01-26-2014 Ice and more ice!

Gorgeous, sunny day out there but the next cold front is on the way.
This is what the side water fall looks like today:

It is pretty but I am looking forward to this:

01-24-2014 Freezing!

What does a gardener do when his/her garden looks like this?

When it gets that sorry, cold, barren look?

   I have mentioned before that growing a winter garden in Raleigh, NC represents some serious gambling. With the much warmer winters we've had the last few years, it has become much more tempting to take that chance and, most year, the gamble has paid handsomely.

   This year, on the other (cold) hand even the row covers I used as protection have not helped much. They are designed to protect vegetables up to about five degrees below the 32° freezing point but not more.
What this all means is that my fresh greens' supply got brutally interrupted two weeks ago. The few survivors, however blackened have now received the coup de grace with this ongoing freeze.

   Sure the carrots, leeks and onions will make it but I still have weeks before I can taste those.

My daily intake of fresh escarole, endive or lettuce, is gone for good!

So, what does a gardener do when his garden looks like the Russian Steppes?

   Fortunately for my state of mind, January is when you get to receive a different kind of mail (Remember the US mail? The service that usually brings you bills to pay?) At this time of year, it brings Christmas in January with its tens of seed catalogs, one more richly decorated than the other. With tempting pictures of wild berries, gorgeous flowers, beautiful fruit and veggies.

Time to dream!!!!!

Actually, just like any kid let loose in a candy store, you need to not jump at just anything and everything. In this case you wouldn't get a belly ache but would end up with more seeds than you can ever plant.

   In my case, I first reflect upon what worked and didn't last year, what ended up as good or better than the catalogs advertised, what produced well and what failed. 

   That's the easy part. The other one is dealing with our natural sense of risk and adventure. What am I going to try this year I haven't before??? What, among the new varieties looks promising??? One of the skills you better develop early is how to read those short little blurbs next to the gorgeous pictures. If there is no mention of a great taste in the first three words, I desist. It does not matter to me that the plant is "vigorous" (like in taking over the garden) or that that specific tomato is the "largest" on the market. If it's bigger than my sandwich I'll only have a mess. It's a little bit like picking a wife! You can't go just for the looks; there needs to be plenty of goodness!

   So here I am having whittled down my incoming catalogs to about six of them, having chosen my old favorite seeds and added a few exciting looking new ones, ready to start planting in three weeks when we start our cooler crops in this part of the country.
   I will keep you posted on my successes as well as my failures. Since I am only competing with myself, no need to hide.

The 9°F disaster

Gardening in winter always means taking chances. The winter weather in Raleigh, NC is so fickle you can't ever tell what to expect.

So, you gamble (or not). I do and try a winter garden every year with very satisfying results most years.
Yes it means having to cover your crops on cold nights but, most years, it allows you to enjoy fresh greens from January on.

The 9°F (-13C), followed by 48 hours of freezing temps did not work so well for me this year.
This morning, knowing I won't have any frost for the next four days, I uncovered what can be best described as a disaster: escaroles and endives turned totally black and lettuce melted to the ground.

The optimist in me found a few plants that, within three to six weeks might regrow from their still seemingly green center. It'll take a while to be sure and, at this point in time, I am not sure we will not have as far as weather. Further freezing might just give them the coup de grace while they attempt to recover.

The beehives have quite a few dead bodies lying on the lower level but that could be fairly normal winter loss. Only an internal inspection would tell and it still is too cold to open them up.

One thing for sure is that I'll soon have to start some new seedling for a winter-spring tie-over I thought I had covered.

Those poor things sure don't look anything like the glorious banana jungle that used to cover this ground.

12-23-2013 Symphony in green...and no real variation.

It is not simple talking about winter gardening when, yesterday, we had 77F (25C) and when the snow that's supposed to cover it all at this time of year came down this morning in the liquid form. (Not that you'll ever hear me complain about rain; I love that labor-free celestial irrigation)

Mâche or Lamb's lettuce.

One great thing to be said for this time of year is , fifteen minutes before dinner, going to pick the best looking escarole and bring it in for the freshest, crunchiest salad. I know that for most non-Belgian, this is an acquired taste with its slightly bitter flavor but for those in the know, it's the best.

Escarole

On the down side, every year I swear I won't grow curly endives; not that I don't love them but the ever changing freezing/warming temps damage its laced edges making it a supreme mess to clean up. So, here it is, once more I swear I'll never grow them again!!!!!

Curly endive.

Other Belgian delicacy to enjoy now: chervil soup! Chervil is now growing well during those cooler days and is producing its peak flavor.

