The Winter Garden, Or How Quickly The Garden Changes

I haven't done a garden tour yet this year so I'm doing a bit of a catch up post. Looking back at the past month and a half I'm amazed at how quickly things can change.

First a look at bed #1 starting on December 31 of 2014

December 31

There was a trellis sporting some overwintered snap and snow peas in one corner (covered to keep the birds from pecking at the foliage), a patch of carrots, a couple of old Watermelon radishes, and bolting cilantro. The garlic which had been set out on November 19 was emerging at the far end of the bed (on the left below). In the foreground above I had just dug in a mustard cover crop. Normally I would mulch the area with newspaper, but I used the fabric because I was hoping for rain which would go through the fabric. And the other covered section that you can see below is where another patch of mustard was growing.

December 31

Garlic emerging, December 31

Seed sowing continues through the year in my mild climate. These are seedlings of onions, shallots, leeks, and cabbage that were sown in November and December and were destined to be set out in this bed.

December 31

It's not easy to see through the veil of tulle, but this section was planted with onion seedlings from Dixondale (January 3) and some homegrown onion seedlings. I covered the onions because the birds like to peck at them, they don't eat the onions but pull them out and make a mess of things.

January 16

The birds don't generally mess with the garlic though, which grew noticeably in two weeks. January was clear and warmer than normal all month so the veggies grew quite quickly.

January 16

By the end of the month I had cleared out the peas. The sections of the bed that are covered with Agribon had mustard greens dug into them. The worms were busy working their way through the feast of rotting greens. Some cabbage and Brokali seedlings that were to be planted in that space were sizing up in 1-quart pots (yogurt containers).

January 31

January 31

It's still difficult to see but the onions were growing like crazy.

January 31

And the garlic continued to grow. The other section that is covered with tulle is devoted mostly to shallots and a small amount of cippollini onions.

January 31

A couple weeks later, just a few days ago. The near end of the bed is now planted with some Express Red and Pixie cabbages and some Atlantis brokali. They are all covered with tulle to keep the birds from pecking them to death. I don't wait for the birds to discover new treats anymore, I just cover things up, it reduces the oh s#1t factor. This year I'm experimenting with interplanting some peas for pea shoots. I'm working on using more cover crops this year and interplanting is one way to integrate a cover crop. I may get a few pickings of peas or not, either way the peas will help to protect and build the soil and perhaps provide some nitrogen for the brassicas.

February 15

I'm thinking of naming my garden the Bridal Veil garden for all the yards of tulle and other white fabrics that are draped everywhere.  It amazes me how quickly the cabbages which were sown on December 17 got to be so big. They weren't coddled for very long. I sow my seeds in 4-inch pots and set them on heat mats indoors until the seeds germinate, then the pots go outside right away to get natural light. I bring the pots in at night for about a week until the seedlings are off to a good start but then they stay outside night and day. That treatment makes for some pretty sturdy plants. The Brokali was quick too, those seeds were sown on January 4.

February 15

This photo allows a better glimpse of how quickly the onions are growing. The Dixondale plants are in the foreground and my homegrown seedlings are beyond. This year I'm growing Candy, Red Candy Apple, and Superstar, all of which are from Dixondale. The onions started from seed include Rosso Lunga di Firenza, a red torpedo type, and Tonda Musona Bianca which should store better than the sweet ones from Dixondale, and Yellow Cippollini.

February 15

The garlic varieties this year are Lorz Italian, Mild French, Early Red Italian, and Chesnock Red. Shallots include French Gray from sets (which are not doing well) and Zebrune from seed.

February 15

Now let's take a look across the pathway at bed #4. There's been less activity in this bed. From the start of the year it has been devoted to two things. One side of the bed was sown with Extra Precoce Violetto fava beans and the other side with Kodiak mustard for a cover crop, both sown in December. The favas are growing in the bird netting draped cages and the mustard is growing under the protective Agribon.

December 31, 2014

 A month later you can see that the favas are well on their way and the mustard is filling in.

January 31

Just a bit more than two weeks later the mustard is trying to push out from under the cover and the favas are filling in. What you can't see in the photo is that some of the favas are actually starting to bloom. Most of the favas were sown on December 13 and the smaller plants at this end of the bed were sown on December 23.

February 16

 The mustard was starting to bolt so that meant it was time to cut it down and dig it in.

February 16

 I used some hedging shears to cut the tops down.

February 16

And then turned everything in. I had left the stumps and roots of the peppers and eggplants in place and those got chopped up and turned in as well. Next I'll be covering that section with sheets of newspaper to mulch it until I'm ready to plant the space with various types of bush beans in late March or early April.

