Your Winter Garden

680 Views 18 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Buxtehude, Sep 1, 2011

Buxtehude

Discussion Starter · Aug 30, 2011

Now, I know some of you Northern yahoos live in harsh winter climates, so you can't do much gardening.
 
Or do you?
 
Anyway, tell me about your winter garden plans.
______________________________________
 
Mine are thus:
 
*Fava beans (Windsor variety. They're about 6 inches tall, so far. I look forward to some lovely favas in a few months. I also hope they improve the soil's bulk and nitrogen level)
 
* Peas (sugar snap, planted two days ago, from seed)
 
*Kale (tuscan/dinosaur/lacinato. the seedlings are really suffering in the late-summer heat. they're planted helter-skelter, wherever I found space)
 
*Broccoli (Green Comet variety seedlings, also suffering, planted a bit too early, live and learn. I'm also seeding some Waltham variety seeds in a feeble attempt at successive planting)
 
*Cauliflower (A self-blanching variety, doing well despite the heat)
 
*Cabbage (Copenhagen Market variety, suffering)
 
*Various lettuces (planted amongst the brassicas, which I have since learned is not a good idea, because they aren't good companions)
 
*Carrots (Red Cored Chantenay variety. We have rocky, clay soil, so I cordoned off a tiny plot, added sharp sand and purchased topsoil which I sifted into the plot. No. I'm not obsessed)
 
*Radishes (Cherry Belle, planted solely for their ease and quick gratification)
 
*Beets (Cylindria. Perhaps planting a long, cylindrical beet in pots wasn't the best idea...)
 
My Summer-grown sugar pumpkins, costata romanesco zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes are doing well. I'm especially thrilled at the prospect of curing and storing my sugar pumpkins.

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4boysmom

· #3 · Aug 30, 2011

I have house plants. Does that count?
 
My garden has pretty much been a dud this summer. Tomatoes came on late this year and I'm only getting enough for salads. There will be no canning this year. I did plant an apple and a peach tree. The kids asked why I stuck half dead sticks in the ground. I suspect it's gonna be several years before we get any produce from them--and we'll have to figure out how to keep the deer from eating them!

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4boysmom

· #5 · Aug 30, 2011

Yah, I've seen the fruit salad trees. These trees were actually an impulse purchase. Earlier this summer I had planted two trees (maple and ginkgo) in celebration of my 45th birthday. We hadn't planned on planting anything more until we lose our ash trees. But, one day I was at the grocery store and I saw they had fruit trees marked down. I found these two trees looking all sad and lonely. So I bought them. Really, with where we already have mature trees, where I planted the new trees, and where we have buried lines, there wasn't a good place to plant them. Hopefully the peach tree won't get too big as I had to plant it about 5' from the fence. And the apple tree will be shaded most of the late afternoon. But for $5 each, I'm not too worried.

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4boysmom

· #13 · Aug 31, 2011

We had a neighbor who would compost dog poop. They cut the bottom off a bucket, then buried it to just below the lip, then put a lid on it. They scooped about once a week. I don't remember if they added a layer of dirt or not. Once it was full, they'd remove the bucket and start all over again. I haven't gone that far, but I have buried dog poo. I mean, you can't compost it. You can't put it in with regular trash. And you have to scoop. What are you supposed to do with it?!

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4boysmom

· #15 · Aug 31, 2011

I don't know that they were composting to augment the soil. They were basically burying it. I 'spose similar to a septic system???

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