Today's garden leaves.
Left to right, top to bottom, more or less:
Red mustard (three sizes), parsnip, radish, mâche, frilly lettuce, hairy bittercress, fava bean, radish, arugula, fenugreek, sheep sorrel, mesclun lettuce (no idea what kind), baby kale, pea shoot.
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What a nice way to write a short but cute and fantastic blog-post. Why this idea never came to me? Great picture and post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, KL -
Deleteok, so you don't have cats digging & peeing and raccoons
ReplyDeleteand......?
...are you just in a grumpy mood?
DeleteNo cats, there may be raccoons, but I think the next door dogs would go mad.
Where does your food come from?
food comes from local farmers market mostly (greens, tubers etc)
ReplyDeleteas well as meats too. in Toronto so we are really well looked after,
fortunately. I live right downtown and annually (Spring & Summer)
trap 15-18 raccoons per year. insanely descructive, try to keep
them off what little I plant on my fire escape but its usually a
losing battle. I am stunned when I see what is being left alone in
your garden. (and yeah, I can get grumpy especially around this subject)!
To comfort you a little, squirrels do rummage around a bit.
DeleteI am rather surprised that nothing has eaten my salad leaves, though. I did find a tiny caterpillar the other night (I pick leaves in the dark, with a flashlight, before supper). But so far, touch wood - no sign of slugs and snails. We are supposed to have raccoons, but maybe the hysterical dogs (squirrels drive them mad) surrounding us keep them out. And we do have the high fences but I doubt those deter a raccoon. Then there is Rosa's 'yard' on one side - really a desert of tarmac. Maybe that helps with bug control, and...maybe the bugs just haven't figured out that someone is gardening here, again. Don't tell them.
I am waiting for the results of a soil analysis sent to Cornell some weeks ago, and hopefully it is not laden with bad news and heavy metals.
Following up on Lynn's comment, I too always wonder how you and so many other gardeners manage to produce such beautiful crops. My few attempts at growing vegetables failed badly when, for example, my radish seedlings disappeared overnight, leaving only slug trails, and earwigs took up residence in my lettuce plants that had been coming along reasonably nicely and gnawed at their bases. Since then, for years I've limited my edible gardening to a few herbs in a container (though, this year, even that didn't work so well -- the basil was chewed up by something and mostly turned brown). I derive much pleasure from reading about your gardening and looking at the beautiful photos of its results, but cannot help being reminded on occasion how mysterious it all is to me on some level.
ReplyDeleteThere is usually a lot of hit or miss. So much of gardening is about failure and trying again or trying with something else. But I will say I am vigilant, I do look at things every day, and one learns quite a lot. Where are you gardening?
DeleteI live in Toronto. It is true that I didn't put into my gardening nearly the kind of effort and attention I think you give to yours. And I probably gave up too soon, though the insect problems, which I did try to solve, really were overwhelming. The house I now live in has a shady backyard that rules out vegetable gardening. My front yard gets a little more sun, so I grow containers of flowers that I more or less know will make it, plus the herbs, which receive just enough sun to get by. It is good to hear that gardening involves a lot of hit and miss even in your case. I should remember that when I try to garden next time (and I should very much like to).
DeleteI enjoy getting a clearer picture of your garden through the photos you post here and there. Looking good now. Can't wait to see it as it develops next year.
ReplyDeleteI should post another picture of how it looks now from the house. And HOPEFULLY next May will be a big contrast.
DeleteWhat a beautiful, perfect photograph! A work of art, and a vision of calm and hope for the gardener's soul.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite the crop for December!! I did throw some mixed greens seeds into my veggie garden at the end of the season but hit & miss frosts have pretty much deterred growth. My garlic is out of control, however, growing like mad - this has never happened before - do you know if it will survive the winter and come back in the spring? Normally I plant it in October (like I did this year) and we don't see any peeking out until about May. Thoughts, Marie?
ReplyDeleteI don't have personal experience of overwintering garlic (I planted some recently, but, before, I cheated and planted in late winter). I'm guessing the greens may die back. But maybe add mulch, if you haven't, already?
DeleteThanks, Marie - I'll try that!
DeleteGorgeous, yet unnatural this time of year. I don't know whether to rejoice in the extended gardening season, or hide my head in the sand because of the changes afoot. Those are some happy greens.
ReplyDeleteThen again, here are some flourishing greens from mid December 2012, on a sunny rooftop. At least in NYC these cold weather greens are still in keeping with the season, although there is no arguing that it is warmer than usual http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2012/12/peas-in-winter.html
DeleteThat makes me feel better! Now if only my snapdragons would stop blooming...
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