December 27, 2017
I had to put my mini greenhouses over the Swiss chard that was coming up from reseeding itself, not because of the cold, but because of the birds. The birds also mowed down the Bloomberg spinach row and ate the broccoli leaves. The broccoli on the other side of the garden is untouched. The birds have eaten everything in the back corner of the garden where they have shelter behind them in the form of grape vines, and don't have to keep a 360ð lookout for the cats..
I'm going to put a hoop tunnel covered in clear plastic over the spinach and see if I can overwinter it. It should have been dead by now but this year seems to be like no other that I've experienced. Didn't get any Fall artichokes either :(..
December 28, 2017
The broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts that I planted Christmas afternoon came up last night. Outside they went, and then the sun came out. Nice start for the spring garden. The lettuce and perpetual spinach did not come up yet so I left them indoors on the seed starting mat. Maybe tomorrow. I covered the Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach row with my cold frames, and then covered my Perpetual Spinach row too..
I still had frames left so I covered some of the Swiss chard plants scattered around the garden. I'm really getting on this leaffy veggies bandwagon. Kale is coming out my ears. It's too big to cover but this is such a weird year I may not need to..
February 02, 2018
January wasn't a great gardening month for me. It was just cold and wet, and bundling up like the Pilsbury Dough Boy, only to walk around like the Mischelon Man, was not fun. I've got a library and a fireplace so I listened to the rain rattle the windopains. It's time to plant peas, which is the beginning of Spring planting, and the soil is not soaked like it was last year at this time. The sun's showing up too. It's always nice to see your shadow. The flat of starts that I planted December 25th are dark green, stocky and look like small trees..
This is a result of starting them off with half strength fish emulsion and giving them plenty of light. They will be ready to get transplanted in a couple of weeks which will give me time to get some of the weeds under control. That's the bad side of taking January off. The weeds know you're gone and grow more quickly. I'll tackle one small area at a time just like you eat an elephant. One bite at a time..
