December's Garden (2025)

The garden is dismal. When the hoop houses were opened, the destruction from the early polar vortex was apparent. As I feared, most of the young seedlings perished.

The lettuce that was started during the late summer underneath the okra plants which were nearing the end of their life cycle, also froze. It's winter. It happens.

However, it isn't all bad news. Enough of the Golden Cabbages are still alive to keep me happy.

It's interesting how plants, even though they are side by side, will react differently to the weather.

There is another row of Golden Cabbages that were started extremely late and are shockingly still alive. The seeds were dropped in the empty spaces beside the red shallots when they were planted just for kicks and giggles. I doubt if they will make it through January but you never know.

Some of the shallots sprouted immediately and others are taking their own sweet time.

Winter gardening is tricky and can be done successfully. When everything clicks, it is exciting and rewarding. 

These onions are the few remaining bulbs purchased in the spring and then stored in the vegetable bin in my refrigerator. Something leaked and ruined most of them. This spring more will be purchased and they will be periodically lifted to confirm they are thoroughly dry. In spite of my mistake, this is what success looks like. These lettuces will taste like summer on a snowy day.

Two years ago the winter garden was a smashing success compared to now. I took advantage of the abundance and canned all total 70 quart jars of greens for Reese. I'm glad I did. Yesterday I talked to him, informed him there will be none this year but, of course, he still has plenty left. That's how it is in gardening. The abundance is stored up for the lean times. All that is needed at present is enough fresh salads for the two of us.

March's 2024 garden after a long cold winter.

Last month I said, "we are done - really, really finished for the year and are ready to take a rest!!"  Ha!

After sitting for a few days, a warm front moved in, the temperature shot up to a balmy 73 degrees, and we absolutely had to go outside. The wood around the weedy strawberry beds was rotten and the soil needed amending. The horse trainer who uses our field brought a load of fresh, pungent horse manure and then the "fun" began.

We removed the rotten wood, soil, and weeds then added oak leaves and manure.

More lumber must be purchased to make a second tier before the strawberries can be transplanted; but, that's a project for another day. We need to recover from this ordeal first.

As the sun was almost down, the rest of the manure was piled up in the new garden area created when positioning the new fence around underground boulders. Hopefully it will be rotted enough to serve as a potato bed this spring. 

Last night a violent storm blew through and winter returned. What was left of the garden has been tucked under the covers again. This time, I promise, we really will rest.

March's Garden (2024)

Last Month's November Garden (2025)

Last Year's December Garden (2024)

November's Garden (2025)

November 10th

November began with a two day polar vortex months earlier than expected followed by the weather returning to normal. This shouldn't happen but it seems to becoming the norm. We drug out the row covers and threw them over the garden. Any seedlings not covered died along with one of the three rows of broccoli. 

Broccoli

We began slowly setting up the hoop houses. Long gone are the days when we could go out early in the morning and then finish up at dusk. Nope. Can't do it anymore. Windy days are spent weeding and pushing the wires into the ground and then calm days are used to spread the covers. 

November 26th

Last year's garden was planted late due to drought and this year's is even further behind schedule; so much later in fact, that I am not sure the tender plants will survive January. The multiple rows of late planted green beans filled the spaces that normally would have been used to start the winter vegetables. Starting seeds early on the front porch no longer works in the fall. They seem to burn in the heat where they didn't in previous years. Call me crazy - but something has changed with the sun. 

Right now we are mostly using the lettuce that was planted during the heat of summer under the shade of the okra plants.  After the first frost, the okra plants were chopped down at the base leaving the roots undisturbed so as to not bother the seedlings. They are coming to the end of their life cycle and are beginning to bolt. When there isn't enough sunlight their growth will slow and it is as if they are sitting in the refrigerator patiently waiting. Most of the plants should be at least this size so as to handle February's chill.

Winter lettuce mix

Again this year the spinach has given me problems. Three rows were dedicated to them to guarantee an abundance. What we have in surplus is weeds.

This time I waited later until the soil had cooled. It has taken three plantings to get them to germinate and they are still tiny. If they are planted early they won't germinate due to the hot soil but if I wait for cooler temperatures it seems too late. The polar vortex didn't bother them under the cover so maybe they want to grow in the cold? The hoop houses are over them now and won't be open for a while. They are being left alone to do their own thing.

