well, I guess this means I should get moving and get off the couch.  Happy November gardening!

Revisiting those October Garden Goals

A new month is sneaking up around the corner, so it's time to check on those October gardening goals.

• Clean-up garden:  I finally parted with the tomatoes, still have some paths to rid of weeds and grass.
• Harvest peanuts:  Peanuts are drying at the moment, one more week until roasting and eating!
• Dry herbs: Mint, basil, and oregano are currently drying in the potting shed.
• Plant garlic:  I didn't plan ahead with my garlic and did not order any, so I ended up going to the grocery store and buying a couple of organic garlic bulbs.  I've never grown garlic before and I'm hoping they will grow!
• Order bulbs: Sadly, bulbs did not fit into my budget this year.  I had some way too expensive car repairs (very angry at Toyota right now!!) and decided that flower bulbs were going to have to wait until next year :(
• Add compost: I got my alpaca manure and added it to the beds I cleared.  There will be more to do as the fall crops finish and I clear the eggplants and peppers. 
• Plant cover crops: I have three beds with cover crops growing.  Just planted the peanut beds with cover crops and hope they will germinate.  I had read about planting cover crops around fall crops.  I tried this with my brussel sprouts, but it seems the cover crops are taking over!  I do like the look of cover crops.  Nice to have something green instead of exposed dirt.

• Mulch:  The trees haven't dropped many of their leaves yet, so this is going to have to wait until next month.
• Make cold frame: I'm having two cold frames.  For one I am using the bottom of the trellis frame for the structure.  The other I assembled with plastic tubing and rebar.  I will be covering these with Agribon+ AG-19 row covers.  Hopefully this will work!

• Finish planting fall garden:  Fall garden planted!  I realized I've never grown turnips and even though they look smaller than I expected I'm afraid those lines might mean they are getting overripe.  Should I pull them??  

• Paint potting shed trim:  Definitely made progress, but not completely done.  One more side of trim to paint.

Not too shabby for October!  November should be a bit less busy, which is  good because I`m ready for a break!

Planning the Winter Garden

I've never grown a winter garden, so this is going to be an experiment and adventure.  Since our winters are generally mild in 7b, it seems that it should be possible to grow some cold hardy veggies.  I think it'll be fabulous to have fresh vegetables in the middle of the winter.  I've been daydreaming of fresh salad in December.  To try and make this dream a reality  I am reading The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman.  It's amazing how much he grows during the winter in Maine!

So if it's possible in Maine, it has to be doable in SC.. right?  My concern is that with cold nights, but daytime temperatures much higher than in Maine, I could end up cooking my winter crops under plastic.  I also found this article on Extending the Salad Season helpful because it is in Zone 7.  Based on this article I decided on Agribon+ AG-19 row covers and ordered a 10' x 50' row from Johnny's Seeds.  This is far more than I really need and of course my first thought was to increase the number of winter garden beds.  I was originally going to have one or maybe two, but with that much row cover material I could have five!  Then I had to tell myself not to go overboard since I've never grown winter crops- start out small so that it isn't overwhelming. 

Step one of winter gardening is now complete: order row cover.  The next step is to decide what to plant.  I did order a few seeds along with the row covers: Napoli carrots and Pak choi, which were recommended in The Winter Harvest Handbook and Easter egg radishes because they look so pretty!  I am concerned that the salad garden in Zone 7 was seeded in September.  I hope to get mine planted by the end of October and hoping that's not too late!

If anyone has any suggestions about winter gardening- what to plant, when to plant, or any words of wisdom- I'd appreciate some guidance.