getting the garden ready for snow

Last Sunday morning, before the Big Snow Storm hit, I spend a couple hours in my vegetable garden getting things set.

My husband removed the plastic outer layer from my winter tunnel and then taped on a cross bar onto the top of the hoops for extra support.



I opened up the lower fabric cover to check the greens. I wanted to harvest the heads of lettuce at the edges of the bed. These tend to get chilly and freeze. I picked a nice bucket full. Some pretty heads for our salads and some not so pretty heads for my chickens.





When I was covering up the tunnel again I realized I'd forgotten to put in place the low metal hoops I use for support of the inner layer of cold weather garden fabric. They are flexible wire, I think nine gauge. I put these in and then layered on my row cover. In past years I have used a double layer, but since I've been reusing it at least five years now the fabric is ratty. It has many small holes and only makes one layer. But its layered on and looks OK.

Finally I pulled the big sheet of greenhouse plastic over the top and secured it at the base. All set for snow!

winter bed

Whenever we get a couple days with night temperatures above freezing I open up my winter bed. It's not as full as last year since I planted late in the fall, but there are lots of greens coming along. Spinach, lettuce, bok choy, and cabbage. Some overwintered rosemary. I was impressed with my kalettes that didn't mature last year, but look good now.

planting out extra lettuce

I had a few 6-packs of lettuce left over that didn't fit in my tunnel so I set up a second smaller tunnel for it. This little tunnel is just covered with a double layer of row cover fabric. I wonder if it will do OK. It depends on the weather we get.

newly planted seedlings in winter tunnel

I planted my seedlings out into my empty winter tunnel last weekend. They look very happy out there. I have a few more to plant out and will set up another smaller tunnel. But I'm waiting until after The Big Storm coming tomorrow.

Everyone is talking about the Storm here. 2 inches of rain and then 5 inches of heavy wet snow are predicted with high winds and power outages. I'm glad I don't need to worry about the coastal flooding in my area, because that's supposed to be really bad. Today and yesterday have been beautiful springlike days in the 60's. The dogs and I have been out enjoying it as much as we can. I suppose tomorrow will be a day to stay inside and take care of my little onion sprouts.

hardening off seedlings

The seedlings for my winter tunnel have grown really fast. Time to start hardening them off. Today is sunny and 65F (!!) so they are outside on the patio sunning. I am enjoying the air and am working by the open door.





My plan is to harden them off for about a week before transplanting these seedlings into the tunnel soil. I'll leave them outside 3 hours today and then gradually longer until they are OK staying overnight in the tunnel. If it's not warm enough outside during the day, they can be in the covered tunnel for their hardening off time.

I opened up the winter tunnel to the air too. There are a few plants left in there (the mice left me a few). The soil is pretty dry. I'll have to bring a watering can down there this afternoon.

early seedlings

The planting season is starting up!!

I planted a bunch of greens to fill my winter tunnel since mice ruined my fall planting. I finished transplanting them today. They were growing 4 or 5 to a cell of a 6-pack, now they each have a cell to themselves. I hope to plant them out in the tunnel at the end of the month.

I started my regular garden planting a few days ago by planting a few asparagus seeds. They need to go in 13 weeks before the last frost. They are germinating (I hope) in a nice warm (78F) spot. My onions, scallion, leeks, celery, and celeriac will go in 11 weeks before the last frost - the week of February 16 (just over a week away!).

mouse traps in the winter tunnel

All our snow is gone now. We got a couple inches of rain last night. In one night we went from a foot of snow to almost no snow at all.

I had opened my winter tunnel to the rain and air for the past couple days. The soil looks nice now. Unfortunately, the plants are still mouse-eaten and frost-killed. This morning I pulled all the damaged plants. The mice ate parsley roots, lettuce and spinach stems, and entire chard plants.

My husband was up early this morning and he repaired the tunnel top pole support for me. We put down four mouse snap-traps and closed the tunnel up just as our temperature was plummeting back down to freezing at about noon.

I'd like to replant my tunnel with fresh greens seedlings. In February, our sunlight will be high enough for plants to grow. I just put a dozen or so 6-packs planting pots in the dishwasher to clean them up for planting seeds. I think I'll plant spinach and lettuce indoors under lights that will be ready to transplant out into the tunnel mid February. I hope I can get rid of the mice by then.

winter tunnel clean up

I opened up my winter greens tunnel this afternoon, but it wasn't a pretty sight. All the romaine lettuce was wilted and rotting. I guess the week of sub-zero temperatures was too cold for it. Plus it looks like a mouse had gotten in. There was a mouse nest and the iceberg lettuce and spinach were eaten and torn up. There were a number of holes chewed in the row cover and pieces of it were in the mouse nest. Arugula, mustard greens, and a rosemary plant looked OK. The soil was pretty dry. I left the tunnel open to get some rain. I don't know how to get rid of that mouse. I suppose a mouse trap.

A January thaw and lots of rain ahead. For the next two nights our temps won't fall below 40F. Quite balmy! I plan to open up my collapsed winter garden tunnel tomorrow. I'll dig it out from under the foot of snow. I'll plan to put that top support pole on (the one I didn't get to all fall and caused the tunnel collapse). And I'll leave the tunnel open for a couple days during this "warm" spell. It'll be a nice change for the winter greens to have some air and rain.

winter garden

My garden is snow covered from an early storm. We got about 5 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday. My winter tunnel collapsed at the ends. I didn't put the top support on. I'll do that soon. I use duct tape and attach a PVC pipe along the top apex of each hoop to keep the hoops from collapsing inward. I'm also missing a hoop at the left end.

