2-26-2014 Hopefully the last real cold push.

After a few absolutely gorgeous days, we're heading back into a few cold days.

Trees have not gotten the message and started leafing and blooming:

Blooming magnolia

Some garden survivors while my tomatoes and peppers started sprouting under the grow light.

This Brussel's sprout choose the horizontal position after too much snow.

Chervil

Crocus

...They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance....                William Wordsworth

Mine aren't in the thousands yet but in the hundreds.

2-15-2014 Can't stop nature!

As we dig out of our latest snow, rain, this morning, uncovered a golden surprise: the first daffodil blooms.

They are a little shy under the morning rain but there is no mistaking their message:

spring is on the way!

It's not quite William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

2-12/13-2014 The second coming?

We've been blessed this year with not one but two snow storms. This one mixed in with some sleet for good measure.

The garden is again invisible,

The fig tree seen here in a very unconventional way: totally bare but for snow.

but it shows signs of hope, my first daffodil ready to bloom and the quince showing (timidly) the colors through the snow.

Bamboo bending under the ice.

Tea time! No mosquitoes! Guaranteed!

02-05-2014 Bleakness vs hope!

It is rather bleak out there!

 While I appreciate the rain, I think most of us are suffering from sun deprivation.

We're so used to see it most of the time, even in the heart of winter, not those clouds!

I did take advantage of a few dry hours here and there to do some clean up, pull weeds, remove frozen vegetables, clean up those that had a chance for survival. Hardly any of them show much prospect and, in any case, it'll be weeks before I can start eating them again.
I am spreading new wood chips provided by Craig Brown on the old paths to revitalize them some.

I started receiving some of the new seeds and put some to work by starting my leeks, onions and peas out in the garden and some lettuce under the grow light. So that on those bleak days, I can take a peak in the room and see some gorgeous new green leaves waiting for better days to be transplanted outside.

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.