look at my chinese cabbage now that it sees the sun! funny. it lay there all winter under the cold and snow (i planted this in october i think?) and just sort of dormant-ized but didn’t die. it’s 60 and sunny today – but supposed to rain by the weekend, i was really hoping to do the mulch.
You have such a trashy garden.
This is the chinese cabbage after it emerged from its snowbank this week. It is still alive! It has a friend, too.
“January is the quietest month in the garden. … But just because it looks quiet doesn’t mean that nothing
is happening. The soil, open to the sky, absorbs the pure rainfall while microorganisms convert tilled-under
fodder into usable nutrients for the next crop of plants. The feasting earthworms tunnel along, aerating
the soil and preparing it to welcome the seeds and bare roots to come.”
–
Spring 2010 Garden Plan!
Early March after frost/cold temps: turn over soil in front and back garden, add lots of compost. Plant italian and kitchen sink greens mixes. Plant dill.
Late March/early April: start tomato seedlings. Plant basil and other herbs back outside when ground is warm. Plant wildflower mix!
Late April/early May: plant squash, cucumbers, and pole beans outside when temps are warm enough.
Front garden: Cucumbers, basil, oregano, thyme, wildflowers, ½ tomatos, ½ squash
Back garden: basil, dill, pole beans, ½ tomatos, ½ squash, greens
Ooooh, look! My new order of spring seeds arrived from pinetree garden seeds (SuperSeeds.com) in Maine. They changed their packaging this year to be on-trend with American Apparel and all that other 80’s worship neon-faux cali surfer crud. You’ll also see sprouting mixes in the back for homemade sprouts. Kinda reminds me of this clip from the office about mung bean sprouts – watch the clip here.
a fresh bag of farmer’s market goodies from timor market! collard greens (again) and fresh cilantro. i might be turning green from eating collard greens – yes I know they’re good for you and all, but brassicas are seriously too much after a while. so green, so fibrous,, so sulfurous. I made an indian curry with collards and potatos last night, but i think it actually tasted pretty good considering the health quotient – delicious goodness: not very healthy, hard to force down: extremely healthy.
paperwhites! they are so pretty and smell so good. unfortunately, i only get one blooming out of them and i don’t have more bulbs to “cycle through” to get constant blooms until spring. these were started by my mother before christmas in a dark room until they had little green leaf tips, then i planted the bulbs in a dish with some moss and rocks and they shot up into beautiful blooming plants in just one month!
My sad little “indoor winter garden” on the table in our living room, the only place in the house that gets light (a few hours a day …). You can see the paperwhite/Narcissus bulbs are growing. The shorter ones were in my bedroom but not doing well so I had to move them downstairs. The mint is almost nonexistent (see small pot) because I noticed the other day the stem was COVERED in tiny green aphids. So many, it just looked like the texture of the plant. Where do they come from? I rinsed the plants in the sink, hope they don’t come back.
More new DC snowstorm 2010 pictures! Also known as “now you know why my garden’s dead.com”
Since I’m not sure about next summer’s living plans, I don’t want to plant a full scale garden. Instead, I’m focusing on herbs and greens that can be started early and hopefully harvested a couple times. I’d like to grow some things indoors, but our row house only gets sun on the front side (and through only one window on the living room) all winter long. I’m sure there’s not enough day light to stimulate plant growth – I wonder if a small flourescent would be enough? Maybe I should focus on other plant projects – sprouts, and learning how to cook with the millions of weird winter veggies we’re getting from our local market’s csa box….