Winter Gardening

Positioning the marker just so in the pot

After my last post, I fully expected to stay indoors for a couple months. Then my gaze fell on my in-box, and on the radish seeds someone gave my daughter for her November birthday. "Come on kids!" I shouted. "Let's go plant these radishes real quick!"

"Okay!" responded my 5 year old son enthusastically. "And carrots too! They're a winter crop!"

Well. Can't argue with his garden savvy or his gusto, so the three of us spent an hour in the vegetable garden this afternoon. It was in the low 60s, I'd say, a welcome respite from the recent "bitter" (by Bay Area standards) cold. We planted radishes in a pot, and in the ground cilantro, mesclun, beets, and carrots, all from seed. I pulled out my sad, sad plants formerly known as tomatoes, clicked my tongue over my peas, and weeded. Grr. Also tried to redirect some sneaky bamboo, grr x 1000.

Any excuse to practice those kindergarten writing skills

The kids spent their time messing around with the seed packets and decorating plant markers (craft sticks). That was actually a good use of their time, as opposed to having them sow the actual seeds with me, which is a great way to have your lettuce row sprout a big ol' cilantro in the middle. It will be handy to have a visual marker of what went where, since my memory is obviously deteriorating rapidly.

I think the Vitamin D did us all good. Whether we'll reap anything more tangible, time will tell.

Of COURSE you need to bring out about 50 craft sticks to choose from. All the markers too. You never know what you'll need.

Frosty Christmas

We are hopefully nearing the end of a cold snap that's been raging for more than a week. I am trying to avoid looking out back at my poor garden. Needless to say, as the mere undergardener, I did not think of protecting my crops until I walked the kids to school on the first morning after the first frost, and saw many houses with improvised frost covers in their gardens.  "Oops," read my thought bubble. I later went out and picked a couple of the ripe golden cherries just to check. WOW - I have never eaten such a nasty, bitter tomato before. Now I know and will do better next year! As soon as it warms up a little, I'll get out there and pull the tomatoes, peas, and whatever other sorry specimens are still in the ground.

Meanwhile, there's plenty to occupy us with Christmas preparations. My kindergartener is singlehandedly designing ornaments out of construction paper, felt, and sparkly pipe cleaners. My toddler is busy coloring with markers and leaving their caps off. We've got stuff to do, people! See you in January!

Christmas Chraziness Underway

Thanksgiving's a distant memory now; we are full speed ahead to Christmas in my house now. So nice with kids - they are excited by the slightest sprig of holly and the shortest strand of lights on the neighbor's window. Meanwhile, yesterday we harvested another handful of golden cherry tomatoes AND one cute little boysenberry. Dude, you are really going to be sorry you decided to fruit when the cold snap hits tonight.

Winter Ahoy

Finally, some rain predicted for today! A bit fell this morning, just at the wrong time to get me all excited about rainboots and rainjackets for the walk to school, by which time it had stopped. We had to pause midway so my son could switch his boots for his shoes (in his backpack). More is in the forecast, which is awesome because as usual I am sick of watering. However, the tomatoes still have not gotten the memo that winter is almost here - my bush Roma, in particular, rocks on, albeit more slowly than in its prime. The cilantro is also looking good still - got to plan a meal around that! I see a few green tantalizers where we planted a variety of seeds a couple weeks ago so they will love the rain too.

Fall Colors

This year I am more attuned than ever to the fall colors all around us. Even more than when I was in college in Massachusetts - I distinctly recall enjoying the colors then, but now that I am older, that layer of recognition of the passing of time makes the fleeting beauty sweeter. We walk to school daily and I, at least, am dazzled.

Slim Pickings

The kids and I picked about 10 golden cherry tomatoes, some mint and cilantro (for my spring roll toppers - kids won't eat either), and some unauthorized lettuce. "Unauthorized" because I would have said it was too small to pick, but the 2 y.o. has a "better to ask forgiveness than permission" policy. Those golden cherries just keep on giving, and we keep taking. I watered my new seed area (lettuce, carrots, etc.) and kept my fingers crossed. We'll be out of town for the long weekend so I hope the watering will last them until Tuesday. I also gave my mint its periodic cutting-back; it always seems to love it and come back stronger.

Our Garden is Beautiful

My 2 y.o. and I spent some time this morning gardening together. No matter how little I feel like gardening, or how little I'm looking forward to the drudgery of winter gardening, just getting out there and doing it with a little helper puttering nearby is sweet. Bonus: It leaves me with an (undoubtedly illusory) feeling of accomplishment. Today, after I turned over a patch about 4'x4', she and I planted cilantro, beets, carrots, and "Salad Bowl" lettuce (the latter in ground as well as in a pot that I had just yanked basil from - call it an experiment). I enhanced the soil with some of my special Recycling Center compost; fingers crossed. I pulled out the basil (sniff; it was so good to me this year) and a Roma tomato. I showed the baby how to break up soil clumps with her little shovel, and she trotted after me when I took things out to the green waste. We picked a few golden cherries and took a break to munch them. And when we were done, she wiped her hands on her jeans and announced, "Our garden is beautiful!"

I had to agree.