Happy Monday everyone!
I’ve been checking on (and watering) our hoop houses/wagons about once a week. Their growth is slow and not very exciting, so I don’t usually bother during the week, just on the weekends. The short days are also a factor and I don’t ever want to let the heat out of them in the evenings. After checking on them this weekend though, it appears that, finally, things are starting to perk up a bit. Not sure if it’s the unusually warm (and dry) winter we’ve been having, or if they’ve just finally gotten their feet under them, but everything’s looking pretty good!
 |
| Beets |
 |
| More beets, same kind as above…Early Wonder…but very a very different color on the leaves! |
 |
| Kale |
 |
| Carrots |
 |
| Spinach |
Slow and steady…it’s becoming a theme. Our tiny spinach harvest didn’t even make it into the fridge…I just ate it right after I weighed and washed it 🙂
While I wish we were harvesting more right now, there is definitely hope growing in the garden…and lots of plans for the coming seasons!
Garden plans and wishes aside, the chickens are continuing to happily lay some gorgeous eggs! Sweet!
This weeks totals:
- Spinach = 1 ounce
- Eggs = 24
Happy harvesting!
Linking up to Harvest Monday @ Daphne’s Dandelions
(Visited 28 times, 1 visits today)
My beets are struggling while my radishes are doing wonderful! I might have to grow my beets in containers as my clay soil is a major problem for me. My red kale is about the same size as yours, I love red kale!
Our days are a bit longer now, it’s not fully dark until between 5:30 & 6 instead of by 5. Things in my greenhouse are perking right along. I will try and do a photo shoot of the construction and post next week; it’s pretty easy and has stood up well in spite of being mostly made of trash wood and PVC pipe…. It gets really warm and humid in there as soon as the sun shines a bit and while it doesn’t keep the plants from freezing at night they do seem to be happier in there than out in the open, maybe it’s the wind protection. Also probably the soil warms up a bit to keep the roots warmer than outdoors.
I’m totally behind on reading all my blogs, but I hope when I catch up, I’ll find your post in there! We really need to figure out some type of greenhouse!
Every thing looks great! I took a peak in our cold frames yesterday and found the same thing. Everything seems to be perking up and adding some growth. I’m sure that comes from the added day length! Only a few more days and we will be back at 10 hours in our area. That’s when the growth really starts to kick in!! 10 hours seems to be the magic number.
Yay for perky veggies!!! Our days are getting visibly longer, too! I just love it!
I love your blog and you seem to be trying to accomplish the same things I am! What are you using for winter protection? My spinach, beets and kale are looking pretty wan. The spinach is under a small cold frame and that is doing better than the others, who are under frost blankets.
Our dream is a greenhouse….
Awww…Thank you!!! We use a medium weight plastic sheeting over our PVC pipes on two of our raised beds. I don’t think we’ve perfected it yet and we might try the plastic with some frost blankets next year, but it’s worked out OK. We also dream of a greenhouse!!! Hopefully someday!
That’s the way of it in winter. Your veg still looks in excellent condition. Now that Feb is rolling around, I bet things will be growing big soon.
Thank you! I really have my fingers crossed about their continued happy growth 🙂
The increasing day length combined with your milder winter weather are the reasons you are seeing better growth. Cold hardy plants are largely just dormant during the dark days of winter so the trick is to have some mature plants going into the winter that you can harvest from periodically AND some young ones like you have – which will spring forward with growth as the day length and sun strength starts increasing in the last days of winter. Things really start growing better after Imbolc (ground hogs day) which is the mid point between winter solstice and the spring equinox. It represents the real turning point in solar energy levels that the plants can use to grow.
Yes! Now I just have to figure out the timing of getting my plants mature before we go into next winter 😉 Thanks for all the info! You really are a wealth of information!
Its amazing how what some plants will put up with – cold, heat, you name it they cope with it. Actually what is propbably more amzing is 24 eggs – thats a lot of omelettes.
The plants are looking great! What covers your wagons? I need to make a change for next winter.
We just use a medium weight plastic sheeting (can’t remember if we got it at Lowes or Home Depot). It let’s in enough light, but also provides (almost) enough protection to keep things fairly happy.
Wow 24 eggs! This is my first time having a winter garden and it’s amazing how slow everything grows. I guess the good thing is that it is easy to keep up with!
Lol…right?! Not sure how I’ll keep up with the madness that will (hopefully) ensue in July and August 😉 The slowness just makes me all the more grateful for each harvest, though, no matter how small it is!