February 16

There's been more activity in bed #2. This was where the overwintered brassicas and other winter vegetables have been growing. The tall plants with the big leaves are the Romanesco broccoli. In the foreground are the celeriac and celery plants. Off to the left where there's a bunch of water bottles are some new chard plants. The fabric draped over the side of the bed is heavy frost cloth because we had freezing nights in December. The other water bottles are clanking in the breeze to protect some Lacinato kale and Di Ciccio broccoli.

December 31

A couple weeks later not much has changed other than that I needed to cover the chard to protect it from, oh you know, the birds.

January 16

The only new activity was at the far end of the bed where I had set out some bareroot Seascape and Albion strawberry plants. The birds had discovered a taste for radicchio and escarole so, you guessed it, more tulle. The nice thing about the tulle is that it is lightweight enough that it can float directly on top of the plants. I covered the strawberry starts also because I was trying to coax a quick crop of Golden Corn salad between the berry plants and the birds devour the corn salad seedlings practically as they emerge.

January 16

The Tronchuda Beira plants were producing a lot of huge leaves, I was harvesting just the tender inner leaves by this time. The Romanesco plants are looming behind the Tronchuda Beira. There's a ratty tatty senescent Di Ciccio broccoli plant to the left.

January 16

The first head Romanesco broccoli was ready to harvest that day. After cutting it out I cut the plant down to a stump which you might be able to see in the photo below.

January 16

That's all the leaves from the one Romanesco plant. Note the sparse foliage on the broccoli in the bed just behind the big pile of Romaneso leaves. What a difference!

January 16

Two weeks later the broccoli plants had been cleared out, the strawberry slips were popping new leaves, the radicchio and especially the escarole were filling out, and I had to cover the remaining Romanesco and the Tronchuda Beira because, well, you know why...

January 31

 Look at the edges of the leaves on the Tronchuda Beira. It took the birds about 1 day to do that.

January 31

The Romanesco produced in a hurry and the Tronchuda Beira seemingly decided to bolt overnight, so I had the space that they had occupied cleared out by the beginning of February. About the only things in this bed that I didn't have to protect from the birds were the celeriac and celery plants. The clanking water bottles with the mylar strips seemed to be adequate to keep the birds off of the kale, which is great because every time I cover my Lacinato kale it gets terribly infested with aphids. The aphids haven't been a huge problem so far, although the kale is starting to bolt and the aphids seem to find the flower buds irresistible.

February 5

February 5

This past weekend I dug my usual amendments into the spot vacated by the Romanesco and Tronchuda Beira, set up a new Micromesh tunnel and set out new seedlings of lettuces - Red Iceberg, Reine des Glace, Ruby Gem romaine, and Sweetie Baby romaine. Those were all sown into 4-inch pots back on January 18. I also direct sowed some arugula, cress, chicory, and radishes. Then on Monday I prepped the spot where the broccoli had been and direct sowed more radishes, baby turnips, and baby leaf kale. That spot is protected by some Agribon covering the soil, I need to harvest some of the developing radicchios further down so that I can put up another tunnel.

February 15

Here's the radicchios and escarole. These were a gamble since I started them very late last fall (October 28). There was and still is a good chance that they will start to bolt before they form any proper heads. So far though they are sizing up and not showing signs of bolting. They are at least large enough now that if they do start to bolt I'll get something for my efforts.

February 15

And finally, the fourth garden bed, actually #3. This bed started off the year well stocked with lettuces, radishes, turnips, spinach, and other greens that I had sowed last fall, mostly in October.

December 31, 2014

December 31, 2014

Mostly lettuce in the photo above and Cilician parsley, arugula, radishes, turnips, rapini, and spinach shown below.

December 31, 2014

A month later it doesn't look like much has changed from this angle.

January 31

But the arugula had started to bolt and was cut down to the nubs, most of the radishes were harvested,   and the remaining rapini was bolting.

January 31

 The lettuce had formed heads and I was starting to harvest them.

January 31

It's difficult to see here, but there's more gaps in the lettuce patch and the rapini is blooming its heart out. I wish I could uncover the rapini to feed the good bugs, but you know what would feast instead.

February 15

And last and usually overlooked, one stray in the garden that is looking good this year. I've had an artichoke growing in a pot for years now, it's been there so long that I don't remember what variety it is, something Italian. It has always struggled along, generally neglected, often under watered, not always fed. Last year I gave it a shot of the mycorrhizal and bacterial inoculants that I've been applying in the garden, hooked it up to the drip system, and whoa mama, look how it has responded! Not bad for a rootbound specimen sharing space with a volunteer red fennel and who knows what else in that pot.

February 15

So, that's the "winter" garden this year. I won't claim that it is typical. A month of sunshine and warmth when it should have been cold and rainy made for a bit of gardening heaven. It will be interesting to see what "spring" has in store for us here.