The Modern Victory Garden

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!                      

Winter finally arrived this past week.   We had a heavy snow storm on Wednesday followed by more snow mixed with freezing rain on Thursday.   The temperature never got above 25 degrees during these two days of winter storms.   However, by mid-day Friday the temps moderated back to our normal range for this time of year (night time lows of mid to low 30’s and day time highs of low to mid 40’s) and the moisture laden storm systems steadily pumping through our area turned to rain - lots of rain.   As you can imagine, we are a big soggy mess at the moment as the rain and snow melt has nowhere to go since the ground is so saturated already.                                                       

Despite the steady and rather heavy rain, I ventured outside for about an hour on Sunday to watch over my hens while they enjoyed some free range time.   They did not want to stay out in it long as it really was a soaker of a day, but they were happy to get some fresh greens and a few worms and grubs before they declared defeat and retreated to the relative dryness of their covered yard.   While the hens were busy foraging, I made use of the time to harvest the last of the leeks and some kale leaves.                                                

Several days of below freezing temperatures had made the leeks outer leaves a bit slimy, so it was time to just harvest all that remained.   I peeled away the outer leaves, trimmed up the roots and gave them a good rinse – and ended up with some nice leeks for my efforts.   The kale leaves harvested was a mixture of the Siberian Dwarf Improved kale that is growing under the protection of the grow tunnel and tree kale leaves.   I have to tell you that I am more and more impressed with the tree kale plants.   They were looking very stressed during the multiple days of mid 20 temps, but as soon as it warmed up the plants just perked right up and now look like the winter weather never occurred.   Apparently tree kale is just as hardy as regular kale plants.   They produce abundantly too.         

Harvest totals for the week of January 16th through January 22nd (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Kale 0.25 lbs
• Leeks 0.50 lbs

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 2.75 lbs                                          

Eggs collected this week – 8                                               

WINTER DOINGS

Saturday morning, I took the time to create my annual Seed Starting Schedule.   I also set up the 2012 Harvest Tally page, although for now it is blank, as I only post the totals on a monthly basis and January is still a work in progress.   As you can see from the schedule, the seed starting process for 2012 is now underway in full force.   There will be a steady stream of seed starting from now until late spring.   Last week, I started the celery and celeriac and the main crop of onions.   Saturday I got the ultra-early start tomatoes seeded.   Unfortunately, I am already struggling for room under the grow lights and things are just getting going!   Part of the issue is that I am also starting seeds for the Giving Garden so I have more than my usual number of flats vying for space under the lights.   I am just going to have to move the more cold hardy items out to the unheated greenhouse a lot faster this year in order to free up space for items yet to be seeded.   First items moved out to the greenhouse were the Ailsa Craig Exhibition onions I started late last year.   Hopefully these plants will continue to grow in the greenhouse with less warmth and light then they had indoors, but it’s a chance I had to take as they needed to be moved to make room for the tray of soil blocks seeded with tomatoes.                

The greenhouse at the moment has several items growing in it.   I have some containers that I seeded with some spinach last week.   It may yet be too cold for them to germinate but if that proves to be the case, I will just reseed them again later.   In the other large containers I have some baby napa cabbages, baby carrots, dwarf pac choi, and some young lettuces.   The lettuces are looking pretty tough after the string of below freezing days last week.   They may (or may not) bounce back from that set back.   The dwarf pac choi plants are looking good though.              

That’s the way it goes with mid-winter growing efforts, some efforts fail and some thrive.   The trick is to keep a steady stream of new items coming online to increase your odds of success.                              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener