Garden Klog

Last Chance: Seed to Table

Tips & Tricks For Busy Gardeners....that's the topic for the sixth and final week of the winter-spring lecture series at the Bavarian Inn. This coming Tuesday, March 22 -- at 7 PM I'll be winding up the current series. We've had a lot of fun, and attendance has been great...we planned for 15-20, but got more than 20 the first week and the excitement (and attendance) has been building from there. 

Series sign-ups got a break on the package and will be attending the last talk for free, but walk-ins are still possible, and everybody who shows up  for the final night will get the password to view the entire series of  PowerPoints on the web so they will be able to review the previous five sessions and pick up what they missed.

To check it out visit the series web page at Your Freedom Garden or just show up Tuesday and pay at the door.

We've had some requests for a Fall program, and at the end of Tuesday night's program we'll be talking about that. Come put your two cents in, enjoy the info-packed presentation, and network with other kitchen gardeners!

Over-wintered (Winter Over?)

With rain forecast for tomorrow after a decent dry spell, I decided it was time to get started with my spring planting, even though it is fairly early on a calendar basis. But first, I had to check the status of things that were still in the ground when winter hit last November. We had a fairly cold, dry winter, though without any real extremes other than the quick descent from a balmy Thanksgiving to an immediate regime of teeens at night and low thirties  in the daytime.

Winter came on so quick, and I was so busy (teaching four days a week and going to grad school full time) that I never had a chance to get my spring bulbs in until early February, when we had another warm spell...and now here in March it has gone cold on us again. As usual, all we can do is react, and try finesse our crops from a fickle nature. At least I had my wood in, so I didn't freeze -- and I never had to turn on the baseboards once!

So, the crops: The garlic is already up and green (though not the shallots), and the few brassicas that survived the winter are beginning to perk up, too. It is the first time I have let any go through the winter down here, and I'll be curious to see if any of them produce something before running to seed. The earlier of the two fall plantings of carrots look like they may produce something, but all the beets and radishes and celery roots froze out -- as did the lettuce -- since I never got out to cover them with Reemay or leaves. The parsnips look fine (and big). Oh, and the spinach is fine, if a little bedraggled; I'm sure it will come around nicely now, with the weather warming.