Most of my chard survived winter last year, and we surely get more than one night below 24 degrees. But it looked weird and then bolted so I did not get much for leaving it there.

Intheswamp said:...
The other thing that I've done is rig up a little solar panel to charge my electric fence battery. We'll have to wait and see how this works out. The little waterproof charge controller that I used in the setup has a bright green LED that it uses for the battery status. At first I thought "that sucker's mighty bright!", not sure if I liked it or not. I've still got reservations about it, but I can see here in the house 120-feet away at the computer, look out the side window and see that green light shining. It tells me that the battery is charged up good....doesn't do a thing about telling me whether a deer as ripped the fence down, though. Oh well, hopefully it'll workout ok so I wont have to lug the deep-cycle battery to the garage for charging. So far we've just had clouds and rain so it hasn't done much for the battery...except use a little more juice powering that bright green LED!!!!!

Just thought I'd follow up on this little project. The solar panel setup is working great! The solar charge controller seems to be doing a good job at keeping the battery topped off without overcharging. It may be that that little panel is really small compared to the battery (Group 27, roughly 65amp-hours)...on a different charge controller it showed it produced around (mostly below) one amp. I have basic testing equipment, a small multi-meter and a 4-ball hydrometer. The battery reads 12.8v during sunny days while charging, hydrometer floats all four balls for 100% charge. I've been watching the electrolyte fluid level but so far no discernible change in it. I ran roughly 18' of 12/2UF (UV-resistant) wire between the battery and panel/controller. The panel is sitting on the ground in a corner of the garden right now subject to blowing leaves and splashing mud blocking sunlight. The long wire is so that later I can bury the wire and mount the panel on an existing post thus getting it up and away from those light blockers and future vegetable plants.

I think this is going to save me a lot of grunts *and* keep my battery nicely charged and my fence....HOT!!!!! Look out Bambi!!!!!

I threw 2 packets of asparagus seed down, this area my husband just opened up recently, so if they sprout they will hold the edge.
I also threw a bunch of parsley seeds down in the dry area, hopefully they will sprout. I don't have much luck with parsley for some reason.
I also threw a bunch of French Breakfast radish seeds down between my peonies, their shallow roots should not interfere with the peonies, but in 45 days I will pull up this bed and prep for growing summer melons.

SoCalGardenNut said:I threw 2 packets of asparagus seed down, this area my husband just opened up recently, so if they sprout they will hold the edge.
I also threw a bunch of parsley seeds down in the dry area, hopefully they will sprout. I do t have much luck with parsley for some reason.
I also threw a bunch of French Breakfast radish seeds down between my peonies, their shallow roots should not interfere with the peonies, but in 45 days I will pull up this bed and prep for growing summer melons.

In my experience that's not exactly how to proceed with asparagus…3+ years from seed in a well prepared bed. You are dealing with opposite ends of the horticultural spectrum with radishes and asparagus.

JB, I have 3 roots there already, I can move them to some place else later after they sprout.

Ok, I thought that asparagus needed a dedicated bed,at least that's the way it's grown here. Information, please.

My first time with them as seeds, so I'm taking a chance here.

You won't know until you try! That's the way we gain new gardening skills.

Nothing is going to survive the cold snap we are too have Tuesday and Wednesday. Artic Chill time!!

The asparagus seedlings can be moved and transplanted when they're young; it does take several years from seed before you can harvest asparagus without harming the plant.

SoCal, parsley can take quite a while to actually sprout; be sure it doesn't dry out while it's in the process of trying to germinate.

Asparagus have a dedicated bed for the convenience of gardners, my sister had them scattered out under an oak and amid some low light plants for 30 years-she never bothered them. Seen them growing wild near cornfields, and near ditches in patches of woods, too.
Put my tomatoes under the blue light with the pothos, and put the white light on the pepper, perilla and sweet potato pot, so hopefully the light levels are what is needed for those plants. Temps dropping back to 50*s and 40*s tomorro, but today was 72*. Used my new bucket of rainwater and watered the 'houseplants' today.

I have a neighbor up the street, the only other person in my neighborhood who does any gardening, and he has asparagus in a raised bed on one end. I don't know if he ever harvests any because I usually notice it when it grows out and becomes all ferny looking.The patch is certainly old enough to be harvested because it's been there since I moved to my house, 7 years now.

You do know, you have to leave some to get ferny. But I'm sure some people let the patch go. I'm debating starting a new one. I ruined mine when I planted a Santa Rosa plum too close. Idiot move.

Veggies in the winter here in Sarasota, Florida ..... oh,, we have all-year bugs too ...............

Zylvert - That is sure different than winter in many of our gardens! Enviable winter harvest.
I will, however, happily trade 3 months of cold-ish, wet and windy winter weather for hot sunny summers without bugs or humidity, warm autumns and pleasant springs and no need for air conditioning. Heavy on avoiding the bugs and humidity.

Don't forget pollen! It is already falling here and AC is necessary, you have to keep the windows closed to keep the evil substance out of the house. Do you not have pollen in France????

I double down on the humidity and bugs. How many kinds of destructive bugs will I get this year? That's the question. I can come inside to get away from the humidity, but how to get away from these armies of veggie and flower choppers? Geez, I would just like a break from having my whole veggie harvest totally ruined by some kind of insect.

Oh, yes, forgot about the pollen season! Ugh, everything is green. The one consolation is seeing my neighbor power wash his cars every day trying to keep them clean. We are mightily amused. Here in Arkansas we keep the windshields clean and just wait until the pollen is over to wash the rest of the car. Ultimately much more sensible.

zylvert, I have to assume that you did not wake up to an outside temperature of -4°F . Nice to see those fresh veggies and basil !

For harvesting asparagus, my general rule of thumb is to not pick anything smaller than a pencil - and you need to leave some stalks growing to feed the roots. I'm in the process of starting a new asparagus bed, my present patch is about 20 years old and has been declining for the past few years, probably due to being taken over by tree roots. In the fall of 2020 I planted seeds in the new area and had good germination and nice little plants last season; I doubt there will be anything large enough to harvest until 2023, but meanwhile I'm still harvesting from the old area, which will be dug out once the new plants really get going.

A while back we were talking about storing our seeds - I happened across this article this morning and thought it was worth sharing; not sure this would work for me, but it certainly is nicely organized! (this site has other interesting articles and even some printable garden planning stuff - and doesn't send an excessive number of emails)

https://homesteadandchill.com/...

ardesia said:Don't forget pollen! It is already falling here and AC is necessary, you have to keep the windows closed to keep the evil substance out of the house. Do you not have pollen in France????

I cannot speak for the whole of france...
There is pollen anywhere there are plants, but I certainly don't see anything like the kind of heavy green and yellow coatings that I saw in many parts of the US. Of the places that I lived in the states Memphis was the one with the heaviest seasonal pollen - I expect it is similar to what Lynda experiences in Arkansas. I know that I have said it before but I sure hated the 20 years I lived in Memphis. I only lived there 8, it seemed like 30. I never did adapt. Maybe if I liked sweet tea it would have been bearable.