Thursday, February 2, 2012

Winter Gardening 1st week February 2012


Well the first week of February and winter is still here at Snowshoe Inn. We have about 10 inches of snow pack at the moment. This is much less than "Normal" I have been spending my time with online and hard copy seed catelogs. The internet has really changed things over the past few years.

I did sow some winter crops in the cold greenhouse last fall, but the soil was too dry at the time and germination was poor. I have been grazing off the few spinach plants that germinated for the past month. I am finally getting Bobbe trained to ask me for "fresh spinach" each night for our dinner salad. I also have a few leeks in the cold greenhouse to harvest off an on. I have lots to learn about growing them but they do add to the winter meals.

I did not start the grow room in the basement until late in the season. This year I am harvesting Micro greens. These are red and green mustard seedlings that are harvested at 3 to 4 weeks at the four leaf stage of growth. They add a little spice to our dinner salads and to my sandwiches. I also have some more spinach, arugula, leaf lettuce growing. I should be able to start harvesting the leaf lettuce next week. The grow room is a hydroponic system with a ebb & flow system I have built. It works well if I keep on top of the water system and manage the fertilizers.

The out door garden will not start growing until may for the early crops and 2nd week of June for the warm weather crops. It seems as if I need to plant my summer crops at the same time as I plant my late fall and winter crops. I think over time I will be more of a winter gardener than a traditional summer gardener.

Everyone keep warm & dry

B

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