Catching-up in the garden . . .

I know it has been a very long time since I have even visited my blog. It is time to catch-up. I had a very terrible summer garden year. My neighbor had two chemical companies spraying for weeks and even on very windy days. Many plants developed flowers, but did not fruit.

So, this fall I started a late garden. I have perennial swiss chard going on its fourth year. And then there is the onion bed, some new starts some older. In Nov. I started lettuce, leeks, spinach, swiss chard, and parsley in the greenhouse. The swiss chard did not make it but that is okay as I have two large plants in the garden.

I ended up getting a heat pad timer which has made the new seed propagation successful. I have transplanted the new little lettuce starts into 8 deep six-packs. The lettuce is Four Seasons, an heirloom red butterhead and Batavia Laura, a rare hardy annual-crisphead. They both do well in my garden.

I have planted one six-pack of spinach. I planted one six-pack of Italian flat leaf parsley and the rest are in a 4 in. pot. Tomorrow I will take pictures. It warms my heart to see the little guys doing so well!

I have two tomato plants (small, about a foot tall) going in the greenhouse too. I moved in one of my summer tomatoes that didn't start producing until Oct. in hopes of keeping it going. The problem is that it went through a night or two of freeze before I got Stephen to move the huge heavy pot into the greenhouse and the leaves went limp - it is not going to make it. Too bad as it is an organic grown early girl. The two little plants are from Cindy, my neighbor and I have no idea what they are. They are just an experiment! I have never tried growing tomatoes in the winter.

Oh, I forgot to say that I planted a row of peas in the garden and the little guys look really good. They are not phased by the freezing temps that we have gotten several nights. If planted in the right place they can grow for at least 10 months a year in my garden.

I will continue tomorrow and add photos!

“The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.” ~ Wendell Berry