It warmed up a little today but not enough to thaw the ground or even to free up the row covers so I can fix and stake them again. I found my garden’s garbage can, though.
The snow cleared from the pond enough to reveal where the garbage can went during the last wind storm.
The garbage can blew into the pond and froze. Luckily it wasn’t full of garbage only trellis netting which is also frozen with it. Gonna be a couple weeks before that comes out.
You can see where the plexi got beat from the wind storm. The Great Lakes can do that from time to time.
The wind also broke the plexi at the top of the greenhouse. I still have some left that I salvaged from a local builder.
The plexiglass from the greenhouse partly blew in while the rest blew across the yard.
The largest piece of the greenhouse window was blown across the yard.
Right before winter I stack everything in the greenhouse like a college kid’s closet.
Despite the wind, everything in the greenhouse is exactly where I threw, errrr, put it months ago.
The Rosemary made it. Not a lot of it, but enough that I think it’s gonna pull through.
The Rosemary made it! Even though it’s just a tiny little specimen, I think there’s just enough green to come back. This sample I took from a friend’s organic garden. I took it late last season and wasn’t sure if it was going to make it or not.
The oregano really did well through winter. I pinched a piece and tasted it. Yep, it’s still tasty.
The Oregano did great! It still tastes fantastic, too. I also took this from my friend’s organic garden late, last season. It’s really done well.
Still have seeds from the HUGE morning glory.
I even have more Morning Glory seeds left on my best specimen from last season. I collected a bunch but knowing these are still there, I am going to collect more. This particular pole did better than the others and the best of any I’ve ever grown. These seeds are special.
I asked my friend, Steve, to stand next to the Morning Glory pole so we knew how big this really was. Steve is 6’6″.
This weight of the Morning Glory caused the pole to really lean. If the pole was longer, this would have grown even taller!
You can see where the top of the Morning Glory was hanging from the pole. If I had a longer pole, this could have kept going? Wow, I’ll give it a go this year. In fact, these did so well and attracted so many bees and butterflies, I’m growing quite a bit more.
Supplies, seeds, and notes I started early in the year. As soon as Fall ends I get to planning.
Here’s a list of the veggies, herbs, and fruits I considered last season. Not everything went in.
No amount of planning can prepare you for everything. I brainstorm all winter long and draw sketches of my gardens. I reference the book, The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, by Ed Smith. He’s a grower in Vermont. The book is a fantastic start. I’ve since bought copies as gifts for people and they all love it. There are helpful charts in there about companion planting and what plants attract what pests and a wealth of other information. I very highly suggest it.
The deer and rabbits don’t seem to mess with the iris. Here you can see they’re already coming up from the frozen soil.
I took some Iris from Jman’s garden last season and the season before. I then divided it up all over my property. It’s already coming up as well. This year they should look pretty good since they’ve had at least 1 year in the ground and in some cases, 2 years.
The Iris and the Lillies line the garden perimeter as well randomly growing all over the yard.
As soon as the ground is workable, not only will I get carrots, cabbage, radishes, and other early crops in, but I’ll divide all the Iris and Lillies again and keep spreading them. They look amazing as a border and choke out weeds that would normally take up that space. This season I’m putting in a reclaimed pallet fence and all the Lillies and Iris will reside inside. I don’t know what I’ll use on the outside yet. Something the deer don’t like to eat. That’s for sure.
EAT MY PLANTS! 