Friday, January 20, 2012

The Garden & Cold Frames January 20, 2012

I thought that I would take some pictures of the winter garden today. We are supposed to have our first winter snow starting tonight into tomorrow evening. I am really looking forward to a real snow. We haven't had any snow since our crazy Halloween Snow Storm!

This is the Cold Frame on the Left.
This is where all the Pak Choi was growing that I harvested a couple of weeks ago. There is some Kale, Collards & a Celery plant in the back. There's also two Tatsoi plants in the middle which will be harvested soon. In the front of the bed are some small lettuces. Later this winter after the Tatsoi is harvested I will put some more Kale, Collards and Arugula in this bed for some early spring harvests. 

This is the Cold Frame on the Right.
This side is pretty much packed full right now. There is one row of Kale in the back and also a row of Baby Choi which is really big. The center is packed full of Tatsoi , some lettuce and a few green onions. In the front of the bed there are some Escarole plants and more lettuce. Once this bed is cleaned out with the exception of the Kale, the bed will left empty until I sow carrots in it.

Some Escarole and lettuce tucked in.

Some baby lettuce plants

Some more lettuce and green onions tucked in between the Tatsoi

The spinach bed has spinach of every size in it right now. I hope that this bed will give a great spring spinach harvest!

There are still a couple of green parsley plants in the herb garden.

Is there anything going on in your garden, cold frames or greenhouse mid-winter??

29 comments:

  1. We are covered in a light blanket of snow right now. Sadly no greenhouse or coldframe. I do still have kale and spinach out in the cold. They seem fine with it so far.

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  2. Daphne, you really should build a cold frame this year. You would love it! Ours are actually built so you can remove the top off the raised bed and move it to another bed. I just take the lid off during the winter and leave them in place.

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  3. No snow yet? Those mountains must suck it all up before it gets to you. I am a little nervous of this one coming tonight since it is going to bring ice to this part of the state. But I will make sure it has lots of snow left to bring to you :)

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  4. Love your blog and it is immensely helpful to me as a new gardening blogger!

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  5. Jane, So that's what's been going on with the snow!!

    Hi Thomas, Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad that you find my blog helpful to you as a new garden blogger! I'm going to hop over and check out your blog!

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  6. Hi Robin
    Thanks for hopping over to check out my blog. I am always open to advice. I have been gardening for years and just recently stumbled across the gardening blogs which have great ideas. What a treasurer trove they all are.
    Lis

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  7. Ha, Sorry about that Tomato!! I could have sworn it said Thomas Thymes!! Yes, garden blogs and garden bloggers are the best!

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  8. There is nothing newly planted..I must get up the Rutabag and the Collards..but I've been so busy at the loom..can't be in two places at once..

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  9. Wait! I've missed something. There are lights in your cold frame. Is that a heat source? Wonderful!

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  10. What are the strings with the lights in them? I've never grown in winter before, as I've always been constrained to pots. And I won't even have that this year or next :(. I'll just have to make do watching you and others and putting together a lot of notes for when I can join in again (hopefully in the ground by then)

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  11. We're still just growing salad leaves indoors under light - must sow some more to keep thinks going!

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  12. Ginny, I'm sure that your collards will wait for you.

    Becky, yes, I have rope lights in the cold frames to keep the ground a bit warmer. This year I added a light with a timer that comes on for 2 hours in the middle of the night. It is supposed to stimulate growth in the winter. I posted about it here http://cordarogarden.blogspot.com/2011/11/cold-frame-maintenance-changes.html

    Hi Nic, Those are rope lights. They keep the ground a little warmer in the cold frames. Sorry to hear that you won't be gardening this year.

    Sue, You don't want to be without!

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  13. I really like the idea of the lights! I don't even have a cold frame but I keep all these things in mind. Thanks.

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  14. Nice looking plants. All I have is a couple of tomato seedlings right now but just torn down the Aero Garden and cleaned it and replanted so hope to have some new basil soon and maybe some lettuce if it germinates. There will be 2 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants that will grow to maturity in the house. New adventure.

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  15. Nice cold frames! We tried building some cloche covers for our beds but it didn't work out so well(we'll be blogging about the design process in the future). I couldn't see the concrete blocks at the base of the stakes -- is that for stability? Also couldn't exactly see the rope lights. Aren't they LED's? In which case, they don't give off heat.

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  16. Thanks Becky!

    Wilderness, I also have an experiment that I am starting today. I will post about it tomorrow. It's always fun to try something new!

    Hi Tricia & Bill! Here's a post that is also linked to another post ...all about the cold frame construction.

    http://cordarogarden.blogspot.com/2010/11/building-cold-frames-finishing-touches.html

    The rope lights are old ones that my husband had when we got married. They definitely give off some heat!

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  17. Hi Robin,

    I just stumbled across your blog - I love it!

    It's great to see what's going on in a cold climate garden.

    BTW - Tatsoi is a star in our garden too!

    I look forward to reading more.

    Best regards,

    Jodi

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  18. I bought a packet of celery seeds and some potting mix today, so I'll soon be growing something on the window sill. Maybe some lettuce while I'm at it. Maybe I'll have some cold frames next winter.

    My new LED rope lights give off plenty of heat for my seedlings. I set my flats right on top of them.

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  19. Hi Jodi, Thanks for stopping by! I'm going to have to hop on over to your place and see what you are up to!

    Granny, I'm going to start my celery soon. It takes a long time to get big enough to plant out.

    My rope lights are so old...who knows what they are! But, they sure do give off some nice warmth!

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  20. Wow Robin, your coldframes are doing so nicely! Amazing!

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  21. Your cold frame is busting with greens and they look healthy and yummy! We have some pac choi, baby lettuces, and baby carrots growing in the greenhouse containers. Under a grow tunnel cover we have some kale, savoy cabbages, golden beets, corn salad, and some more baby pac choi plants growing. Growing unprotected is the tree kale, a few remnant leeks, and lots of green onions and some parsnips.

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  22. Thanks Mimi, I am happy with their production this winter!

    Laura, It sounds like you have a lot of goodness growing around your place right now! I had planted some mache in the cold frames before I put the tops on. The seed was all washed away from a really heavy rain :(

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  23. The greens are all looking great!

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  24. Erin, We are definitely in the green right now!!

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  25. You certainly manage to get a lot of stuff out of your coldframe! I like that you have gone for variety, not quantity. Right now my coldframe is protecting my potted herbs. I have some salads growing in raised beds covered with moveable cloches.

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  26. Mark, Each cold frame is 4' x 5'. I can get plenty growing in there for just the two of us.

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  27. Your cold frames look great. I hope we can become such prolific growers of so many great varieties too! Enjoy the winter harvest! I didn't know spinach overwintered. We'll have to remember that for next fall. You're the best!

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  28. What do you do with the Tatsoi? I keep seeing it on blogs and its obviously super-hardy but I'm not sure how its generally used?

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  29. Thanks Jody, The cold frames are definitely doing well this winter! This is the first time that I have overwintered spinach. We shall see how it does.

    Liz, The Tatsoi is used the same as you would use other Asian greens like Baby Choi, Pak Choi etc.

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