As we prep for spring gardening, we enjoy the harvest from our winter garden. Soon it will be time to start seeds, but in the meanwhile, we add compost to existing crops and prune fruit trees, cane berries, and grasses. Rain pampers our plants and they reward us with a bountiful harvest. We’re watering from rain barrels in between, and watching everything grow while we read through seed catalogs. Here’s what’s growin’ on in this colorful (almost) Wordless Wednesday.
Icicle radishes pop up when they hit the hardware cloth at the bottom of our raised beds.White icicle radishes are ready to pick. We will try pickling them and see what happens.Potatoes grow year-round in warm-winter climates. This is our second round of plantings from fall.Our first round of harvested Sangre potatoes in winter. Smaller than we’d like, but still tasty.Wildflowers sprouting after recent rains. Love-in-a-Mist, California poppies, and calendula. Now is a good time to throw down some flower seeds. Sunflowers, cosmos, and native wildflowers for your area.Calendula begins to flower in our winter garden.Helios radishes, one of several new varieties we trialed this winter.White Sonora winter wheat starts to take off.Parsley from summer bolts to seed.Cilantro sprouts in a pathway near last year’s bolted plants.Loquats setting fruit on a potted tree.8 types of kale growing happily in the winter garden along with greens for the chickens.Warm-winter gardenerds: Winter is the best time to grow cilantro and dill, which bolt to seed quickly in the summer here.Snow peas fruit first, ahead of sugar snaps in the winter garden.Trumpet vine feeds pollinators and birds in the winter garden.
For some, the garden is waking up. It’s time to celebrate. For others it’s time to plan. Soon the snow will melt, bulbs will poke up through the soil and the garden will be alive again. Enjoy this time no matter where you live.
