The Modern Victory Garden

The first freeze arrived this week.   It didn’t just arrive in a gentle way either.   It seems with the weather in the past few years that everything occurs in an abrupt and significant manner.   The month of November is always our rainiest month in these parts, but this year it was setting records.   We had rain virtually every day through the month of November and plenty of them were deluge type soakers.   While it was soggy all through November the temperature was relatively moderate and warm for the time of year.   Then December arrived and it is like the spigot was just turned off by someone.   A stretch of dry and (mostly) sunny days has since ensued and is forecasted to continue through mid month and with the change came a sudden drop in temperatures – almost down to record lows for our area.   We have an arctic blast hitting us, which brought our nighttime temperatures into the mid 20’s .   The significant and hard freezes have taken down the vegetation on the semi hardy crops.   The tops of the parsnips are done but the roots will continue to reside safely in the ground.   The lettuce is also quite done in and I need to brave the cold today and remove them.   So far the brussel sprouts are holding up, but I should harvest the rest of the sprouts over the coming week just to be safe. Yesterday, I stepped out into the cold just long enough to dig up a nice mix of parsnips and carrots to slice and sauté in butter for dinner.   

I’ve got a few lists going at the moment.   Some are in my head and some are actually on paper.   And despite what you are probably thinking, the lists I am referring to are not related to the impending Christmas holiday!   Instead, they are about getting myself organized for the annual seed and supply ordering process.   I generally place orders for the bulk of seeds, nursery stock, and garden supplies right after Christmas.   I find it works better if I spend most of December taking an inventory of supplies, and developing / refining my garden plan for the coming year.   In addition to thinking about what to plant in the garden and what supplies might be needed, I also give some consideration to what projects should be completed prior to the growing season getting underway.   So far, here are the things I am thinking about:

• I need to replace the 4 Heritage raspberry plants that did not make it last year.   We also need to construct a proper support structure for the raspberry bed this year. 
• The broad-spectrum light tubes in the grow light fixture need to be replaced before the big seed-starting season gets underway.  The current tubes are quite a few years old and appear to be losing some intensity. I have some spares on hand but will order another set of spares to replace the ones I will use.   
• I am totally out of seed starting soil mix and need to stock up. 
• I want to add 4 more half-whiskey barrel containers to the greenhouse (have three in there now) – need to watch for a good sale on these, as they are kind of pricey.  As an alternative, I may give some serious consideration to constructing deep raised beds in the greenhouse using up the remaining timbers from last year's garden expansion project.
• After blogging this week about intercropping, I am inspired to give the 3 Sisters planting combination another try – using a half runner dried bean variety (probably pinto beans) and just a few squash plants in an attempt to keep it more manageable and produtive.
• This winter’s shop project is going to be the creation of some planting jigs to make it easier to do precise planting without excessive fussing around on my part.   I have an idea in mind and just need to go purchase a few materials and make a prototype of it.   I will blog about the shop project when it get's underway.   Last year’s idea and project was the horizontal pea trellis, which turned out to be a great success.

What’s on your lists?