Winter Gardening: Onions

Next time I do onions, it will be from sets (or bulbs) - not seed. This has been the slowest boat to China to get them to even look like this.

You can see where I side dressed the plants with some slow release fertilizer. Maybe that will help. I spoke to my gardening friend about them and he shook his head when I told him that I used seeds, not bulbs. Maybe I'll just chop up the greens and use them like you would use chives. Sigh. So disappointing.

Winter Gardening: Broccoli

I was convinced that I'd never in my lifetime be able to get a good broccoli harvest in the south. Between waiting for the seedlings to grow and fretting that the weather was too warm, I always ended up with plenty of stalk, but no heads.

So I talked to my favorite gardening pal. He's been gardening in this area his whole life, which is, at my best guess, at least sixty years. And, no, I don't have the nerve to ask him to confirm that estimate for me. Please - my momma taught me better than that. When he heard how small my plants were (tiny) and how long they've been in the ground (months) he asked me what type of fertilizer I was using. I said, "None," and he rolled his eyes. Maybe that's my problem?

So I side-dressed some slow release fertilizer today. We'll see. Anything is better than nothing, right?

Yes, that is the broccoli plant in the center. I know, I know. After all that complaining about how small the plants are, now you think I'm a big fat liar. But folks, you can't eat those lucious green leaves. And the part you can eat, well, it looks like this.

Can't see it? Look closer. Yes, that quarter-sized cluster of green - that's it! Now can you see why I'm discouraged?

By the way - Curious about the grids? It's square foot gardening. Check it out here.

Winter Gardening: Lettuce

It's January. The lettuce I planted in November is puny, but it's still alive. Normally by this point, some rascal has chewed holes all through it or the cold or the heat (or a bipolar contrast of the two) have strangled it to death. So alive, but tiny, is definitely a plus.

Weeding has been the key with this garden. I've learned that dollar weed can survive anything, and anything that kills dollar weed, also kills vegetables. Pulling them up (over and over and over) seems to be the only thing that keeps them at bay. To help with the puniness problem, I applied some slow release fertilizer as a side dressing. Hopefully that will encourage growth in the lettuce. The two photos above show seedlings that I transplanted about a month ago. The photo below is of some I did today. I started them too close together and so their roots were all intertwined, a delicate problem to correct. I'm pretty sure they're going to love having a lot more room in the big garden. I realize the lettuce is a ticking time bomb. I don't know how much cool weather we have left, and I know the lettuce won't be happy when it gets hot again.

Curious about the grid system? It's square foot gardening. Check it out here.

Lesson learned: although cheaper, planting lettuce by seed is a tedious and lengthy process. I'm definitely thinking of buying established lettuce plants next year and actually getting an edible, bigger than micro-greens harvest.

I also need to research heat and drought tolerant lettuce varieties for year round growing. Is there such a thing?