Bloomsdale Spinach

As of today, all of the houses are up and we are done - really, really finished for the year!! All that is left is to lift a cover from time to time and harvest when the refrigerator is empty. There are seventeen rows which is quite a bit but the seedlings are small so it isn't certain there will be a harvest. Of course, there never is any guarantee of anything when gardening. You take what you get. Overall, I'm please with what we have and am ready for a rest.  It is time to check out the seed catalogs that are filling my mailbox. 

Last Month's October Garden (2025)

Last Year's November Garden (2024)

October's Garden (2025)

I'm going to take a victory lap! Even though the whole universe was against it, we have green beans growing. The mail order seeds which replaced the rabbit eaten plants arrived quickly and even though there were only six weeks before the first average frost date, cold weather has arrived two weeks late. Beans are growing in every previously empty spot. Harvesting is like a treasure hunt, a bean plant here, another one there.... 

Some of the plants in the back of the garden where the hungry rabbit did the most damage managed to survive and those newly planted are producing. 

 
Even the Volunteer half runner pole beans are cranking out beans at a surprising rate.  They will definitely be back next year. They beat anything else ever grown by a country mile. 

All of these canned green beans are from the new plants. It will be more than enough for us. Everybody might think I am crazy for being so happy but to go from nothing to an unexpected abundance, has me dancing. It feels good to gamble against Mother Nature and win. 

The weather is expected to drop to 37 degrees tonight so we picked these today.  I'm not complaining - I'm bragging!

Another big surprise this year has been the peanuts. They were harvested earlier this month to give plenty of time to dry. The peanut row is in the center with the winter squash surrounding and growing across.

 

Yellow blooms appear and after pollination they form a peg which grows a stem down into the ground forming the peanut. In this area, they sprout quickly choking out weeds and then enjoy the hot, humid, miserable summers.  

Most people spread them in their yards for a few days to dry but we stack them on the porch away from squirrels. They don't dig them up but wait until after the hard work has been done to steal them. There will be more peanut rows next year. The plan is to put them in the empty areas as ground cover since the garden is much larger due to the new fence. We never have enough peanut butter and this might be the answer.

Planting zucchini squash under nets to stop the squash vine borers did not work at all. Either they found a way inside the fine mesh or maybe they hatched under the net from the soil. Even the coverings that were never damaged or opened the whole time didn't keep them out. What almost worked was planting at the middle to end of August in hopes of avoiding the second infestation; however, even though we missed the borers, most of the plants died by a virus that looked like fusarium wilt. That hasn't happened to anything in the garden for many years. It was not what was expected.

There is good news - the four plants that made it to the bitter end are prolific! If all 15 plants had survived, my freezer couldn't hold it all! Once again, I learned from my defeat but have not really lost. Next year more experiments will be tried.

Two years ago I discovered some delicious white sweet potatoes at the Amish. We loved them better than the orange varieties so a few were grown in last years garden. They were difficult to sprout, slow to grow and the harvest was minimal but since we loved them so much, five big rows were dedicated in this years garden. Below is only one of the rows. My thinking was that even though they didn't produce well, I could make up for it by growing more. Wrong.

We dug them yesterday and each mound was either perfect or worthless. Even though they were side by side, the difference was puzzling. The split potatoes were numerous.

This is the dismal harvest. If we had grown an orange variety like in past years using the same amount garden space, the harvest would have overfilled a wheel barrow.  Next year will be dedicated to finding a better variety.

Even though the sweet potatoes were a failure, the winter squash's outstanding performance has earned them the place of honor in this year's muffins and pies.

The biggest Bullet Head Wax melon was weighed on the bathroom scale, which is not perfectly accurate. (It never weighs me correctly) It was a difficult task getting it up and equally balanced so as to trigger the digital screen. Our best guess is 44 pounds although it felt like a ton when rolling it around. It had a bad spot forming so it was lugged to the compost pile. The insides were gone by morning. 

Storage space for winter is a consideration so one was gifted to our amazed mail carrier when a package was delivered. She was thrilled. No promises were made as to its edibility but I did wish her luck. At least she was in a mail truck and could haul it home. 

At present, they are sitting on the floor in the living room beside the heating vent drying before being drug to the root cellar (basement). The weather is forecast to become cold and wet but they must be well cured for winter storage. One will be cut next month and the second will be stored long term to see if the flavor improves. The test results will be shared with everyone.

We live in the country. All of our company understands and are not shocked by the décor.

The summer garden has ended. It was a hard season because of the drought.  We only got two good rains the whole time and spent much time watering. In spite of the difficulties, the harvest has been plentiful. We have more than enough food for us and to share. That is a win.

Let the winter gardening begin!

Last Month's September Garden (2025)

Last Year's October Garden (2025)