Planting in February

After days of rain, the Sun finally decided to peak out...It was beautiful and abnormally warm for this time of year.  I took advantage of the weather and planted a few garden goodies, pushing the limits and testing seed hardiness for my growing zone.. 

Who says you can't garden in the Winter?

Radish seeds are amazing. After soaking, these little guys unfolded overnight and begged to be put in the dirt. 

The main garden is still under snow, but the soil in the greenhouse is totally workable.

I also planted a few squares of beets in the greenhouse too.

White Sugar beets were planted in one of the cold frames. The seeds are covered with vermiculite to make it easier to identify seeds from the weeds. There are a few Spinach and lettuce starts in this frame as well, and they should really take off after February 15th.,  when the daylight hours are up to 10 hrs. again.

Melting out

The chives have started to wake up from their Winter's nap, inside the greenhouse...Such a welcoming sign to see the first glimpse of Spring.

I have been keeping the cold frames shoveled out, allowing access thru the Winter...With the rains this week, the snow is melting away from this spot first.

Inside the cold frames...The Mache' has overwintered well and is happily growing along. 

Eager for the snow to leave my garden faster, I shoveled the paths clear.

Eager for the snow to leave my garden faster, I shoveled the paths clear. Only 39 days until SPRING!!!!

Inside the Cold frames in December

This past week has been unusually warm for December.What little snow we had, has melted.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining!!!!

The mild weather has allowed me easy access to take a peek inside the cold frames, and see what  is actually growing on in there.

While everything is still small...it is still slowly, but surely growing!

Note to myself : Looks like you need to plant just a little bit earlier next year Jennifer, you could be harvesting in December.

Although, the herb garden is looking a little sad this time of year... the Sage is looking like a Rock Star! 

I love this prolific, cold hardy, perennial!

I forgot to harvest it in the Fall...

Looks like it waited for me!!

Setting out

The weather was amazing yesterday and all my anxious seedlings got to spend the day out in the cold frames soaking up real Sun.

 I have high hopes to finish up the greenhouse walls this weekend. For now I am hauling the starts outside in the morning and hauling them right back inside in the evening. I have to keep the cold frames closed during the day to prevent the deer and chickens from helping themselves. 

To keep the starts from overheating I just slide the back windows open for ventilation.

Let the gardening begin

I couldn't stand it any more... I just had to dig out the cold frames and to see what was actually going on inside the boxes.

At first glance, nothing really exciting! 

I was surprised to actually see anything growing in them at all. Lack of planning on my part...

This box contained carrots that we never got around to picking... and with no extra care on my part, they were left to defend for themselves against the brutal, frigid temps that we experienced later this season.!

After clearing the old tops away...I noticed that many of the carrots had turned to mush.... there are a few diehards in the bunch, that are determined to survive no matter what! 

The Kale, Broccoli, Lettuce and Spinach happened to be left over seedling starts from last season that had been left to die, unloved, and long forgotten about!

The dirt in the frames was pretty frozen. If I plan to overwinter anything this year, I will need to take measures to amend the soil and mulch heavily with straw.

I am just excited to get the boxes opened up and to get gardening!

The good... the bad... and the ugly!

The Good... Lettuce seedlings are doing quite well and have been transferred from starting trays  into individual cups.

The Bad... We are running out of room under the grow lights in the house..

 The cold frames are snowed under and greenhouse is not finished yet.

However, the Lettuce had the chance to enjoy natural daylight... and spent the day outside in the cold.

and now The Ugly... 

This is a case where the ugly is a good thing....Compost! 

We keep the "Chum Bucket" with a lid on it, out on the porch and just empty when it is full. 

Well, it's kinda hard to empty it, when it was frozen solid...Today warmed up enough to finally empty it into the compost pile.

where it will wait to be turned under later this Spring.

Breaking the ice!

Last weekend was all about breaking the ice from my cold North Idaho Garden...well, the frozen crusty snow that was covering my cold frames, anyways!

after 15 minutes of shoveling, I was finally able to open the lids and reveal the sweet earth that patiently lay in waiting for the first sign of Springs arrival.

As you can see they were still filled with last seasons left over garden remains and needed to be cleaned out.

 

 Today, the first cold frame was amended with compost and seeded with the first planting of Scarlet Nantes Carrots

The others will be planted with Lettuce and Spinach in the very near future.