January 25, 2017 – January winter joys in the vegetable garden

          I strolled down to the vegetable gardens to enjoy the winter sun coming over and through the deciduous trees along the west property line.  We sat out in our two easy chairs just enjoying the warmth down in our vegetable garden.  We have it “made” here in the South – it was 70 degrees most of the day with blue sky and bright sun and only a soft breeze.

          Several years ago I had planted a windbreak of evergreen shrubs north of the new vegetable gardens – so the heat lingers in that area due to reduced breezes.

          We have recently had ample rain and three of the four vegetable beds have been kept weed free and will be ready to plant in spring. I do have a wire grass infestation on Avenue No. 4 and I will have to seriously get down on my hands and knees and deal with it.  That devious wire grass came up through the cracks between the cement blocks in the raised beds from the outlying lawn.  It will be just a matter of taking the time to get it back in shape but it will be ready for the late spring/summer crops that require warmth.

          But just sitting there admiring the warm sun and the wet earth waiting to be put into production in the spring I noticed a beautiful little sprout, two seed leaves or cotyledons of what looks like a cucumber or squash seed.   It was dark green, healthy, and basking in the sun.  I had to get up and inspect it closer.  I put my hand on the warm soil beside it.  Yes it was as moist as a warm face cloth.  And, what is in the forecast – we will get down to 20 degrees in a few days.

          That lovely sprout will be mush in a few days – but should I go to the bother of covering it with a little cold frame to see if I can’t cheat old-man winter?   Possibly, I might do that.  But, the little rascal of a cotyledon is not in my garden plan and I don’t even know its pedigree – is it a squash or is it a cucumber?  Should I even bother?  I will decide that later today.

          Then I went and checked on the January 1^st planting of the Sugar Snap Peas that I grow for pea pods.  They are up 3/4^th of an inch and looking fine.  I note that every drill has “two” plants coming up – like magic – that snuggling in the dark – all germinate – and this is old seed – two year old seed. [See my January 1^st Blog.]

          And, I got a surprise from my fall planting of the potatoes experiment.  I found a website last summer researching potatoes and there is a North Carolina gardener who plants his potatoes in the fall, mulches them heavy and gets a jump start on spring planting.  Last spring when I was planting in an area that I had potatoes the prior season; I unearthed a small potato that had a massive amount of growth coming along.  I tucked it back in the soil and it produced good potatoes.  So, that was why I tried this experiment.

          When we got our first rains in December and it was a mild day and the soil was warm to the touch, I proceeded to devote a small square to the potatoes I had grown last year and took the tubers that were showing eyes and plunked them in and mulched them heavy.

          Low and behold I glance around at the potato patch and see leaves that have protruded the mulch by 2 to 3 inches.  I will have to cover those up before the cold front coming in the next few days.  So, we will see how that experiment works out and I will blog in the future about it. 

          Lastly, my husband and I were not the only ones out and about enjoying the sun – “No name slob”, [October 20, 2016, blog] came for a visit. I got the surprise of my life when he jumped up on me, kneaded my lap and curled up and began to purrrrrrrr.  He sounded like a Mercedes Benz diesel engine idling.  I guess he thinks he owns us now.

          Bye for now as I will be out in the gardens while we are having fine weather for two days before the cold blast comes in.  Let me see what I can do to jump start the season.  Maybe toss out some old lettuce seed or Mesclum and pop a small cold frame over it for sport.  Or better yet, let’s try my hand at some radishes under a small cold frame.  I will be sure to report to you in a blog.