February 1st

Yes, this is a forsythia. Just a handful of blooms and only on one street in town but still...

Snowprints.

Planting calendars

Starting to think about the new season... sort of...

My garden is in zone 6b. This calendar gives a nice graphic to help "picture" the flow of crops:

http://www.veggieharvest.com/Vegetable-Planting-Calendar/Zone-6-Vegetable-Planting-Calendar/

Hoop house

Well, I had to give up on the hoop house. I don't know if it would have provided adequate protection against the cold if I had had a better bottom seal. I'm pretty optimistic about it though.

Without the bottom seal the temperature protection wasn't maximized, and wind kept getting under the plastic and lifting it up and off the arches. I couldn't keep up with recovering it.

So it was a good experiment and proved that, at least this year, we could have had decent greens and roots through December, at least. Stay tuned for the next experiment.

Summer blueberries.

Reaping the bounty still. This morning I made a blueberry popover following the recipe in the Tassajara bread book.

Easier than pancakes if you can believe it.

Still alive in a December garden

Walking around the yard today I'm impressed and surprised at what is still edible. Parsley, rosemary, thyme, and sage would still be useable, if I hadn't used it all already. Lettuce, chard, celery, carrots, and beets are all doing just fine inside a hoop house. Cabbage and brussels would be too if I had found the time and space for them in July or August. Thus is just a note to myself that it would be worth it next year. All this despite several 25 degree nights.

25 degrees

It's our hardest frost yet and everything, including the lettuce, is still looking good in the hoops. Even the kale (unprotected) is still fine.

The endive and cabbage left out of hoops, might have survived the frost if it had not gotten completely chomped, probably by rabbits, right down to the stalk.