2009 Winter Garden Planting II

We took advantage of a gorgeous afternoon and planted the remainder of our cold weather crops. I suspect it will be too late for most of them before it will start to get too hot.

Here it is:

clearly the parsley is taking over! Time to share.

So to add to the existing lettuce, we did two more rows of mesclun mix, two half rows of sweet basil ( all at Deanna's request), and then two rows of beets ( perpendicular) at Zack's request -- he chose these over radishes.

The beet seeds are almost as interesting as the swiss chard seeds, all pointed. Almost look like sticker burrs!

( A little hard to see here, will update with better focus soon!)

"Life is filled with swift transition..."

My friend David must have known something was up. During our most recent visit, he had this advice:
"Find a tree nearby. Take your boys outside every day to look at the buds. Each day watch how they develop. It will be something they won't forget."
David and I each have two sons. His are about twenty years older than mine. I enjoy listening to him tell about the highs and lows of raising his boys. His perspective is very different than mine in some ways, and similar in others. But always a nugget of something there to chew on.

This time of year is always exciting in the garden, trying to predict when the last extreme cold of the season will hit. For those of us who keep an eye on the year-to-year temperatures know that days from mid-October to mid-February are unpredictable. And for several years now, February begins with warmer weather, beautiful days, hint of spring. And then mid-month (usually near or on Valentine's day) Old Man Winter seems to delight annually in delivering one final frigid blow that can bring sleet, snow, frozen roads and bridges, and general havoc to all young and tender shoots. So I find it interesting to watch the trees, especially the old natives, because they do not usually send out buds until well after last frost. Many of the younger imported trees end up fooled by the first warm days and begin to stretch their new growth for the world to see, only for it to be frozen completely off within a few days. So I took David's words, intending to tuck them away for a month later.

Then the next day (Feb. 15...) it rained. And the day after that. The gentle soaking kind that lasts all day with overcast skys. The kind where you just want to curl up with a cozy blanket in front of the fire with a good book kind of rain. And I thought the severe cold must not be too far behind.

But then there was green. Trees everywhere sending forth wisps of new growth, venturing out after the rain had awakened nature from Winter's rest. All kinds of trees. And I knew then that David had seen something that I missed; all the signs of spring (albeit -early- ) are here. And so my boys and I are now venturing out every day to check on the neighbors: the Texas Mountain Laurel, the Redbud, the ornamental pear. Because the blossoms are forming, and one day soon they will be bursting with form and color. And it will be magnificant for a few days until the leaves begin to appear. Then it will be summer, and autumn, and winter: the cycle again.

The same is true of my boys. I try to watch them, interact with them every day. And most days it is the same. They have the same needs, same mannerisms, same limitations. All the while I am with them, encouraging them as they grow, encouraging them in their growing. And then one day you find that they are taking first steps, taking more responsibility for themselves. The tooth that was not there suddenly is. The crawling is replaced with walking. The cooing is replaced with talking. The change is relatively sudden to the plateau of ability. And like the tree, each season builds on the last, but the beginning of spring -- the sudden change from one level to the next -- is one of the most marvelous times of life. And seeing them prepared for the change when it comes is one of the most fulfilling parts of the job.

So we learn something from the trees in transition- learn to watch, wait, and appreciate the beauty in the change. And the anticipation of the new season it welcomes in.

Spring Clean-out

I am one for long good-byes.

It is always an interesting decision-- when to pull up one plant to make room for the next. With the limited space, I want to try to use as much as possible. Usually this is easy with the seasons, but due to excessive heat last summer, the tomatoes decided to produce as the weather got cooler, and convinced me that they deserved to stay even though their yield was lousy over the summer.

The last batch of tomatoes we took was not tasty, however, and so it was time to say good-bye.

The lettuce is still doing well, and we have taken five to six dinner salads off of it for each of the last two weeks.

The parsely is presently excessive, and Deanna decided to help with that some, as we will see in a bit.

Taking all of what's left, there are a few tomatoes and peppers, along with some parsley.

Then we pulled up the plants. I tried to show Zachary how to knock the soil off the roots. "We don't want to throw away the dirt, son..." How often do you hear that from a parent?

Then we worked on the dandelions and cold weather weeds. This is Zack's favorite: digging in the dirt and looking for earthworms. But really we are both preparing soil for future planting.

On the other side of the garden, the greens are flourishing. Sammy has already eaten some cooked swiss chard, and now he is trying to scale the garden wall to get some more. He was almost successful on his own...

and then Zack lends a "helping hand" to show him the way off the wall.

It all ended up on the table tonight, but not all on the plates...

... and now we have a beautiful centerpiece as well!