It is the beginning of midwinter with just over 60 days until spring – not that I’m counting and as I look around the garden not all is as it seems.
There are the usual midwinter things like onion seedlings still trying to stand up, a vast array of brassica doing their thing and garlic growing from strength to strength. There are empty beds, some that need a refresh for the new season and some that are all ready and waiting.
The cape gooseberries are coming along nicely – at this rate I’ll be able to make an awesome fruit salad with the fresh strawberries in the spring!
The Antirrhinum snapdragons are putting on a magnificent display. I don’t think they have even stopped. These ones are particularly gorgeous!
Well I think this has jiggyed up my crop rotation. Normally the peppers die over the winter and I start more from seed, but these don’t seem to want to quit so I’m going to give attention to their survival rather than letting them die and let them go another season where they are and who knows what the future will hold for these tenacious plants.
There are still loads of these peppers but given they are searingly hot habanero speak for themselves. There is only much hot sauces a mild mannered family needs.
Jostling side by side with the sunflowers are the first Erlicheer daffodils. They smell amazing. They smell like spring.
There was a borage flower floating in my wildlife pond. I’m not sure it should be flowering at all given it is the middle of winter.
We’re still getting eggplant. We had a couple of really good sized ones for dinner the other night!
Technically these aren’t in the garden, but I have tomatoes in the greenhouse.
Ordinarily that would be it for the goings on in the garden but alas no… there are other things from other seasons that surprise me with their presence. I have spring things and summer things blooming side by side in a season that isn’t theirs!
Come again soon – this winter is a crazy season.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
I have narcissus and snowdrops in bloom, even as the last leaves fall (or rather, are whipped off the tree by gale-force southerlies).
It is all a bit weird this season. I think I need to push a few boundaries to see what can really be done here! : o)
It would not seem strange at all if I did not consider where all of this is. For us, the narcissus would be late, and sunflower a bit early, but that is all.
Sarah, 101 days until the first frost. We are in the middle of summer with harvesting about to begin. Every thing looks well enough but there’s always a chance of weather, varmints, or pests that can bring down the garden. It been hot and dry here in Nebraska and lots of garden watering has had to take place. There’s been more windy days than usual and plants were whipped a few time but survived through it quite well.
Have a great garden planning day.
Nebraska Dave
Urban Farmer
My biggest challenge is the wind. But I will navigate my way around it eventually. And once you find out what varmint you have it makes it easier to keep them out of the garden. I think each season is just a continual refinement and one day – we will have the perfect season. Enjoy your summer garden. : o)