I opened up the tunnel today and loved the feel of the warm humid air that escaped. It's great how the sun warms the air through the greenhouse plastic. My tunnel has two layers - one of greenhouse plastic and then another of winter fabric row cover.



I've been experimenting with different greens in my tunnel. Spinach always does super well. I tried a big row of arugula this year and it's awesome too. Escarole and mustard greens are great. I pick a salad bowl once a week and alternate with store-bought. I have several varieties of lettuce growing. I'm really pleased with my iceberg lettuce Ice Queen. I have 4 heads and looking forward to harvesting a couple for a nice Christmas salad. I think this lettuce would be even better if I had started it a bit earlier and had bigger heads, but the loose outer greens are holding up really well in the cold tunnel.

All of my greens will start growing soon - late January - once the sunlight starts to increase. Nothing's growing now, but my tunnel greens always grow like crazy with increasing sun and then by Feb and March it's full. I pick leaves here and there and am patient until the daylight increases.

winter tunnel

My winter tunnel is pretty much full of greens. The lettuce is edible size and I've started thinning it. Spinach and escarole need to grow a bit. But it's ready for winter. When temperatures fall, I'll cover this bed with a layer of plastic and a layer of heavy row cover. Hopefully I'll be able to eat these greens all winter.

fall and winter garden planning

I've finished planting most of my fall vagarables now. This week I'll plant a couple more. Fall vegetables are ones I harvest before they are killed by cold weather and don't use any cold protection.

I'm beginning to plan my winter bed now. I'll use the same double layered tunnel that's worked well for me the past couple years. I'll fill this bed with crops that are full grown by early November so I'll be able to harvest them all winter.

My fall vegetables: beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, arugula, spinach, escarole, and broccoli.

My winter vegetables: spinach, escarole, lettuce, and arugula.

I'm keeping record of my planting on my 2017 planning list.

overwintered vegetables

Charley and I peeked inside my winter tunnel today. I keep thinking I can take of the covers, but night temps will be down in the teens again this week. Maybe next week.

winter tunnel in cold snap

My winter tunnel kept my plants fine in our cold snap down to low single digits over the past few days. Like last year, the tunnel has two layers, and inner fabric layer and an outer plastic layer. The inner layer is help down by rocks, the outer one by long boards.




The bed is heavily planted with all different types of greens, but they are small and covered with two inches of salt marsh hay. I don't expect these will be ready to harvest until early spring. (I planted late...)

winterized garden

Here's a photo of my garden taken 4 day ago. It looks about the same today but with a thin dusting of snow and some ice in places. The winter tunnel covers are up, perennials by the fence and some garlic near the tunnel are mulched with leaves or hay. The pots are turned on their sides, tools and hoses are in the shed. Most beds are empty, some have winter rye seed planted. The seed went in too late to sprout yet, but it will once it warms a bit. I tucked in four small bushes that I bought at a fall sale, I'll give them a permanent home in spring.

I haven't made it over to my community garden plot in a while. I hope I can get a picture of that garden sometime soon. I expect the winter rye is up in nice green carpets on the beds. My bed of garlic may have small spouts up an inch covered by a layer of salt march hay. Everything else is bare I imagine.

winter tunnel is up

I put the covers on my winter tunnel this afternoon. A few days before it's needed. On Friday, our nightime temperature is predicted to drop to 22 degrees F and then into the teens on Saturday. (A bit sudden for us after a mild fall.) With the tunnel up now, a few days before deep cold, it will give a bit of warming to the soil before the deep freeze comes.

today's garden work

It seems I should be finishing up with my garden for the season, but I'm hurrying to get my winter crops set. This is what I did in the garden today.

- Clean out tomato debris from my winter bed (this bed has hardware cloth dug in 8 inches around the base to deter voles and also has brackets to support the PVC hoops)

- Spread compost and manure on winter bed (3 bags Black Earth compost and 2 bags composted manure) and dig it in (I dig it in only turning a shovelful here and there, trying to both distribute the amendments and preserve some of the soil structure)

- Plant seedlings in the winter bed, including chard, broccoli, bok choi, lettuce, and spinach - leaving room to seed more spinach

- Mulch the winter bed seedlings with salt marsh hay (I have no water at the garden, so I hope they take root OK)

- Put in place low metal hoops and tall PVC hoops for my double layer winter tunnel

- Clear out my watermelon bed for planting a few cloves of extra giant garlic given to me by a friend (most of my garlic - 70 cloves - was planted several weeks ago in my community garden plot)

- Amend the garlic bed with compost and manure, dig it in, and then plant the garlic (I need to mulch this bed later)

- Cover my lettuce bed with row cover since it might go below 30 tonight

I'm glad my new pup Charley and big sister Suzie are so good. They ran and played nearby while I worked. The leaves and cool weather are great fun for them.

my winter bed in May

I'll be emptying this bed out soon. Tomatoes will go here for the summer. For now, I've left kale and collards to flower for the bees. They love them.