The Garden in January

Earlier in the month, the garden was covered with lots of snow and it was about 18 degrees (Jan 10, 2011)


And then 11 days later, the garden is uncovered and in the 40 degree sunshine. (Jan 21, 2011) I even picked two radishes that day.


Last week we had our garden meeting to start planning for March, which includes cleaning the beds and planning some events for March and April. Think spring!

Welcome 2011!

A year ago the SLCC Community Garden did not even exist, and now I have been blogging about it for six months!

No pictures today.....some updates and some goals.

UPDATES
The basil bush did not like my kitchen. Its leaves gave me a few more leaves for dishes these past two months, but it is no longer in the kitchen :(.

The tomatoes are all gone also. So I am eating the last of 2010's harvest in my pesto I took out of the freezer.

GOALS
1. I hope to create/plant more in the herb garden area.
2. I will plant one new vegetable this year.
3. I want to experience canning. I have never done it. I heard it is hard, but I like to try things at least once.

Only three more months until I can smell the earth and see things sprouting up from the earth!

Under the Snow...

....there's some spinach!


I planted the fall harvest on September 13. It was December 17 when I decided to dig the spinach out from under the snow and use most of the basil left on the basil bush to make a spinach/basil pasta salad. I like knowing that my lunches this week come from the garden!

I also picked a radish . The last time I tried to pick a radish plant there were just roots and no radish bulb. I will check the radishes again in January.

Winter in the Garden

The first big snow in the valley. The fall crop is buried.

Fall Planting Update

On September 13 I planted some radishes, beets and spinach. Before I left on my trip six weeks later, here is what my box and plants looked like:


Things were not quite growing like the first round in May and June. I returned after nine days to see my radishes were bigger and the oats started sprouting.


I pulled a radish plant that looked quite large, but no red radish was attached. I will look again in a few days to see if there is more growth.

Snow!

I am glad I took the green tomatoes off the vine on Friday! We had our first snow in the garden yesterday morning. Clint took the picture----I was busy at meetings in the morning. The west side received the snow---no snow on my grass yet!

Empty Garden

Frost may be coming this weekend, especially on Monday. I decided to remove the pepper and tomato plants yesterday during my lunch break. The garden looks like the picture I took on May 7 (24 weeks ago!).


It is a sad time....I enjoyed my daily breaks from the computer. A fellow gardener told me it is just the cycle of life. We were blessed with a long warmer autumn. I look forward to the spring after a winter of reading and knitting!

One thing that amazed me is how many tomatoes one plant can give me! Here are all the green tomatoes that were hidden in the tomato bush as I slowly took it apart for the compost area.


The plant gave me a bushel of tomatoes!


I will continue to blog. There is still an autumn crop in the box....and I have a friend who is trying a cold frame this winter. I can always dream about the spring!