The more things change

 Talk about what's old being new again...I was going through some of my winter posts from years gone by, and noted how similar the December 2022 post regarding a rain storm was to a storm we just experienced this week.  Thankfully the 2025 warm up with rain and wind wasn't as destructive, but it sure did eat up all of our Christmas snow.  The fog created by the warm air made for some moody photos, too.

 I love how the pre vs post sunrise light changes in photos; the blue tinted snaps were taken about an hour before the more sepia hued ones. 

In the end, the warm air and heavy rain melted most of the snow and temperatures then dove into the lower 20sF, so everything froze solid.  The winter that we experienced Winter Storm Elliot ended up being extremely snowy after that storm, so maybe we'll return to a winter wonderland before it's over with.  I mean, it's only the first day of winter, so who knows what's in store? 

garden ruminations and the fix

 

As I sit here on a snowy December day, my thoughts turn to vegetable growing.  I fully admit that I start with a bang during spring months that are so filled with promise.  Like an echo, that initial push of excitement fades into the distance as the reality of growing conditions, my own mistakes, and unpreventable climate or weather related mishaps begin rearing their ugly heads.  The hot summer months are when I begin to look around and adopt a defeatist attitude about my gardens.  This isn't a healthy pattern, so I need to fix it.

I've been looking at my simple garden layout and thinking about what has worked well in which beds, what has failed miserably, and figuring out the why of it all.  

 I developed this layout initially to keep track of my perennial stock; to determine which plants I had in which beds.  As I moved the perennials out, I thought this chart would help me determine simple crop rotation for vegetables.  That didn't work because I tend to use any open spot as a perennial holding area for new plants, plants I've started from seed, or plants that need a specific growing condition that I haven't prepared yet, thus throwing my rotation plans into chaos. So what other uses might this chart have?  How about light, and where to better plant specific vegetables according to their need for sun or shade?

This chart is situated as though I'm standing at the bottom of the hill, in the entrance.  The top is fairly west, the left is fairly south, the bottom fairly east, and the right fairly north.  It's not exact, but it's also not evenly split.  The left side of the garden is shaded by the large trees of the forest garden from around noontime to three or four o'clock, then it's hit with full sun for a few hours until sundown.  The right side of the garden gets pretty much full sun all day.  Using this information, I can determine which vegetables will do better in which beds.  Well, you would think, anyway.  Last year I tried growing lettuce in the old tub at the very bottom left, and it was a massive failure.  Likewise, radish and cabbage in the far upper left did almost nothing.  I'm not sure if it was light conditions or if the soil was missing something, but I may revamp those beds altogether and try again.  

Since adding the hay ring in the center, I've been frustrated by the way one side of whatever I've planted at the base of the ring - peas, cucumbers, or pumpkins - grows better than the other.  I've been thinking of adding more trellises in the hillside garden for vining vegetables, and thought...gee, do the trellises need to be a certain position for optimal output?  Well, duh, young Skywalker, they sure do.  The hay ring is positioned east to west; that is, walking through the open center you are moving east to west, with plants on the north and south sides. In this situation, one side gets more sun and grows faster and better than the other.  Trellises should be positioned north to south, so they get the full benefit of light on both sides as the sun traverses the sky.  I'd like to add vertical trellises (and possibly arched) for cucumbers, peas, and possibly some smaller squash varieties.  My beds are all lined so that if I start in one row and bend a trellis up to the next row for arched, they should work great, with the open center running north to south and veg planted on the east and west sides.  If I go with just a vertical wall type trellis the length of the beds, I already know that works because I've done that in the past with a small piece of hog panel.  

My next thought is that if add trellises, I need to know which beds will best lend themselves to the potential shading of afternoon sun from the vining plants.  A quick check on "what vegetables benefit from afternoon shade" led me down a rabbit hole of confusing information.  The internet.  At once the most and least helpful informational tool.  So what do I know to be true?  I know cool season crops need sun but don't thrive in heat, and many can be coaxed through the summer by providing some cooling shade.   

Armed with this information, I'm now going back to my trusty seed box to take stock of what seeds I have on hand, which ones need to be scrapped due to age, which can be started inside, which can be direct sown, and what plants I'm better off letting the garden center start for me.

 Who says gardening in northern climes stops when the beds are buried under snow?

 

Good gravy, it's winter!

 And just like that, everything was covered in snow.

 

It's funny that most people I talk to are astounded by how "soon" winter arrived.  It's December in New England - we're lucky we didn't have a white Thanksgiving!  

So my to-do list isn't quite ta-done.  I didn't get any more fence posts in, I didn't get any fencing up, I didn't get more brush cut in the forest garden area, or cut the sumac whips behind the bitch barn (my alternative to a she shed).  I guess all of these shift over to the spring to-do list, once the snow is gone.  So much to get done next year, what with the alpine garden, maintenance in the hillside garden, and the continuing formation of the forest garden.  I really need to set my expectations to a level more acceptable to a mature woman's abilities.  That's a nice way of saying I'm old and broken, and can't bull like I used to.

In the house I've started some more lettuce, another tomato, and another pepper.  Hopefully the aphid invasion was stemmed in time.  I ended up tossing some old friends on the compost heap, figuring they may have been the culprits that brought aphids in the house.  Goodbye to my four year old celery plant, my five year old parsley, and a few annual flowers I've overwintered.  I always feel like I'm abandoning a pet when I purposely cull plants.  The guilt can be overwhelming, which is half the reason I overwinter things I shouldn't.  

This winter, I'm going to try winter sowing in plastic jugs, and I'm excited to see how it pans out.  Last winter, I stratified seeds in the fridge and then grew them under the grow lights.  I really didn't have the best success; the fame flowers died before I could get them planted out, the five poppy mallows that survived are planted in a holding bed and I'm not sure they'll make it, the whorled milkweed that germinated died soon after planting out, and the gaura never did much.  The coneflowers did really well, but the ones I planted out into the meadow area struggled, and I'm not even sure if they made it.  The leftovers that I planted into the cement bed in the hillside garden thrived despite the lack of water, so hopefully I'll be able to transplant those out next summer.  

I'm thinking this year I can concentrate on annual flower and vegetable seed starting in the house.  I need to curb my enthusiasm so I don't overplant and wind up with no room to spread out under the lights once I begin to pot on when the seedlings get too big for their containers.

Looking ahead to my outdoor gardening new year, I hope to get the back yard finally fenced in.  Once that's complete, I can start laying out the garden beds and pathways.  I've been researching paths, because I don't want to make the same mistake I did with the gravel paths that were eaten by grass within one season.  My biggest mistake may have been the landscape fabric barrier, believe it or not.   I think I'll start with mown grass paths, and go from there.  Of course, there are the prerequisite chores that need to be done first, so that I can do the fun stuff...get the alpine bed situated, because once fenced I won't be able to get the tractor in there.  Get more mulch on the bank, because once fenced, I won't be able to back my truck up to unload.  Ugh.  Who knew a simple garden would be so much work?  I did, because I never make these things simple!  But I honestly believe I thrive on this stuff.