Blooming houseplant & winter hike

There has been little to no garden activity these last 2 months of winter. In my climate, the only gardening you can do is water your houseplants- which is exactly what I have been doing! I also continue to make compost, save food scraps and put them on the gardens to prep for spring growing. 

Winter is generally cold, bitter, unhappy times here. You risk your life in the conditions, physically and emotionally. 

But it's hard not to also admire the beauty of the winter- the draping pines, weeping vines, the dripping ice on elm leaf; a snowy umbrella of a cedar. The quiet of a blanket of snow. 

It has been quite dreary, snowy and rainy in my neck of the woods- I couldn't resist buying this bouquet of tulips. 

It's refreshing to see blooms in the winter- I have a Christmas cactus blooming now...

On January 8th, one of the christmas cacti began to bud; and it bloomed 3 days later...

December Winter Garden

I realize it's been a month since last posting. The gardens have been feeling weary, barely growing. The cauliflower and broccoli seem to be making head way, pun intended. But I think the snow froze the cauliflower to its core. 

 

The rows of cauliflower, broccoli, kale and radish were covered with cloth then covered with plastic sheeting overtop the hoop piping. 

Last week when the snow came, there was an ice pond on top of the plastic sheeting which became weighed down and hurt the plants. This past Sunday, I readjusted the cloth and plastic sheeting, and reinforced the hoop piping with metal stakes in the ground. This particular garden is very cold, and has a dark, chilly hillside as it is North facing. 

At my other wintery garden. I have kale and radish growing. They're covered the same way, with cloth over top and plastic sheeting over the hoop piping. This acts as a mini greenhouse. This garden is South facing and gets mostly full sun, so this garden tends to thrive more than my other garden. 

I have a picture here of one of the weirdest radishes I've grown this garden year. I had some large radishes this year, and this one is definitely one of the largest, but it's mostly the weirdest shape. 

Out of everything this fall and winter, particularly this garden year in general, I have picked mostly radishes. The kale this past fall season grew enough for a couple of harvests to eat, but it has been a slow grower this winter. 

The remaining winter, I will be tasked with cleaning up debris, organizing supplies, ,storing materials, composting, mulching, cutting back brush and weeds. You name it, I'll be doing it. 

Overalls, swamp boots and a thick coat and gloves are an essential this cold season, so don't forget to use them!

To keep busy in this time, we either stay indoors doing crafts or fiddling with the indoor plant garden or work in the gardens outside. 

Pictured here, I have decorated our door with pine cuttings and ribbon. And a picture of the indoor potted plants with Prince, the cat.

Early spring: how I'm covering the flower garden & Fruit trees

Many of the flowers this Spring are blooming three weeks ahead compared to previous years. The fruit trees such as Pears, Nectarines, and Peaches are blooming in the garden as well. With the fruit trees I covered almost all of them with Agfabric with a drawstring that you see in the picture below. 

For the trees that were blooming, I double wrapped them with an additional garden cloth or blanket. With the biggest pear tree that had blooms and the nectarine with blooms, I covered them with two cloth fabric sheets and a plastic sheet. With the fig trees, I covered them with plastic and the fabric cloth on the outside. For the flowers like Hyacinths and Tulips that are blooming early, I have covered them with plastic sheeting and plastic cloches to retain moisture and heat throughout the night. This week it will be below 20 degrees amid some risk of snow/early frost warnings, so I am keeping the fruit trees and flower and garden covered as well as the polytunnel garden as you can see in the last photo. 

Plastic sheet covering Tulip/hyacinth/crocus/flower seed mix bed

Tulips protected with recycled dog cone

Hyacinths covered in small plastic tub with foam sheet over top & refrigerator glass shelves

Plastic over cabbage plants

There are 2 holes in the 'reservoir' center to slowly drip rain water

Covering fruit trees from spring frost

Peaches & Nectarines covered, but I did not cover 2 of the big Peach trees

 Although Friday was an 80 degree day, the following Saturday was bitter cold and the night into the early Sunday morning was supposed to be in the low 20s. I'm not sure how cold it got last night, but I made sure to cover the fruit trees that were smaller because most of the had started to bud out. For example the Pear trees were about to bloom. I barely got the Pear trees covered though, and I could not cover the two large Peach trees nor the large Plum tree. Those trees I worried about because they are ready to bloom as well where the weather is tricking them into thinking it's late Spring.

Figs, Cherry, & Plum covered but I did not cover the big Plum tree

Here, the Cherry tree to the left is covered, & Pear trees are barely covered because they are large

What's growing on in the Winter Garden 2017

Now that Spring is closer upon us in the US, I'm cleaning up the garden mounds to be mulched soon. Today I'm starting some seeds indoors in my mini greenhouse with grow lights. Some of the plants I will be starting is a Artichoke, Lettuce, Brussels, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and I want to pick up some Radish seed to start growing them early indoors. Then towards mid-March or early April I will transplant these in the garden. Before I transplant though I want to have composted and mulched the mounds and made polytunnels to protect the plants. Afterward that point, I will start Tomato and Pepper plants indoors to be transplanted in May. I hope to have mulched and composted the mounds for these plants, then in May I will directly sow Squash, Melons, Gourds, and other things in the garden.

As of now, I have been growing a couple of rows of Arugula, Collard greens, lettuce, and carrots in the Hugelkultur garden. There is some cilantro and Red Russian kale growing among the greens as well. Because here in Kentucky the winter has been mild, the greens have been growing with little protection from now in the beginning of February from September. All I have used to protect the greens from the cold and snow is cloth row covers like garden canvas. I have been able to have greens to eat in salads or eaten fried. I also harvested a couple of carrots that I noticed were a decent size to pull up. Today I had a surprisingly long carrot that was growing in one of the garden mounds. Below are photos of the winter garden and the carrot harvested today.

collards

 

collards

lettuce

carrot harvested

row of Carrots

row of Arugula & Collards

Over wintering Fig Trees in Zone 6

In this video I show you what I used to protect the Fig Trees over winter. Fig trees are typically grown in warmer climates, but the variety Chicago Hardy Fig allows me to grow them in USDA Zone 6.

The following pictures are the Fig Trees I have mulched 4 feet high supported with wire cages and tobacco sticks. Something I do not mention in the video above, is that I will also be putting tarp over top of the cages to protect both Fig trees from snow and colder temperatures.