Winter Garden. What is growing and what is waiting for Spring?
It is slow in the garden. Winter is hitting in a frost-free kind of sense, with days as short as they come.
Lettuce is growing when you want it least.
My winter crops are looking good. These are cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, golden beets, and there are a few carrots, and of course lettuce. My endive is actually thriving. I am picking a big bowl pretty much every week, wash it and keep it in the fridge (wrapped in paper towel). It holds up great. We are eating a fair bit, but the irony of lettuce is that it is growing when you want it least. Nothing like a chilly winter day and a plate of fresh, and crunchy lettuce. What is up with that. Nature’s little irony.
I realized I have been making a mistake in my winter gardening. With the cool temperatures and few daylight hours, chances of anything bolting are low. Everything is growing at a very slow pace. On the one hand this makes it harder to figure out if the plants might need some nutrients or if it just is their current speed. On the other hand, everything stays fresh in the garden. I have had my carrots and beets in the ground for months at this point. I was hoping they would just keep growing bigger. But it turns out, they are done. I would probably fare better to just harvest and eat them and plant something else. I really have just realized that I have been blocking the space myself by not harvesting the food I grow. But there has not been any urgency like in the summer months when missing one day of tomato harvest means the birds or something else will beat you to it.
Needless to say, that is what I will do today.
I sacrifice my garlic for my dog.
My garlic and onion are doing ok. Not bad but they are not thriving. I planted them directly in the ground in late summer and have not fed them since. The main reason is that my dog goes crazy for fertilizer. And anything growing in ground will be dug up in no time. So, I sacrifice. That said, I popped a few onion seedlings in a pot, and they are looking great.
Spring, the proper garden season kick off, is so close yet so far. My ranunculi and poppies are slowly coming up, still small and slow but they are here. The prospect of flowers blooming make me want to start planning everything. But I know it is still a bit early for that.
