Winter wonderland

Friday and Saturday we were hit with two small storms that dumped a total of 7" of snow creating a winter wonderland.

The mini-greenhouses are still working great and have been providing us with fresh greens throughout the winter. The plants are growing slowly, but nonetheless continue to grow and seem very healthy. The ground inside the mini-greenhouses hasn't frozen at all and is full of earth worms enjoying the winter protection. In the second picture above you can see the snow covered mounds of the row covers protecting the carrots.

The lettuce, kale and scallions seem to be holding up the best in the below freezing temperatures. The cabbage is also doing very well, but like everything else is also growing very slowly. I have been harvesting some of the small cabbage plants for the rabbits so they can have fresh greens during the winter. The broccoli and cauliflower plants have wilted a bit but still continue to grow. The plants are now about 2' tall with new florets growing on the main stalks. It has been difficult to water steadily during the cold days which is why I think the plants are wilting, something I am hoping to address for next winter.

During these cold wintry days I have been sitting by the wood stove pouring through the seed catalogs planning the gardens for this coming year with plans on expanding the gardens and fencing them in, building new mini-greenhouse and placing them on raised stone beds, and adding irrigation systems to them. Another huge project, that we are excited about, is creating an organic school community garden at the elementary school. We received the go ahead in the fall and are already busy planning!! It should be a fun and rewarding project!!