February's Garden (2026)

Winter is almost finished. Most of of the green color is from weeds. I did reach some of the goals set after last year's winter garden 2025's failures. 

Red Merlot is the most winter hardy lettuce I have ever grown. Learning from last year's mistake that it is necessary to fertilize during the winter made this lettuce stand out brightly among the weeds. (Weeding wasn't one of my goals.)

The onion bulbs that were purchased last spring, stored in the vegetable tray of the refrigerator then planted last fall are waking up. No others were started from seed in the fall because the spring harvest was so large, none were needed. These will get me through until the spring crop is ready. A few new varieties have just been started this week and if they do well, they will be planted again in the fall. Growing onions in the winter is easier. Eventually I will get it right.

 A goal not met was finding a good broccoli variety. Winter storm Fern killed them. The carrots were a success but were dug early to avoid possibly losing them in the blizzard. Last year's biggest goal was to plant enough Bloomsdale spinach to make us happy. That, I accomplished and I'm glad I did. We have plenty of our favorite green!  

Every year I make a new mistake from which to learn. This year getting the seedlings out too late killed most of them when Fern arrived. Everything was behind schedule because we were waiting on the second planting of green beans to mature. They were delayed because a fat rabbit ate the spring crop one night. The very late planted spinach did just fine. It is enough to make your head explode trying to guess the weather. The once in a lifetime ice storms seem to be happening regularly. 

This year's winter goals will be to plant earlier, try onions from seed again, look for another variety of broccoli, and repeat my success with spinach. Perhaps not making mistakes would be the best goal but I wouldn't learn anything then!

Last Month's January Garden (2026)

February's Garden (2025) and Goals for 2026

January's Garden (2026)

It has been a challenging month. We managed to rest for a few days, as I said we would, and then the long-term weather reports began flashing red warning signs. The once in a lifetime, winter storm Fern was on the horizon and barreling toward us. No rest for the weary, preparations began in haste.  The temperatures would drop at night to the single digits for at least a week, probably two so the sugar beats and carrots would freeze. As the storm was blowing in, we harvested what we could.

Most of them have already been pulled but I didn't want to waste what few were left. Both the greens and the roots were used. 

There were more than I had expected. It's hard to judge until you pull them up.

The carrot row has been harvested from both ends so was getting short. It's less work to lift one spot of the hoop house and pull up all you need than to open all of it. 

I tried different varieties again this year but couldn't tell enough difference between the expensive hybrids and the bulk seeds from the feed store to justify the prices. The cheap seeds are not as uniform but so what  - they taste just as good. They would have grown larger if they could have been left in the ground longer but I didn't want to lose everything. 

Then Fern arrived. She was a major artic blast that effected over 230 million Americans from the Ohio Valley to the Southern Plains and up the East Coast. We were sitting on the dividing line between two fronts. Freezing ice broke the power poles, knocked down the lines, felled trees and made travel impossible.  At its peak on Sunday, over one million people were without power. Snow would have been easier, at least the infrastructure could have held better.

Our power stayed on so we were able to house others. The summer garden that filled my pantry to overflowing has been a lifesaver.  All of the hot garden work, standing for hours in the kitchen chopping, canning, freezing, and dehydrating food has paid off.

The storm delivered us a mountain of new firewood just waiting to be cut and hauled. It will be fed to the old wood burning stove in the basement to keep us warm and the pipes from freezing during the next storm. She ain't pretty but she sure is hot.  

I haven't left the house for a week except to throw bird seed out on the back deck. Our guests have all left so we are going out today to see if our car will get up the driveway. Neighbors said the main roads are clear if we can get past our backroad. There is something I must buy from somewhere before I go crazy. I feel a case of cabin fever coming on and spending money is the only cure. 

Last Month's December Garden (2026)

Last Year's January Garden (2025)