This chervil picture needs a scratch and sniff app.

Head lettuce

Leaf lettuce

Kale

Parsley! Can't do w/o it any time of year!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

11-28-2013 Thankful for my garden...

On giving thanks…

The last canning for this year: pickled sweet banana rings.

   What better place is there to express your thankfulness than in the garden? This little patch of black dirt where sweat, toil, care and attention turn what used to be harsh clay into black dirt and its fairy carpet of greens, yellows, reds and blues, of the crunchiest green endive to the sweetest Asian pear or fig without forgetting those plump little cherry tomatoes that never make it to the kitchen, appreciated as they are on the spot, from lovingly picking to appreciating lips in less than a second, with a taste lingering into the new morning. What better place is there to appreciate nature’s spell surrounding its disciple and follower with enchanting perfumes, awe-inspiring beauty and flavors hardly tasted anywhere else?

   Sure, at this time of year, our little corner hardly looks like the garden of Eden I get lured into throughout all summer; banana leaves look pitiful, dried and frozen, more like an army of ghosts trembling in winter’s cold breath. Even our house now stands in its midst in utter nakedness, having lost her leafy vestments, in the middle of what can only be called desolation. After the last few frosts, our little piece of paradise looks more like the Flanders trenches after the harsh 1917 winter with its black, dried stems, its bare branches, and the few green vegetables shivering under pale shrouds of winter covers, helping them survive those frigid nights.

   Good thing is, a gardener is an eternal optimist, not really living in the now but planning for six months, a year or multiples from now, already living into next season or planting to harvest ten years from today. Despite the cold wind, I already have noticed the seemingly tender leaves of poppies volunteering by the mail box, soon to be joined by corn flowers, tulips and daffodils. Before we know it, our garden’s bareness will again be covered in a wild tapestry of colors, shapes and looks. What better place to reflect upon my thankfulness than on this little spot where decay turns into beauty, where tiny little seeds provide sustenance for so many, in food and in appreciable beauty? What better place to soon meditate on the beauties of life, to appreciate the bounties and the knowledge that this makes me a better member of my small community, partaking of the goodness, sharing the knowledge, helping create more gardens in our neighborhood?

   While nature may seem dead right now, she is just dormant, taking a little break, maybe forcing us to appreciate her absence but soon we’ll be surrounded by her gifts again; gifts I am very thankful for, today and every day of my life. Thank you for my garden and everybody in my life, right here or connected on line.

My life wouldn’t be quite this full and satisfying without all of you.

11-04-2013 last colors for the year!

Having suffered a frost last week, very few colors are still visible and will be totally gone within a couple more weeks making room for the green of winter vegetables. 

Those are growing nicely due to cool weather and less evaporation.

Most of those Mexican sunflowers are gone now.

This one is a pure miracle, a volunteer sunflower blooming way after its due date. I love volunteers; you never know what pleasure they'll bring you.

This pineapple sage kept my bees supplied in nectar those last few days.

10-02-2013 Cooler nights!

Finally, the nightly temps are getting a little cooler: 50s and 60s. the day temps are still high enough: mid-80s to impact my winter crops.

pineapple sage: love the red flower; the smell is ,no doubt, very pineappley but it does not taste like it. Good as a late flower for the bees.

I have started leeks, carrots, endives, lettuce, spinach,bush beans and onions from seeds. Because it is still rather warm during the day, chervil has given me a hard time and refuses to germinate. Not ever taking "no" for an answer, I have started some indoors yesterday. Let's see if I get any luckier.

Bush beans.

In between seasons with my tomatoes; the summer ones have slowed down to a trickle and my late season ones have just barely started to turn slightly pink. This year, I added some late cukes to see how they would do. I followed carol Stein's advice; we'll see how that works out. 

Fruit: collecting the very last of my figs, now down to a couple a day.

I have some late season raspberries I planted last year. They have turned out into something of a surprise: first, they are much "wilder" than I expected; they have a major defensive system made up of mean thorns. They grow rather strongly meaning I will have to do some re-arrangement this winter and their taste is not as sweet as my spring ones. They are almost bland but I am happy to have some fresh fruit.

Flowers: while I was absent, visiting family overseas, one of my bananas bloomed but it turned into the story of the tree falling in the forest. Since nobody noticed, does that really count? It sure wasn't accompanied by my usual excitement at watching a new flower's birth. 

The last few days have been very dry so that  have to do some watering.

Sacrificing my parsley for future generations of swallowtails. Not easy since I love parsley but I also enjoy butterflies. Dilemma!

Dahlia.