This month the garden has been easy. Winter gardening is different than any other season. There is no blistering heat or swarms of devouring insects. The rainwater doesn't evaporate immediately and those things alone eases the workload tremendously.
A surprise has been the deep red, delicious Merlot lettuce. Two winters ago I gave some seeds to Reese. He planted them in a five-gallon bucket on the back deck at his apartment in Charlotte, North Carolina. They grew through the summer and winter unprotected. He saved seeds and returned them to me.
The seedlings which were removed when thinning the bed were transplanted into the onion bed.
It isn't under a hoop house but both onions and lettuce seem to be surviving fine...so far.
It would be awesome to have a winter garden without the bother of setting up so many hoop houses. Each one requires quite a bit of bending and stooping. Finding the right winter-hardy varieties would be the answer.
It has rained this month, the drought in my neighborhood is over and the thirsty plants have taken advantage of the showers. Many that appeared doomed have magically transformed.
Some of the plants still appear dead even though there is a little bit of life left in the roots.
Others look great and their bitterness has gone! It may have been the cold weather, the shade trees dropping their leaves, the abundance of rain, the extra fertilizer, or any combination of the above. However, after waiting all season, they are edible. They will be chopped down to the ground and canned or dehydrated this week before anything else can go wrong.
I needed a month in the garden where I did nothing, the plants did all the work and it happened!
Oh my goodness: That lettuce looks soooo delicious! Fresh and full of flavor and nutrients. I wish I could garden outside during the winter. I'm glad I have a sunroom, which helps a bit. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a sunroom! Reese gave me a poinsettia when he came home before Thanksgiving and there is not one place that gets more than a few minutes of sunlight. It is struggling. I wanted to put it on the sunny front porch for a few minutes but Reese ordered me not to. He knew I would forget it.
DeleteHappy New Years! We are almost to 2024.
Sunlight isn't the big issue, it's forgetting to water it!
DeleteReese, is this you pretending to be "anonymous" to shame me? You wouldn't have known I was forgetting to water the plant it if Dustin (the non gardener) hadn't texted you a picture of it wilted
Deletebecause he was concerned. Dustin was trying to help me but ended up exposing my sin.
It was accidental! I swear!
DeleteRed lettuces always do best for me, in the winter too. I've played with covering and not covering greens (except for lettuce, which I cover), sometimes having a patch of something both ways, and different winters have brought different results. Something that does best one way will do better the other way the following winter. Keeps us gardeners guessing!
ReplyDeleteIt was easy to put up the houses when one of the boys lived here but now it is a chore for Bill and me. Reese opened a jar of collard greens, spinach and beet leaves from the spring garden. He loved them so I am putting up all I can. Right now I have an experimental jar of the wide stems from a Chinese Cabbage/bok choy canning. I treated them like celery and don't know if they will be good or become mush.
DeleteAnd I am enjoying getting a taste of fresh greens from the garden even if it has been canned. I ended up putting them into some chicken noodle soup now that we've got some cold weather. The pasta was also made from scratch, so it was quite delicious. It's all gone, so I am kind of sad now. Anything from the store tastes like cardboard. I am looking forward to getting more next vacation.
DeleteI chopped down the celery plants and canned it all for you. Don't get excited. Celery stems don't take up any room and it ended up only being 1/2 of a pint! I picked a laundry basket full of collard greens and they canned down to just four quarts. There is another row of collards awaiting a warmer day so I can strip them to the ground also. I promise there will be cases and cases of greens for you to take back after your vacation. I am not beneath bribing you with food so you will visit.
DeleteAnd I am not above being bribed with food. We both know how effective that is.
DeleteGlad nature took a lead in December and didn't need much help! Wishing you a successful year in your garden in 2024!
ReplyDeleteWow, your greens look luscious. Crunchy and vivid. Right now, I have gray sagebrush and dark green pines to look at. But come spring, I'm going to try a garden. Again!
ReplyDeleteThe greens look so wonderful. You are so wise to put covers on them as you did!
ReplyDelete