Winter is officially here. At least by the Calendar. It has been winter here according to the temperatures for quite some time though. Nothing is growing. Of course this is a good time to look forward to spring and plan for our gardens.

Come join us. I know this is a slow time of year but if nothing else we can plan and dream of warmer days.

My garlic appears to be doing well. I can never grow nearly enough to provide all those who want to purchase it in May/June.

I have ten packets of vegetable seeds, obtained from MIgardener, and I will begin germinating those seeds after the first of the year. Those plug trays will be in my "Everything Else" greenhouse.

The only way I would be gardening in the winter is if I had a greenhouse. But of course I don't have one and no room for one either.

Ouch!

Here in tx, we are able to grow some veggies. I have chard, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, beets, collards, potatoes, and onions. They grow very slowly, but im able to have either a salad or some cooked mixed greens each day. I think its worth it. I have a small 20x40' garden, so its not overwhelming.

Not bad for opening day. some fall crops are getting a bit ragged, but winter crops doing fine.

LOL, Farmerdill -- you winter crops look an awful like my summer crops !!

Rita, it's not that bad to take a little break anyway, at least in my opinion -- it gives us time to read seed catalogs and plan the next garden! (and in my case, to do some house cleaning that I didn't do all summer... )

Speaking of seed catalogs, I got my first one yesterday.

What one was it, Tom? (I've gotten quite a few already -- they seem to start coming in earlier every year!)

This one is from Jungs, a Wisconsin based company.

Yep, I have theirs already too... and just got a catalog from Johnny's Selected Seeds today.

We are having such mild weather this month -- relatively speaking, anyway, like mid-30s. A good bit of our snow has melted, and it actually looks like the grass is greening up in spots Just another weird weather pattern... and I far prefer this to the way last winter started out. Anytime we get to New Year's without the temps being too bitter cold and not too much snow on the ground is a good winter, in my book!

I always heard the UP was bitter bitter cold. Kind of like us. We also are having a very mild winter thus far. Staying in the mid 20's at least. Snows a little just to keep the ground looking clean and crisp.

LOL -- our ground is looking more wet and soggy at the moment... the area I'm in is pretty low-lying, the ditches have a lot of water in them right now and quite a few people on our road have a lot of standing water in their yards. With all the rain this past year the water table is pretty high right now. But, I'm in the southern UP, which sounds like a bit of an oxymoron but there is really a huge difference between here and the "real" up north, which I think of as the area along Lake Superior. They got buried in snow early on and I imagine it's pretty much still there. Amazing how much difference 60 or 70 miles can make!

I tested the ph of my soil today, and its finally 6.5 average. Ive been working at getting it down from 8.0.

Congrats. I bought a fancy pH reader and will try it around the yard in the spring. I have incorporated such different amendments in different places or in different increments that who knows what the differences are.

texaskitty111 said:I tested the ph of my soil today, and its finally 6.5 average. Ive been working at getting it down from 8.0.

What do you use to acidify your soil? Horticultural sulfur? An acid-leaning mulch?

Ive used both

Thanks.

Christmas Day in the morning - Amazing.

Only white here this Christmas.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year

Wish I could say the same. Nah. I love snow, be it 1" or 12' deep. Merry Christmas morning to you and all. Had to get bread made and to rising earlier.